With the holiday weekend last weekend (at least here in the states), I didn't get a weekly roundup out last week. So once again, I've got two weeks of stuff. It always looks overwhelming when I put two weeks worth of stuff together.
There are a lot of articles -- but as you read through I want you to notice how in all of the bite reports, some very common themes start popping up that led to the dog bite -- regardless of the breed of dog that is involved. You'll also notice quite a bit of difference in how the media reported these bites. Also, a lot of unnecessary incidents where police shot animals over the past couple of weeks. Have a great week everyone.
Cities and dog laws
Eastpointe, MI is going to introduce a revised animal control ordinance next week that will not be breed specific. Increasingly, cities are wisely creating ordinances that are centered around the dog's behavior, not their breed.
Salem, AR is looking at a possible new law that would create restrictions on 'pit bulls' and rottweilers in the community.
In Kingsport, TN, officials are looking at breed neutral legislation after their research has shown pit bull bans in other places to be unsuccessful.
Whispers of BSL in the state of Texas.
Hutchinson, KS will not ban pit bulls from the city after city officials realized that doing anything about 'pit bulls' would only cover a small fraction of the dog bites in the community.
Liberty, MO is considering raising their pet limit to allow ownership of more than 2 dogs.
Prosecutors in Toledo lost evidence that was intended to be used to prosecute 2 men on charges of dog fighting. Toledo has a ban on pit bulls that they told people was to help them stop dog-fighting, but don't have the ability to not lose evidence when a dogfighting trial comes up.
Nackawic, Canada has finally repealed their animal control bylaw that singled out pit bulls, rottweilers and their mixed breeds.
Dog bites
There was an incident in Salinas, CA where a 'pit bull' that was being walked by a 14 year old boy and saw a man with three small, barking Chihuahuas. The dog pulled away from the boy and bit one of the dogs and the man who was trying to protect them. Donna over at Bad Rap has a great commentary on this story -- which did do a good job of using the media to educate owners on training and maintaining control of your dog and that well trained, stable dogs, of all breeds, make great family pets.
A three year old Porter, TX girl was injured this week when she was attacked by a 'pit bull'. The child was visiting her aunt's house, and went into the backyard by herself to feed the three dogs that lived on chains in the back yard. The media certainly made this a 'pit bull' issue, instead of focusing on the reality that three year olds should be sent out to feed chained dogs by themselves under any circumstance.
A 7 year old Kansas City boy was attacked this week by a Rottweiler that lived in the family's back yard. The attacked occurred in a very tough neighborhood in Kansas City -- where dogs are often kept as protection dogs. The dog was one of two that was usually kept chained in the back yard. Neighbors said the attacks were just a tragedy waiting to happen because the dogs seemed aggressive.
A teenage girl Windsor, Ontario was viciously attacked by a Chesapeake Bay Retriever -- that it sounds like is usually kept chained in the back yard. Windsor would fall under Ontario's ban on 'pit bull' type dogs. Even with this article they focus on the fact that most Chesapeak Bay Retrievers are good dogs (as are most dogs of all other breeds) -- failing to realize that bad behavior is almost always an owner-specific problem that has nothing to do with "breed".
A two year old toddler in Waynesboro, GA was attacked by a 'pit bull' when the toddler ran off into a wooded area after a ball. Officials say they believe the dog was living in the woods and was likely hungry. No word on why a two year old is running off into a wooded area by themselves.
Two children in Milwaukee wer bitten by a neighbor's Akita. The breed of dog involved falls in paragraph 4 of the story.
An 18 month old Tupelo, MS girl was attacked by her "family's pit bull". The toddler went outside to play with the dog by herself while the dog was chained up to a post in the back yard.
An Idaho Falls (ID) boy was hospitalized after being attacked by a Bull Mastiff - -that had apparently attacked someone before. Again, the breed of dog falls in paragraph 4.
Two young girls in Rome, GA were attacked by a dog described as a "coonhound" that was apparently defending her puppies.
A three year old Fullerton, CA girl was attacked by the "family pit bull". In this one, the girl and her mother went to take food to the dog -- which was chained up in the back yard -- and then the mother went inside leaving the toddler outside with the chained up dog that had just been fed.
A Fergus Falls, MN delivery man was bitten by a Dalmation.
In Glade, Spring, VA, a four year old boy was hospitalized after the boy went outside to play with two large dogs that were tied up in the back hard. The boy was attacked by Rottweiler.
A mail carrier in German Village, OH was hospitalized after being bitten by a Boxer.
A two year old toddler in Albuquerque was bitten by her grandparents Chow mix. The dog was apparently pretty unfamiliar with the child (the toddler did not live there) and a toy the child was playing with ended up too close to the dog - -who was chained up in the back yard -- and the dog attacked the child.
Dogs remain among the most safe animals on the planet. But in spite of this, parents still need to be responsible about watching and monitoriing their children when they are around dogs (or just wandering around outside). Safety can be more readily assured if people actually monitor their children. Honest discussions about how we keep dogs will help too...as so many of these attacks happened with dogs that were chained in their backyard (and appeared to be kept their as their primary form of containment).
Police shooting animals
Police in Troy, NY came to a woman's home in search of the woman's brother in law who did not live in her home. The woman tried to get her dogs out of harmss way and put them in the back yard only to find out officers were in her back yard (where they shouldn't have been without a warrant). The dogs ran out into the back yard and police shot and killed one of her dogs. The dog did not attack or bite anyone, but is now dead because police over-reacted and were not following proper policy.
A family in Raymore, MO is upset after police shot the 18 year old cat with a shotgun. Police were called to the scene with reports of an "aggressive cat" -- and according to the police report, the cat was sick, wild and had its claws extended. However, the dead cat was declawed 10 years ago. After shooting the cat, the police apparently responded by throwing the cat's body into a dumpster.
A 'pit bull' in Grand Forks, ND was shot by police for "terrorizing" a neighborhood. The dog reportedly was barking and chasing kids on bicycles. No one was bitten - -but the dog was killed.
A three year old Milwaukee boy was bitten in the face by the neighbor's American Bulldog. Apparently the young boy went into the neighbor's back yard and let the dog out of the kennel. The neighbor told the boy to put the dog back into the kennel and that's when the dog bit the boy. Why was the three year old over in the neighbor's yard letting the dog out unattended?
Two 'pit bulls' were shot by a Sioux Falls, SD police officer. The officer had stopped on a call about a parking violation, but then found two 'pit bulls' running loose. The dogs weren't being aggressive toward anyone and there had been no reports of them being aggressive. However, when the officer approached the animals, they growled at him so he would stay away. When multiple officers cornered the dogs, they became aggressive toward the officers, and an officer shot both animals with a shotgun, killing one. This is a classic case where the dogs were clearly not well socialized with people -- but also were not being aggressive unless cornered. Unfortunately, one of the dogs was needlessly killed. No one was bitten or injured in the incident.
Chicago police fatally shot a 'pit bull' while they were serving a search warrant - -and in the process, bullets grazed two children that were in the home. The dog was not responsible for biting anyone.
The number of dogs that are not involved in bite incidents that are shot by police is starting to become alarming...
Media Reporting
Police apparently tasered a dog in McFarland, CA that was supposedly chasing children. The dog is being called a "pit bull" and said to weigh 120 lbs -- which would be about twice the weight of a large 'pit bull'...which seems as if their breed identification was all wrong. No one was injured in the incident, and police just secured a stray dog, but it made headlines because of the breed of dog supposedly involved.
In Memphis, an 11 year old boy was reportedly "attacked by a pack of pit bulls". Now, I don't know about you, but being attacked by a pack of dogs sounds really scary to me. However, if you read the story, you find that the boy only received what are being reported as "superficial" wounds -- which wouldn't be consistent with an attack at all. Media drives fear. Fear drives attention to the media. It's a vicious cycle.
Animal Cruelty
A man in Onslow County, NC is being held on $105,000 bond after authorities found both marijuana and 51 'pit bulls' on his property that were apparently in awful conditions.
Miscellanious
Dog Breed bans ignore the realy problem.
Canadian Expert Bill Bruce will be hodling a forum on the tactics Calgary is using to reduce dog bites in their community. Calgary has long been a successful model for not only creating a no-kill community, but also for minimizing dog bites, without breed specific laws or mandatory spay/neuter.
A good video that shows aggressive manerisms by a dog, along with very submissive behavior toward the dog, that still led to the larger dog biting at the smaller dog. The more people can learn about the body language of their dog and how to control/react to that body language, the better off we'll all be.
Poochmaster has a good blog posting on how we define "vicious" for dogs in this country. Our paranoia over dog bites has really caused a lot of non-aggressive dogs to be euthanized due to very small, understandable incidences.
A great video from Knock Out Dog Fighting - the video stresses the importance of giving high-energy dogs a "job" to do. And if this energy is channeled in an appropriate way, the dogs will be great pets. Great stuff.
The greatest dog breeds you only think you know -- pit bulls and greyhounds top the list.
The high numbers of innocent dogs being killed by police has been constant for years (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-19/dogs-in-a-deadly-crossfire/full/). Radly Balko has kept a tally of 'dogs-shot-by-police' stories for a long time now (http://www.theagitator.com/?s=Puppycide), and it's truly frightening how ignorant most police seem to be when it comes to properly judging whether or not a dog is a threat.
Posted by: Pai | September 15, 2009 at 08:45 PM
Just FYI
South Charleston DID remove Breed Specific Language, but ADDED the term 'fighting dogs' as being dangerous dogs. They provided themselves a 'backdoor' to the BSL -- and the matter STILL REQUIRES ATTENTION!!!! Next meeting is 10/01/2009, please respond to their tactics appropriately! We need help stopping this!
Posted by: Jo Staats | September 21, 2009 at 01:19 PM