I'm traveling this week -- so I'm a little behind on posting. In the meantime, I wanted to pass along some information on a book that I'm pretty excited about.
The book is "A Lawyer's Guide to Dangerous Dog Issues".
The book is edited by Joan Schaffner, a nationally respected expert on animal law and an associate professor at the George Washington University Law School and founder of the school's Animal Law Program. I got the opportunity to meet Schaffner at the No Kill Conference back in May and have been excited about this book coming out ever since.
The book takes a really close look at the topic of the law and "dangerous" dogs -- a quickly growing field in law. As communities and governments struggle to address public safety in the wake of the growing media coverage of dogs attacks, they are often looking at legislation and ways to define dogs that are dangerous. It addresses questions like, is breed discrimination immoral? Unjust? Ineffective? And what other solutions are all of those, if any?
The book provides progressive approaches to address the concerns of wreckless dog owners and provides strategies for defending dangerous dog cases. It should be a good resource for governments and legal and private associations on handling this emerging field of law.
Writers of the book include: Ledy Van Kavage of Best Friends Animal Society; Michelle Welch, assistant attorney general of the state of Virginia; David Furlow, Houston; Marcy LaHart, West Palm Beach FL; Professor Bernard Rollin, Colorado State University, and Professor Larry Cunningham, St. John's University School of Law.
In seven chapters, these experts from around the nation will consider key topics including:
-- An overview of ordinances targeting reckles owners
-- The concept of canine profiling
-- The Constitutionality of breed-specific legislation
-- Enforcing and defending dangerous dog laws
-- Information on dangerous dog registries and hearings
Other topics include the use of witnesses including victims, animal control officers, physicians and animal behaviorists and a primer on homewners' insurance and dog owners.
The book is sponsored by the American Bar Association -- so a trustworthy source on the topic of all things legal. I'm really excited about this book coming out.
A bit of a warning, the book does come with a healthy price tag of $79.95...but I do think it will be worth it for people who are involved in working with city legislation on canine laws.
Hopefully I'll get a copy soon and be able to give a full-on review -- but it you get to it first, please feel free to send me your reviews.
In seven chapters,
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