Pit bull supporters to push case today

London,Ontario, Canada-- Pit bull owners and those who say the breed should be banned are set to turn up the heat as public hearings into Ontario's proposed legislation to outlaw the dog begin today. The hearings come just three days after a four-year-old boy was attacked by three pit bulls in Ottawa while he was out for a skate. His 16-year-old brother came to his defence, fending off the dogs with a shovel.

"The relentless, ferocious nature of that pit bull attack is all too typical of other pit bull attacks that we see time and time again," Michael Bryant, Ontario's attorney general, said in an interview from Ottawa.

"Kids on skates, people walking their dogs, people in their backyards should be free -- free from being concerned about being attacked by a pit bull."

Pit bull supporters and politicians alike have weighed in on the debate, saying Bryant's proposal unfairly targets responsible dog-owners and that it misses the key issue -- preventing bites from all dogs.

"If you'll pardon the expression, I think the Liberals have pooched another issue," said Conservative Leader John Tory. "A ban on pit bulls is going to leave us in a few weeks or a few months, when there's an incident involving a German shepherd, saying, 'Well, what are we going to be doing about that?"'

Natalie Kemeny of Advocates for the Underdog, a pro-pit bull organization based in Windsor, -- where a ban on the breed has been in place since October -- says the bylaw has caused more problems than it's solved.

She says more dogs have been euthanized in the wake of the bylaw while dog attacks from other breeds continue.