Weekly Roundup, Week Ending 1/3/10

 With the holidays this week, there has been a lot less "news" in the traditional media to cover -- however, I've gotten a chance to get through a lot of the blog postings that are out there and there has been some pretty awesome stuff written by other people over the past few weeks that I really hope you take the time to click over and read -- awesome, awesome stuff.

 Cities and Laws

A good article about how the ASPCA says that a new breed specific law that was recently passed by Putnam County, WV won't work.

The Humane Society in Lawrence, KS is now going to be allowed to be armed as they face a lot of dangers in their efforts to investigate and charge on cruelty cases. The Humane Society in Lawrence has made great strides in improving public safety with a restrictive tethering ordinance -- that has also allowed them to deal with a few major cruelty violators in the community.

Speaking of tethering ordinances, Salt Lake County (UT), is looking at a new policy that would forbid tethering for more than 10 hours at a time.

In an interesting lawsuit in Pennsylvania, the SPCA, which enforces Pennsylvania's Animal Control Laws, doesn't qualify for immunity from lawsuits because it is not a state agency.

In what sounds like  a really solid law in Park Ridge, IL that has two behavior-based designations for dogs that includes "dangerous" and "at-risk" -- these types of ordinances have proven to be very successful in may areas around the country.

A First Reading of a Breed Ban passed in Salem, AR. The ban includes American Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers, Rottweilers, Chow Chows, Wolf Hybrids and any dog that appears to be a mix of any one of these. -- From Stop BSL.

Center Line, MI passed a new ordinance that defines all 'pit bulls' as dangeorus dogs -- an ill-advised ordinance.

More information on the revised behavior-based dangerous dog Ordinance in Leeds, AL -- it' sounds like a good, well-thought-out ordiinance.

Dog Bites and Attacks

In Tasmania, two men were injured in an attack by a German Shepherd, and a young girl was mauled by a dog of an unspecified breed. Tasmania recently passed a ban on "pit bulls" - which has led to poor education of what really causes dog attacks by the people in that country.

A Golden Retriever is reponsible for attacking a cockapoo while at a day spa in suburban Chicago.

A three year old Merced, CA was bitten by a German Shepherd mix -- the dog had actually bitten another child earlier in the week.

A5 year old South Carolina girl was attacked by her own dog in her own back yard. It turns out that the young girl was left alone to play in the back yard with a family's 'pit bull' while the parents were not at home. Young children should not be allowed to play with dogs -- particularly larger breed dogs -- without supervision from responsible adults.

An elderly man was attacked by an American Bulldog that had gotten loose from a fenced in area. Neighbors in the area say the dogs from the property act aggressively and are not surprised by the attack. It is not unusual for people to be aware of aggressive dogs in their neighborhoods even before an attack happens, which is why ordinances like Park Ridge's above are good because they allow for restrictions to be put on aggressive animals (based on behavior) before attacks happen.

Two children (age 5 and 15) were apparently attacked by a family's mixed-breed Boxer in Springfield, MO. Springfield passed a ban on 'pit bulls' 3 years ago...but people are still not safer from dog bites.

A Trumann, AR woman says she is concerned after being attacked by a dog that all of the neighbors know is aggressive but is allowed to continue to live at a home chained up in the back yard.

Animal Shelters

The Oregon Humane Society reached its goal of adopting out 10,000 pets in 2009 -- saving 96% of the animals that were admitted into their shelter.

A Riverside, CA community is offering free spay/neuter for 'pit bulls' in an effort to curb the large population of these types of dogs coming into their shelter.  A great program, and exactly the correct approach at curbing their problem with euthanizing pit bulls in their shelter.

No Kill Houston Reflects on 2009 efforts to move Houston toward becoming a No Kill community.

Abuse Cases

YesBiscuit! has an incredibly gruesome and tragic story of an animal "shelter" in Dillingham, AK where a half dozen animals were apparently left to fend for themselves for 4-6 weeks -- all were dead by the time they were discovered in the trash and feces filled shelter.

Miscellanious

A great article by Dog Star Daily onWhy Breed Specific Legislation Always misses the point.  In the article, they cover thescientific paper on dog breeds and aggression that came out earlier this year.  The bottom line is that breed is not a determination for aggression as all forms of aggression were found in dogs of all of the study breeds, and most dogs among all breeds showed no signs of aggression.

A good article from Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker Shannon -- Dog Owners Can Prevent Canine Aggression.

A great video over at Our Pack that has great pictures of many of the dogs that were rescued as a part of the huge dogfighting bust in the Midwest this past summer.

A good feel-good article from Greensboro, NC about a woman who adopted a badly burned mix-breed "pit bull" from a shelter.

This is a pretty fun video of a cat on a Roomba that picks on a 'pit bull" -- from KSDK in St. Louis.

Bad Rap on a New Era as the ASPCA launches a new position statement against Breed Specific Legislation.

One Bark at a Time has a great video entitled "Just One Dog" -- that is worth viewing. Have a Kleenex handy.

For the Pits has a follow up on some improvements in the kill rate at Bay County (FL) Animal Control where the kill rate of 80% has been lowered to about 55% in two years. Jim Crosby is attempting to get to No Kill using a model similar to Calgary, Alberta and is making progress. I have some concerns over their increased intake rate, but realize that a lot of progress has been made through significantly icnreasing adoptions.

Dogs are victims in a Scary war -- from Barbara Amiel

Bad Rap has a good post on how with media jobs being cut over the past year many of the good reporters who have done right by the dogs are in jeopardy of losing their jobs also.

No Kill

What Does No Kill Mean, Really? -- from over at the Pet Connection.

When will we achieve No Kill? -- from YesBiscuit!

Lying about No Kill on the Web: A Tutorial - a comical, and yet real look at mis-information on the internet by YesBiscuit!

An Avalanche of Bad News for Abused Dogs - Winograd

A series of videos about a No Kill Nation being within our reach -- it's a good video series that is worth spending the time with.

What does No Kill Mean? -- from the Pets Alive Blog

Comments

[H Houlahan]

Ms. Amiel's article is interesting, but I'm alarmed that she endorses a book by this character:

http://yesbiscuit.blogspot.com/2009/07/dangerous-dog-congress.html

[Lindsay]

Thanks for all the resources. I enjoy visiting your blog as a place to get as much dog information from one spot as I can. I like that you include blogs worth reading in your roundups.

[Brent]

Lindsey,

I'm not always on top of all my blogs reading but try to include them when I can - -there is a lot of great stuff out there.

HH, I kind of missed that they linked to her book in that article -- and I concur with your and Shirley's opinion about her little scheme(her little conference was cancelled when there was no interest).

[H Houlahan]

I'm glad to hear that conference was canceled. Hope the "no interest" was really "staying away in droves" due to the blogonauts calling BS on her and making a lot of noise.

It's frightening how someone can manipulate the media to help create a persona out of wet tissue and frog farts.

[Lisa]

Look at that last dog bite story. Buried in the middle, there's a single reference to the dog as a 'pit bull,' even though it clearly isn't.

It's making me think maybe they wrote the whole story as a 'pit bull attack,' then someone thought better and changed it at the last minute.

[KateH]

That Illinois law is good, but has a provision that is very problematic. 'A designated dog cannot live within 500 ft of a school, playground, park, or daycare.' So what happens when a daycare is opened at a neighbor's house - does the dog get punished by having to leave or die? That needs to explored a bit more, I think.

Otherwise, thanks for all the great information you offer. You have patience and dedication that's quite dog-like, and that's a compliment!