Colleen attracts the feeble minded

I don’t usually engage in these discussions. It gives too much publicity to people who, like you, promote policy that actually endangers people. But I recently had an experience that shook me to the core, and though I am unusually slow to anger, this got me.

I’m not going to argue stats or research. Empirical evidence shows that your position on the safety of breed bans is wrong, as is stereotyping breed based on behavior.

Your one “expert” Merritt, refuses to allow for peer review, and his analysis has long been dismissed as wholly inaccurate and filled with flaws. You support groups with names that I refuse to publish lest we give them undeserved publicity, and have supporters who talk about owners of perceived breeds as being “Demon possessed witches.” Your followers regularly call for the killing of dogs perceived to be “pit bulls” or dangerous, through poisoning, shooting, and various other means. When they need you, the leader of your group to step up and discourage violence, all they hear are crickets.

But this goes deeper for me and let me explain why. This is about the exploitation of people’s fear and the predation of people in their lowest moments. It is reprehensible, and my experience with it lately shook me to the core.

Anyone who is paying attention knows our group and that we are working to remove breed specific legislation from Aurora. We, along with so many local advocates, are in favor of replacing it with breed neutral laws that truly protect public safety. We are also offering to provide resources to educate and help support responsible ownership. Our outreach is for the whole community, not just a select group.

Because of this, we are at City Hall regularly and attend a multitude of sessions, and meetings. But none stand out like this one or this woman, one of your followers.

She spoke at the city council meeting on March 3rd. She walked up to the podium and had to stretch to reach the microphone due to her tiny stature. She was, and this is a guess, somewhere between 70-80 years old and I was moved by her bravery.

She spoke in favor of keeping the ban. She discussed her son who had been an ER doctor who attended to a child that had been fatally injured when two neighboring dogs attacked. Not all the facts coincided with the actual police report but again, how brave of her to speak where the majority of attendants disagreed with her position.

She was in tears and, as she continued her story it was like I was reading your site verbatim. This time though, the inaccuracy and lies were through the voice of an elderly woman. She was terrified and one thing was clear, it was you and your friends who had fed that fear. You have not offered compassion or sympathy to her in a genuine manner. You have not spoken of real solutions, nor offered her a sense of safety. You had been her shoulder to lean on at a vulnerable moment in her life and your group, along with your cohorts, had exploited her fears for your own gain. It’s not a story we are unfamiliar with. We have all seen the screenshots of Dax’s father when he posted on Facebook of wanting to die. Our hearts ached for his pain and loss, and instead of reaching out in compassion, you typed (in caps) to contact him now!

No one seems to be off limits to you. Why is that?

Dax’s father has gone on to be one of your favorite tools to use in your “quest.” It is of particular note that we are at the year anniversary of that horrible tragedy. Again, you have worked hard to change the history of what happened, and so instead of learning from such tragedy, the same message is delivered from you.

He started a fabulous group that could do so much to prevent another death and educate parents on safety. Instead, he has been pushed to focus on breeds of dogs. We hope that at some point he moves past you. What a powerful voice he could have, and how many people he could reach if allowed to grow his group in a less myopic way. 

But back to the woman in Aurora. I went and spoke to her after her presentation. She is a delightful person. I wanted to reassure her that she had been lied to. That we, ColoRADogs, would never defend the keeping of any dog with an aggressive history, or who was a public safety risk. That our entire focus was safe, humane communities and that towns and cities throughout Colorado are proof that breed-neutral legislation works. I told her that we think all bites victims or dog related fatalities deserve the same treatment. Breed should not determine whether someone’s experience is worthy of attention. She knows that if there is ever an issue, if she is scared or feels threatened or simply cannot get someone to address an issue with a dog, she can call us. She knows we will come and help. One of our board members lives close by in Aurora, as do many of our volunteers.

We are not you or your friends Colleen. We are not voices that hide behind keyboards and use people to promote a dangerous and disingenuous agenda.

We are real and accessible, we live in Colorado communities, and we care about our neighbors and loved ones. It matters to us that an elderly woman is terrified because she has been filled with misinformation. It’s important to us when we hear of someone who has been bitten or worse by a dog, that instead of taking to our website to promote our agenda, we ask questions.

What could we have done better? What else can we do to help prevent these tragedies? What resources should have been available? What were the circumstances, and how do we help people to avoid those factors? What experts can we call upon to provide the very best possible education for dog owners? How can we truly help the family at this time?

Communities deserve better than you and your group Colleen. Coloradans deserve better. This is our state. Our mothers, fathers, children, and neighbors. People deserve safe, humane communities in our state and we will never stop working to provide that for the people and state that we love.