Me, Chena and my roomate spent New Years Eve weekend on the road and in Vancouver BC. It was the first time I had been to Canada since I was a kid and I’ve been told numerous times to go to Vancouver if not Toronto. I know that Toronto has now banned pitbulls among other breeds in the city, which is completely disturbing so I was worried about what peoples attitudes in Vancouver would be. I of course found out if she was even allowed in the city, which she was, then I made sure that I had all the paperwork needed to exit the country, something I’m used to and is often a hassle. Surprisingly I only needed her rabies papers but since the only ones I have are in Spanish, I had to get her a shot the same day we were planning to drive over the border. The BC website did not have a “too soon” date for the shot so we took our chances and left around 6pm for a 7 hour drive. We spent the first night in an amazingly expensive house just before the border near Bellingham. My friends parents had just bought a house there and she was in town for the holidays. The border crossing was flawless, I put her rabies paper in my passport and they didn’t even mention her or ask any questions, I don’t eve know if they looked at the paper really. The first day we went to Stanley park, a huge area between Vancouver and North Vancouver on the water. There were people everywhere and many with dogs and having forgot Chena’s leash I was using my scarf as an alternative. At first I kept her on the leash just to sooth other peoples paranoia (like im used to doing) but soon enough I got tired of making her watch all the other dogs run freely. I let her off to run around and pee on everything while she ran up to other dogs to say hello, sniffed their butt and left. Only one person was “cautious” when she went over to greet them, but they were obviously horrible people anyway as they aggressively drug their dog and swung it by its leash to “save it” from Chenas wagging confusion. Even a lady with a small child was happy to see her son interested in Chena and let him pet her and not once looked nervous or afraid. I had her pose several times for photos and she was so professional at it people commented on her saying “she should be in commercials!” and some people were even taking pictures of her from behind me. It was awesome. Girls walking by on the trails didn’t hide behind their boyfriends and guys didn’t idiotically say “is that a pitbull?! badass!”… im so sick of people saying that I now tell stupid people “no, shes a poodle” and walk away. The hotel didn’t care about her breed and pretty much everyone pet her and said she was cute. One woman at the front desk was “worried” for the cleaning lady even after I assured her she had met the woman and wouldn’t hurt a fly. I left a note telling the woman that Chena was in the room and she didn’t have to clean it if she didn’t want and she did anyway, even after the woman at the desk was going to tell her not to because Chena “might be territorial”… a dog I’ve had for 9 years, who doesnt bark. and has lived and played with kittens and bunnies alike is suddenly going to kill a cleaning lady? right. Anyway, I thought it was funny that the room was clean and someone probably had a good time petting her as well. Overall, of the 4 countries and numerous cities Chena has now visited, VANCOUVER IS THE BEST! I’d even consider moving there if it means we didn’t have to deal with the ignorant discrimination we do every single day here in Portland (and did in Buenos Aires as well). We’ll find a place we can live happily soon enough. Canada’s a bit cold for me but It’s now on my list of possible places to live.
~Amber
p.s. This doesnt really say much for the status of any bans in the city but it does say that many people in Vancouver are pretty damn smart, sadly people and government are not always in agreement.. so lets hope for the best!
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