Rally organizer: Pit bull owners to blame for breed’s bad behavior | News

More than 200 people and about 75 dogs took to the streets Wednesday evening to save pit bulls from being banned.

The rally was organized by Cash Frackiewicz in response to an attack on a 9-year-old Vancouver boy two weeks ago. Three pit bulls rushed out of a home near Harney Elementary School and mauled the fourth grader.

The boy is expected to make a full recovery, but at least two Vancouver City Council members have taken up the cause to get a pit bull ban in place.

Those who are opposed to a pit bull ban argue dog owners are to blame when their pit bulls violently act out.

“It’s the irresponsibility of owners that don’t know how to properly train a breed or any type of breed,” said Frackiewicz. “You got to treat it more than just an animal. You got to treat it like a human being. It’s like raising a kid. You set your kid in a straight line and a dog will do the same. It will follow.”

Supporters of a ban point to Denver and Miami were the breed is already outlawed. They say the number of people that have been bitten has dropped. But Frackiewicz said people mainly use statistics that focus only on pit bulls.

“There’s more breeds out there than just pit bulls,” he said. “A lot of them go unpublicized” and don’t get the same amount of media attention.

More than 3,500 pit bulls have been put down in Denver since that city’s ban went into effect in 1989.

During Wednesday night’s rally, people came with signs that read, “Blame the deed, don’t blame the breed.”

Many also came with kids and pit bulls in tow, and some pit bulls showed off their talents, like climbing up a tree.

One dog owner said it’s un-American to ban them.

“This is Vancouver, U.S.A.,” said pit bull owner David John Kornelussen. “I mean, we stand for the rights of the individual. How about the rights of the individual animals, and the people that raise them?”

With all those dogs and humans in one spot and with no incidents, those at the rally said it was a perfect example of how pit bulls can behave.

“I was raised around pit bulls. I have been carried around by my diapers with pit bulls. Never once have I been bit by a pit bull,” said dog owner Kelsey Tarrents. “By a German shepherd, I had my face … torn, but I’m not against the dog or the breed.”

It was a sentiment echoed by many pit bull owners who said they feel their children will be safe around the dogs.

“I feel comfortable leaving her (baby) around them all day long,” said pit bull owner Savannah Vires.

Supporters of a pit bull ban will likely point to a 20-year-long Centers for Disease Control Study showing just under a third of all fatal dog maulings in the United States involve pit bulls or crossbreeds of pit bulls.

Vancouver City Council will take up the matter in a workshop Aug. 8.