Walk with BSL Awareness Walks in Gloucester on Sunday, May 19th at 11am. They will start at Stage Fort Park, walking down the promenade and up Main Street and back down via Rogers. The walk will take up to two hours and they will congregate at the end to talk and say hello to one another and our pups! All responsible owners of any and all breeds are welcome to join the walk.
Nancy Julian, the coordinator of BSL Awareness Walks, reached out to me to let me know about the event in Gloucester this weekend.
(Nancy’s Dog, Frankie)
“BSL is made up of responsible bully breed owners and our well-behaved dogs challenging stereotypes one step at a time; changing minds one walk at a time.”
They walk in towns and cities of Massachusetts and surrounding states that ban or banned ‘pit bulls’ or have or had BSL. So far they have walked in 7 towns in Massachusetts and one town in Rhode Island. BSL is breed specific legislation – laws which are targeted towards all dangerous dogs (supposedly), but ‘pit bulls’ primarily. Nancy started the walks in January in response to Mayor Menino and Councilman Consalvo wanting to repeal the new Animal Control law that came into effect on October 31, 2013. This law prohibits BSL in Massachusetts.
Here are two links for the BSL and the Facebook Event Page:
I love pit bulls and they definitely get an unfair rap. The pit bulls I have know have been the most loving dogs and great with kids. I don’t know why we are still dealing with these stereotypes. 100 years ago they were known as “Nanny dogs” because they were so loyal, kind and great with children.
A good example of their demeanor is something I witnessed a month ago in Boston. I was walking down Newbury Street and I noticed two pit bulls, well behaved on leash, get snipped at by two little toy dogs. The pit bulls did nothing, they ignored the tiny dogs as they continued to snap at them. We have to remember that it’s not just the dog breed that factors into a dog’s behavior, but also how they are raised and trained.
I hope you can come out to the walk and meet these amazing dogs.
~Alicia
Good Morning Gloucester 
Yeah… Pit Bulls are great with Children… until they go nuts and kill them.
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I’m only speaking from my own experience and to me they are big love bugs!
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Hi Charlie –
I wish you were at the walk on Sunday to meet our pups and all of the families – moms, dads, babies, toddler, school-agers and teenagers – walking with their bully dogs. The walk went well with nary a hitch and no one, no baby, no child, no teenager and no pups were hurt during the walk. Why is this you ask? Because bully breed dogs are ….. well ….they are just dogs, like any other breed. .
I think if you took the time to meet families who own ‘pit bulls’, they will tell you how loveable, cuddly and sweet their dog is and that they behave exceptionally with all people including children.
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Yes they are big love bugs and get a bad rap because of the way they are treated by most people.That being said i still would not own own one having children around frequently i would not take the chance.
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Hi Karen,
‘Pit Bulls’ are great with people including children!! If yo have friends with kids who own a ‘pit bull’ type dog, drop-in on them and watch how their pup interacts with the family. Most likely what you will see is an abundance of tail wagging, squiggly wiggling and too many kisses! ‘Pit bulls’ are very friendly dogs – unfortunately, the media sensationalizes and perpetuates the story of the these dogs as being vicious attack dogs and that’s just not true!
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Had a great time on the walk with my 2 daughters and 8 month old grandson Mason, who lives with my two Pit Bulls, and yes their is a lot of tail wagging and a lot of kisses. My Pit Bulls are very friendly. Thank you to everyone who came out for the walk on Sunday!
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Hello Alicia,
I just saw your post today – a week after you wrote it. I thoroughly apologize and thank you so much for writing the article and posting the walk information.
We had approximately 65 well-behaved pups and 60 responsible owners at the walk. Both pups and owners enjoyed meeting, walking and socializing with one another. It was a beautiful day, the walk went so well and the residents of Gloucester were very welcoming to our very large group.
Thank you Gloucester for having us!!
Nancy Julian
BSL Awareness Walks, Coordinator
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