Obviously I'm behind on this week's roundup - -and there is a LOT of interesting stuff to cover -- so I'm going to dive right in. And because I missed last week's roundup I'm going to pick up some interesting stuff from two weeks ago also. I'm particularly far behind on catching up on some of the blogs out there -- so many of those will fall to next week's roundup.
Cities/States and Laws
Manton, MI is appears to be considering potentially breed-specific legislation.
Nevada AB 324 is a newly introduced bill that would prohibit breed-specific laws in the state. Fourteen states have similar laws.
The city of Hopkiinton, IA recently discussed adding Rottweilers to the list of banned breeds in the city (which already bans 'pit bulls') after a 3 year old girl was killed by a Rottweiler last month. The city (wisely) chose not to ban Rottweilers, but the city continues to be an example of how knee-jerk legislation can get passed and how ineffective banning one type of dog is.
Daytona Beach, FL appears set to pass a law requiring all pets to be spayed or neutered -- in spite of the fact that such laws have failed virtually everywhere.
Patterson, LA has passed a new ordinance restricting the ownership of "pit bulls".
A Minnesota Bill would target people who photograph or videotape "animal facilities" -- targeting undercover photography or video taken of "factory farms" or "puppy mills".
Talks of mandating spay/neuter in Ft. Smith, AR have fortunately stalled.
An editorial that is critical of Castlegar, BC's breed-specific ordinance could hopefully push that community to repeal their breed ban.
Rhode Island is now discussing the Companion Animal Protection Act.
Xenia, OH is looking at a law that would ban all 'pit bulls' from the community and contains no grandfather clause.
Dog Bites/Attacks
Serious dog attacks are very rare when compared to the 78 million owned dogs in this country. But when they occur, a wide variety of different types of dogs are involved, which is why the circumstances surrounding these attacks is far more important than the type of dog involved.
A 2 year old Las Vegas boy was attacked by a 'pit bull' type dog that had apparently been involved in an attack 2 weeks prior. There is little info on the cause of the more recent attack, but the first one occurred as the owner was attempting to walk his dog off-leash and it wasn't voice responsive.
A Patton Township (PA) boy sustained what are described as "serious injuries" after being attacked by a Labrador Retriever.
A Boxer in Rome, GA apparently attacked four people after the dog contracted rabies. The dog bit the four people and then went off into the woods and died. Rabies cases in dogs in the the US (it's been like 30 years since someone has died of rabies contracted from a dog in the US) are extremely rare -- but this is a good reminder to people to always vaccinate your dog regularly.
A 7 year old Woodburn, OR girl was attacked by a 'pit bull"/Lab mix that was chained up in the yard where the girl was playing and the girl was running and tripped over the chain, which yanked the dog, which caused the dog to bite the girl.
A 10 year old Akron, IA girl was attacked by two 'pit bulls'. The girl was staying in the family's home and was playing in the back yard where the dogs were. No one witnessed the attack to know what may have started it.
A 75 year old Sharon Hill, PA woman was bitten in the face by the neigbhor's German Shepherd. Authorities say they believe the dog may have gotten its collar caught on fence between the two homes and the woman tried to help out the dog. Dogs can often bite when they are injured or scared -- as may have been the case in this situation.
A three year old Ontario (CA) girl was severely attacked by the family's bull mastiff/border collie mix that she was playing with in the yard, alone, while it was chained. Ontario has a ban on particular breeds of dogs -- which has done nothing to educate owners on responsible ownership practices and not decreased dog bites in the provence.
A 2 year old Ft. Smith, AR girl faces rabies shots after being bitten in the face by her uncle's Rat Terrier. The uncle shot the dog and buried it in the yard -- and didn't have any vaccination records for the dog.
A seven year old, Miami-Dade boy suffered severe wounds when a "German Shepherd type" dog as he was trying to protect his 4 year old brother and his brother's friend from being attacked by the dog that escaped from its backyard. Miami Dade has a costly and ineffective breed ban that continues to not protect the public from aggressive dogs.
A West Harrison, IN man was saved by two strangers that came to his aid as he was being attacked by two Boxers.
A Naples, FL toddler was bitten in the back seat of their car by the family's Black Mouth Cur.
Miscellaneous
Maybe the worst animal product ever.
A New Orleans area man was arrested after hitting his 'pit bull' our times with a baseball bat and stabbing the dog with a 4 foot sword.
A great article from The City Wire in Ft. Smith, AR that talks about better solutions than Mandatory Spay/Neuter laws.
The Cabarrus County, NC animal shelter's kill rate has dropped from 80% to about 50% by putting mor emphasis on adoptions wit a partnership with the local Humane Society.
Pit Bulls as therapy dogs -- a great article from the Oak Hill Gazette
Dogs are better than exercise equipment -- the New York Times article discusses that dog owners are more likely to get exercise than people who don't own dogs. The bad side though is that 9% of dog owners say they don't walk their dogs because their dogs are too ill-behaved to take on walks. Yikes.
Blogs worth reading
Dispelling "Pit Bull" Urban Mythology -- No Pit Bull Bans tackles some urban legends that strangely still exist.
After Mike Vick served his prison term for his involvement in a dog fighting ring, HSUS's CEO Wayne Pacelle embraced him and took him out on speaking engagements in the city of Philadelphia. While Vick has excelled on the field, his popularity seems to have increased dog fighting activity in the city -- Steve Dale has his thoughts after yet another dog fighting bust in Philadelphia.
A Canadian Cure for Homeless Pets -- No More Homeless Pets' Blog takes a look at Calgary's animal control model and its success in getting animals from the shelter back home. It's amazing that in spite of all of Calgary's success that more cities haven't embraced their service-oriented structure instead of being punishment based.
Playing Hide and seek with overhead costs -- and interesting read from Humanewatch
No mention of breed in article on AKC German Shepherd Dog Attack -- For the Pit Bulls takes another look at breed bias in the media.
Shelters Doing Good -- For the Pit Bulls has one of my favorite features on her blog of shelters that are doing better.
Hypocrisy of "The Bond" - Time4Dogs takes a look at Wayne Pacelle's new book
How to become a superhero (or...why I would never donate to a major charity) -- Freakanomics takes a look at why donating to a "microcharity" is superior to giving to a major national one. I think this is very applicable to the animal welfare world.
New Hampshire: A leading light for no kill -- Best Friends details Peter Marsh's case study in New Hampshire for targeted, low cost spay/neuter vs mandatory laws.
Wow, KC, you covered a lot in this blog. I totally am with you on the absurdity of banning certain breeds of dogs. How is anyone to prove the breeding of a dog anyway unless they have papers on it? The public only hears about the gruesome attacks by certain dogs and not the wonderful thousands of dogs of the same breed who are loving and non-aggressive.
And that link you have to the worst dog product? Who in their right mind would want a leash that looks like they are shooting a gun at their own dog???
Nice blog you have here!
Posted by: Karleen | April 18, 2011 at 10:40 PM
Someone on the "worst dog product" mentioned its being released on April 1. It sounds like it might have been a joke. I'm hoping at least!
Posted by: Michelle | April 19, 2011 at 05:52 AM