“True he ain’t pedigreed, Sandy, there ain’t no better breed.
And he really comes in handy,
‘Specially when you’re all alone in the night
And you’re small and terribly frightened it’s
Sandy, Sandy who’ll always be there!”
“Sandy” Original Annie movie
I am an extremely proud Colorado native. Born at St. Joe’s, raised in Lakewood, after a brief stint in Boulder, I’ve spent the last twenty years in Denver. I love Denver! We are one of only twelve U.S. cities to have all four major sports leagues- Avalanche, Rockies, Nuggets, and Broncos. I have season tickets to our lacrosse team the Colorado Mammoth. We have a pretty cool zoo, tons of discovery filled museums, not to mention the Rocky Mountains! We are currently one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. Over fifty thousand people moved here last year. I’m not one of those transplant hating natives. In my opinion, if you want to move here and contribute to our booming economy, more power to you. We were one of the first states to legalize marijuana and whether you partake or not, there’s no arguing the benefit of over forty three million dollars going to our Denver public schools in just the first six months of legalized weed. $43,000,000 that’s six zeros!
We have tons of great concert venues from the Bluebird Theatre, the Ogden theatre, the Gothic theatre, Fillmore Auditorium…the list goes on. All the cool bands play here. Not to forget Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a naturally formed astounding place to hike, do yoga, catch a flick or swoon to Jack White’s latest. I had my high school graduation ceremony at Red Rocks, a special bragging point I tell my transplant friends. We’ve also become a great city to be a foodie in, with a multitude of new restaurants opening all the time and classics like Buckhorn Exchange and Cholon Bistro or any spot in Larimer Square to enjoy. I’m salivating just thinking about them. We are second only to Hawaii in having the most sunny days per year of all fifty states. Most days feel warmer in Denver because we are actually closer to the sun at one mile above sea level. ONE of the reasons for our nickname, the “Mile High City.”
As a disgruntled angsty teen, I thought I’d flee Colorado without a check in my rear view mirror but I’m a proud graduate of Denver Automotive and Diesel College now and there’s nowhere I’d rather live. Denver is a fantastic place to raise children. Our school break days are filled with fun and affordable excursions to Confluence Park to tube on the Platte River, to 16th Street Mall especially during the annual Zombie Crawl, cruising the free Mall Ride down to Writer’s Square with a stop at Rocketfizz, the coolest candy store around.
Did I mention the mountains? I’m not sure how people in other states tell East from West, but here we have a gorgeous view. Heaps of resorts to choose from to enjoy skiing, snowboarding or tubing. Though it can be pricy for some, every fifth grader in the state is eligible for the Colorado 5th Grade Passport, an amazing program that includes three FREE days to over twenty participating resorts, a great way for every Coloradan to enjoy our winter sports. Fifth grade is right around the corner for my daughter. 🙂
I may be gushing but I LOVE Denver. I’ve even considered a Denver skyline tattoo, or maybe the state flag. Denver’s rules…. except for one glaring exception- Denver’s pit bull ban. Since 1989, Denver has maintained a controversial twenty year prohibittion on any dog that appears to be more than fifty percent pit bull. This law is breed specific, criminalizing all pit bulls regardless of temperament and frankly I think it’s ridiculous and asinine. Denver has impounded 5,286 dogs under it’s pit bull ordinance. It has been estimated that AT LEAST 3,497 pit bulls have been euthanized under Denver’s ban. It remains the toughest in the nation and the city also has a reputation as the country’s toughest enforcers of this breed specific law.
One of my very best friends moved out of Denver ten years ago because of this ludicrous ban. Aly and I go way back, all the way back to kindergarten. She rocks and I miss her all the time but she owned a pit bull and Denver made life unbearable for her and her dog, Rocco. It got so bad when police started cracking down that Aly would drive Rocco to Lakewood, a nearby suburb for exercise or she would walk him near her home in Denver late at night, constantly fearing the repercussions. She was chased down by a dog catcher in Washington Park one day, questioning her on her dog’s breed. She was just walking her dog, who was behaving himself perfectly yet she was the criminal. Somehow, she convinced the guy that Rocco was an American Bulldog, probably because weighing in over a hundred pounds, he was bigger than the average pit. Had the dogcatcher determined her dog was illegal, she would have been issued a ticket with a fine and been given a week to prove her dog had relocated out of the city or they would put him to sleep. If she gave them a new address, out of town, these officers would follow up, stopping by the new dog’s new address to verify it was no longer living in Denver. Almost 4,000 dogs were killed, simply for being born stronger and smarter, based on so many false myths and beliefs that some dogs are just born bad instead of the fact that some owners are failures.
Can you imagine if one day your city decided that orange tabby cats were outlawed because of their viciousness? If thousands of German Shepherds were rounded up and euthanized for the supposed trademarks of their breed? What if Denver decided left-handed people were dangerous?In most households, dogs are members of our family. It’s absurd that one breed was singled out. True, there were several ferocious pit bull attacks and I feel for those victims, but thousands of dogs died because of a few bad owners.
According to an article in the Westword written by Jared Jacang Maher , ” Denver has never done an audit of the pit bull ban, never conducted a study of how effective it has been, never established a commission to determine whether one of Denver’s most controversial policies is actually accomplishing what it was created to do.” According to a six-month investigation by Rocky Mountain PBS I-News and 9News, analyzing biting incidents along the Front Range between 2012 and early 2014, Labradors and Lab mixes were most prone to biting but if Denver banned Labradors and started euthanizing people’s pets the city would be in an uproar.
Aly and Rocco moved to Milwaukee to get away from the stigma of owning a pit bull in Denver, to stop breaking a narrow-minded, biased law. She moved across the country to another city to start a new job with only her best friend Rocco as a companion. Though I worried about her and missed her all the time, I was reassured that Rocco was with her. What fool would mess with a girl walking a 120lb. dog? Seriously? When I found out last week that Rocco had passed away, I literally burst into tears. I was bawling my eyes out at my son’s basketball practice. HE WASN’T EVEN MY DOG! but he was the sweetest, kindest boy. I was devastated for Aly knowing what a gigantic part of her life he was. Rocco was like a son to Aly for almost fourteen years. He had his own Facebook fan page and it wasn’t even a posthumous tribute. He was loved. He was the only friend Aly had when she moved to Milwaukee and even though he was the reason she had to move, he meant everything to her.
As much as I will always love Denver, this backwards law needs to be overturned. It is 2015 and not only do I not have my hoverboard! I live in a city that ignorantly supports canine racism. Trying to solve a problem as complex as aggressive dog behavior by targeting an entire breed type and criminalizing responsible loving dog owners is unjust and unfair. Please share if you agree. Sign and share the link.
