This is what can happen when we assume

Crossposted.
Charlies Story
Sunday, 14 January 2007
A True Story of a Dog Deemed 'Type'

On 15th May 2006** My puppy Charlie* was seized from my home under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Charlie had only been with us a couple of months. My son had returned home one night with this sorry looking pup and asked if we could keep him overnight. A man had been threatening to dump him as he no longer wanted him, so my son took him. I said he could stay one night…which stretched into two, then three and before I knew it the shopping list included extra sausages for Charlie!

We took him to the vets for a check up and they said he was a mastiff x. It never occurred to me anyone would think anything else…he was just a big not so bright soppy puppy!

On the 15th May** I saw people walking towards my home. I didn’t know they where coming for my puppy, he had never hurt anyone or caused any trouble at all. I let them in and they said they believed me to be in "possession of a red nose pit bull" He was only 8 months old yet several Police officers had a warrant for his "arrest". It told them he was a mastiff x and the R.S.P.C.A had told me that but they still took him.
My children where there and by now all crying. They didn’t understand why he had been taken and neither did I really. He hadn’t done anything at all, he wasn’t noisy nor destructive, not even strayed, and had never shown any aggression.. not once.

Charlie was taken to kennels but I wasn’t allowed to know where and I wasn’t allowed to visit him. My local papers ran the story titled “POLICE SIEZE VICIOUS PIT BULLS!” I was heartbroken, my Charlie wasn’t vicious ! He was a baby, an 8 month old puppy. All the time I worked to get him back home but the law was confusing me. I phoned lots of people for help, including My MP, Borough Commander, Police, R.S.P.C.A, Kennel Club and many rescues. I had Charlie’s documents from the RSPCA where it said “Mastiff x” but my dog was stuck in the system.

He had to be assessed to see if he was a banned "type" and that can take weeks before that can happen. It was only due to constant bombarding of emails from rescue organisations and the Kennel Club , who all helped push for Charlie's release, that I got my dog back. On 1st July** 2006 months after being taken, Charlie was allowed home! The breed expert had decided he wasn’t “of the type”. They chipped him before his release and stated he was a Dogue De Bordeaux. In two months he had been given three different breeds! To me he was just Charlie, my dog.

Charlie came home over the moon to be back. He had lost weight during his stay in kennels but sausages went back on the shopping list and today he is my slobbery soppy baby again. Reading the papers and seeing the proposed amnesties fills me with dread and heartbreak. It took weeks for my boy to be seen by a breed expert so who is doing the identifications? The police and the dog sections? The RSPCA? Vets?

THREE DIFFERENT OPINIONS CHARLIE HAD!

There’s no room for error during the amnesties. If they say your dog is “of the type” like they did to me, your dog may well be pts. Charlie would be dead.

And he isn’t a pit bull…they said so months later.

So if there’s anyone considering handing in your dog to the police because you think it might be of pit bull type, and it has never been vicious or bitten anyone don’t sign your dog over. They may be wrong, just as they where with Charlie.

*Charlie’s name has been changed to help protect his identity.
** Day and months have been changed to protect identities. The year is correct: 2006 and the length of time he spent in police care is the exact time spent.

As with everything mistakes are made and in this case a dog suffers, before that it was people being wrongly put to death.
However, with these 'amnesties' they are for people to hand over their own dogs to the authorities which means they can be destroyed immediately as they have been voluntarily handed over, however, if the police seize a dog they have to have it assessed to see whether it is of 'type', if this isn't done then the police aren't following the correct guidelines, OK the dog may be in kennels and it's wrong that people aren't allowed to see their dogs but I don't believe that there are going to be too many people who will lose their dog as the experts they are now using (unlike when the DDA first came into being and they used RSPCA 'experts') have considerably more experience with staffy type dogs.
Becky