KC DOG BLOG

Man's Best Friend Helps Military Vet

Bob Briggs knows the value of man's best friend.

In April, 2005, Briggs was serving our country as a part of our National Guard in Iraq.  His group was attacked by a group of insurgents, and Briggs suffered a penetrating head wound.  Briggs lost his right high, nearly half his skull, and received a brain injury that left him partially paralyzed.

On his road to recovery, he and his wife adopted a Rottweiler named Pock, and with the help of a not-for-profit training group, Midwest Assistance Dogs, Pock was trained to help Briggs with a variety of tasks as he deals with his disabilities. Pock is now trained to help Briggs with stability, balance, and helping him pick things up.

"I've been around animals a lot in my life, and when you see a special bond, it's hard to ignore it," said Brigg's wife Michelle.

Fortunately for Briggs, he does not live on military base housing. Earlier this year, the US Military banned dogs like Pock from all military base housing because of their ban on 'pit bulls", Rottweilers, Doberman Pinchers, Chows and Wolf Hybrids from military base housing.  So now, a dog that is working as a service dog for one of our wounded military men, would not be allowed to accompany him on a military base. Does that make sense to anyone at all?

This shows the absurdity of not only discriminating against breeds of dogs based on their breed. It also reinforces the absurdity of the military's breed ban on their military bases.

Unfortunately, other military personel aren't as lucky as Briggs. Just last month, a military veteran from Iraq that is is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from dealing with the loss of several friends in the line of fire, had his companion dog confiscated from him in Lakewood, OH.  The man relied on his dog to help him to be more at ease when he met new people. The dog was confiscated by Lakewood police because of a ban that was enacted while he was serving his country.

Dogs are great companions for people -- and they can be the type of companions that can really help people in times of need.  This ability stretches across all breeds of dogs.  It is time to end the descrimination.  Now.

You can read the whole story on Bob Briggs here.

Good Media Coverage following Vick's prison release

I posted a little about Vick & HSUS this morning, but one other great thing to come out of Mike Vick leaving jail has been the amount of positive news coverage that has come for the now-recovering victims.

Donna, over at BAD RAP, has a video of Jhumpa that ran earlier this week on Anderson Cooper 360.  Anderson Cooper ran a nice piece on some of the Vick dogs back in December also, so it was great to have another follow up.

Meanwhile,  the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams also ran a story about several of the dog that are rehabilitating out at Best Friends' sactuary out in Utah.  Our Pack has the video link.

Meanwhile, the Daily Oklahoman had a follow-up story on Alf --another dog rescued from Bad Newz Kennels.

The stories and the videos do an amazing job of showing that these dogs are not some genetic freaks of nature. They are merely dogs.  Shaped by their environment, and by the way their owners or handlers treat them. And they have the ability to change dramatically and adapt to a new lifestyle. 

Enjoy.

Rescued APBT has become a rescuer

I think this is a great story to start the weekend. Eve, a 2 year old American Pit Bull Terrier who was rescued by Eric Peterson, is now qualified in rescuing others -- by receiving her tracking and trailing certification.

Peterson adopted Eve from from Pit Rescue of the Great Plains based in Sioux Falls, SD.  He said he chose Eve because she was energetic, smart and athletic.  He said she was very trainable which made her well suited for this kind of work.

Peterson really seems to get what he's doing.  He gets that his dog is now a spokesman for a breed that too often people only view negatively -- because they don't see that the dogs that are well exercised and socialized can do just amazing things.

It's a good story -- and well worth the read.

Hat tip: In the Shelter of The Heart

Hat tip

A little good news for a Friday afternoon

The AP picked up a story today about the Mike Vick dogs -- and tying into the Westminster Dog show that begins next week in Madison Square Garden in New York.

It's a good article -- although if you've been following any of the news about the dogs there is nothing really new here.  The dogs had a tough life -- but are all doing really well now -- and most will eventually head to homes (if they haven't already).

Some good quotes by folks though, which is always nice.

There are no bad dogs, only bad owners.  Often the media makes mistakes in determining the breed.  They're dogs. And how it's really difficult to even determine what a "pit bull" is. Some cities would have outlawed Rufus, the Westminster Dog Show winner from a few years ago because he is a Bull Terrier.

It's worth the read --go check it out. This story has already been picked up by a couple of hundred newspapers around the globe.  The good press is nice. People reading about how great these dogs really are when owned by responsible people is great too.  Which all the reasonwhy saving these dogs was worth it.

Why saving the Vick Dogs was worth it

 This has been bugging me - so in spite of already covering the Sports Illustrated article, I feel like I need to address it again.

Late in the Sports Illustrated article, the question got asked, "was it worth it?" Was it worth it to invest the time and resources to save these 47 dogs when millions of animals languished in shelters?

At least one commenter here expressed the same sentiment, and I've seen in mentioned elsewhere.

At first glance, it would appear that the time and money put into rehabilitating the dogs probably wasn't the best use of resources -- if your focus is only on the 47 dogs.  But this is about way more than 47 dogs.

There tends to be a lot of publicity about these major abuse cases -  and the horrors that come from these major hoarding and fighting situations. 

187 dogs in a fighting ring in Houston.  

Over 100 dogs in Newkirk, OK.

And of course, Bad Newz Kennels.

But the reality is, in spite of all of these horrible situations, it pales in comparison to the thousands of pit bulls that are killed in city shelters quietly every year. Sometimes they are killed because they are not able to find homes for the dogs because of the stereotypes that surround the dogs.

Often times, even the shelters, like in Ripon, CA, that are supposed to be protecting the dogs have policies in place that don't allow pit bulls to be adopted out.  Just the mere entrance into the shelter is a death sentence because they're "too much work", "could fall into the wrong hands" or whatever. Many shelters don't think the 'pit bulls' can, or should, be rehabilitated or are worth the adoption space. In North Carolina, dogs pulled from fighting rings are mandated by law to be euthanized.

And then, there are the thousands of dogs that are killed in cities each year that are killed just for being 'pit bulls' because that city outlaws their very existence.

No. Saving the 47 Vick dogs was not just about the 47 dogs.  It was a statement that these dogs matter. 

It was a case study in the adaptability of dogs -- that these 47 dogs, who were in some of the worst of situations - are adaptable enough overcome horrific situations, to become normal household pets.  Dogs are a product of their enviornment -- and when you remove the awful environment and replace it with a good enviornment, they can, and do, thrive. It is  a statement that the dogs can be rehabilitated and are worth saving.  If the shelter community, HSUS, PETA, etc all think that the dogs should be killed (which has been their stance for decades), then why would a dog fighting thug think that the dog's life matters either.

It does. They all do.

Nope -- this was about sending a message.  These dogs matter too. If we are going to become no-kill communities, where no healthy dogs or cats are killed in our nation's shelters, we cannot continue thinking these dog's lives don't matter. We can't continue with shelter policies that mandate that all pit bulls get put to death. Or continue with city laws that make adoption impossible;  or laws that take good dogs out of good homes and condemn them to death.

All of the lives matter.

Already, the success of the Vick dogs is paying dividends. A couple of weeks ago, over 100 pit bulls were founding in a hoarding case in Oklahoma. The original thought was that all of these dogs would need to be euthanized. However, because of the success of the Vick Dogs, the Oklahoma Alliance for Animals, and the Kay County Sheriff's department, listened to rescue groups in their pleas that all of the dogs may not have to be killed. Because of this, 30 or so dogs are now alive that would otherwise have been killed. And when these dogs become success stories, more will follow.

The Vick dogs sent the message - -these dogs' lives matter. It is through this message that shelters, cities, rescues -- and yes, even inner city youth kids -- will see that the lives of these dogs matter.

If we don't care, why should they?

If that message gets heard loud and clear across the entire country - -and changes minds - -then it was worth every penny, every hour and every tear.

SI article: The Good News out of The Bad Newz Kennel

The Sports Illustrated Article on Mike Vick's Dogs is out.

All in all, not a bad article.  They've certainly published worse.

There is a lot of emphasis on the dogs - -as it should be. A lot of the stories of the dogs, and their new families.  How most are doing really well - -although several are still somewhat fearful. None show signs of aggression.

Typical of news sources that aren't close to dogs, they give PETA too much credit. PETA is a big name among the general population, but any organization that kills 97% of the animals they intake in a year can't be considred on the forfront of animal advocacy.

Donna Reynolds and Tim Racer from Bad Rap -- who were instramental in saving these dogs -- are widely quoted in the article. That's a good thing. 

One paragraph sticks out -- with Donna talking about what they found when they first met the dogs:

"We were surprised at how little aggression there was," says Reynolds.  Many of the dogs had all but shut down. They cowered in the corners of their kennels or stood hunched with their heads lowered and their tails between their legs and their feet shifted nervously....As far as they knew, bad things happened when people came. Bad things happened when they were led out of their cages.

This is a pretty common response to the abuse that these dogs suffered...lack of positive socialization with humans is certainly hard on dogs.

The article focuse on the reality, that of the 51 dogs found on the property, 51 were saved. (Two died in the shelter, one was euthanized for being too aggressive, and another euthanized for medical reasons).  Twenty two of the dogs ended up at Best Friends -- 17 of which may eventually be adopted. The other 25 went to rescue groups across the country -- 14 of which have been placed in permanent homes. Several are being used in therapy dog situations.

In spite of the dogs' success, PETA is sticking to their guns and saying that all of the dogs should have been killed.  That's sort of their answer for everything.

All in all, I think this story was fair. The dogs are doing great. Sometimes fearful, but great. This is all a complement to the folks at Bad Rap and the other rescue groups that saved, and rehabbed, the dogs.

Go check out the aricle -- and don't miss the photo gallery.

Update:  And here's Donna's reaction over at Bad Rap. And she's right - -the magazine certainly owed us one.

Mike Vick Dogs on Anderson Cooper 360 last night

 Anderson Cooper had a video feature on the Mike Vick dogs last night. The short segment was a promo for the Sports Illustrated "Year in Sports" issue that debuts tomorrow - the Mike Vick dogs are on the cover.

The piece focuses on the 47 dogs from Bad Newz Kennels and how well they're recovering. The writer from Sports Illustrated met many of the dogs and reports that while a few are understandably still a little fearful, none were at all aggressive.  According to the report, 12 of the dogs are currently in homes, with another 17 that are ready.  At least 5 are serving as some type of therapy dogs.

One spokesperson from PETA was shown saying how all of the dogs should be put down -- because all of the money spent on rehabilitating the dogs could be used to help so many more animals that didn't need rehabilitation. However, PETA's track record of saving dogs that don't need rehabilitation meets the same fate -- with PETA killing 85% of the animals that entered their program over the past 10 years -- including killing 97% last year.  Inexcusable numbers for anyone -- but particularly for an organization that brings in $30 million a year to HELP animals. Seems that killing is their answer for both animals that need to be rehabbed, and those that don't.

Overall, I thought the segment was good -- and am looking forward to seeing the Sports Illustrated issue tomorrow.

You can watch the entire program here -- the segment on the dogs is about 2/3 of the way through the program.