Stray pit bulls are getting a new leash on life in Saskatchewan as Montreal moves to join other cities that have banned the breed.

Tyson is the first of five pit bulls that were brought to the province through a partnership between Saskatchewan-based Prairie Sky Dog Rescue and a Montreal rescue group.

“Tyson is just a sweetheart and a goofball rolled into one,” said the dog’s foster owner Jon Claggett.

“He was a stray that was picked up. No one claimed him. The shelter he was at contacted the group and said, ‘you have three days to find something or he’ll be euthanized.”

Montreal city council is working on a bylaw to ban pit bulls and simillar breeds by the end of the year. The bylaw comes after a woman was killed by a pit bull earlier this year. Famillies who currently have pit bulls will be grandfathered in under the new law, but no new animals will be allowed to be owned in the city. That means strays like Tyson need to move.

Prairie Sky Rescues has been helping with that, using an online network of volunteers to help get dogs like Tyson to Saskatchewan.

Currently, Regina doesn't have any breed-specific laws. Instead, the city's animal control policy focuses on a dog owner's ability to control their pets.

“(Banning) a specific breed doesn’t make any sense,” said the Regina Humane Society’s Bill Thorn.

“There's really been no documented or proven instances of it where it's had the desired effect.”

Thorn says the best way to keep people, and their pets, safe is through education.

However, some communities in Saskatchewan have implemented pit bull bans, including Moosomin, which introduced a bylaw banning the breed in 2004.

Moosomin mayor Larry Tomlinson says the aim of the bylaw is to keep people safe, and that the town currently has no intention of lifting the ban.

Based on a report by CTV Regina’s Jamie Fischer