KC DOG BLOG

Cincinnati Repeals Breed Ban

Today, the Cincinnati  (OH) City  Council voted 8-1 to officially repeal th city's breed ban.  The current ban has been on the books since 2003, and has caused a multitude of problems, including spending thousands of dollars on prosecuting ban violators and having to use valuable police officer presence to enforce the ban.

Cincinnati has joined the entire state of Ohio, and become the 3rd of the 4 largest cities (Cleveland and Toledo were the others) in the state that repealed their breed bans within the past 2 years.

This is yet another step that shows how cities and communities continue to listen to the experts in animal handling in their communities in forming their animal welfare policies - -and these experts nearly unanimously oppose breed-specific laws.

Congrats to the great folks in Cincinnati for making this happen and for the wisdom of the council for moving forward without the breed ban.

Good news. And a good sign that public opinion is really changing and focusing on proper dog ownership, and animal behavior, and not a dog's looks, as a means for determining dangerous dogs. Hooray.

Last week's fatal attack in New Mexico

Last week, 16 month old Jazilyn Mesa was tragically killed by the family's dog.  According to Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, Director or animal services, the dog and child were apparently left alone in the back at the victim's granparent''s house.

Apparently the child's grandmother heard the ruckus and went out to help the toddler and a neighbor ended up shooting the grandmother in the leg while trying to shoot the attacking dog. The grandmother will recover from her injuries.

The dog is being described as a "pit bull".

Local authorities seem to get that circumstances are what lead to attacks -- according to Vesco-Mock "It's not a dog issue. It's not a pit bull issue. It's a responsibility issue. When you get these dogs, you must train them and supervise them, especially when they're around children."

Indeed.  And this is true of any dog.

This is really a tragic case that was easily avoided with adult supervision over the toddler and the dog's interactions.  My heart goes out to the family in this case.

An influx of animals, an adoption promotion, and a village of support

On Wednesday of this week, the KC Pet Project took in 109 animals. We're an open intake facility, so some days you're at the mercy of what animal control delivers that day. But man, did they deliver.

To put this in perspect, our small-ish shelter has a capacity for about 250 or so animals comfortably. Beyond that, it gets pretty crazy. We impount about 550 a month, on a busy month, so 109 is about what we get in a week, not a day.

On Thursday, we were able to ship out 65 (ish) cats to other area shelters. The other area shelters really helped us out in our time of need (and our cat rescue coordinator is amazing).  Dogs were still a problem though, as everyone in the city is full on dogs. So, what do you do?

Well, you send out a plea to your media. 109 animals in a day is a lot. 200+ in a week is a lot. That's newsworthy. So, the media was contacted, and because the media in this town has been mostly supportive of animal welfare in this community of late, they came, and ran some great stories.

We coupled this a "Mother's Day Adoption Special" -- because the public loves to help when you give them a reason to.  And so, yesterday, was a pretty good adoption day, but hopefully today and tomorrow will be amazing adoption days with last night's news coverage.

I've often said that it takes a village to make a No Kill Community. It takes the help of other shelters and rescues, the support of the community to adopt, and the media to cover, and a team of dedicated people at the shelter working to make it all happen.  And it can. But I'm super-duper proud of our team at the shelter this week who has done amazing work in saving lives and I'm thankful for our rescue partners. And I'm thankful to the community that continues to come out and adopt when we need it most. 

It takes a village -- but we've got a really good village.

DeKalb County, GA Repeals Ban on Pit Bulls

Today, the DeKalb County, GA County Commission repealed its ban on 'pit bulls'.

"It has not been an effective tool for being able to get rid of dangerous animals," said Commission Jeff Rader who had championed the change. "We are better served relying on (our breed neutral) criminal code."

The county had taken in thousands of dogs n recent years, driving up euthanasia rates and expenses.

Expensive. Not Effective. That's a breed ban. 

Very good sentences....Kansas City Adoptions

"Obviously, there are thousands of animals at shelters in Kansas City, and I think a lot of groups go out of their way to make it hard for people to adopt. Kansas City is a metropolitan area. A lot of people live in lofts, condos and apartments. They don’t have backyards. But that doesn’t mean they can’t offer a good home."

This is my quote in an article written by a frustrated Kansas City reporter who was looking to adopt a Boxer and was denied by several rescues for not having a yard, and by another because she already had a dog of the same gender at home (even though she was adopting a puppy and her dog at home got along better with same gender dogs) and had other groups who failed to even return her calls or emails.  So she wrote a story about the experience, and strict adoption requirements at shelters and rescues.

 I have no idea why so many groups still hold onto blanket policies like this. This doesn't mean you're adopting to bad homes, it just means you have to ask the right questions and match the right people with the right dogs and cats.

Thanks Jenee for telling your story and for letting me be a part of it.

74 Year Old New Mexico man found dead from dog attack

Late last week, 74 year old Cliff Wright of Sante Fe, NM was found dead from a dog attack. The man was found dead laying in the front lawn and was apparently watering the lawn.

There were no witnesses to the attack, but autopsy reports have confirmed the man died due to injuries sustained in the dog attack. There were 3 dogs at the home, but 2 were kenneled and could not have been involved. The dog involved is said to be a 'pit bull'.

There just isn't a lot of information about this sad story, but my heart goes out to the family, particularly the son, who lost his mother early in life also.

Fatalities such as this are extremely rare, but can happen. But as always, I note that there are 78 million dogs in this country, and only about 25 or so fatalities a year from dogs - -so they are extraordinarily safe.

The story was picked up by about 20 news sources.

Weekly Roundup -- Week ending 5/6/12

First off, I'm going to note that I'm going to make some significant changes to the roundup. I just feel like the post is getting too long and people aren't reading. I also feel like a lot of things are losing their timeliness by waiting until the end of the week. So, here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm still going to do the roundup - but I'm going to stick with just the most interesting stuff (as determined by me) and stuff that I think you're most likely to have missed. I'm also going to start posting more stuff during the week on facebook (kc dog blog on facebook) and @kcdoblog on twitter.

Cities/States and Laws

Tupelo, MS no longer is considering a breed-specific law.

A dog in Ontario spent a year and a half in in the shelter while her owner tried to save her from the provencial breed ban by proving the dog wasn't a 'pit bull'. It just seems ridiculous that the debate wasn't whether the dog was aggressive or not (everyone actually agreed she wasn't), but about what she looked like as to whether or not she would be put down.

A case where a retired police officer's dog was seized from him because of a city's breed ban is still alive. Courts ruled that the man should be able to keep his service dog under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the city of Aurelia, IA is now appealing the decision -- spending more taxpayer money trying to keep a man from keeping a non-aggressive dog. 

The small community of Washington, LA (Population 900) made national news after they passed a breed specific law and then went around seizing people's pets. People both locally and nationally were outraged by the incident.

Dog bites/attacks

An Omaha woman was injured breaking up a fight between her two dogs. Omaha passed heavy restrictions on 9 breeds of dogs in 2008, but the number of bites has actually increased, not decreased, since the law was passed.

A 20 day old infant was badly mauled by the family's Jack Russell Terrier -- further highlighting why educating parents to not leave their toddler unsupervised with the dog is a much smarter approach that breed hysteria at helping stop these types of injuries.

Kansas City Area Local News

Chihuahuas on parade for Cinco de Mayo as a gret fundraiser for one of our local organizations.

According to new reports, the number of licensed commercial breeders in the state of Missouri is just over 1000 -- down from 1802 in 2008. Increased awareness of some of the bad conditions at these commercial breeding operations, along with increased enforcement of cruelty laws is helping bring that number down.

No Kill

The Springfield, MO animal shelter celebrated 6 months of not euthanizing any "adoptable" dogs. This has been a tremendous feat by the area rescues (the Springfield shelter doesn't adopt out any animals), but the city is still mis-representing they're success by hiding behind the word adoptable.

Miscellaneous

The Humane Society of Missouri is under scrutiny as their executive director earned an average of $400,000 a year over the past 2 years while the organization operatated at a deficit.

An article from South Florida tries to instill fear about 'pit bulls' by showing what percentage of dangerous dogs they made up in Broward County. However, according the chart, only 17 dogs were put down in a 3 year period due to aggression toward humans -- this is an amazingly low number for such a long time period in a county of more than 1.7 million people.  Most were put down due to aggression toward cats...

Bringing together dog and new baby -- a great educational segment that new parents with dogs can learn from. I wish more news stations ran this type of segment instead of the sensationalism that often exists in local tv media.

Tired dogs may be riskier than not tired ones as tired dogs may be too tired to have the same self control.

Blogs

Is catastrophizing effective - Seth Godin with good food for thought on something I know many animal welfare groups do

Does your local pound kill animals because they want to? -- Great thoughts (per usual) from YesBiscuit!

Bad owners make bad dogs -- it's a matter of fact - a great blog from WTOP in Baltimore.

Lawn chemicals may lead to cancer in dogs -- it makes sense that dogs that run in yards with chemicals and then lick their paws would ingest enough of the chemicals to cause long-term harm.

Vick Dogs: Five years post-seizure. Has the cruelty ended?  -- Bad Rap looks at progress for animal cruelty victims post the Vick bust.

Guilt: it's not just for Jews and Catholics anymore (Purebred dog owners can play) -- from Dogknobit

Should we save Helo? -- Good commentary on a dog involved in a fatal bite incident from Jim Crosby

The forgotten dogs of Milwuakee -- From Wisconsin Watchdog

Confession: I don't like pit bulls - - Central Ohio Dog blog Notes that she doesn't like pit bulls - -and why she still defends them and you should too

The Top 5 +1 for April, 2012

The Top 5 is a monthly look at the 5 most popular posts of the month based on information from Google Analytics.  The +1 is my chance to highlight a post that I wish had made the top 5, but didn't.

1) Compassion (and have we lost it when it comes to people)? -- My wife and I witnessed a sad event, and then I feared that on man's tragedy of a dead dog could result in judgment vs compassion.

2) Are Shelters euthanizing the wrong dogs for aggression? -- some thoughts from Ian Dunbar. I'm not sure I've ever had a post that brought a more divided response than this one.

3) The anatomy of a dog bite -- I nearly witnessed a dog bite from a dog that showed outstanding control in not biting a child that was not being well supervised.

4) The costs of no kill animal control vs no kill shelters -- why the two have to work hand in hand

5) Very Good Sentences -- Ontario Bill 16 Testimony -- One of my favorite quotes by a legislator in a really long time about breed specific laws.

+1 A lot of empty cages this morning -  A successful weekend with the ASPCA's Mega Match-A-Thon left the KC Pet Project with a lot of empty kennels -- which shows the power of promotion in helping getting animals adopted.

 

 

Atlanta Humane Society imports thousands of animals while others die down the street

I'm going to post this story here, courtesy of Yesbiscuit!.

According to the news report below, from Fox 5 in Atlanta, the Atlanta Humane Society, imports literally several thousand animals a year from other parts of the country, and even from the Bahamas, while the metropolitan area of Atlanta kills about 50,000 animals a year.

According to the numbers in the report, 933 adoptable animals at AHS came from residents of Atlanta and a whopping 3683 were transferred in from other shelters. But of those transfers, only 265 (7%) came from metro shelters, and the majority came from other states.  So while 50,000 animals a year were killed in the metro area, AHS imported another 3418 animals from outside the metro.

There is a lot to comment on about this article. We could focus on the fact that AHS has a budget of about $4 million and apparently adpted out about 5500 animals (so about $727 per animal). Or we could focus on importing animals into a city that is already killing 10s of thousands of animals or that an area shelter, the Fulton County animals shelter, kills about 63% of its animals (about 6500 total) and AHS pulls only a few from them.

Regardless of what you want to focus on, I think it's important to note that this is a situation that is NOT unique to AHS. There are many shelters around the country that do this very same thing. While, in some ways, I agree that all animals that need saving need saving, regardless of where they come from, it still strikes me as troubling when animals are imported in from other areas while animals are dying in shelters just across town.

And this further highlights, to me, that a) you should know the policies of the shelters that you give your money to and b) that we need to put a greater emphasis on no kill communities than we do no kill shelters. While No Kill shelters are great, a community approach is by far the best approach to saving a community's animals.

Please watch, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. And hats off to Fox 5 in Atlanta for a compelling, and seemingly factual piece.

I-Team: Atlanta Humane Society Animal Origins: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Meanwhile, in the spirit of full disclosure, this is AHS's response to the article....which doesn't seem to refute the facts presented in this case.

Weekend dog bite fatality in Henderson, NV

Over the weekend, tragedy struck a Henderson, NV family.

On their child's 1st Birthday, the family gathered together and opened presents while the family dog was around. 

However, later in the evening, as the child's grandother got ready to put young Jeremiah Shanahan to bed, but as she went for the child, the child grabbed the dog on the sides to pull himself up (he is just learning to walk). When the child grabbed the dog, the dog spun around and attacked the child.h

By the time the boy's father broke up the rukus, the boy's injuries were severe and the boy later died at the hospital.

The family says the dog, described as a "Mastiff-Rhodesian Ridgeback mix" as always friendly, well socialized with the child, and even upon leaving he home, seemed oblivous to the damage he had done.

This is a horrible tragedy for the family. It continues to reinforce that children and dogs need to be supervised together at all times, being cautious of things a child might do to injure a dog.  It is also important to have a strong knowledge of dog behavior that allows you to recognize warning signs when the dog is with the child. This is why I have for years pushed for organizations like Family Paws that focus on dog owner education to help people understand how to keep children and dogs safe together. It's not that hard -- with a bit of education and a lot of diligence. They even have a toll-free hotline for people to call for help and advice.

I also think it further highlights why the clowns out there who insist that dog bites are a breed-specific issue are further causing more ignorance and getting us further from the eduation we need to prevent tragedies like this and are causing a lot of harm vs actually helping solve the problem.

My heart goes out to the family in this case.

The story has been picked up by 3 different news outlets.