Ruby vows to defend pit bulls
National post

TORONTO - One of Canada's most prominent criminal lawyers says he will fight a ban on pit bulls in court if the Ontario government makes it law. Clayton Ruby said the pit bull ban, first proposed last October after a spate of highly publicized attacks, is based on shoddy science and targets dogs instead of owners. "What the Attorney-General has given us today is a quick, cheap fix," said Mr. Ruby, who accused MPP Michael Bryant of using the pit bull ban to score political points. "Mr. Bryant is a new Attorney-General who is making a wonderful mark for himself. You all noticed. That's the end of the story." A similar legislative initiative in Italy began by targeting one breed and ended with the ban of 93 breeds, Mr. Ruby said yesterday. "They banned the Queen's corgis," he said. "There's no end to [this]. People migrate from breed to breed if they want a vicious dog. We've got to focus our attention -- and it's not cheap -- on training owners, taking negligent owners and refusing them the right to have a dog, intervening at the breeding stage to stop puppy mills that turn out vicious dogs. All these things cost money and enforcement." Mr. Bryant, who was unavailable for comment, has called pit bulls "ticking time bombs" and "inherently dangerous animals." The coalition of clients Mr. Ruby represents -- including the American Staffordshire Terrier Club of Canada, the Dog Legislation Council of Canada, the Golden Horseshoe American Pit Bull Terrier Club, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada and Advocates for the Underdog -- believes the pit bull has been vilified by frenzied media attention that has largely ignored attacks by less conspicuous breeds. They mentioned a U.S. girl who was killed by a four-pound pomeranian and a violent attack by a German shepherd.