KC DOG BLOG

Very Good Sentences -- from a Retrieverman

 "And to make things even more complicated, both of these breeds are so common that it is really foolish to make broad, sweeping statements about either. There are so many of these dogs that exist in so many different lines that have experienced so many different kinds of selection pressures that you simply cannot make generalizations about them." 

The post, from Retrieverman, is comparing Labrador Retrievers to Golden Retrievers. The sentiment is true of course throughout the canine world -- particularly so with breeds that exist in very large populations (possibly less so among breeds with very small, tight lines).  

The post ends with two great pieces of advice -- that seems pretty universally true:

"You're much better off meeting a dog as an individual"

"And stay the heck away from internet forums and Yahoo! groups."

 Click through and read the whole thing, which also has a fantastic title: "Making generalizations about popular breeds is what morons do."

 

New York Court rules no legal basis for breed discrimination - Very Good Sentences

Last week, the New Supreme Court handed down a decision that ruled that there was no legal basis for discrimination against breeds of dogs.

The ruling came in case New York vs Shanks. In the case, Diana Shanks was walking her 'pit bull' named Ghost on a leash, and on a harness. As she walked by the home of Ana-Marie Blasetti, Blasetti's German Shepherd rushed out and attacked Ghost. Ghost responded by protecting himself, and his owner, and fought back and unfortunately killed the larger German Shepherd.

Blasetti filed a complaint against Ghost, and the Town Court of the Town of Oneonta determined that Ghost was a dangerous dog -- even though the defnition of a dangerous dog was one that attacked "without justification". The courts however ruled that Ghost was dangerous in part because he was a 'pit bull'.

The Supreme Court overturned the local ruling. The Supreme Court noted that Ghost was indeed restrained throughout the entire attack and that having been attacked by the larger German Shepherd, his reaction was very well justified. Further the Supreme Court noted:

"The condemnation of an individual dog in the context of a dangers dog proceeding solely by virtue of its breed is without any legal basis. We have repeatedly held that 'there is no persuasive authority for the proposition that a court should take judicial notice of the ferocity of any particular type of breed of domestic animal."

The precent for the lack of targeting specific breeds of dogs remains firmly in tact in New York and the poor woman who was simply out walking her dog which was attacked by another dog was wisely found to be not-guilty.

Pit Bulletin Legal News has a great (short) write-up about the case as well.

Very Good Sentences -- canine care and aggression

On the topic of the problems associated with canine care following the tragic death of Monica Laminack last week, Angie Koban, an assistant professor of psychology at Armstrong Atlantic State University (who also has a Master's and Doctorate of Psychology, Animal Cognition from Tufts University), noted:

"Likewise, keeping nine dogs in a house with a toddler who is unattended should not be common practice. But it happens.

"Subcultures exist in our society that view animals solely as tools. They are used to hunt, fight for entertainment purposes and produce puppies for online sale. Some are used as guard dogs to “alarm” owners of approaching “visitors.”

"Many are starved.  They lack human attention, enrichment and routine. They may rarely get a full meal. Some are tied to short chains, confined to small spaces, abused and neglected. Their behavior is unpredictable.

"Yours would be, too. 

"And remember, abuse isn’t just beating a dog.  Abuse is under-enriching a dog, leaving it in a yard and tethered to a chain, without human contact. Or confined to a cage where its sole purpose is to reproduce. 

"Such conditions lead to boredom and frustration. This lack of socialization and training can lead to aggression. These practices are ignorant, irresponsible, dangerous, and unfortunately, rampant."

You can find the rest of the article here.

Very good sentences...What I'm reading today...

A lot of interesting reading today as I get back in town - and here are a few articles that I've found particularly interesting today:

It's who you know: Breed Stereotypes and Handler Appearance

Respected trainer Patricia McConnell takes a look the research on dog handler appearance and the impact it makes on public perception.

"Sure enough, pairing a young child or an elderly woman beside the pit-type dogs changed people's ratings of them. Sitting beside a young child increased the perceptoins of the dog's intelligence, friendliness and adoptability, while decreasing the predictions of "training difficulties and aggressiveness."

McConnell notes that this may have a practical implication in how we view adoption photos. I can't help but wonder how media depictions of pit bulls over the past 2 decades has dramatically impacted their image....and how long it will take the changing narrative  and changing imagery to completely take course.

In defense of Mike Vick's right to tell his whole story

This is an interesting article from the Urban Scientist about Mike Vick's new book "Finally Free". The article writer, DNLee, defends Vick's right to write the book, and notes that there may be more opportunities in this:

"I saw/still see his journey as an opportunity to have some hard conversations. What is the role of punishment? How do we define crime? How are ciminal codes applied to different segments of our population? Is our criminal system fair? What is compassion/empathy? Can it be cultivated?"

I think these are all questions worth asking. In the end, I really struggle with the Vick fiasco. I do believe people who serve their time deserve to re-enter society. However, Vick's situation is different from those of many athletes who commit major crimes. Many of those crimes were part of bad judgment, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a rash, violent decision. Vick's crime was calculated. One that was committed with a lot of calculated thought over a period of years -- and horrific acts of complete lack of compassion. And in so many ways that makes it seem worse to me than crimes many other athletes have committed. And the lack of remorse shown in the time immediately following makes the cynic in me doubt that the book is anything more than a series of statements written by his publicists.

Report: Local News is now even worse than before 

From Salon.com, Pew Research has shown that the majority of "News" really isn't news at atll. Of the major "News" networks, only CNN had more "news" than comentary. However, it's worse with local news, where 40% of local TV newscasts were dedicated to sports, traffic and weather. Local news coverage of politics and government has now fallen to 3% of the total coverage (down from 7% in 2005) and "accident/bizarre events/disasters" now make up 13% of local newscasts.

Salon.com concludes:

"If local news is unwilling to cover local politics, local politicians will operate essentially unchecked by anyone besides the most dedicated local news consumers, who are likely to be ideological activists of one sort or the other. One of the things that allows organizations like ALEC to operate for years essentially without major scrutiny, passing pre-written bills into state legislatures across the nation, is that no one hears about what state legislatures are doing until something particularly agregious is passed into law."

I'd add that this situation is almost worse at a city level.

This is what I'm reading today...what's on your mind?

Quotes about Dogs

Fun Friday continues....

Every month, on the last page of Progressive Farmer Magazine, they have a section called Cornerstones. Essentially, Cornerstones is a section where they take a topic, and then put famous and/or pithy quotes about that topic from famous (or not famous) people over the years.

In the April, 2011 issue, the topic was "Dogs". And the following are a few of the quote highlights from this issue.

"The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too." - Samuel Butler

"Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog" - Franklin P. Jones

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful" - Ann Landers

"If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket adn then giving Fido only two of them." - Phil Pastore

"A dog is not "almost human" and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such." - John Holmes

"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear." - David Berry

"If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience" - Woodrow Wilson

"If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat" - Unknown

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals." - Winston Churchill

"I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the unihibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better." - George Bird Evans

"Ever consider what they must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on Earth!" - Anne Tyler

"We give dogs love we can spare, time we can spare and room we can spare. In return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made." - Mary Focklam

"Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault really." Agnes Sligh Turnbullw

Recreating the wheel - very good sentences from the Book Little Boy Blue

A couple of weeks ago, I review Kim Kavin's book, Little Boy Blue. You can read my entire review here.

However, there is a really great section of the book that I wanted to highlight because I found it, and Kim's handling of the issue, interesting.

Later in the book, Kavin explores the juxtoposition between some more progressive shelters in the Northeast to a few of the high-kill shelters in the South. And she specifically talks about how North Shore Animal League (and Northeast Animal League) grew into being major adoption centers.

In the section, she highlights an article written about Alexander Lewyt by the Wall Street Journal in 1975. The section talks about how Lewyt worked to run the rescue like it was a corporation, not just a rescue -- and I think Kavin's words, and the WSJ story, are pretty eye opening. The section begins talking about a mailing that Lewyt wrote to raise funds for the organization:

"The mailing brought in $11,000, which is the equivalent to about $67,000 today. Within the next 5 years, the shelter's staff grew from one to twenty-five employees, its hours of peration increased to every day of the year and its advertising budget alone was earmarked at $50,000 (about $125,000 in current dollars). That's why The Wall Street Journal had taken notice. Lewyt was running the shelter as if it were a corporation -- work he would continue until his death in 1988. 'We have the same concept as bringing any product to the public,'' Lewyt told the Journal in 1975. 'We have receivables, our inventories. And if the product doesn't move, we have a promotion...Most animal shelters are run by well-intentioned people who don't know anything about fund-raising or running the place like a business. The only reason they don't go broke is that a little old lady dies every year and leaves them something'...

Later, Kavin concludes:

"It's incredibly frustrating that shelters with kill rates as high as the one in Person County even exist, especially since the road map for giving every possible dog a home has been available in print since at least 1975, since the day the Wall Street Journal printed an article about Alexander Lewyt that so inspired Cindi Shapiro" (Shapiro later founded Northeast Animal Shelter in Massachusetts after reading the WSJ article). "In that article Lewyt tals about how whe can find a home for virtually any animal, even ones who are blind, deaf, or missing a leg. He told the newspaper that the "unadoptable" dogs simply need to be treated as special cases and marketed in a way that makes their disadvantages seem like attributes."

Try as I might, I was unable to find the article from 1975 that Kavin refers to online (yes, I realize the internet really didn't exist in 1975, but I hoped it had been reposted somewhere). But I think it's very interesting how long a road map for success has been around. The idea that running a shelter like a business, with real Profit/Loss data is not new. The idea that in business terms, shelter animals are "inventory" that need to be adopted out to make room for new inventory daily is essential is not new. And the diea that marketing and promotions can help move these animals out into homes is not new. These ideas have been around for 35 years -- and yet, so few shelters still think of it this way (and sometimes it's even considered taboo to think of animals as "inventory"). Yet, this approach has been successful, over and over again.

Thanks to Kavin for highlighting this story, and for pointing out the disconnect that even 35 years later, how disappointing it is that there are a lot of shelters that still haven't learned from the success of others.

Very Good Sentences -- Edmonton, AB

"Arguments against breed specific legislation suggest there are significant difficulties deterimining breed, and breed type, based on appearance, thus, any breed ban inevitably results in the creation of subjective, arbitrary factors to determine breed type. There are many contributing factors to most dog bite incidents, including poor breeding practices, inadequate socialization and training, health or behavioral issues and inadequate supervision and/or control of the dog. Bylaws that are breed neutral and ensure that aggressive dogs (regardless of breed) are not a continued threat to public safety and are the most consistent and fair approach."

Last week, the city of Edmonton repealed its breed-specific law targeting pit bulls. This is just one of many sentences in an overview report of the reasons why Edmonton should, or should not, repeal its breed-specific law. It's also important to note that the administration contacted seven different major companion animal stakeholders and all, unaniomously supported a repeal of the breed-specific law -- showing again, a complete lack of professional support for laws targeting specific breeds.

You can read the entire overview here.

Very Good Sentences -- Breed specific law repealed in Town & Country, MO

Last night, the community of Town and Country, MO voted to repeal their breed-specifc law that automatically declared 'pit bulls' as "vicous".  According to Town & Country Police Captain Gary Hoelzer:

"I think Town and Country is following a trend we are seeing to remove breed-specific language from municipal ordinances and make it behavior- based."

Hoelzer further explained that the community of Town & Country has yet to see a bite by a pit bull. "It's other breeds. So it really isn't breed based. It's how they're raised. Other circumstance."

Hear Hear.

Town & Country is a small community of about 10,000 residents in Suburban St. Louis and is a very upscale community with an average HHI of about $135,000 -- and has joined the rank of progressive communities that are repealing their laws targeting specific breeds. Congrats to Town & Country and their leaders and residents.

Very good sentences - -and two more BSL Repeals

And the list keeps rolling in.

Per Jodie Pries at Bless the Bullis, Lebanon, Ohio has repealed their breed-specific law with a unanimous vote. Their new law takes a breed-neutral aproach to declaring dogs dangerous based on behavior that is modeled after the state law. Their old ordinance was enacted in 1986.

Meanwhile, Allen Park, MI has also repealed their breed ban. The cold city law, passed only a few years ago, declared that all 'pit bulls' had to be killed immediately by the shelter -- and breed ID was determined solely by the shelter staff.

However, Allen Park is now joining four other cities to form the Downriver Central Control Animal Shelter. In order to make things easier for Animal Control, they wanted the five cities to all have uniform animal control laws, so Allen Park had to repeal their law. Said City Attorney Crhis Forsyth:

"The reason for the repeal is to comply with other cities, but your vicious animal ordinance will still allow you to enforce anything needed with pit bulls."

Indeed.

Congrats to two more cities that are moving forward without their breed-specific laws.

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.