KC DOG BLOG

Weekly Roundup - Week Ending 1/31/10

Busy week again this week, highlighted by the at least temporary reprieve of enforcing the breed specific legislation in Toledo. 

But there were quite a few other stories that are important, in case you missed them:

Cities and Laws

In St. George, UT, they are looking at their city laws after two dogs were shot and killed this week and most people believe the city laws are protecting the people who are unnecessarily killing the dogs.

A city in suburban Detroit is looking at a new dangerous dog ordinance that is not breed specific.

Zurich, Switzerland banned four breeds of dogs this week, including American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terreirs, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Bull Terriers -- apparently not learning from the struggles the rest of Europe has had with breed specific legislation.

San Francisco spent the week targeting homeless people who cared for dogs for not having their dogs licensed.

Silver Lake, OH is looking at changes to its dangerous dog ordinance following an incident involving a Husky that police say attacked other dogs on more than one occassion. Officials called the current ordinance "very limited and breed specific".  Yet anohter city is finding that focusing on breeds is limiting instead of behavior-based ordinances.

Rome Township, OH has decided to ban 'pit bulls' from the township -- but it turns out enforcement could be a major issue because the county doesn't have enough resources to enforce the law. "We told them we would work with them," Click said. "But they have to enforce this resolution. The cost is on them. I don't have hte manpower to do everything I need to do now. They need to hire a constable to enforce this."

Bristol (I believe the Tennesse one) appears to be close to passing a new dog law that is not going to be breed specific, but instead, wisely, a behavior-based ordinance.

Dog Bites & Attacks

A small child was bitten on the face by a dog on a playground in Bakersfield, CA. The dog was roaming at large and most likely a stray. It is interesting that even though the law enforcement officer thought the dog was "more of the mastiff family" that they still talk about it possibly being a 'pit bull'. There's the picture of a dog there, and that sure isn't a 'pit bull'.

In Springfield, MO, a two year old boy was bitten by a "Labrador-Blue Heeler mix" at his daycare. The boy was taken to the hospital for treatment. Springfield passed breed specific legislation 4 years ago but they did nothing to educate people in the city about what really causes dog bites.

An Orange Park, FL woman was attacked by two Boxers that had actually been involved in a similar attack only four weeks ago.

Two dogs in Pierce County, WA are being sought after they attacked a couple of pet goats and sheep. The dogs are described as an Australia Shepherd mix and a Newfoundland mix.

An officer in Moses Lake, WA shot a Labrador Retriever that attacked his drug-sniffing dog. It's interesting because not long ago Moses Lake passed a breed ban on several different breeds of dogs and are still having issues. Say with me folks -- owners are the problem, not breeds of dogs.

UK Dangerous Dogs Act

A 3 year old boy was attacked by a Rottweiler this week in the UK.

News of another aggressive incident involving a Rottweiler in the UK. The breed ban in the UK has done absolutely nothing to improve public safety there, as bite numbers continue to increase.

The Vet Association in the UK has taken a firm stand against Breed Descriminatory Laws.

Abuse cases

The state of Kansas finally shut down a breeding facility that has failed numerous inspections -- the breeder has agreed to turn over 111 dogs of 19 different breeds to officials. Since July 1, 2009, Kansas has taken 900 animals form 17 different facilities in Kansas that were not up to codes inspections.  It is also interesting to note that in Kansas, they inspect each breeding facility twice a year - -in Missouri, they inpected only 70% of the licensed facilities at the time of the last audit.

In Pittsburgh, PA, a reward is being offered for information about a 'pit bull' that was apparently injured in a dog fight and then had its throat slit and was left to die along the side of the road.

A Davenport, IA man was charged with animal neglect after killing the family's 2 month old 'pit bull' by throwing it against a wall.

Miscellanious

A University of Kansas Law School student formed a new chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund at the University.  More and more universities are forming animal law programs to help future lawyers understand the probelms with irresponsible animal legislation.

A new website pushing against breed specific legislation in Ontario.

The shelter Veterinarian in Raytown, MO refused to treat a broken leg on a stray puppy saying it was illegal for him to treat the dog until after a 10 day holding period -- even though there were private citizens that stepped up and offered to pay for the surgery.

Dog with broken heart needs a new home -- a feel good story about a 'pit bull' in Salt Lake City that is looking to be adopted even though he has a heart condition that causes him to pass out when he gets excited.

Great Blog Postings this Week

Laws about animals: UR doin it wrong -- from the Pet Connection, focusing on the goings on in Toledo and a shelter in Chicago requiring volunteers to get finger-printed and background checked in order to volunteer at the shelter.

The History of No Kill Through Cartoons -- Winograd. A great idea.

Stray Dogs in Puerto Rico -- from YesBiscuit!

Graduation day for Pit Bull Training Team -- this from HSUS. This is a great program that HSUS now sponsors in inner-city Chicago that helps urban youth there learn to train their 'pit bulls' and take pride in their well-trained dogs -- vs taking pride in their dogs being 'tough'. It really is a great program -- with a good video attached to this story.

You're Welcome -- From One Bark at a Time -- About a letter from the Toronto Humane Society that criticized him for using photos from their website on his blog -- saying he didn't have the rights to use the photos. Never mind that the point of the photos was to create awareness of the dogs that needed adopting and that spreading them to others so people can see this dogs will dramatically help the animals get adopted.

Shelter dogs almost always misidentified; How to avoid breed bungles - From Saving Pets (Australia).  I love the final line: The future will see a lot more emphasis on ‘who this dog will suit’ rather than ‘what they are’. And the benefits to shelter dog kind and adoptive families will be enormous.

A good Q/A in the newspaper about a woman in Toronto who's dog has bitten multiple people (interestingly Toronto has BSL) and a behavior expert's opinion on how to handle the situation....it's a pretty interesting response that sort of calls out both opposite sides of the dog training spectrum and calls for "balanced" training methods.

A fairly new video on youtube -- Remember When -- touching.  It is sad that a type of dog with such a rich history in this country has seen so many people turn their backs on them when they need our help to overcome the massive abuse they face in this country -- from both criminal thugs and from particular city leaders.

Breedism -- an older article written by legendary dog behaviorist Ian Dunbar that was posted this week on Dog Star Daily.

New South Wales Dog Attacks -- a great breakdown of the numbers from New South Wales Austrailia by For the Pit Bulls that shows that in spite of the dramatic article about dog attacks in the provence, only about .02% of people in the provence were bitten by dogs and of those, 75% of the "attacks" resulted in no injury or only very minor injuries.

Do animals need laws protecting from Shelters? -- from Pet Connection's Christie Keith on Oreo's Law in New York. The answer is yes by the way.

What's Stopping Us? -- Yes Biscuit! Lamenting why people don't make changes TODAY that could dramatically lead to a decline in shelter killing almost instantly.

Bans on Breeds Are Booming! -- a column in PetMD by Dr. Patty Khuly.  I don't love the headline, because I don't think it's true, but the article itself is great with a good final sentence: "I guess it’ll always be sexier to ban something than to actually work hard to deliver intelligent laws — or to enforce them. What’s it going to take for our lawmakers to "get it" when it comes to really making our municipalities safer?"

Toledo ceases enforcing 'pit bull restrictions -- & a contract incenting killing

Yesterday, I tried to dive into a little detail on the court case that ruled the Toledo BSL Unconstitutional.  Then, last night, the Toledo Blade reported that Toledo has in fact ceased enforcing their current breed specific regulations.

County Administrator Mike Beazley said, "We've directed them not to enforce Toledo's law."

Previously, the article notes, dog wardens had been able to venture on to Toledoans' property and seize dogs that look like 'pit bulls'.  But such actions have now stopped.

No word yet on whether Toledo will appeal the court ruling or whether they will just be changing their ordinance.

Interestingly, buried in the last paragraph of the Blade article mentioned something that, in my opinion, is a really big deal. Here's the last paragraph:

The city of Toledo has a contract with the county dog warden to enforce its local laws. Last year the contract was for up to $146,882. The contract calls for the city to pay the dog warden's office $100 for every citation issued against a “pit bull” or “pit bull” mix dog.

So, in other words, Toledo was providing an incentive to Lucas County's dog wardens to pick up 'pit bulls' and kill them in the shelter (the shelter has a well-known policy against adopting out 'pit bull type' dogs). Last year, Lucas County took in and killed over 1000 'pit bulls' -- which could have meant up to $100,000 in incremental revenue for the dog warden's office based on the city incentive to do so. No wonder Skeldon and his crew were so focused on 'pit bulls', allowing dog bites to increase and shelter kill rates to hover around 77%.  Their incentive was to capture, and kill, 'pit bulls'.

Hopefully the city of Toledo will not only re-write their law to not include breed specific language (which was ruled to be unconstitutional by the court), but also rewrite their contract with the Lucas County Dog Warden's office to incent activities that are good for citizens and for dogs -- like maybe declining bite rates, decreased shelter killing, better return-to-owner rates, etc.  Now THAT would be real success.

One other note on this court case. I've been amazed that outside of the city of Toledo, no other media in the state have mentioned the story or the reality that it will have an impact state-wide on all cities with BSL beyond the state law.

More good news for the residents and dogs in Toledo...

Toledo Law Ruled Unconstitutional - Why, and what's that mean?

Last week, I reported that Toledo municiple judge, Michael Goulding, ruled the city's dangerous dog ordinance was unconstitutional.   The ruling has been greeted with a strange combination of excitement, and confusion, among the animal welfare communities.

The ruling is great, but haven't we already been down this road before?

It sure seems like it -- so what makes this case different?  With that in mind, I'm going to do my best to explain why this case is different from previous cases, and what this may mean for 'pit bulls' in the state of Ohio if the decision stands. I'm going to do this with my usual caveat in these cases:  I am not a lawyer. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I am familiar with all of the precedent cases -- and have sought out a couple of lawyers to be sure I'm on the right path. But PLEASE use this for guidance only, and do not act on it legally without the help of someone who is truly a trained legal professional. Because that I'm not.

So, with that out of the way, let's talk about the case.

In its simplest form,  judge Goulding's ruling essentially declared Toledo's ordinance to be in violation of the constition under two, overarching themes.

1) Due Process for "pit bull mixes and non-pit bull" dogs.

One of the major precedents set forth in prior cases was that restrictions on 'breeds commonly known to be pit bulls" were not void for vagueness because breed standards from the AKC/UKC could be used to identify physical traits for dogs 'commonly known to be pit bulls"; and that 'pit bulls' "possess unique and readily identifiable physical and behaviortrats which are capable of recognition both by dog owners of ordinary intelligence and by enforcement personnel."

In the most recent case, unlike the others, the dogs in question were Cane Corsos, not 'pit bulls."  And because Cane Corsos (and in the case, the judge specifically points out mixed breed "pit bulls" along with Cane Corsos) does not meet the precedents set forth in previous cases because the dogs could not "reasonably" be determined to be pit bulls, because they don't contain enough of the physical and behavioral traits necessary to do so.

Essentially, this ruling now makes breed specific legislation in Ohio for anything beyond 'purebred' American Pit Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers very problematic -- meaning that they would have to go through all due processes and puts more pressure on cities with laws pertaining to mixed breeds and other breeds, like cane corsos, that declaring these types of  dogs dangerous without due process is "unreasonable and arbitrary."

2) Violation of Home Rule Policy

States have authority over cities....and thus, cities cannot pass laws that contradict state laws. If a state specifically makes something illegal, a city cannot make it legal. And if the state makes something specifically legal, the city cannot make it illegal.

The state of Ohio is the only state to have some form of breed specific legislation - -that calls for owners to have to provide a form of specific containment for a "vicious" dog (which all pit bulls are under the state law) that includes either a pen, fasten or muzzle.  However, the Toledo law mandates muzzling.  Thus, the Toledo law specifically prohibits, say, keeping a 'pit bull' in a pen, which the state law allows -- making the Toledo law unconstitutional because it violates home rule policy.

---------------------------------------------------

What does this all mean? Maybe not much. Maybe a lot. For sure, Toledo is going to have to restructure their law. The good news is that the city has been talking about repealing their BSL anyway and just reverting to the state law...this case will provide them a good reason to do this.

It seems likely that other cities in Ohio that have laws in place that include 'pit bull' mixes or other "pit bull type" dogs will have to provide due process to the people that are accused of having a "vicious" dog.  They may struggle in general upholding prosecuting mixed breeds because the prosecution could be said to be arbitrary under this ruling. This has now made breed identification for anything other than the purest-looking 'pit bull' a huge issue in the state of Ohio.

It also seems that any BSL in the state that doesn't exactly mirror the state law may also be unconstitutional - because the state law stipulates that you can own a 'pit bull' under certain circumstances, any city law that has harsher criteria may be found to be contradictory to the state law.

The reality is that the judge's conclusions may sum up what is best for the cities in Ohio (and elsewhere).  Here is his conclusion:

"The court is aware of the current state of flux in which the law regarding the regulation of dogs finds itself. Certainly this issue has raised great and legitimate concerns at many levels among people  of both care and compassion. Local and state legislative authorities are currently wrestling with amendments to these laws and courts across the state continue to grapple with statutes, ordinances, and cases concerning the subject. Certainly a more uniform, practical and humane method of regulating dogs, which both preserves the safety of the public and focuses on the dangers and misdeeds of irresponsible dog owners, would seem preferable to the status quo." (Emphasis Mine)

Yes, that is one of our judges that is charged with interpreting our laws, that is recommending a dramatic change to the status quo in Ohio for dealing with dogs -- and for the second time in a little over a year, lawmakers have gotten a similar statement from a judge in Ohio.

This ruling could mean very little. Individual cities in Ohio could just continue to fight their constituents and continue to waste tax dollars going to court defending their laws -- making precedents for every single possible scenerio under the law. Or, they could realize that the judge is right, that there are fairer ways to inprove public safety by focusing on careless and irresponsible dog owners and not dog breeds that will free up our court system to deal with other issues and save taxpayer funds defending these ridiculous laws.

Let's hope for the latter.

You can read the entire ruling on the most recent case here. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The False Solace of Vilification

A couple days ago, marketing guru and author Seth Godin wrote a blog posting, of the same title as I chose, The False Solace of Vilification.

According to Godin, the desire to vilify someone, or something, is a natural human emotion to just about any random event.  According to Godin:

When a global slowdown, national tragedy or random event hits, people look for someone to blame. If there's no one to blame, sometimes they look for someone to hate, even if it is ultimately self-destructive.

Godin mentions computer viruses, floods, economic downturns, etc. 

In each case, the person being hated on is precisely the person who can do the most to help. And yet sometimes, we can't help ourselves.

It is impossible for me not to relate this to how many in the sheltering world react. Every day, shelters across the country are inundated with homeless animals. People drop them off because they say they can no longer care for them. Someone mistakenly has a litter of puppies they cannot find homes for. Someone's dog was taken from them by animal control because they were neglecting the animal.

As a shelter worker, who sees this situation happen every day, it is very easy to blame the "irresponsible public" for the animals in their shelter.

However, it is that same public that is most able to help them save the lives of those animals -- by adopting from the shelter, by giving their donations, by telling others about the good work you are doing, by recommending you to their friends who want to get a new pet.

Often, our natural tendency to vilify leads us to not trust the public, and not let them help us overcome our situation.  And they are the very people who can help us most.

Nature vs Nurture, some new science on the matter

Last week, Time magazine had an interesting cover story about an interesting new area of science called Epigenetics.

When people talk about 'pit bulls', there is often a lot of talk about genetics and whether certain types of dogs are genetically predisposed to certain traits that may make them more dangerous to the public.  This inevitably leads to a nature vs nurture discussion.  But the entire conversation may not even be that easy (and that one isn't easy).

Simply put, Epigenetics is based on scientific evidence that shows that nature may be a more powerful factor than we could have ever predicted. Not only can we be shaped by the environment that surrounds us, but historical evidence suggests that powerful environmental conditions can somehow leave an "imprint" on our genetic material that can then be transferred to future generations.  Environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can not only affect how our genes are expressed, but can affect future generations as well.

In his upcoming book, "The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've been Told Abut Genetics, Talent and IQ Is Wrong", science writer David Shenk calls epigentics a "new paradigm" that "reveals how bankrupt the phrase 'nature vs nurture' really is."

At this point, it seems unlikely that epigenetics would change how we emotionally react to certain events, it may affect how we physically react (sweaty palms, higher heart rate, etc).

The science itself is pretty new -- and most of its applications have been focuses seemingly on cancer research -- so it would be mere speculation on what impact epigenetics really has on canines in one way or the other.  However, one thing would seem pretty evident -- and that's the tremendous diversity that would exist within a particular breed of dog. Not only would dogs be a product of their genetics, and of their environment - -but also products of the specific environment of previous generations.  It also seems to point at an increased need for officials to focus on animal abuse and cruelty for long-term public safety concerns.

It will be interesting to see how this new area of science evolves over time, but it seems all the more reason that we need to be treating dogs as individuals -- uniquely shaped by their own genes, environment, and the environment of their parents -- with their own specific attitudes and behaviors. It's not just an opinion...it's science.

You can read the Time Magazine article here-- it's easily the most readable information on the topic I've found for non-scientists.

Weekly Roundup - Week Ending 1/24/10

 It's been overall a pretty good week for dogs.  Sioux City may be looking at repealing their BSL. Toledo may have to following a court ruling. Dare I say that common sense and decency may be winning?

Let's take a look at the rest of the week's top stories.

City and State Laws

The city of Elkhart, IN voted against adding breed specific regulations to their new dangerous dog ordinance. They are still working through the final draft, and it was an extremely close vote, so if you live in or near Elkhart, be sure you make your voice heard that the best law will target dogs based on their behavior, not breed.

A new bill in Annapolis, MD would require dogs that are deemed dangerous (based on behavior) by local authorities would be required to spay/neuter their dog. While I don't have a major problem with the ordinance, per se, it is hard for me to get past the reasoning they give or the proposed ordinance which is to increase public safety. I've always felt that spewtering because it "decreases aggressiveness" was a poor argument because it ignores all of the other factors involved in aggression (like, the likelihood that completely neglegent dog owers are probably less likely to alter their pets).

Gardendale, AL passed a ban on 'pit bulls' after being urged to do so by a resident who's dog was killed by two at-large 'pit bulls'.

Denmark, apparently unaware that their neighborThe Netherlands repealed their BSL due to its ineffectiveness, or that the UK, continues to be a disaster, has decided to look at the possibility of banning 'pit bulls' in their country. Look around guys, look around.

New Hampshire this week voted to make Greyhound Racing Illegal. Greyhound racing has often been criticized by animal advocates because of the excessive breeding and casting away of dogs that usually comes with it. There are currently now only about 26 dog tracks left in the US -- 13 of them are in the state of Florida.

Memphis, TN is looking at a new law that would require all 'pit bulls' to be spayed or neutered. Memphis is ignoring the negative results of similar legislation in nearbyLittle Rock and in Kansas City -- and apparently ignoring that their shelter has enough problems without this law - like the random starving and killing of dogs in their shelter.  More from Stop BSL.

The UK Dangerous Dogs Act -- still failing

Yet another plea by the public to repeal the UK Dangerous Dogs Act -- which bans four breeds of dogs and preceeded a 60% increase in major dog bites over the past decade in the UK.

A pensioner was fined 250 pounds and banned from owning dogs for the next two years because his Rottweiler attacked a woman. 

A postal worker needed plastic surgery after being attacked by a German Shepherd while doing her route.

Dog Bites and Attacks

Most dogs aren't aggressive -- regardless of breed. But bites occur from all types of dogs and it is important that we realize this and focus on the causes of dog bites vs thinking that breed has anything to do with it.

A five year old New Zealand girl was airlifted to the hospital after being attacked by a dog of an unspecified breed. The dog later went on and attacked a Labrador Retriever. The attack was the second in the community this week after a Bull Mastiff had attacked two men earlier this week. New Zealand has nationwide BSL.

A five year old boy in Montgomery County, TX was airlifted to the hospital yesterday after being attacked by four Great Danes that were apparently running at large and attacked the boy while he road on his bicycle. This comes at a time when some in the state are pushing to repeal the state's prohibition on breed specific regulations -- which is ill-advised as aggressive dogs can come in all shapes and sizes and regulations should be targeted toward the behavior of the individual dog.  The breed of dog does not get mentioned in this article until the 2nd paragraph.

A young Australian boy was bitten by a family's new dog that they had had at home for less than an hour. The boy was playing with the dog with toys and the dog reached for one of the toys, missed, and caught the boy on the face. The dog is now dead because one family was ignorant about how to handle proper introductions between a dog and a family and how younger children need to learn how to interact with dogs. For the Pits has a good commentary on this one.

A Youngstown, OH man was jailed after his Rottweiler was not confined and attacked a 10 year old boy. Youngstown has breed specific regulations targeting 'pit bulls'.

A Rock Springs, WI UPS driver lost the tip of his finger when he was bitten by a Rhodesian Ridgeback when the dog pulled away from its owner. Again the dog's breed wasn't mentioned until the 2nd paragraph.

A five year old Mansfield, MA boy was bitten in the face by the family's Husky-type dog. The breed of dog was mentioned in the 2nd to last paragraph of the story.

Police in Erie, PA shot a 'pit bull' that bit a 13 year old girl causing minor injuries. The breed of dog was listed in the headline and the lead of the story, and the dog was shot and killed. Does anyone really think the media doesn't report bites by 'pit bulls' differently?

Abuse Cases

In Palm Beach Gardens, FL, animal control officers found a 'pit bull' with 15 lbs of barbells chained to its neck - clearly a case of abuse.

Miscellaneous News

The Kansas City Parks Board officially killed the idea of a proposed dog park at Sunnyside Park. The good news is that it looks like they may push for some dog parks in other parts of the city -- which the city badly needs. However, they were very limiting in where they are going to allow them to go, which is a huge disappointment.

A good feature story on an Austin couple who is working to make their area No Kill.

A good article about the "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act" in Missouri -- I think Kimberly did a great job here of providing multiple sides of the issue and providing links to different sources of information on both sides of the topic.

Blog Postings

Feral Cats and Wildlifte: Ur doin it wrong -- a great post by Christie Keith at the Pet Connection on the misguided argument for kiling feral cats.

It would be worthless for me to write a post on this topic because For the Pits summed up my opinion on this perfectly -- but Animal Planet is running an "investigative piece" on dogfighting next week.  HSUS "dogfighting experts" are going to be interviewed for the show -- which means the show promises to have gratuitous and graffic footage involved. At this point, I just wish HSUS and John Goodwin wold crawl into a hole and never come back out on this topic as their exposes seem to do little more than reinforce stereotypes about particular types of dogs, and glamorize dogfighting to a segment of the population that would see a "thrill" in this dispicable activity.

Many of you in the 'pit bull' community are familiar with the awesome children's book Demo: The Story of  a Junkyard Dog.  The real life Demo died recently and his owner, and the book's author, and Demo's owner, Jon Bozak has a great article written with soul about a man's love for a dog that had had a tough life, and touched him in a way that inspired a book. Godspeed Demo.

Toledo: Puppies got second chance, Support for BSL Repeal, & BSL Found Unconstitutional -- again

In the first month after Lucas County, OH puppy killer Tom Skeldon's resignation (and even after he announced his resignation), things have gotten a lot better for the dogs in Lucas County and Toledo.

And things may get much better soon.

On November 18th, long time dog warden Tom Skeldon announced his resignation.  Since then, the winds of change have been blowing quickly.

At the end of 2009, the county saw a dramatic increase in adoptions and dogs transfered from the shelter. In total, 682 dogs were adopted from the shelter -- 190 more than the previous year. However, about 1/3 of the adoptions (225-ish) occurred in the last 2 months of the year -- many after Skeldon's announced resignation. It isn't completely clear whether the increase was due to increased publicity surrounding the shelter (courtesy of the Toledo Blade) or if it was because of people showing the support for the shelter now that Skeldon was leaving is unclear....but either way, it's been good for the dogs.

Earlier this week, Lucas County Commissioners unanimously voted to reverse a long-time shelter policy prohibiting all 'pit bulls' from being adopted out by the shelter by allowing all healthy pit bull puppies under the age of 3 months to be  transfered from the shelter to the local humane society. While the policy needs to be lifted to allow ALL pit bulls to be transferred, this is at least a good first step for the county shelter.

Also, while all of this is going on, the Toledo City Council (Toledo is the largest city in Lucas County) has been mulling over the idea of removing their breed specific legislation. The City is looking at instituting a dog advisory panel to provide recommendations for what the new dangerous dog ordinance would look like without being breed specific. The city admittedly went on the advice of Tom Skeldon for how the laws are written, but now, with him out of the picture, they are looking at other options. "I think we can potentially define vicious without being breed specific," said council member Rob Ludeman. "That is one thing I probably anticipate might come out of this advisory committee.

A court decision that came down yesterday may speed up that process.

The case was a situation where the Lucas County Dog Warden's office seized what it deemed to be three "pit bulls" from a Toledo man - -Hugh Smith - while Smith took his dogs for a walk. The warden cited Smith with 13 violations for having unmuzzled, uninsured, and improperly confined 'pit bulls', as well as having two 'pit bulls' over the limit of one in the county.

Yet Smith and his attorney's claimed that the dogs were in fact Cane Corsos. Yesterday, the Toledo municiple judge, Michael Goulding, not only ruled that Smith could keep his dogs, but also that the law was, in fact, unconstitutional.

One reason for Goulding's claim that the law was unconsitutional was that he said it violated the state home rule doctrine. "While the state statute does not specifically permit ownership of more than one dog 'commonly known as a pit bull', it does not prohibit it either."

Goulding also noted that the law lumping 'pit bulls' with 'pit bull mixed breed' dogs together was also unconstitutional.

This is the second time that the courts have ruled that the Toledo ordinance is unconstitutional -- and this case was declared unconstitutional for different reasons than the one that was overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court two years ago.

Toledo City Council President Joe McNamara, who was the one who initiated the look at changing Toledo's breed specific policy noted that the judges opinion:

 "Underscores the need for us to re-examine the city's policies concerning the regulation of dangerous dogs. I do think Judge Goulding was correct when he wrote that 'a more uniform, practical and humane method of regulating dogs, which both preserves the safety of the public and focuses on the dangers and misdeeds of the irresponsible dog owners would seem preferable to the status quo."

I don't have a copy of Goulding's final verdict, and will hopefully get my hands on a copy soon. But with the second ruling of the law being unconstitutional, and continuing public and city leader support for a repeal, it looks like a long-time law on the books in Toledo could be overturned soon.

BSL is a failed policy -- that is virtually impossible for cities to enforce without some level of arbitrary enforcement -- which opens the city up to a host of legal challenges. Toledo is just one of many cities that are finally wising up to this and looking toward behavior-based ordinances that are more effective and target irresponsible owners -- regardless of what breed they happen to own.

Some more on the court case at Animal Law Coalition.

 

Sioux City Mayor about BSL: I would vote to recind it tomorrow

 A little more than a year after passing breed specific legislation in Sioux City, IA; Mayor Mike Hobart has his regrets. Although he voted to pass the legislation at the time, he now has second thoughts.   He told the Sioux City Journal that he has heard "some heart-wrenching stories....I would vote to recind it tomorrow. I was never a strong proponent of it. I though we would give some exceptions and found out too late we didn't."

Sioux City, which has three new city council members that didn't vote on the initial ban -- 2 of them appear to be opposed to the breed specific ordinance, 1 appears in favor. The city plans to re-address the breed specific legislation in an upcoming session.

From the beginning, Sioux City has had struggles with their BSL. After the first set of meetings, their animal control officers targeted people who spoke out against the ban in their meeting, causing a rash of complaints for violating certain freedoms of speech.

Later,the Veterinarian community opted to no longer cooperate with the city by helping them get dogs licensed because they didn't want to be held accountable for the breed identification.

Then, the paperwork that animal control was using to confiscate 'pit bulls' for violations violated the 5th Amendment by forcing people to admit guilt by signing over that their dog was a 'pit bull'.

Then, the primary councilmember who pushed for the breed ban, Aaron Rochester, had his Labrador Retriever get free and aggressively bite a jogger in the neighborhood. The dog was put on doggie death row, but was then stolen from the shelter (a felony) the night before he was to be euthanized. No one was ever found or arrested in the case.

Over the course of the year, the law has led to their shelter being filled up with 'pit bulls', and the city facing several civil suits against the city for arbitrary decision-making on which dogs were affected. 

Then, in November, one council member who voted for the ban, Rixner, was voted out of office in favor of a dog-friendly candidate.

It sounds as if a lot of the city leaders in Sioux City have found out exactly how bad of legislation their breed ban is and it sounds like some changes may be coming down the pike in the near future. 

Improving Customer Service Imperative to Increasing Adoptions

Most people in the animal shelter/rescue business are not marketers....and most don't even like to think of themselves as marketers.

However, it's becoming increasingly clear that they need to think of themselves that way if we hope to increase adoptions and get our communities to No Kill.

According to most projections, about 20% of the people across the country get their pets from a shelter or rescue. If we were able to increase that number by 2 percentage points, it would be possible to adopt out every healthy and treatable animal in the country.

However, there is a lot of competition for that last 2 percent. Breeders, commercial breeders, pet stores, etc all via for the same "market share".  And in many cases, shelters and rescues are losing out because they don't do the basic things any other business would do to increase their market share: greet people warmly, make the "buying" process fun and easy and provide good customer service.  In fact, sometimes it seesm we go out of our way to make the process more difficult for people and drive them away.

A few months ago, my wife received this email from a friend of hers -- who wanted to get a dog and ended up getting one from a breeder. Knowing that my wife was involved in rescue, she felt she owed her an explanation. Here is her email -- the bolded part is added by me for emphasis:

I know this may sound weird but... I feel I owe you an explanation. You know I am getting a new dog next month from a breeder. I felt this strong urge to explain to you why I am not getting one from a rescue group or shelter. I looked for this specific breed and could not find one in a local shelter. I looked at rescue groups as well but none of them would let you adopt any available dogs if you had children. Also, all the available dogs were from puppy mills and needed special care and training that I am not familiar with. I would have loved to gotten this dog from someplace like that but it was actually not possible. I figure the breeders dogs need loving homes as well. This was basically my only option. I hope you understand. I hope all is well with you.

It seems more than a few rescue groups have a variety of criteria that restrict who can adopt a pet that make it very difficult for people to get pets. Blanket fencing requirements, not adopting to people with children, income restrictions, etc all drive people to the competition instead of getting people who WANT to adopt a dog from a rescue.  I wish this email were an unusual story - -but it's one I've heard probably a half dozen times just in the past year.

Meanwhile, I also feel like many rescues (at least locally) don't do a great job of using experienced foster families to work with the pets to overcome some particular bad habits that may make them less adoptable for an average pet owner.

The problems many people have in getting approval to adopt has actually hit the mainstream -- and it is becoming a bit of a joke among the general public. Just last week I caught this clip of a comedian talking about the adoption process. I think even more disappointing than the comedian's jokes, themselves, is the fact that the woman in the audience that he keys in on is so adamently agreeing with him about the hoops that she had to go through for adoption. Watch the video - -it's only a couple of minutes long.

Jokes.com
Greg Fitzsimmons - Adopting a Puppy
comedians.comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

 

I know that each of us wants to find the best homes for the pets that are entrusted into our care. However, it seems that our approach needs to more resemble taking average (or even good) homes and providing the education necessary to make them great homes, vs finding reasons to deny them and force them to go to pet stores or breeders for their dogs. 

If the image the general population has of shelters and rescues is that they are hard to deal with, it may be impossible for us to overcome the final 2 percent and become truly a no kill nation. We need to treat this a little more like a business, and provide great customer service, if we expect people to choose us for their dogs vs the competition.

For a great read on sort of a similar topic, read For the Pits: The difference an approach makes

Fatal Dog Attack in Chicago

Update: Even though police reports initially called the dogs involved "pit bulls", Animal Care and Control Commisioner Cherie Travis has said the dogs are "mixed breed".  The Chicago Tribune is one of only two media outlets that spoke to anyone beyond the police -- including talking to Animal Behaviorist Suzanne Hetts who noted that there are a variety of different factors in dog attacks. "It's usually a perfect storm situation, with a lot of things that lead up to the attack."

One of the things that usually lead up to a significant attack are prior signs of aggression -- which these dogs apparently showed. Apparently Wilson, the victim, complained two weeks ago that the dogs had ripped his clothes. 

The story has run in now over 250 media outlets -- with only one noting the animal control commisioner's "mixed breed" ID vs the police officer's "pit bull" ID. While breed is not a determining issue in dog attacks, it certainly is on the media's decision to report them.

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Fifty-six year old Johnny Wilson of Chicago was found dead in his South Side neighborhood home after being attacked by up to six 'pit bulls' that lived in their home. There were four adult dogs found in the home, and 2 puppies that belonged to Wilson's daughter. Wilson's daughter says she did breed the dogs.

The events that led up to the attack are unclear at this point -- although reports indicate that the dogs were not well socialized with Wilson as they were apparently afraid of him because of his deep, booming voice. It is unclear if the dog attacked him for some reason, or whether the dogs may have gotten into a fight that he tried to break up.

This news story has already been picked up by over 200 news sources (almost all of which posted speculation as to the cause of death before an autopsy was run) across the nation.