Mary Kristie had her one-year-old dog, Daisy, put down in March because of a combination of what she calls heartless legislation and crippling insurance rates.

“She was a wonderful dog,” she said. “But for the outside chance that she did bite someone, I couldn’t afford to pay $10,000. I would lose my home.”

She added that even if the dog jumped up at someone with playful intentions, there was a chance she could be taken to court.

“If she jumped up excitedly at a senior or a child, I could have been in trouble,” she said.

There was a good chance of that happening, Kristie explained, because Daisy had a lot of energy. With that energy, Daisy had gotten loose three times, running around the block.

“People got scared and they called the police,” she said.

Kristie said she believed the police were called, not because it was a loose dog, but because it was a loose pit bull.

Kristie didn’t like the idea of having her dog muzzled in the back yard all day every day.

“It seemed like a pretty miserable life for a dog,” she said.

Daisy was still considered a puppy when she was put down. Kristie said the new rules wouldn’t allow her to sell the dog to a new owner, nor could she give the dog away.

“I was worried if someone else got a hold of her, they might not treat her well,” she said. “I felt so bad about putting her to sleep.”

But, she added, if the dog wasn’t treated well it could become the violent pit bull that people expect from the breed. In her opinion, that would be worse than putting the dog down.

“I’ve seen it too much,” she said. “Usually younger men seem to get off on the power of the dog. They taunt it into becoming violent.

“If you get someone doing things like that — it’s a bomb waiting to go off.”

It’s not just pit bulls, she said. Other dogs can be abused into becoming violent and ferocious.

“There’s an awful number of animals that aren’t pit bulls that bite,” she said, recalling being bitten by a German shepherd when she was a child.

Veterinarians in Timmins say they haven’t seen an escalated number of bookings for the neutering and spaying of pit bulls, in spite of the legislation’s 60-day grace period that gives an Oct. 28 deadline to have pit bulls neutered or spayed.

Ed Butterworth, veterinarian at the Timmins Animal Hospital, said he doesn’t believe he will see a jump in neutering and spaying surgeries at his clinic or any other.

He said the new legislation was “definitely” a stupid law.

“Stupid laws shouldn’t be obeyed,” he said.

Butterworth wouldn’t go into detail about the law or what makes it “stupid.” Instead he referred those details to the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association in Milton, Ont.

Lisa Gibbens, manager of communications for the association, said she wouldn’t call the law stupid, nor would she say that people shouldn’t obey it.

However, she pointed out key areas of the legislation the association opposes.

“Focus on the deed and not the breed,” she said.

She explained a dog’s tendency to bite is based on five components: heredity, early experience, later socialization and training, health and victim behaviour.

“This legislation only looks at one of those five areas,” she added. “It’s only based on heredity.”

Kristie said she wanted a dog for companionship and company, not aggressiveness.

She added she isn’t looking for another dog because of her experiences with Daisy.

“I miss her greatly,” she said. “I don’t think I can get another dog because this has been too upsetting.”