I have talked about being a responsible pet owner a number of times, so when Ruby’s story came up on my Facebook feed over the weekend, I couldn’t help but be heartbroken for this family.

Ku-Ring-Gai Council have impounded a dog who escaped from her home. She had gone to visit her kids at school {a place she often went at pick up time, a place that Ruby knew as one filled with lots of kid love and belly rubs}.

From Team Dog’s Facebook page: Upon impounding it was found that Ruby had been declared a Restricted Dog (a ‘Pit Bull Terrier’ cross) by the Hills Shire Council in Sydney in 2011, when she was owned by someone else. New South Wales legislation allows an owner to contest this declaration through a breed and/or temperament assessment however her previous owner had not carried this out when the Council notified him of their intention to declare her restricted, which meant that Ruby was automatically declared a ‘Restricted Dog’ without further assessment or any appeal.

The Council holding Ruby, under new guidelines, can release Ruby back to her family so that they can have her breed and temperament assessed. Ku-Ring-Gai Council are happy to do this, believing Ruby would pass temperament assessment. But the original Council who declared her restricted have to agree to this. The official answer {after a two week wait} from Hills Shire Council? A resounding NO.

There is no reason for them to say no. Precedent has been set – another local Council recently released a dog in a similar situation. Ruby {and her family} should not be punished because her previous owner was not responsible.

Read more of the story here. Watch the video. Sign the petition.

Do you know if your dog is a restricted breed according to your local Council? My local Council’s legislation lists the specifically restricted breeds, but also has these two points:

any dog declared by a council under Division 6 of this Part to be a restricted dog;
any other dog of a breed, kind or description prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section. 

Further reading to understand these two points makes you feel like a dog chasing their tail. It seems that any ‘authorised person’ {ie Councillor or police officer} is able to ‘declare’ either Bella or Beary as a restricted breed.

I worry more about Beary falling into this category as malamutes are restricted in some areas, although not specifically in our Council. Bella – who would pass a temperament assessment at home, would definitely not pass one in a pound environment. They are safe at home with high fences and locked gates, and when we are out they are appropriately leashed, but DOG help us if somehow they got away.