Personal testimony: Taking care of each other
Christne Garcia and the "Pit Bull Posse"
by Sandy Miller
Photos by Molly Wald
Christine Garcia knows what it’s like to be bitten by a dog.
It was Mother’s Day 1971, and Christine was two years old. She made the innocent mistake of trying to take a bone from the family golden retriever’s mouth. It took 22 stitches to mend her face.
Even though her ordeal was terrifying, Christine didn’t think all golden retrievers should be banned or rounded up and euthanized. And that’s why she can’t understand why anyone would want to ban or kill Roo, Roxi, Smokey and Capone, the beloved dogs she refers to collectively as her “Pit Bull Posse.”
“Judging a dog by his breed is like judging a human by the color of their skin,” Christine said. “It’s racial profiling for dogs.”
Roo, a female red-nosed pit bull, was the first to come into her life. It was September 2004 and life wasn’t going so well for Christine. She was grieving the loss of some people close to her and she was disenchanted with her job. That’s when a friend gave her Roo, who had her own challenges. She had a heart condition and she tired easily. She had to take medication, eat a special diet and make frequent trips to the veterinarian. Christine said taking care of Roo took her mind off her own problems. The healing began.
“He saved me by giving her to me,” Christine said of her friend. “Roo is my heart.”
It wasn’t long before Roxi, another red-nosed pit bull, Smokey, a blue pit bull and Capone, an American Staffordshire terrier, joined the family in their home in Commerce City, a community outside of Denver, Colo.
“I’ve had cocker spaniels, Scottish terriers and Westies, and never have I had a more affectionate breed of dog,” Christine said.
Christine became a tireless advocate for the breed she loves so much. She spoke to Colorado legislators at the request of Rep. Debbie Stafford when she was trying to get them to pass a law that, among other things, outlawed breed bans and held owners more accountable for the actions of their dogs, no matter what the breed. The law passed, but Denver challenged the law. The court ruled in favor of Denver, saying that because it was a “home rule city,” it had a right to enact a breed ban.
When Denver resumed its breed ban in May 2005, several neighboring cities, including Commerce City, rushed to pass their own breed bans.
“They thought, ‘All these people are going to move here with their pit bulls,’” Christine said.
Christine was a constant presence at City Council meetings.
“I broke down in tears in front of the City Council,” she said.
Still, the Commerce City Council passed its own pit bull ban. Christine’s pit bulls were grandfathered in, but she had to build an outdoor kennel, put a “Pit Bull on Property” sign on her fence, and purchase a $1 million rental insurance policy which costs her $200 a year. She also has to register her dogs each year. At first, the fee was $10 per dog. Now the city has raised it to $40 per dog.
That wasn’t all. When a local paper decided to publish the names and addresses of all pit bull owners, Christine and her dogs received death threats.
And none of them have ever hurt a soul in their lives.
“What crime did they commit other than being born?” Christine said.
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For all the latest on the Vicktory Dogs go here.
Meet some of the Best Friends pit bulls, including the Vicktory Dogs, here.