Pit bull owners rallied in defense of their beloved dogs on Sunday to show support for the breed after calls came to ban it following an attack on a toddler.
Three-year-old Justice Paradis was rushed to hospital on Friday after his family's pit bull suddenly turned on him, biting the boy several times in the face.
The youngster was mauled after his father inadvertantly let the family pit bull -- called Haze -- inside their Surrey home.
The boy's grandfather, Bill Paradis, told CTV News on Saturday that the dog is usually kept on a chain outside the family's house.
Justice is home from hospital now and the family says he is expected to fully recover, but Haze is likely to be destroyed.
The owner of three pit bulls, Shelagh Begg organized the rally out of frustration with media coverage of Friday's attack.
Begg said any dog could be set off if it was constantly chained up outside and not used to small children.
She said that as is often the case, as soon as the words "pit bull" is mentioned people blame the breed.
"The people that either own this breed or have experience with this breed, they get it," she said. "We need to look at the cause and the effect. Let's start looking at accountability of the owner rather than looking at the breed because any dog is capable of the things we're hearing about."
Others at the rally on Sunday agreed.
"The people who own these dogs and are allowing their dogs to be in these sorts of situations, those are the people that need to be held accountable," said Kristin, another pit bull owner.
Kristin says there's a huge difference between the public perception of her own pit bull and reality.
"[My pit bull] is a lovely dog, she loves people and people want to get to know her. I have people come up to me and say 'you know I heard all these terrible things about them' but after meeting her, their perception's totally changed," she said.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart.
