KC DOG BLOG

Spay/Neuter Day - KCMO Political Candidates

Today was spay/neuter day in Kansas City.  Every month Spay/Neuter Kansas City does a monthly MASH clinic that offers spays/neuters to low-income people for very low cost.  These people are people who without this service would be unable to afford to get their dogs fixed.

This was a special day for SNKC because of the National Spay/Neuter Your Pet Day scheduled for February 27th by the United States Humane Society.  They were doing their part to make this a success.

Meanwhile, it has come our attention that many politicians have no idea what services are being offered to needy pet owners in the KC -- and that with more funding, resources and locations, many more dogs and cats would be voluntarily spayed and neutered by people throughout the metro area. 

So, many members of Kansas City Dog Advocates, Mid America Bully Breed Rescue, Spay/Neuter Kansas City, No More Homeless Pets KC and DIG volunteered to help out at the clinic.  While other members of SNKC and KCDA volunteered to give tours to local political hopefuls of the facility during the MASH clinic.  Political hopefuls got to see the spay/neuters in action and see the dogs that were being kenneled waiting their turn. 

                                                   They also got to see the inner-workings of the cat spay/neuter clinic, the big map on the wall with all of the locations of animal control calls in 2005.  This helps SNKC determine which areas are to target as "high risk" by the number of animal control calls come in from certain locations.  These areas are often candidates for more funding from Jackson county and various grants such as Bob Barker's foundation.   

They also got to meet one of the many dogs rescued by local volunteers.  She had been hit by a car on a weekend and animal control wasn't around to be called.  With their limited funding and resources, AC isn't open on the weekends or evenings.

As an added bonus, volunteers with the Winter Assistance program were there loading up supplies (straw, food, blankets, collars, etc) to take out to animals that were left out in the cold (it has turned VERY cold her again in Kansas City). 

The media was invited to this event...and of course, didn't think that political hopefuls attending a spay/neuter event was newsworthy (although a stray pit bull is prime-time news).  You certainly wouldn't want positive press to get out there.

Special thanks to the candidates that showed up today to find out what really goes on behind the scenes and to see the power of the volunteers in the animal welfare community.  These volunteers are the same ones that many current politicians want to ignore (even though many are doing things a well-staffed animal control would be doing) and even tick off by making the volunteer work more difficult by instituting bad laws.  I can't imagine the issues KCMO would face if it weren't for these huge networks of volunteers that take care of a huge number of animal issues.  The general public just doesn't understand how much time, and money, local volunteers spend taking care of dogs, and dog owners, in need.  I think this event opened more than a few eyes...

Candidates in attendance were Garrett Denzer (Sixth In-District), Mark Forsythe (Fourth In-District), Ezekiel Amador (Fourth In-District), Deth Im (Fourth District At-Large), Cindy Baker Circo (Fifth District At-Large), Brandan Ellington (3rd In-District), John Tancredi (4th District At-Large) and a representative from the Michael Brooks (Fifth District At-Large) campaign. 

I think it shows a lot when candidates are willing to learn more about what is happening in their city and listen to their constituents.  Candidates who are willing to listen to their constituents on animal welfare issues are likely to be the same ones that listen to you when issues arise in your neighborhood.

These candidates are among the list of dog-friendly candidates that are running for office (election is TUESDAY!).  Kansas City Dog Advocates has been following up with our candidates to get a gage for how all of the candidates feel about animal welfare issues.  If you live in the KCMO area, please check out the KCDA website for ratings and commentary on the individual candidates on animal welfare issues. 

As a dog owning population, it is our responsibility to vote for dog-friendly candidates.  This is our opportunity to make our voices heard come election time.

VOTE on Tuesday.

A note for the Westminster Kennel Club

Last week was the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show - the most popular dog show in the world.  Last year's best of show winner was Rufus (pictured) -- a Bull Terrier that is banned in many cities throughout the US due to stupid BSL.  There is a great article here on the WGN Website in Chicago by Steve Dale -- who is a friend to dog people everywhere.

Meanwhile, my hope is that somehow the Westminster Kennel Club can use it's power and influence to speak out against BSL.  Anyway, best to Rufus. 

Dogs in the Cold (Part 2 of 2)

Meet Shiver.  Shiver was found by some of the volunteers that were out distributing straw, dog houses and other supplies to people who owned dogs that were left out in the cold as part of the Winter Assistance Program.

While many of the owners were very grateful for the help the received, several turned their dogs over to the volunteers because they were unable/unwilling to take care of them.  Shiver was found nearly frozen to death in his back yard -- you can read his story here.  KMBC News covered this story Wednesday night also.

I could talk about how it was convenient for KMBC to tell Shiver's story and never mention that he is a pit bull (we wouldn't want people to know a poor, helpless, loving dog was a pit bull).  But I appreciate that they even covered this at all, so I won't berate them.

I could also talk about how angry it makes me that people would allow this to happen to a dog -- that they just wouldn't care, and treat the dog as disposable when someone came to help.  But that's really obvious and part of yesterday's discussion.

No, what I want to focus on is that it was volunteers that found this dog -- by chance, less than a day from freezing to death.  The owners didn't call.  Neighbors didn't see the dog and call.  Animal control was no where to be found.

Part of Animal Control's job is to keep people safe from stray dogs.  Another part of animal control's job is to keep dogs safe from people. 

In KCMO, they answer about 20% of their animal control calls.  While I have some beefs with their efficiency at times, the reality is that they are so horribly under-funded by the city that they can't possibly answer all of their animal control calls.  So they only answer urgent calls. 

Shiver was hours from death before she was luckily found by people, volunteers, who care enough to help dogs left out in the cold.  How many dogs like Shiver are never found?  How many dogs would end up like Shiver and never found if not for the Winter Assistance Program?  Why does no one at City Hall care about this and instead not only fails to provide them the resources they need, but also failed them by giving them an unenforcable mandatory spay/neuter law of all pit bulls (note, Shiver was unneutered) to also have to enforce, when they can't even properly take care of their current workload?  We've had several other inquiries about what to do about a dog next door that is likely going to freeze to death over night and people don't know who to call because animal control closes down at 6:00. 

KCMO, please repeal the mandatory spay/neuter law.  It's a complete joke and completely unenforceable.  Staff your animal control department adequately and give them the resources they need to do an adequate job.  This will make most of your problems go away.  And please quit relying on volunteers to do animal control's job for them...we're happy to help, but we have our own jobs to do.  People, demand better and make your voices heard.

Helping dogs when it's COLD outside (part 1 of 2)

It's been frigid in most of the midwest the past 6 weeks.  It's not been fun to be outside for any length of time -- with temperatures seldom going above freezing, and often dropping into the single digits.

Fortunately, as humans, we get to come inside to keep warm. Unfortunately for many dogs, they never get a break from the cold.

Several dog enthusiasts and volunteers have been trying to deliver straw, dog houses, dog crates (so people can move dogs indoors) etc to needed animals throughout the metro -- mostly in the city's less affluent urban areas.  Many of these people love their animals, but lack the understanding of how devastating the extreme cold can be for dogs, or the resources to do much about it.  Sadly, some just don't care.

Tuesday night, KMBC TV ran a story about these volunteers who are helping these cold dogs.  These volunteers badly need help in in helping  these animals.  In an email I received, they rented a UHaul and spent an entire day just helping dogs within about a 6 block radius of KC....helping over 30 dogs in that time period.  Six blocks is barely a dent in the overall problem that many of these dogs face.

If anyone wants to help -- please contact the winter assistance program. More info can be found here.  They're accepting donations for dog houses, crates, straw, chew toys, good tethers, and money to buy these things themselves and as always, Spay/Neuter Kansas City is accepting donations to get these dogs spayed and neutered (which many of them aren't at this point -- let's keep these animals that are already in sub-standard conditions from breeding more dogs that will likely be kept in a similar state).   And as always, manpower is MORE than appreciated in going to these neighborhoods and delivering the goods.

More tomorrow.

Stereotypes

One of the hardest things about fighting BSL is overcoming stereotypes that exist for pit bulls (and pit bull owners).  While it's true that many of these dogs have been bred and trained to be violent by the dregs of our society, the reality is that most of them are not that way, and that responsible owners can, and do, breed and train the majority of these problems out of the dogs.  The role of a dog ordinance should be to get at these irresponsible owners vs targeting specific breeds.

Unfortunately, as an animal community, we can sometimes be equally guilty of believing these stereotypes.  Late this week, one local, high-profile, rescue worker put a post on pit moxy regarding our work of preventing the ban of pit bull type dogs from Johnson County Parks.   I'm going to paste the comments here (with one irresistible comment from me in Blue) and then comment at the end.

"There are people that fight BSL without having a profound understanding of the breed and what they are doing. Those people are more likely to get the breed banned, than people who respect the limitations and potential of their dogs.

Pit Bull dogs have been "engineered" by bloodthirsty individuals for hundreds of year.(Let's not exaggerate here, the sport of dog fighting has really only existed for about 150 years...). While they are inherently people-friendly (its actually hard to make a Pit Bull dislike people -except Alan Hill) they also have an inherent urge to fight other canines. 

While Pit Bulls are not the only dogs prone to resolve conflicts and hierarchy via a dog fight, they are unlike any other canine when it comes to their determination to finish the fight. People that don't understand that behavior, should not own a Pit Bull. In the same line of thought, people that don't respect herding behaviors should not own a sheltie or Border Collie.

In addition, Pit Bulls have been bred for their superior fighting abilities for hundreds of years. (Actually Am Staffs have been out of the fighting gene pool for a long time.) To deny or ignore this fact is "Irresponsible"! 

Taking a Pit Bull to an off-leash dog park is a HUGE mistake... A mistake that can cost the life of other dogs and get our breed banned once and for all. (Um, they are in her city.)

I hope that every Pit Bull owner on this list is responsible enough and educated enough to know to NEVER take a fighting breed to a dog park. (Let's ban Shar-peis too!)

Taking a Pit Bull to a dog park and expecting him or her to mingle with other dogs and act like a Lab, is like taking a Lab to the lake and expecting him to stay out of the water like a Chow....(I know someone whose dog was attacked by a Chow at SMP)

It is NOT fair for the dogs to be put in a position to fail like that. Pit Bull owners OUGHT to educate themselves about their breed before they go on to try to fight BSL.

Again, fighting breeds (APBT's are not the only ones) should NOT be allowed, welcomed or best, brought into dog parks. Its a question of common sense, not breed prejudice.

V"

It's this type of thing that not only makes me really angry -- but also helps proponents of BSL.  If the author had any idea about fighting BSL herself, she'd know that.

While a good many pit bulls out there have been bred to be dog aggressive, there are also hundreds of registered breeders of pit bull type dogs that don't breed them for this purpose.  There are also many that have been well-socialized by their responsible owners since they were puppies that handle themselves quite well at dog parks.  I have a dog Grommit, that is some type of cross breed that may or may not even contain pit bull in him, but because he has a blocky head would probably not be welcomed at a dog park with a ban.  He is awesome at the dog park, and usually the best dog there when we go. 

I think the big distinction here is that just because we fought for the right of some of these dogs to be in the dog park doesn't mean that ALL of them should be taken to a dog park.  There's a difference between what people should do and making a law preventing it.

The point is that for a dog park to work, people have to own up to the responsibility of being the world's smartest person about the behavior of THEIR DOG.  If their dog is fine at a dog park, take it.  If it's not, don't.  Know the warning signs your dog gives and always, always keep an eye on your dog.  Even though Grommit is a rock star at the dog park, I still am never more than a few feet away from him (especially if he's in a group of dogs) -- because you never know when a fight might break out (caused by him or another dog) and I want to be there to stop it. 

When even serious "pit bull people" buy into the horrific stereotypes presented in the media, they feed the monster that is BSL and the media mania that surrounds it. This person's rescue website has put up tons of scare-tactics to prohibit people from owning pit bulls and have been used repeatedly by outsiders as to why cities should enact BSL (including the city in which she lived).  While dog breeds can be an indicator of certain characteristics, I've seen more than a few labs that can't (or don't) fetch, and that don't like water.  Dogs are unique creatures and based not only on their breeding, but also their upbringing, they contain different characteristics.  If anyone doubts this, all they need to do is talk to Emily Weiss at the ASPCA...who is one of the top experts in the field on this subject.

Until we shed the stereotypes, it will be a long road for all of us.

Why anti-cruelty matters...

I found this story to be pretty interesting -- for a variety of reasons.  Not the least of which is the fact that there was an adorable puppy involved.

Basically, a man was arrested on animal abuse charges for dragging this dog down the sidewalk with a belt around its neck.  The puppy had its pads all torn up from being drug.  It's a sad tale, but not all that uncommon.

The article describes the abuse as "horrible" -- apparently these people have never worked in rescue and seen horrible. 

This type of abuse happens every day in many areas...and I'm very glad this incident didn't happen in Kansas City, MO.  In KCMO, they answered 20% of their animal control calls in 2006.  So in this instance, if it'd happened in KCMO, there would have been an 80% chance that that pup would have gone home with its owner...and continued to be abused.  Two years from now, after enduring two years of abuse, we'd read about the dog in the newspaper -- it would have attacked someone, or some thing. 

And the reports would end up in the newspaper, and people would ask "how could anyone keep such a horrible animal?  We should ban pit bulls."

Early detection of abuse is critical -- for the animals and for public safety.  It is very important that as a society we prosecute animal cruelty...and live in a city that answers more than 20% of it's animal control calls.

The Myth of the "Dumping Ground"

In many cities this year, the discussion of potentially banning pit bulls came up because of fear that "if other cities are passing bans, our city will become a dumping ground for pit bulls if they are legal here".

I had always tried to point people to Mission, KS -- Mission is a small (population around 20,000) first ring suburb in the Kansas City Metro that is sandwiched in between Mission, KS, Kansas City, KS,  Shawnee, KS, Overland Park, KS, Fairway, KS and Roland Park, KS -- all of which have long-standing pit bull bans.  In 2005 and the first half of 2006 combined, Mission had one dog bite.  Total.  By a Labrador.  Pit Bulls are not a problem there.

Fotunately, a lot of people have listened and not added to the cities with BSL. 

Saturday, the Star ran a story about Lenexa and Olathe seeing an increase in Pit Bull licenses.  But according the animal control officers in these cities, it's not because of the dumping ground theory.  The Heads of Animal Control in each city is seeing the rise in pit bull licenses from current residents who are coming forward and registering their dogs.

It's amazing to me what a little trust can do.  When people realize their cities aren't going to ban their dogs, it makes it easier to come forward and license the dogs.  This trust is EXACTLY what cities want people to do.  Register their dogs.  Make it easier for animal control to do their jobs.

Cities need to instill trust with their residents.  In most cases, residents will respond with trustworthy behavior.  But when cities violate that trust by instilling unfair laws, the residents no longer have that trust...and therefore often rebel against the system. 

It's an easy formula...and congrats to Lenexa and Olathe for getting the formula right.

Socialization Part Deaux

On Sunday, I posted about the importance of socialization and how my trip to Belize two weeks ago drove the point home that socialization will more or less eliminate aggression.

Based on this, I wanted to relate this back to the ordinance initially proposed by the City of Peculiar which will come back before the public sometime in the next week or two.  I hate to pick on this ordinance, because in fairness to the City Council of Peculiar, they were very open to hearing from a lot of people in their community and outside their immediate community on their ordinance -- however, I think their ordinance shows a lot of the flaws of many ordinances proposed by even well-intentioned politicians.

On top of a ridiculously random list of breeds that were affected by their legislation, my top concern/complaint with their ordinance was that it was going to decrease socialization among the targeted breeds.

The proposed ordinance mandated that the six designated dog breeds would be deemed "dangerous dogs."  As "dangerous dogs", dogs would have to be muzzled when out in public, have to be confined in a kennel (with a top) in the back yard, and owners of these breeds would only be allowed to own one dog to prevent the "pack mentatilty." 

Basically, the muzzling was going to ensure that none of these dogs would ever get long walks (too hard for the dogs to breath or cool themselves) or get to meet other dogs in parks.  The kennel was going to further their lack of exercise and the one dog rule was basically going to prevent the dogs from ever getting any socialization. So basically, by forcing these dogs into isolation, the law was going to make these dogs more of a dangerous to the citizens of the area than they would be without any law.  If this ordinance is passed as-is, these dogs will be in danger of becoming what the city council unjustly fears they already are.

I understand that it is hard for city council people to know all of the intricacies of everything they have to know about to do their jobs (seriously, who is an expert on dogs, roads, development, schools, housing, and park space?) -- this is why it's extremely important for these councils to listen to experts in these areas to prevent themselves from putting forth legislation that is meant to make things better -- but actually make things significanly worse.

Feel Good Story for the Holidays

A lot of websites and animal organizations spend a lot of time during the holidays telling you what you should NOT do during the holidays.  They are right of course -- giving puppies and kittens as holiday gifts are a horrible idea.  Many people do this without the thought that a puppy is a 15+ year committment, 352-day a-year committment that shouldn't be sprung on someone.  I applaud these organizations for getting this word out.

But at least one organization spent its Christmas holiday focusing on what people SHOULD do with pets for the holidays.  In Seattle, Pasado went out into communities giving holiday gifts for pets in needy neighborhoods -- providing over $10,000 worth of pet food, collars, dog beds, dog houses, flea treatments, pet store gift certificates, etc.  The Seattle Times wrote a great article about this here.

Here is one quote from the article that I love:

"People from all walks of life care about their animals all the same," Amanda Boyd said. "Dogs and people just have that bond. It's so special because the dog doesn't even want anything from you except to be with you. These dogs have a great life. They get to see their owners all the time, and they get to hang out. And everyone is real grateful."

This is something that I learned an appreciation for recently.  I used to be one of those people who would drive through poor neighborhoods and see animals in less-than-idea situations and would think that the owners did not care much about the dogs.  However, I've helped several times with the spay/neuter events put on by Spay/Neuter Kansas City and have gotten a chance to meet a lot of these owners.  The one thing I've learned is that a lot of these people care about their dogs just as much as I do -- but lack the resources to provide for them in the same ways.

Great job by Pasado on this program -- and my 2007 wish is that this may inspire some people in the Kansas City area (and throughout the country) to set up a similar program to this and that local pet stores, national chains like Petco and dog food manufacturers will help provide them with the resources necessary to do it.

 

The importance of Socialization

Yesterday I made a comment about Calgary's increased number of off leash dog parks and the increased socialization that is important to human safety and animal welfare.

Obviously, socialization is an extremely important part of dog safety (and the dogs love it) as is exercise so that a dog doesn't have pent up energy and frustration.   I thought I'd provide a little more research to this from our some people at goodpooch.

I don't know anything about the writer of this article, but it makes a lot of sense to me rationally.  All the more reason we should build a lot of dog parks in people's neighborhoods.  And all the more reason that we don't want to create laws with harsher restrictions on pets that will encourage people to keep the animals completely unsocialized.