Canine Legislation Conference Speaker Review - Bill Bruce

When it comes to speakers, movies, etc, I always try to temper my expectations.  Usually when I get excited about how great something, I leave disappointed.  I'm the only person who was disappointed by the movie Forrest Gump -- because I had built it up to be so great in my mind before seeing it that no movie could have met those expectations.

In spite of these efforts, I was really excited to listen to Bill Bruce speak at the Canine Legislation Conference.  Calgary has had a tremendously effective animal control program, and I couldn't wait to hear more about it.  Mr. Bruce didn't disappoint.

Calgary has a 90-95% dog licensing compliance rate.  Most cities hover between 10-20% licensing compliance....and 20% are the good ones.  Calgary has done this by providing benefits to people for licensing their dogs....for animal cotnrol being a SERVICE instead of a pain in people's butts.

Overall, they have about 95,000 licensed dogs (in a city with the population of about 1 million).  Licensing fees are $31 per year ($52 for an unaltered dog). 

In 1990 they raised the fines for getting caught with an unlicensed dog from $30 to $250 - -Bruce said that fines should generally run about 10x the cost of actually obeying the law in the first place in order to encourage compliance with the law.  They also made it very easy to license your dog -- online, via phone, at your vets office, and keosks at the animal control office, etc. 

Every dollar that they raise from animal licensing (and fines for non-compliance) go back into funding animal control -- not back into the city's slush fund.  So with an operating budget of $3.5-4.0 million, they are able to really do some things right with their animal control department.

They strongly encourage all people who license their dogs to also have them microchipped (which allows the dogs to be scanned and the owner determined immediately).  Every animal control vehicle is equipped with a scanner -- so if they find a stray dog, the animal control officer can instantly scan the dog for the chip, and deliver the dog home free of charge (although there are fines if your dog becomes a frequent flyer).   

This home delivery a) is a service for people who obey the rules and b) saves money in animal control costs because stray dogs seldom even make it to their shelter.   They are returned home where the dog belongs.  The city then doesn't incur the costs of putting the dog in the shelter, maintaining the dog while it's in the shelter, food etc.  Bruce's goal for next year is to gett 50% of the dogs returned directly home without ever reaching the shelter.

If a dog does end up making it to the shelter, its photo is taken immediately and placed on their webpage within 15 minutes of the dog reaching the shelter.  All the dogs in the shelter are treated for the basic diseases - -and if a dog is found injured, animal control will take the dog to a vet.  The vets treat the dogs because a) animal control is usually able to find the owner of the dog because they're all licensed and b) if they don't, animal control will cover the medical costs associated with treating that dog.  Wow.   

Calgary built a new shelter for their animals about 5-8 years ago that is state of the art...and has never been filled to its capacity.

Calgary also focuses a lot of its energies on education and encouraging responsible dog ownership.  They have a full time staff member, that is trained in education, that puts together a public education program.  They have six specific programs that are part fof their public school's curriculum that emphasizes respect for living things.   

Calgary also has 140 dedicated off-leash areas for dogs -- so that's 140 "dog parks".  Kansas City, MO is struggling to find a way to get a second one.  These off-leash areas provide a ton of areas for socialization for the dogs to learn how to enteract with other dogs and other people.

The net results of their efforts have been impressive.  Over the past 18 years, the city of Calgary has cut their number of dog bites and chases by more than 50% (all the while, the human and dog population of Calgary has doubled).  Last year calgary only had to euthenize 256 animals (Kansas City, KS alone euthenized 5,000 DOGS last year, the KC metro area kills in the neighborhood of 40,000 dogs and cats each year).   Almost all of the euthenizations came from dogs that had behavioral or health issues.  Bruce estimates that Calgary will become a true no-kill city within the next 3-5 years.

When Bill was talking it sounding like a utopia.  I hear stories about local animal controls breaking through locks to steal people's pets based on what breed they think it might be, the massive killing of dogs in our shelters, dogs that are put to sleep because they've been in the shelter too long but never made it up on the website or petfinder or anywhere so people knew where to find them.  I hear about dogs being taken out of someone's loving home and euthenized because someone was over the pet limit -- apparently death is perceived to be better for animals than having to live with 3 other dogs.

Calgary has accomplished so much by focusing on root issues of problems, providing service to their "customers" (it was so weird to hear an animal control officer refer to their constituents as "customers"), and getting people to obey their current laws.

They did it all without mandatory spay/neuter laws, breed specific laws, anti-tethering laws or pet limit laws.  And through paying animal control officers a fair wage -- as Bill said, "If you pay peanuts,  you'll only get monkeys."

I really wish that more cities (ahem, KCMO) would look at successful ordinances around the country (or in Calgary) and model their ordinances and enforcement efforts off of true success stories.   

All of the city administrators were invited to attend Bill's speach, unfortuantely only one city council person and two animal control officers were able to make it.  I'd have loved for them to hear Bill's message and start working toward Calgary as a model of success.

Comments

[MDog]

Brent,
Great post, once again. For me, Bill's speech was the highlight of the conference (well, other than getting kissed by Wallace the disc dog.) And that's saying a lot because there were so many fantastic speakers, like aggression expert Jim Crosby and others.

I'm glad to hear that at least a few people from the city made it, though it would have been great to have more.
I went up to Bill and afterward and asked if any city that had heard him speak had successfully used Calgary's model so far. he said no, not really.

I think that's too bad. I would love to see KC be the first city to do so. I think Calgary has proved that it's just as easy and financially feasible to succeed as it is to fail. It's just a matter of how you choose to spend your time and resources. Do you spend it finding ways to increase revenues and put them to good use or do you spend them punishing dog owners, making it difficult to own a pet and dealing with high turnover and other staff issues because you don't pay enough to live on?

I wonder if there is a way for us to encourage KC to see the light on this one?

[morgan]

That sounds like a great place to live!
This should be a nation wide law, It would make a big difference!!!!

[Becky Dyer]

I did not get to hear him speak, so thank you so much for this Brent! You know, it has always puzzled me why cities work so hard AGAINST pet owners and esp those who are struggling to rescue and foster and those who might be a tad over the 'limit'. All of these people are doing a service for the city -- taking care of animals that would be roaming the streets, that the city would have to pick up and/or put to death ($$$)
What a great program in Calgary! Since city councils and AC depts did not seem to think this would be worthwhile, why don't you send all of them a copy of your piece?

[Marjorie]

I will say that Winnipeg, Manitoba adopted several elements from the Calgary model, in 2000.

Winnipeg had gone with breed specific legislation in 1990; banning 'pit bulls'. That led to an average of close to 50 more bites per year for the following decade, and increases in bites (sometimes massive) in other breeds. German Shepherds and their mixes were, and remain, the most prolific biters in Winnipeg. Labrador Retrievers and mixes, Terriers & mixes, and Rottweilers and mixes fill out the top spots.

On the low-low, by 2000 it was clear the breed ban was not working. Yet Calgary's dog control strategy was. Winnipeg animal control adopted elements from Calgary's successful model in their new by-law, and as if by magic, the number of dog bites began to fall soon thereafter. (While I never saw it myself, one source claims the early draft of that by-law amendment actually referred to Calgary by-laws. If you read the Winnipeg by-law now, you'll see no reference to Calgary, though. http://winnipeg.ca/clerks/pdfs/bylaws/2443.79.pdf )

The city of Winnipeg didn't rescind the BSL part of the by-law. They merely augmented the existing ordinance in ways that would've been successful without killing innocent dogs based on shape. (Never admit the legislation you passed was ineffective.)

So, now, Winnipeg CAN claim a reduction in dog bites, and often do attribute it to their 'pit bull' ban. No one ever seems to question why the improvements only began a decade later, and coincide with the passage of the Calgary-esque amendments.

So, you see, even though Winnipeg officials will minimize or deny it, the Calgary model has been successfully exported to other cities. But, in the case of Winnipeg, even Calgary officials would probably want to deny all involvement. (I can't imagine why anyone would want to be associated with anything that has to do with Winnipeg.)

[Brent]

Becky,

One interesting note was that I asked Bill about pet limits and said I was surprised they didn't have any. His comment was that from his experience, if someone was an irresponsible owner, it didn't matter if they had 1 dog or 15 dogs, they would still be irresponsible. And that if someone was a good owner, they would properly care for all of their animals...no matter what that numbers was.

There's a decent chance that some video footage will be available of some of the presentations -- hopefully this will all become a reality so we can get some of the info in front of city council members and give an opportunity for some folks like you to get to see and hear the presentations.

[Becky Dyer]

Thank you Brent! And thank you also for yours and Michelle's part in making this so successful and getting such important info out there! I predict that either next year or the next, this will be THE Conference EVERYONE, all over Canada, (maybe even further away, esp UK!) will want to attend, and that KC will enjoy sold out hotels and no available parking! This will be thanks to the awesome, superbly (?) professional reputation that you have established from the very start. I am hoping that you all know how significant this is!

[Caveat]

Bill's a great guy and I was so glad to see his presentation for the second time.

Can't wait for the next conference.

Must post some notes myself, I've been busy with the political campaign here in Ontario. After October 10, things will revert to what passes for normal around here.

Like Becky, I'm mystified by the obstinacy of civic officials who, rather than working on a program that will be accepted by all responsible pet owners, decide to stir up controversy and make enemies of those pet owners by suggesting foolish ideas like 'breed' bans as a solution.

Why don't they want to take the easy way instead of the hard way? It's puzzling.

[Mac`s Gang]

Great summary of this conference.
Calgary`s Approach makes far too much sense for the current crop of politicians we have in office in Ontario.
As I sit here watching the Combine take off the soya beans,I hope on Oct 11th we can say that we have planted a new crop.

[More Good News from Calgary]

[quote]Calgary, when it comes to animal control, is the envy of the continent. [/quote]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2008/09/01/6627046-sun.php

Wonder when the rest of the World will catch on or catch up?

[Joan Sinden]

I have seen Bill Bruce talk at least 3 times and he's a gifted speaker and talks about his cause beautifully - you can see him give a more than one talk to the city council of Santa Barbara at - http://sbcounty.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=766&publish_id=&event_id= - that is really really good - I have a category for him on my own blog at http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/search/label/Bill%20Bruce if you want to read about the different times that I've heard him speak. He is as important to the no kill equation as Nathan Winograd is in my opinion.

[Brent]

Joan, in some ways I agree for a couple of reasons.

Winograd's model is designed around working in any scenerio imaginable by removing descretionary power to remove pets from homes and very high adoptions.

Bruce's model combines two things that Winograd's doesn't:

1) Showing us that no kill and public safety are not mutually exclusive.

2) Showing us that a compasionate animal control mentality that works WITH the public to get compliance instead of just focusing on punishment can be a succesful model.

While Winograd's model is very shelter focused (although it includes some AC reform), Bruce's is very AC focused. And both are important because both are severly flawed in this country.

[Dantallion]

I just happened upon your blog while trying to gather information to help fight a renewed call for Pit-bull ban in my city (Montreal, Canada). Your post beautifully summarizes what I have long believed is a crucial component when trying to deflate aguments that favour breed-specific bans. I really look forward to reading more here. Many thanks.

[id scanner]

It's sure great thing that we can license our pets. By choosing that we can truly improve our life and them in case of loosing them or a need for a history data in any case. It's so easy - just insert a chip and then you can scan it any time you need to.