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Ink Stain was chosen by the 5280 editors to write about an issue relevant to living in Denver.
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On a sun drenched San Francisco beach, a sixty-pound white-faced dog with both the physique of a Mexican weightlifter and the gentleness of a ballerina, dances submissively with a frenzied Jack Russell terrier. The large dog falls playfully on her back, to let the super-charged terrier nip at her legs provocatively. It’s OK. The dogs here are all very well socialized, and that is the norm. Usually at this time of day, there are over five hundred of them running around on the surf unleashed, legally. My dog is the white-faced dog. I hate to brag, but she has the face of a movie star. People used to cross the street in San Francisco just to meet her. These dogs are amazing, it’s just how you raise them, strangers on the street would often remark. And they’re right. But it was not as if I needed to be told that. My wife and I raised Sophie, our American pit bull terrier in a place where socialization and education concerning all breeds is part of the culture.
However, in Denver, a dubious voter referendum was passed to ban any bull breed dog considered to look like a pit-bull, regardless of the dog’s temperament or history. In Denver, Animal Control confiscated Sophie for simply looking the way she did. I told the hostile and toothless Animal Cop at my door that I wanted to call my lawyer before he took Sophie away. He became irate and called for backup. Soon, I had regular cops and several additional control officers about to arrest me if I didn’t relinquish my dog immediately. They would have gladly kicked down my door had I not relented. Yet, my desire to protect Sophie took precedence over my augmenting rage. Like a good dog, Sophie simply hopped into the van when I asked her to. The officer carelessly explained that she was being taken because of attacks in the nineteen-eighties by pit bulls. I told him my dog didn’t do those attacks. I said it was like passing legislation against Latinos because they are perceived to commit more crime in some areas of the city than other people did. He reminded me that he didn’t yet write me up for resisting arrest.
They provoked Sophie to assess her temperament. That way, she could be considered dangerous even if she cowered in fear. All I know is what I saw. Sophie, a family-member, was released to us thirty-eight hours later with a deeply purple, contusion above her eye, which reminded me of the rich hue seen on casket linings. A disinterested and irritated clerk informed us we would have to sign an affidavit that would require a party outside the city to take possession of Sophie. In the agreement, the State of Colorado has the legal right to destroy Sophie if she is found in Denver City limits again. Not even in a car, can Sophie go East of Sheridan Boulevard.
My heartbreak and rage aside, Sophie’s story is also the story of an American icon falling from grace. Once her breed adorned RCA Victor record labels and there was a pit bull cousin named ’Petey’, from ’The Little Rascals’. Pit bulls were adored and lived everywhere in the America. Loved by all, pit bulls were the Shirley Temple of dogs in their time.
Now, at a time when the pit bull breed needs care and support to combat its infamy, the Denver government found a way to superficially assuage the public’s fear by attempting to legislate a problem out of existence. By criminalizing conscientious pit bull owners, the end result is only criminals are left to exploit this breed. Of course in reality, pit bulls are present in Denver. The dogs are either being raised with no socialization or in secret, with the local government determined to make this problem worse by instilling even more fear surrounding the perception of this breed with an unyielding ban. The public perception of the pit bull breed will recover, regardless of Denver’s arcane ban, as it has beautifully in San Francisco where all bull breeds are omnipresent. It is the animal abuser that should be criminalized, the one that fosters neglect and hostility in the animal, not the dog itself. Only when Denver finds the wisdom to promote education over legislation, socialization over criminalization, will animal care triumph over destructive animal control.
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( Back Story )
5280 Magazine reviewed tons of submissions for this section. Yet, they found even highly accomplished writers stumble when queried for strong or controversial opinions about their own city. Frustrated with a plethora of “Denver is a nice place to live, I ski, I love it here,” writings, they asked me to tell my story. I was told later, this piece was one of the best they had published in this particular section. Having something to say, in all forms of writing is the most important ingredient for impact. Business writing is no different. What makes your product or service unique? How does your product make a difference in the lives of others?
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