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I just saw this over at the USA Today website. It's fairly old, but since it's new to me I thought I'd pass it along. They have an interactive test that has you match the dog's picture to a description of the dog's DNA profile.
I only missed one -- but it's not the most difficult quiz imaginable.
But imagine in places where some breeds are outlawed and missing one is a life or death decision for someone's pet.
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Obviously one of the major points of conversation last weekend was ending the killing of animals by our shelter system. There were a lot of great speakers there, with a lot of great points of view.
One of the big points came out of a presentation assembled by Peter Marsh (sadly, due to a family emergency, Peter was unable to attend the conference but someone else presented his material). Peter's presentation did an excellent job of showing the strong correlation between impounds and euthanasia in city shelters. He had many examples -- -but certainly these numbers are reflective of what has happened in Los Angeles, where impound rates have gone up 18% on the year, and euthanasia has followed by going up 22%.
When an animal comes into the shelter, there are only three options for the animal.
1) Get it returned home to the owner
2) Adopt it out
3) Kill it
So if impounds go up, euthanasia will follow unless a shelter is able to increase return to owner or adoption rates.
Certainly there are various ways of reaching success in ending the shelter killing -- and many were discussed. Certainly places like Calgary have had huge success in improving their return-to-owner rates which has made their program such a success -- where last year they returned 86% of dogs and 48% of cats to their owners.
Other areas have been very successful with strong adoption programs to help minimize their euthasia rates. Charlottesville is a major success story in this regard.
Many others have been successful in minimizing their shelter killing by simply minimizing the number of animals impounded. This can be done through aggressive, low cost/no cost spay/neuter programs and feral cat programs.
But one additional thing can help minimize the number of animals impounded: the number of overly restrictive laws that cause animals to be taken out of homes for no reason at all. Laws such as mandatory spay/neuter laws, breed restrictive laws, and pet limit laws often cause owners who break these laws to have pets confiscated and impounded because they violated the laws. These are otherwise very healthy and well-cared-for animals, but because of an arbitrary law, has caused the animals to end up in the shelter system. And as we know, the increase in impounds most often leads to an increase in euthanasia.
The best programs are using a combination of all three pieces in order to lower shelter killings: decreasing impounds (with aggressive voluntary spay/neuter programs and getting rid of restrictive laws), increasing return-to-owners, and increasing adoptions.
Consistently, across the board, these programs are working. We'll look at a few of those in the coming days.
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So last weekend I was at the No More Homeless Pets Conference that was put on by Best Friends Animal Society. And I have to confess, that I was a little nervous going into the conference.
I know there are several people who read here that don't like Best Friends...and group them in the same group with HSUS and PETA as animal rights groups. I have always had good experiences with folks from Best Friends, but have always stayed at arms length from the group.
I'll also confess, that as a relative newby on the Animal Welfare scene, I don't have the benefit, or the baggage, that comes with being here a long time. I don't know what Best Friends was, or used to be. I can only look at what they are now.
I've known for awhile that Best Friends is a friend to us when it comes to Bully breeds. The work they've done with theVick-tory dogs as well as the work they did in helping Forest get freed from Denver are evidence of that.
However, I went to the conference completely expecting to be one of the few there that did not favor mandatory spay/neuter programs. But I was pleasantly impressed here too.
In multiple forums, from spay/neuter forums to "model program" forums, the topic of mandatory spay/neuter laws came up several times. I never heard one single speaker at the conference say they favored mandatory sterilization laws. (I promise to write a lot more about this in the coming weeks). Best Friends, as a group, has even softened their stance on MSN -- as their official stance now is that they will support MSN, but only if free and low-cost programs are in place for those who cannot afford the cost of sterilization.
But even with that said, one of Best Friends' most successful programs -- getting dogs spayed and neutered with a mobile unit throughout Utah -- is based solely on low (or no) cost voluntary spay neuter programs. Not mandating the activity.
I left the conference with a much better impression of Best Friends than I went in. While I went in liking many of the things they did, I was skeptical. However, as I left the conference, I felt like they were a solid Animal Welfare organization that was a group of caring people, doing their best to benefit the lives of companion animals. That's a cause I can really get behind.
If we are to really move forward in the animal welfare movement, we're really going to need the various animal welfare groups, breed groups, rescues, the AVMA, AKC and other breeder groups and others to really get on the same page. All of us are stronger than any one of us...and with different Animal Welfare groups bickering over the "right" solution (and there may be more than one "right" solution), cities are left confused on what to do. We must get on the same page, clear up the confusion, and move them toward good programs that improve public safety, improve the lives of animals, and don't put unnecessary restrictions on pet owners.
I think Best Friends is a friend in this fight.
More soon.
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I've heard the question asked several times from people who only know about 'pit bull' type dogs from what they read in the newspaper. The question is, why own one?
My friend Andrea put together a slide show that I think expresses it quite nicely and is worth sharing.
Enjoy.
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PBRC is hosting their 3rd Annual Halloween Costume Contest online. 94 dogs are entered including the 3 picturs on this page.
The pics rank pretty highly on both the cute and hilarious meters.
Check out the photos and vote on your favorite.
Last year's winners are here.
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Roverlution 2008 sounds like it was a huge success in Kansas City. It's been estimated that about 100-125 people -- and about 60-70 dogs were at the event.
While I wasn't able to attend in person because I was at the No More Homeless Pets Conference in Las Vegas, it sure looks like it was a beautiful fall day in Kansas City and everyone had an awesome time.
There were dogs of all types of different dogs there - from a variety of different breeds -- but they all had one message: We need better dog laws and animal control services in our city.
So I've posted on the left some of the pictures from our event. Meanwhile, the folks in Ybor City who did a similar "pit bulls pounding the pavement" event the week before the Roverlution - Pit Bull Awareness Day marches.
They've created a video of their event that you can watch here. It's worth watching all the way through just for the group photo at the end.
My expectation is that Jodi and Paula will eventually have plenty of pictures up on their respective sites also.
The events all around drew praise from blogs and from news stations alike. It's great to see the momentum. We must continue to show the world that when "pit bulls" are owned by responsible dog owners that they truly are just dogs. And owners are just dog owners.
It's when people see these pictures, and these owners, that we can begin to change the images they think in their mind from a couple of decades of media reports of just the opposite.
Congrats to everyone who made this event a success. And may everyone keep an open mind and realize that these are just dogs.
More soon.
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We just wrapped up the final session of the No More Homeless Pets Conference out in Las Vegas. And I have to say that the conference, for a wide variety of reasons, way exceeded my expectations. I was impressed by the quality of speakers -- of course. I knew a good many of them beforehand and knew they would be excellent. What impressed me maybe the most was the quality of the participants. 650 people (including the speakers) were here. About 60% of them had never attended a conference anywhere before.
They were smart. Compassionate. And most of all, open -- open to new ideas and ways of thinking. That's what this is going to take to make a difference in this fight to end the killing of animals in our communities and shelters. And I think they learned a lot -- from the best of the best practices out there.
I'll post more details later this week - and in the coming months. I have a lot of notes - -and a lot of follow up reading material. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to be here...and I hope to pass along some of the wisdom of other people out there through this blog to those who were unable to attend.
I will also get to a weekly roundup at some point -- not sure when. I'll keep you posted.
Have a good week. More soon once I get back to a calmer and tamer Kansas City.
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The folks in Ontario were denied in their appeal against their breed ban. Once again personal rights and freedoms were denied instead with states having the right to take them away with no evidence that what they are doing is justified or necessary. All in the name of public safety right? Don't look at the "dog people" for support when we end up dealing with wire tapping issues and other personal privacy issues in the name of public safety. Just sayin'.
I haven't gotten the chance to read the entire decision, but Caveat has, and has build a strong opinion over at her place.
While I've always maintained the BSL has several elements that are directly counter to the US Constitution, I've quit getting my hopes up that the courts will side with us. Instead, I keep thinking that our strongest ally will be the court of public opinion -- which I think is beginning to see that this legislation is not effective, expensive, impossible to enforce and founded on bad data.
This is what is happening in Ottawa, Ontario -- as they have announced that they are no longer going to actively enforce Ontario's ban because it is unenforceable and a waste of their law enforcement officer's time.
Like I've always said, I know more about dogs than the average person and will frequently see dogs that I don't know whether or not they are a "pit bull" breed or not -- but I've never once seen a dog and questioned whether or not I thought it was aggressive. Seems like behavior is a much simpler and more reliable way of enforcing a dangerous dog ordinance to me...and I think the court of public opinion, unlike the "real" courts, is starting to get on board.
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That sentence isn't the most profound statement ever written. But I'm just at a loss.
At some point in this country, someone decided that in breed discrimination issues that people are guilty until proven innocent.
We've made a practice of destroying people's property before a trial decision has been reached so that the property is gone (dead) before the person is found not- guilty.
Now, apparently we are suspending sentences for people who plead guilty to felony charges.
So apparently, Mike Vick plead guilty yesterday to state dogfighting charges. In doing so, he may be able to get his 3-year federal sentence reduced because he is unable to get out of federal prison while state charges are still pending. In exchange for the plea, the state is offering him a suspended sentence (at the recommendation of Surry County Attorney Gerald Poindexter) that would allow him to go immediately into a halfway house program and would not serve any jail terms for state level felony crimes. And in Vick's case, this wouldn't be just one felony crime - but it could multiple cases of felony animal cruelty -- one case for each abused dog.
A suspended sentence is not sending a message that we as a society feel like dog fighting is a major crime. And we need to. Badly.
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IAMS is celebrating its 10th anniversary as the sponsor of Home 4 the Holidays.
Home 4 the Holidays is a program with the goal of adopting out 1 million orphaned animals into homes between October 1st, 2008 and January 5th, 2009.
This year, Felicity Huffman is the national spokesperson for the event. Huffman, one of the stars of my favorite TV show ever (Sports Night, not Desperate Housewives) is the proud owner of a rescued shelter dog named Tucker (pictured with her).
I'm really glad that IAMS and others have gotten behind being aggressive at adopting out dogs. Agressively adopting out dogs is the single most valuable way to minimize the number of animals that die in our shelters each year (now estimated at about 4 million annually).
It's not going to happen by making more laws. It's not going to happen by blaming people who for whatever reason surrender their pets. It's not going to happen by determining that that home just isn't good enough. Ending killing begins with adoptions.
Good for IAMS. Good for Felicity Huffman. And better yet, good for the shelter animals. Let's do what we can to help get 1 million dogs adopted between now and January 5th.
For more information check out:
The PR site for Home 4 the Holidays.
The "Fact Sheet" for the program.
The Press release is here.
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