KC DOG BLOG

7 month infant dies from dog attack

Unfortunately, this isn't a repeat story....although the circumstances certainly seem similar.

Earlier today, a 7 month old San Antonio toddler was killed by two dogs in the family home.

The young boy was being cared for by his grandmother, who left him alone with the dogs while she went to the kitchen to get the infant some food. The woman came back to find the two dogs had attacked the child....who later died in the hospital.

The dogs are being described as "pit bulls" by the media and police -- however, one neighbor,Ramon Sanchez said the two dogs "were at least 120 pounds each" which would make them NOT pit bulls.

Most of the neighbors report that the dogs were known to be aggressive -- and one relative notes that one of the dogs bit an 8 year old niece in the face not long ago. While the grandmother regularly cared for the toddler, the dogs were usually left outside when the infant was there.

Meanwhile, the area where this occurred is a very tough part of San Antonio. The zip code where this happened is almost entirely Hispanic, and poverty stricken. The median HH income for the zip code is $23,105 -- less than 1/2 the state average.  39% of the population lives below the poverty line, and 17% live at levels of less than 50% of the poverty line. Most people who live there do not even have a high school diploma.

So in the end, we have dogs with a known propensity for aggression, that were not regularly socialized with a young child, and was left alone with the young child. It is a recipe we've seen all too often.

A couple of months ago, I did an interview with Jennifer Shyrock of Dogs and Storks -- a network of trainers that specifically work with parents on how to introduced new children into a family with dogs. It is just so incredibly important that we work to educate dog owners and parents on the best way to introduce dogs to children and children to dogs. While this is important for all households, the education is even more important in low-income, low-educated communities (often where the dog serves as part pet, part security system), where many of these cases occur.

This is the 11th fatal attack already this year. Eight of these attacks have involved children under the age of 5, with three of them being mere infants. While these attacks are very rare, it is important that we get information out to parents about introducing children and dogs in the same home.  Dogs & Storks has a wonderful CD set that helps educate parents on how to do this and warning signs on what to look for.

Meanwhile, this post wouldn't be complete without noting that while this event happened early this morning, it has already been picked up in over 240 news outlets -- which is a far cry from the mere 1 that picked up a fatality by a Husky early last week.  One San Antonio outlet is already calling the question of whether or not 'pit bulls' should be banned noting two fatal attacks in the area in just a week. Never mind that the other attack occurred with a small child who wandered into a back yard alone, unattended while his parents slept and went up to a chained up dog.  

Until we stop talking about breeds, and begin talking about the reasons why attacks occur (and most often it seems it is with an unsupervised child left alone with a dog it hasn't been socialized with), we will not get to the root of the causes of these attacks. And the media blowing up articles when 'pit bulls' are involved, but ignoring the stories by other breeds, and then stoking the fires, only increases the ignorance.

Let's stop the ignorance now -- and push for true education in these matters.

Update:  It's 10:30, CST.  About 15 hours since the attack occurred. This article has now run in 350 different news sources -- including a TV station in virtually every media market in the US and now Australia.  And folks, the newspapers haven't even picked this up yet. Remember this the next time someone says, "why is it I only see pit bull attacks in the news?"  This is why.

Weekly Roundup - Week ending 3/29/09

  It's been quite a week. I'm behind on a few stories - -I wasn't really anticipating having 3 fatalities this week to cover. I'll get to a few big stories I'm behind on early this week. Here are some of the top stories that won't get their own headlines.

Cities/States and Laws

A couple in Pawtucket had their dog taken from them because 'pit bulls' are banned in the community. The couple had recently moved to the city and were likely unaware of the ban -- so the family dog will likely be euthanized. It's also pretty amazing that the reporter for this story tried to stir up hysteria about the dog being "in the same room with a newborn baby."

The city of Reading, PA is now looking at limiting the number of pets a family can own to no more than four. They are not giving any reasons why they feel like the ordinance is necessary. Last year, Reading's dangerous dog ordinance was ruled invalid by the state court.  This city council doesn't exactly seem like the most pet friendly group of folks.

The city council in Norwalk, OH are looking at an ordinance that may put more restrictions on 'pit bulls'.

Alert: Pittsburgh, PA may be looking at some restrictions on 'pit bulls".

Florida has opted against a state-wide mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.

The city of Cote St. Luc (Quebec) has eliminated the breed specific language in their ordinance.

Dog bites

An 18 month old toddler was bitten in the face by a dog in the home. There were two dogs in the home, and no one is quite sure which of the two dogs was responsible for the attack.  I can't stress enough, if you have a toddler, you must supervise them around your dogs. Even well-behaved dogs can get pushed too hard by a toddler that may pull a tale, ear, or hug a dog too tightly.

A 2 year old Franklin, NC boy was apparently attacked by the family's 'pit bull' that "gotten loose from its chain".  The dog had been staying with some other friends for quite some time but had recently begun being kept by the family.

A Raleigh, NC boy was attacked by two "pit bulls" that "got loose from the chain" and got loose in the neighborhood and attacked the boy.

A four year old UK girl was severely bitten by an American Bulldog -- yip - the UK breed ban is still not working because it is targeting dog breeds instead of irresonsible owners regardless of breed.

A Homestead, PA defended her dog this week after her dog bit a 7 year old neighbor. The dog was nursing young puppies and the dog's owner warned the girl not to go play with the dog but the girl ignored the warning. We MUST teach our children to respect dogs and to LISTEN to adults when they are told to not mess with particular animals.

A three month old Australian baby, was attacked by the family's Blue Heeler cross.

Citizens in Ridgeland, MS are putting together a petition to overturn the city's recent ban on 'pit bulls'. Good luck to these residents who were mostly ignored during the process of passing this law.

Washington County, MD has made some smart adjustments to their dangerous dog law. While they currently have a law that labels dogs dangerous or vicious based on their behavio (which is great), they have now adjusted the law so that owners of a dog declared vicious can take their dogs to training classes, get a Canine Good Citizen certificate, and have their dog temp tested and have the dangerous or vicious designation removed. I really like these ordinances that encourage owners to do the responsible thing and get appropriate training for their dogs.

The Media

I've had several stories this week where the media has reported things innaccurately, or chosen to mostly not cover stories at all. Well, here's another one A city council member in Saginaw, MI, William Scharffe, has introduced an ordinance that would limit the amount of time a dog could be tethered.  He said that limiting tethering would be a more realistic and better alternative to banning breeds.  The headline to the story?  "Pits are not nice doggies".

Abuse Cases

A Natchez, MS man received 6 months in jail for tying his 1 year old pit bull to a tree, pouring flammable liquid on her and setting her ablaze. This is the same jail sentence you would get in Cincinnati for merely owning a pit bull.

A Shawnee, KS man was charged with felony animal cruelty for allegedly beating, kicking or otherwise injuring his girlfriend's Lhasa Apso.

10 dogs were rescued from an alleged dog-fighting ring in Washington, GA.

Four Memphis dog owners were arrested after officers found several emaciated 'pit bulls' and one dead puppy in their backyard.  One of those arrested said he had no idea the dogs were back there but was seen grilling in his back yard just moments before his arrested.

Twenty dogs were "rescued" from a Kansas City, KS residence.  There were apparently more than 60 dogs on the site.  It is unknown whether the dogs were actually being neglected or not.

Miscellanious

Four ways to avoid dog bites.  I applaud this Phoenix TV station for actually trying to help the situation vs fear mongering that doesn't help.

A really great story about Daisy Mae, a dog that was rescued from  a dogfighting operation that has overcome that hardship and is now a therapy dog making weekly rounds at a Hospital pediatric ward.

Have we lost all common sense when it comes to dog bites?

An80 year old Alameda, CA woman died this week after being bitten by a dog. 

The woman, Dolly Newell, was out walking here Rottweiler and was approached by one of the neighborhood dogs. She fed the dog a biscuit. In its apparent excitement to grab the biscuit, the dog nipped the woman on the finger. However, when the wound would not quit bleeding, she went to the hospital, and got one stitch to sew up the wound. However, being a dog-lover herself, she lied to the doctor -- and initially her friend who drove her to the hospital -- that she hurt herself gardening. She didn't want to say the dog bit her because she didn't want to get the dog in trouble.

A couple days later, the woman was found in serious condition on her bathroom floor when she got a bacterial infection in the wound - -and later died at the hospital.

It's a tragic tail. And all I can think is, has our societal zero-tolerance policy on dog bites gone too far and caused us to lose all common sense?

Nothing in the article would lead me to believe that the dog that bit her was a dangerous dog.  It was being a dog -- maybe not a completely well-behaved dog, but certainly not aggressive - and was a bit over-zealous in getting the biscuit. However, in our ultra-sensitive society, I can see a situation where that dog would be put down or at least put on restrictions for the small bite.  Instead of using common sense that this dog clearly wasn't a huge danger to society, in many areas with "zero tolerance" policies this dog could likely be put down.  That's not common sense, it's paranoia.

I understand why this woman - a dog owner and lover herself - -wouldn't want to get the dog in trouble. Especially if it were one of a few often targeted breeds of dog, a simple act of over-zealousness would mean death.

And in her effort to protect the dog, is now, sadly, dead.

I can't help but think that a little common sense would go a long way in helping with dog-bite issues.

Meanwhile, covering this story wouldn't be complete without a media irresponsibility component. While all but one media outlet reported the story as I noted above, leave it to the NBC affiliate in the bay area to, well, make up their own version of the story. Check this headline:

"Woman Dies After Rottweiler Bite, Small wound wouldn't stop bleeding".

They reported the actual story correctly, but the headline blames her dog for the bite and makes it sound as if she bled to death instead of from an infection.  Disgraceful.

My heart goes out to Dolly's friends and family.

18 month old child killed by dog

Update #3: The mother in this case, Melissa Miller, was indicted on charges of injury to a child and criminally geligent homicide -- both felonies. While the media spent much of  their time focusing on trying make this a dog issue, the grand jury put the focus on the mother in this case.

Update #2: Ok, this is just maddening. So, KEYE-TV has an interview with the victim's mother in this case, where she reportedly "describes what happened" -- not that she would really know what happened, because she was asleep.  Anyway, the article is what it is and she provides and explaination of the events that led up to the attack.  The biggest problem with the article is in the last line where it says "Miller said her family is working on a bill that would help prevent pit bull attacks."

So here's the deal. We have a law in place that would have prevented this attack. It's called child endangerment -- which would include letting your 18 month old wander around outside by himself while you sleep. I have little doubt that this is a partial attempt to try to lay the blame on the dog, vs accepting responsibility and the possible criminal charges that would come with it.

Listen, I feel for this woman. Anyone who has ever been a parent has made a mistake with their child -- and fortunately, most don't have to suffer the horror of having a child die because of it. However, if we are ever going to solve this, we HAVE to insist that parents take responsibility for their children and not deflect blame in other directions. 

Update:  It turns out that the child, 18 month old Tyler Miller, awoke before the rest of the family on Thursday morning.  The boy apparently wandered outside unattended, and up to the pregnant, chained dog. The boy's mother woke up around 12:30 pm to discover the boy missing only to later find him in the back yard...dead.  No one witnessed the attack.

A truly tragic, and avoidable,  incident.

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This is the 2nd child to be killed by a dog this week -- this one in Luling, TX. The details on this one are pretty sketchy at this point, but if more info comes to light, I will update this.

It sounds as if the 2 year old boy, Tyson, was with his family visiting the people who lived in the home where he was killed. Tyson was out in the yard, and approached a pregnant female 'pit bull' that was chained up in a wooded area behind the house. It is unclear if the boy and the dog had ever met.

Authorities say there were adults with the boy in the back yard, but because the dog was pregnant, they thought the boy would be ok. ?!?!

Luling, TX is a small community of 5400 people. The community has a high level of poverty with 19% of the populuation living below the poverty level, and 9.4% of the population living on an income below 50% of the poverty level. 

There continues to be a major need for dog owner education in many of these communities to help prevent these attacks from occurring. It doesn't take a lot to realize that a pregnant, chained up dog in a wooded area behind a home isn't exactly the best place for a 2 year old toddler to be.

This attack is very similar to the one that happened on Sunday, where a 3 year old toddler was attacked by a Husky that had gotten off its chain. Both happened in very small, rural communities. There has been a big difference between how the two attacks have gotten covered though -- with the Husky incident only making it into a small community newspaper, while this more recent incident has been on virtually every TV news station and newspaper in Austin, San Antonio and Houston -- over 20 different news sources and counting. 

I wonder why?

My prayers go out to Tyson's family as they deal with their loss in this tragedy.

Cincinnati -- a lesson in failure

It's tough to not laugh at Cincinnati at this point.  It's almost as if they're rats in the maze that keep pushing the same buzzer over and over hoping this is the time it doesn't shock them.  I don't know how else to explain it.

For starters, Cincinnati is under Ohio's state law sets restrictions on 'pit bulls' (insurance requirements, containment and leash requirement). In 2003, they decided that law wasn't working, so the city decided to institute an all-out ban on 'pit bulls'.  That too proved to be a failure.

In 2007, the city continued to euthanize over 1000 pit bulls a year, the number of "German Shepherds in the shelter started to grow, and the city estimated that it spend more than $86,000 prosecuting the 50 'pit bulls' that were taken from homes for being illegal.

So, the city decided to up the anty, and in spite of having one of the highest murder rates per capita in the country, in June of 2008, the city passed an ordinance that began training police officers to identify pit bulls so the police force could help enforce the ordinance.

So what do you do when that doesn't work? 

Jim McNulty, the president of the Westwood Civic Association said it's common for pit bulls to still live in his neighborhood and pleaded with the council to do something about it.  The Cincinnati SPCA says that over 1,000 'pit bulls' show up at the shelter still every year (although, it should be noted that the SPCA folks aren't very good at breed identification as they are currently facing a lawsuit for killing a woman's American Bulldog that was mistaken for a 'pit bull")

So, Cincinnati created more laws.

So this week, Cincinnati passed a law that not only can people not own pit bulls, but now it will be illegal to breed them, sell them, or give them away too.

Huh?

If it's illegal to own one? Then wouldn't it already be illegal to breed or sell one? 

So now, if someone is caught owning, keeping, breeding, selling or transfering owenrship of a pit bull in any way, they will face up to six months in jail. That's six months in jail for owning a dog.

Let's put this in perspective. Cincinnati is a crime-ridden city. Their murder rate is 4x the national average. Forcible rape? 3x the national average. Robbery? 4x. Burglary? 2x. Larceny? 2x.  Car Theft? 1.5x.  All of this helped get Cincinnati rates as the 16th most dangerous city in the US with a population over 75,000.

And we're going to put people in jail because they own a certain type of dog, that may or may not be dangerous, that may or may not even be a pit bull. Are we going to take Paulette Evans' dog, kill it and throw her in jail too? 

That's not how I'd prefer to use the jail space in Cincinnati if I lived there.

It is sort of entertaining to watch the city council in Cincinnati try to make their breed specific laws work. They're now on version 4.0 of this ordinance because they can't get it to work. Maybe, at some point they're realize the law isn't not working because it isn't harsh enough -- maybe eventually they'll figure out it isn't working because it is an unenforceable law based on a failed premise.

You can't tell a vicious dog by its shape.And even if certain breeds were more aggressive, the ability to tell different breeds apart, particularly with mixed breeds, is virtually impossible and will lead to lawsuits.  Dangerous dogs are not a problem -- but a symptom of a much larger societal problem that remains a problem within Cincinnati. It isn't the problem itself. 

And tweaking a failed law with a failed premise isn't going to fix it.

Toddler dies from dog attack in South Georgia

A 3 year old Wayne County, GA boy, Dustin Elijah Fauk-ner, was attacked and killed by his neighbor's dog on Sunday. 

The dog, a Husky that had played with Eli before, was chained up and somehow broke free from her collar.  The boy was walking with a 5 year old girl and got a sand spur in his shoe and cried out to the girl as he tried to remove it. The dog broke free from the collar and attacked the young boy.

The owner of the dog pulled the dog off the boy and shot the dog.

Officials are not commenting on why the young children were out alone and unsupervised -- but according to reports, the young boy has been left alone on multiple occassions.  And I still contend that leaving a dog chained up as its primary form of containment is setting an animal up to fail.

Meanwhile, I want to comment on the media coverage (or non-coverage) of this. I honestly wouldn't even have caught this story had someone nearby not sent me the article. The only media outlet to pick this up happened to be the small local newspaper the Jesup Press Sentinel (circulation 8,000).  Whereas a lot of fairly minor 'pit bull' incidents have made big news from multiple news sources this week, a fatal incident involving a Husky and a young child is not big news. 

Until we start covering incidences based on circumstances we will not make a dent in the problem of dog bites and attacks.

My heart goes out to the family of the young boy and the owner of the dog who is responsible as he deals with the guilt of what happened.

Vick vs PETA

Earlier this week, Mike Vick was released from a Federal prison and returned to Virginia. The topic of course has been discussed on sports blogs around the US.  The New York Times Sports blog is not different.  However, the New York Times blog had an interesting hypothetical yesterday.  Here's the scenerio:

"You have to give up your beloved family pet, a pit bull terrier, and you have the choice of entrusting it to Ingrid Newkirk, president and founder of PETA, or Michael Vick, trusting that whoever you pick will find a good home.  Who do  you choose?"

The answer sounds easy -- unless you're familiar with the folks at PETA.

However, also yesterday, the Center for Consumer Freedom released numbers from PETA in 2008 -- another year in which PeTA killed 95% of the animals that were entrusted into their care -- killing 2,124 pets last year and placing only 7* in adoptive homes.  That number brings the total number dogs and cats killed by PETA to 21,339 since 1998 (hat tip: The Pet Connection). 

* I want to put the "7" in perspective here. On a $32 million budget, PeTA was able to find homes for only 7 animals. Last year, I think my wife and I found homes for 7 animals -- and we work on a significantly lower budget figure than $32 million. That's absurdity.

That's a lot of dead animals.  PETA isn't an organization that saves animals (which is what they try to lead people to believe).  They are actually one of the largest killers of animals in the united states.

So now, knowing that, given the hypothetical, what would you do. The writer finishes:

"If I delivered my pit bull to Newkirk, I would at least know his fate -- hed' be headed out the back door in a plastic bag by the time I drove back home. I couldn't be completely sure about Vick, but I think I'd have to take my chances with him."

You can read his entire rundown at the NY Times here.

Folks, this isn't animal welfare people talking. It's sports people. Is the general public finally seeing the light on PeTA?

More on PeTA's killing spree over at Terrierman.

Building a No-Kill Kansas City (part 2)

So last night, I posted about some of the great work our friends at Animal Haven were doing on the west side of our state line.  I think having the shelter in KCMO privatize will help also.   And while we are making progress, there is still a lot that needs to be done in the other counties (and states) in our metro.

There are a couple of big obstacles that are standing in our way from becoming a completely No-Kill community.

1) Public shelter managers who are unwilling to make changes that will lead to the ending of the senseless killing of healthy dogs and cats.

2) Laws that have been put in place that are getting in the way of No-Kill.

I think we can overcome the first issue if enough people demand it.  If the public outrage over senseless killing becomes loud enough, the shelter managers who are NOT interested in saving lives will be removed. 

The second issue is one that Kansas City Dog Advocates is attempting to tackle head on.

There are many laws in the Kansas City area that are getting in the way of No-Kill. Some are hurting pet retention, because pets are removed from homes. Some are hurting adoptions, because there are fewer homes to adopt to. Some are hurting foster programs, because people cannot take in the animals.

In short, we need to change a large number of these laws and policies and how we view animal control laws.  This is the focus of our group.

One of our focuses has been on repealing breed discriminatory laws (BSL).  Breed bans throughout our metro have made it very difficult to find homes for bully-breed dogs. Currently, about 1/3 of the potential homes in our community are not options for these dogs. This is why dogs like Gramby, from Animal Haven, spend an inordinate amount of time in shelter care instead of in homes. Breed based laws also makes owner retention even more difficult, as perfectly great dogs like Nikko, Fleas and Brutus(and dozens of others) are removed from homes because of the way they look, not because of the way they act.  The last 3 examples were all victims of BSL in Kansas City, KS.  It is so bad there that Boxer, Mastiffs, anything brindle, short haired or short muzzled has a target on their head.

Arbitrary pet limit laws, mandatory spay/neuter laws, breed bans, outdated vaccination requirements, laws that prevent trap/neuter return programs and punish caretakers of feral cat colonies all have a hand in removing animals from homes, give AC more tools to seize and kill, keeping animals from going to good homes, or eliminate potential foster families that can provide better homes for animals waiting for forever homes.

And all of these laws can be replaced with policies that are better for animals -- all can be done with no decrease in public safety.

We are stepping up our efforts in this arena. Two weeks ago, the community of Greenwood repealed their BSL.  We are getting involved in the politics of more communities in the Kansas City area by posting political ratings on candidates on a variety of pet-related policies in cities throughout the metro (you can click on "politics" at the top, and find your individual city - as always, this is a work in progress).

There are a lot of reasons to go to the polls and cast your votes. But as a pet-owning population, the desires for pet friendly policies have too often been ignored. According to the AVMA pet owner census, 60% of the US population currently owns pets. We are the majority. While we should demand a lot of things from our public officials, pet-friendly policies shouldn't be too much to ask.  Why is it be that 60% of the population that owns and cares for pets, has to settle for politicians that institute oppresive policies that increase the number of our pets killed in our communites and compromise our safety?

Short answer: They don't.

Additionally, KCDA is going to be kicking off some programs in the Kansas City area to help others learn how to get involved politicaly in their communities -- so their voices can be heard. We understand that getting involved in politics is a little scary for some. We want to help provide some simple structure and some peace of mind about diving in.  And it starts with one simple rule -- your city council members are voted on by you, hired by you, to work for you.

We're kicking this off with a KCDA Happy Hour on April 1st at 75th Street Brewery. The event kicks off at 5:30 (it is not a fundraiser, so the only cost you incur is whatever you eat and drink).  We'll be in the sectioned off area in the back of the restaurant.

Following this, we will be having a KCDA 101 meeting. The meeting is designed to be a community forum on the different laws that affect the no-kill model, ways to get involved and hopefully the knowledge and enthusiasm you need to go out and affect positive change in your communities. The first KCDA 101 meeting will be held on April 25th, from 3-5 at the Trails West Library (6242 Swope Parkway)- Room A - in Kansas City, MO. 

Complete information on these events can be found here.

More info to come from me on these events -- looking forward to seeing you there.

Building a No Kill Kansas City

A couple weeks ago, Animal Haven, the largest No-kill shelter in the Kansas City metro, met with the public to talk about their vision for moving Kansas City toward being a No-Kill community.

"What it means is there will be a home for every animal," explained Dr. Sheila Dodson. "We want to eliminate all the euthanasia of animals in shelters just because there is no space. So we want to be able to provide homes for all the animals that are homeless".

Animal Haven has done just that.  They handle all sheltering responsibilities for 11 Johnson County (KS) communities. In spite of a lot of elements working against them including an old (tiny) shelter and many laws that make their jobs a lot harder. And yet, in spite of that, they have become virtually no-kill for the communities they serve.

In 2008, Animal Haven took in 3,695 animals.  Of those:

2,117 were adopted (a 31% increase over 2007)

1074 were reclaimed

222 were transferred to other shelters or rescue groups (217% increase)

282 were euthanized for behavioral or health  reasons (a 44%% decrease)

Not only are they adopting out more animals - -they are also completely open admission to everyone in the communities they serve - -they also now have the resources to treat animals with most health problems. They are now treating all animals with the exceptions of several forms of untreatable cancers.

They've done it in part to great leadership, and a strong volunteer group. In total, AH has 583 volunteers that served 8,377 hours of service time last year. 

Animal Haven is a part of a growing coalition in the Kansas city area that has a goal of making the entire Kansas City metro a no-kill community by 2012.

"How do you take 30 cities in 2 stats and make them all No-Kill?" asked AH executive director Brendan Wiley. 

On Animal Haven's part, they are working on adopting out more animals. They have plans to move from their current 4,800 square foot facility into a new facility that would be 70,000 square feet. You read those numbers right. The goal is to not only make the facility larger and able to hold more animals (so space isn't so limited), but to also create more areas where the space will be more inviting for potential adoptors.

While Animal Haven (and a host of other rescue organizations) works on adoptions, other organizations like Spay/Neuter Kansas City and No More Homeless Pets KC are working on low cost/no cost spay/neuter and Trap, Neuter, Release policies. Meanwhile, my group at Kansas City Dog Advocates, is working on the legislative issues that will make achieving no-kill possible.

More on that tomorrow.

Greenwood, MO Repeals BSL

Last week, the Greenwood, MOcity council voted unanimously to repeal their ban on ‘pit bulls’.

Greenwood, is a small community that was once a small town, but now has become more or less an outer ring suburb of the Kansas City metro.

Greenwood passed a ban on ‘pit bulls’ 20 years ago when many cities passed breed bans due to the scare created by the Time and Sports Illustrated articles on the ‘pit bulls’,  The ban was so old gin fact, that several of the city council members didn’t even know they had a ban until we brought it to their attention.

The repeal represents an excellent case study in how to get a ban repealed.  Several local residents got involved in following the political candidates in the most recent elections – asking questions about the ban at forums. They rallied others to vote and got dog-friendly candidates in office. Soon after, several members of KCDA were invited to give a presentation to the council where we talked about why they should repeal the breed ban.

A few months later, they had crafted a breed neutral ordinance which passed with a unanimous vote.

 

We are thrilled about the repeal. Greenwood has now joined Edwardsville, KS as Kansas City

area communities that have repealed their long-standing breed bans. Rational thinking based on fairness, what actually works, and based on sound thinking is winning. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates that no matter where you are, it is important that you get involved in your local politics. Not only is it an option for you, it is your responsibility  -- it's what makes our system work.

More on that later this week.