Weekly Roundup, Week ending 9/14/08

  Well, I sure could use a little good news this week.  A lot of media stupidity and dog owner stupidity this week. And we're heading into a week with a couple of big hearings on the schedule (more on those later).  This roundup is a little "attack-heavy" in part because there were a lot of bites this week, but also because I want to prove a point at the end of the post.  Let's keep our fingers crossed fo a little good news this week. 

Legislation

West Liberty, IA is looking at banning all pit bulls from the city -- and doing so without a grandfathering clause. They are looking at this in spite of a recommendation by the ASPCA against such a policy.

Sturgis, SD is looking at a potential ban on pit bulls -- following an attack where two off-leash pit bulls attacked a man's dog in his yard.

Massachusetts may be pushing for mandatory spay/neuter and anti-tethering on a state-wide basis.  More at Nopitbullbans.

Clark County, NV (Las Vegas) animal control is looking at potentially pushing for a mandatory spay/neuter bill.  I'm going to do a bit more on MSN later on this week...this type of legislation is really getting old.

Dog Attacks

A Dalton (GA) codes enforcement was bitten on his arm by a Great Dane. The dog was chained close to the door.

A woman in Lincoln, Ontario was attacked by a a 2 year old Neapolitan Mastiff.

A Doberman Pinscher that attacked and killed another dog has been asked to be removed from the city of Lakeville, NJ. This is apparently unusual for the city to make such a request.  Another dog, a Great Dane, has been before the city selectmen twice in the past year.

A Waukegan (IL) woman was attacked by two 'pit bulls'.  The dogs were chained to the front porch and broke free from their collars.

Here's a good follow up story on the fatal attack last week where a family's Husky killed their newborn child. The story does a really great job of talking about how important it is to work with dogs around the new infants, including talking with a group called dogsandstorks.com that say they specialize in getting dogs prepared for living with the family.

A Philadelphia woman was bitten several times when a Rottweiler attacked her dogs and she tried to break up the fight.

A 71 year old Seatac (Seattle) woman was attacekd by two roaming pit bulls.  It looks like there are several areas around Seattle that are not doing anything to deal with loose/roaming dogs...more below.

In Salina, KS, an Alaskan Malamute attacked a chained, Akita/Rottweiler mix that was left chained and unattended in its yard.  This is yet another reason I'm not a fan of leaving dogs chained while unattended, because they are forced to fend for themselves when other dogs or people harrass/attack them.

A Florence, AL woman was attacked by two "boxer bulldogs" that attacked the woman as she was walking her Yorkshire Terrier that were running loose.

A Canton Ohio boy was bitten by a 'pit bull that was running free.  The boy's mom blames the owners of the dog. "I'm tired of owners not taking care of their dogs, not having their dogs properly secured."  Me too.

Mediots

According to the Daily Times in Delmarva, an elderly woman was "attacked" by two pit bulls but excaped the "attack" with only a "nip" on her leg.  A "nip" is not an "attack".

Miscelanious

Four Kansas City men were charged with drive by shootings on some family dogs.

While a few citizens in Seattle are irresponsibly pushing for laws that would create more difficulties in enforcement for animal control, it sounds like the city would benefit from just staffing up their animal control.  Apparently, in one neighborhood in Seattle, they have a group of dogs that are routinely let loose to roam the neighborhood. Neighbors have called animal control repeatedly about hte dog. "They asked if we'd been bitten and I told them 'no'," said neighbor Jean Zamora. "Sorry, we're understaffed. We can't do anything unless there's been a bite'.  This story is far from unique. And the vast majority of dog bite problems could be solved if animal control departments were able (or willing) to enforce basic leash and cruelty laws.  More legislation only makes the problem worse, not better.

Chicago man charged with fatally stabbing his pit bull with a kitchen knife. 

The Seattle Times has actually a pretty good story on what to do when approached by a dangerous dog.  Rule #1 is "stay calm".  Most people completely fail at this one.

A new group called No Kill Houston has begun in the Houston, TX area.

There were a lot of stories this week...with a lot of different types of dogs involved.  When you read the stories, you see a few trends develop:  Young kids with dogs, dogs left on chains, and groups of dogs out wandering free.  It's amazing to me that in spite of all these stories, people still push for breed bans instead of what is really driving the majority of these attacks.  Until we start focusing on how humans treat dogs and animal control officers doing the basic enforcement of leash laws, we will never reduce the problems of dog attacks. Focusing on other things just dilutes the message and doesn't focus on what needs to be focused on. Let's do a good job of enforcing leash laws and dealing with stray animals.  Let's ensure than animals are contained in a way that allows them to be socialized and well cared for. Then we'll make progress in dealing with these problems.

More later...unfortunately it's going to be a busy week.

Comments

[skennedy]

No one mentions that 50%+ of fatalities are caused by rehomed,rescue/shelter dog category,even though they comprise only 18-19% of dogs.Are you keeping track of the "where" dog was obtained? this isn't focusing on breed,this is looking at the astronomical chance that 50%+ could have come from this category, in addition to tethering, which allegedly is less than 24% of the cases?

[Brent]

SK,

A couple of different thoughts.

#1 I don't buy where you're going with the shelter vs bred dogs. I think no doubt if a dog starts off its life in a good home and is properly trained over its entire life, it is less likely to cause a problem than if it is kept in subpar homes.

#2 I've never seen any numbers on the "dog origin" that I think are remotely reliable

#3 Your whole notion of the bred vs shelter dogs is problematic (at best) because all dogs orginated from a breeder somehwere. So if they started with a breeder, and were then re-homed, it becomes an ownership issue, not a breeding issue, which is my point all along.

#4 I think for a whole host of reasons we're better off promoting shelter dogs. This doesn't mean that we should regulate breeding or anything like that, but I do think there are a whole hose of reasonsto start off with shelter dogs.

#5 I've been very consistent on this in that the "fatality" numbers are so tiny compared to the overall bite numbers that I wouldn't use the numbers for much of anything because I do see them as being statistically relevant.

I think your fighting against MSN in California has caused you to really want to see numbers that don't really exist. I agree with you that MSN is horrible policy, but not for the reasons you create.

[Caveat]

I agree about fatalities. The numbers are so small that it's impossible to spot any kind of meaningful trend if it's the dogs you are examining. Just as breed is a red herring that distracts people from the real problem, I feel that anything else to do with the dog, rather than owner behaviour and how the dog is kept will lead down a garden path rather than get to the observed common factors in fatalities and more importantly in terms of numbers, serious bites/attacks.

On reviewing reasonably reputable sources, it seems to come down to unsupervised kids, unsocialized dogs, naive owners with unrealistic expectations and negligent, antisocial people who don't care.

I usually tell novices to go to their local shelter a few times and check out the dogs there. Talk to the people who work there about financial implications, grooming, time requirements, etc in order to have a good dog. Meet a few of the dogs. Take one or two for a walk. Get a feeling of what it's like to interact with an adult dog - a better choice for first-timers in my opinion for many reasons. Then imagine doing it every day for the next 10 years or more, or making arrangements for when you can't. Every single day.

I encourage them to worry less about size, colour, perceived breed, haircoat, etc and to focus on the dog's personality. Is he shy and sharp? Timid? Pushy? Does he react when you speak to him or ignore you? Is he physically insensitive or the opposite? Blah blah.

While personalities change significantly, usually after six months or so, you have to think about your setup. Busy house, lots of people coming and going, kids around, etc? Then you don't want a super alert dog with quick reactions and a sensitive nature. Are you lazy, like to lie around and read the paper, have coffee, go for short walks in good weather only, lead a quiet life? Stay away from goofy, energetic, boisterous dogs because they will drive you nuts when they get bored, which is often.

And so on.

[Lynn]

I have seen this allot. When a non-"pit bull" attacks a child the media talks about socialization and the failures of the owner...but when a "pit bull" attacks a child it is because [and only because] the dog is vicious.