A lot of stories out there - -and a lot of them deserve their own header. Because of that, the roundup will probably take a different feel this week as I will plan to talk more about the more important stories, and will just provide some links to others.
Have a great week!
Cities/States and Laws
TheVillage of Suffern, NY is considering adding Rottweilers to its list of banned breeds. There will always be another breed of dogs folks, because the dogs aren't the problems.
Southfield, MI has made tweaks to their dangerous dog ordinance. They had originally discussed the possibility of banning particular breeds, but decided against it. The statement from one of their city council members is worth the read:
"We did some research and had plenty of help with people from specific breeds helping us understand that it’s not necessarily the breed that causes the problem, it’s how the dog is raised,” said Southfield City Councilman Myron Frasier. “It was helpful for us to put a more broad ordinance together that looks at dangerous animals, rather than specific breeds, even though it appears that some breeds seem to be more aggressive than others. It really doesn’t matter as far as we’re concerned what the particular breed is — if it’s a dangerous animal, it’s a dangerous animal. Anyone that has a dangerous animal, we need to deal with that.” Brilliant.
In Laruel, MS, they are considering new legislation to deal with the large numbers of stray dogs that roam the city making it unsafe for people to go on walks. The council woman who is asking for the law changes says she does NOT want the laws to be breed specific, but this sure looks like it's worth keeping an eye on.
A Pennsylvania bill that would have ended the statewide ban on breed specific legislation has been been dropped.
Bites and Attacks
Dogs are extremely safe -- but every now and again because of some type of owner irresponsibility, dogs do bite. Dog bites happen from a vareity of dog breeds (see below) and almost always have a story of irresponsibility behind the dog owner.
Two Labrador Retrievers in Florida were declared "dangerous" after the accosted a girl on horseback.
A Michigan man was attacked by a 'pit bull' -- however, there can be no clearer case of it being a bad owner decision than this -- the dog's owner told the dog to sic the man because the man was a different race.
A mixed breed dog bit two children in Glenn Falls, NY.
An 11 year old Maryland boy was attacked by a German Shepherd and a Yellow Labrador Retriever.
A nearly two-year old Vicksburg, MS boy was bitten by a 'pit bull mix" that belonged to his family.
A jogger in Fargo, ND was bitten in the knee by a Labrador Retriever.
In a story that made major headlines this week, a 6 month old boy was badly injured by two 'pit bulls' in his home. The child was apparently left alone in a carrier on the floor for an unspecified period of time. When the baby urinated on himself, and cried, the dogs in the home ate through his diaper and ended up chewing off the boy's genetils. This isn't the first time this has happened, as a Dachshund did the same thing to a Chicago area child a couple years ago. The mother of the child will likely lose custody of her child for child endangerment. The woman had two other children taken away from her in 2008 due to her inability to care for them.
A two month old Jasckson, MS toddler was attacked in his home by a dog -- described as a Black Mouth Cur.
A 20 month old Brooklyn boy was bitten in the face by the family's "pit bull". It's interesting to see the story directly above this, and then this one, and see the difference in extreme detail they talk about the 'pit bull' attack vs the one above even though the cases are fairly similar.
A 3 year old Virginia boy had its ear ripped off by what his mom believes was a Golden Retriever.
A Labrador Retriever in Concord, CA bit a 10 year old girl that was riding her bike.
And in a rare move, I'm going to applaud the Omaha World Herald on their covering of a dog bite story - but they did a great job on this one. A 10 year old boy was attacked in his father's home by a "pit bull'. But then the story goes into detail as to why. Turns out the dog had become increasingly aggressive over the past few weeks and the father had been considering euthanizing the dog (vs actually training it, which is also telling). The dog, unneutered and untrained, was then left in the house with a female dog that was in heat. Neither dog was familiar with the boy that was attacked. There had been another dog removed from the home a few years back after a boy was bitten when two dogs in the home got in a fight with each other and a boy was injured trying to separate the dogs. A history of aggression, unaltered, in-heat dogs in the home, and an owner that was unwilling to train his dogs. Well done by the World Herald not making this into a "breed" issue.
A Chattanooga, TN area woman was severly bitten in the arm by an Akita. The woman had 27 stitches in her arm and some severe nerve damage that is preventing her from doing some tasks.
Five dog bites in Taylor County, FL -- all involving different breeds: German Shepherd, Labrador, a Bulldog and a Chihuahua are all mentioned as being involved in cases.
Two dogs in LaVista, NE (a suburb of Omaha) attacked two boys while playing in their back yard.
Abuse Cases
A 'pit bull" in Arlington, WA was killed by a hammer and a drill -- and was found hanging in a barn. The man assumed to have killed the dog, also threatened to kill his girlfriend.
A couple of young Baltimore kids -- some believed to be as young as 12 years old -were caught throwing rocks and bricks at a one year old dog (a 'pit bull mix') that was tied to a pole. YesBiscuit! has the story -- as well as a link to the National Canine Research Council noting that no one keeps records on the number of dogs that are badly abused and still don't bite or attack.
A Missouri man who was involved in the huge dogfighting ring bust from last summer was sentenced to just 14 months in federal prison. For the life of me I have no idea why judges are not awarding harsher penalties for people involved in these dog-fighting operations -- and until we send a message that we're serious about not just prosecuting these felons, but giving them stiff penalties as well, the problems will remain.
Abusive conditions existed at a shelter run by the city of Winnsboro, LA. Dogs were kept in outdoor pens without food or water and had apparently been eating each other, dead carcasses were found on the property as well as many feces filled kennels. Unbelieveable.
Not sure where to put this one, but an Atlanta area woman is accusing authorities of causing her to have a miscarriage after authorities broke into her home and put a knee to her back as she lay on the floor while she was pregnant. Authorities broke into her home because she was accused of having too many dogs in the home (although authorities have admitted that she was not over the limit at the time of their break-in). The woman seems like no model citizen, but this sure seems like a use of excessive force for a pet limit violation.
Miscellaneous
Red, an 8 year old dog that was rescued from Mike Vick's Bad Newz Kennels, died this week from a cancerous tumor. Red got to spend that last year of his life in a great family home after spending the first 6 years of it in horrible conditions. Bless you Red, for showing that dogs have the ability to forgive humans at a far great capacity than humans can forgive dogs.
A Gladstone, MO couple got their dog back after it had been missing for 16 months. The dog apparently got out through an open door when some furniture movers were delivering a piece of furniture in their new home. The dog managed to live on its own for over a year until he was able to be caught.
Positive Press
A good story from out of Raleigh, NC about a Therapy Dog named Cricket that became the first American Pit Bull Terrier to be a member of the Hospitality Pets program.
Office cats provide a morale boost for office workers.
Hector - Mike Vick dog turned Therapy Dog - has been busy -- news and video of his visit to Philadelphia.
Bernadette Peters is a fan of 'pit bulls' -- and chidren's books.
A pitbull in a wheelchair in Utah helps children who are also in wheel chairs.
Blog Posts worth reading
YesBiscuit! has the story of an animal shelter fail in Ferris, TX.
YesBiscuit! on the failings of many shelters on adopting out pets to people with low-incomes. Definitely worth the read (and read the comments too).
YesBiscuit! (again) - -this time with a story about a Beagle that shows unbelievable loyalty to its owner even though the owner doesn't deserve it.
One Bark at a Tiime - a sad story about the declining "Worth of a Dog" from a pet store.
Saving Pets: Mandatory Desexing: why Victoria has it all Wrong
The Other End of the Leash - The Concept Formerly Described as "Dominance"
The Truth about Staffordsihire Bull Terriers -- a video posted by Retrieverman
The importance of trust in the future of Toronto Humane Society -- from Social Mange.
Dog Safety is not Breed-Specific - from the Sula Foundation
Turn your shelter upside down - Winograd
A Great video - Ken Foster and the Pit Bulls of New Orleans
And don't forget the Cairn Terrier and genitals incident.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/16622666/detail.html
Posted by: Marc | April 13, 2010 at 11:13 AM
I'm sure you'll be "surprised" to hear that dogsbite lists Southfield as a city that has a ban -- along with a link to a news story reporting that the council was CONSIDERING some sort of BSL up to and including a ban. I'm curious to know how many of the other listed cities in each state actually HAVE passed BSL.
Posted by: Lori | April 14, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Lori, you may have noticed that accuracy isn't their strong point there.
Understand A Bull has as good of a list as I've encountered. It's not perfect (because keeping tabs on all the changes, many of which are not well-publicized) is very difficult. But overall she does a good job.
Funny story, I had friend who was traveling to Detroit from KC awhile back and had made a hotel reservation in a town in Southern Illinois. She later realized that the town was on the list of having BSL, so she emailed the city tourism board about it and why she would be changing their reservation. She got an email back not only from the tourism director, but also from the mayor, letting her know that that they had repealed the law and hoped that she would reconsider. She did of course -- but it's interesting how much money can talk in these small towns.
Posted by: Brent | April 14, 2010 at 01:50 PM