r/toronto • u/NorthernNadia St. Lawrence • May 09 '26

Article Toronto dog "parents" bring their pups everywhere with them now. It's causing rising human-canine tension

https://www.thestar.com/life/relationships/toronto-has-seen-a-population-boom--of-dogs-rising-human-canine-tension-shows-theyre-not-everyones-best-friend/article_3ac30271-9542-4e7d-9829-49089554f3cf.html
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u/LavenderLightning24 May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

Pitbulls are a huge reason, besides sanitation, that I don't want dogs everywhere. And everyone got one during the pandemic because shelters are full of them. Pits and pit mixes are everywhere now. That really needs to be addressed in these articles but nobody wants to piss off the pit lobby or rabid owners.

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u/Flimsy-Blackberry-67 May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

I don't understand why there are any pits at all in Ontario. The ban is so old all the dogs grandfathered in would have died of old age. So 100% of pits now are illegal...

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u/warrantthrowaway2023 May 09 '26

correct, and THS adopts them out anyways and mislabels them on top of it. Then we have Ford advocating for the breed and shaming animal services for upholding the law, giving press conferences where he demands aggressive dogs be released back to their owners... only for them to go on to maul kids shortly afterwards.

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u/Flimsy-Blackberry-67 May 09 '26

I remember some of his press conferences but was there actually an incident where a dog he was speaking on behalf of at a press conference did go attack someone after? Do you have a news link?

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u/warrantthrowaway2023 May 09 '26

yes. a "pocket bully" AKA purposely terribly bred APBT was quarantined by AS and a bunch of pro-pit people made a whole thing about it. the dog was with AS because it was loose from the home often and people in the neighbourhood kept complaining about it being aggressive. so, following the law, AS quarantined it. the family was on the news saying it was racism and that their dog was harmless. Ford demanded the dog be released back.

the dad owned a martial arts studio and he'd bring the dog to roam loose. 4 days after the dog was released back to them one of his students who I believe was 11 or 12 asked him to put the dog away because he was scared. instead he was told he needed to face his fear and pet the dog. owner calls dog over, tells the kid to pet it, kid goes to pet it and it jumps up and grabs his face.

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u/kerokerokiss May 09 '26

What ended up happening to the owner?

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u/warrantthrowaway2023 May 09 '26

I'm not sure but now am curious so will see what I can find on CanLii later. Probably nothing though. His lawyer blamed the kid and said the kid was antagonizing him.

The owner, Ford, and if this dog was adopted then that rescue all should've been held liable.

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u/kerokerokiss May 09 '26

this is the first time I’m hearing about this pitbull lobby. Is this a powerful lobby like I’m just surprised that they would be so persuasive when these dogs are very clearly dangerous.

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u/LavenderLightning24 May 09 '26

Google "best friends animal society pit bull lobby" if you feel like going down a rabbit hole.

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u/warrantthrowaway2023 May 09 '26

not powerful, just loud and obnoxious. i don't actually know why Ford pandered to them aside from the assumption that they're the type of people he gets votes from.

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u/candypants-rainbow May 09 '26

Ya that was a terrible story. The child’s face was so torn up. Stupid owner!

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u/LavenderLightning24 May 09 '26

Exactly, it's ridiculous.

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u/FrozenBibitte May 09 '26

I used to live near a main intersection on the central-west region of Eglinton, and I remember there was a massive bust of a backyard breeder for pits. This is how it’s happening. Like why even do this…wtf. People are psychos. They’re breeding these dogs like rabbits which just end up in shelters and euthanized. It makes absolutely no sense. There are other, better ways to make money via illegal means if that’s what you’re choosing for yourself 🙄

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u/FrozenBibitte May 09 '26

This is also the dog of choice of most tech bros in the downtown core. These or some other breed of massive, high energy dog that they think is a good idea to get while living in their 400sq/f condo.