KC DOG BLOG

Following the No Kill Conference in DC

The 2010 No Kill Conference is this weekend in Washington DC.  There are some great seminars again this year and I'm looking forward to passing along some learnings upon my return.  I also must confess that I'm really excited about being a presenter on the Saturday afternoon panel.

The conference sold out fast -- so I know a lot of people who wanted to attend but were unable to.  So for folks that want to follow along at home, I know there will be quite a few folks blogging and tweeting from the conference.

I'll try to post a few updates here, as well as over on Twitter @kcdogblog

I know that @kcdogadvocate will be live tweeting as well.

Animal Wise Radio will be broadcasting live from the conference on Sunday.

The folks over at the Pet Connection also have a couple of people attending -- so I'm sure they will have updates this weekend.

And the folks over at No Kill Nation on Facebook will be updating their facebooks info as well. 

I'm going to try to push for an announcement of an official no kill hashtag on twitter so you can follow everyone -- we'll see if I can get that organized before things begin tomorrow morning.

If anyone else is going to be blogging or tweeting live from the conference, feel free to post the info in the comments and I'll add you to the list. 

Department of Justice Tackles Breed Discrimination -- more bad news for Denver

Earlier this week, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) the Department of Justice released its"Final rule" on enforcement of the law.

It's a lengthy document -- and I confess to not having had time to read the whole thing due to my travel schedule,  but the ruling does take aim at targeting service dogs based on the breed or type of dogs being used.  Here is the text from that section (emphasis is mine):

Breed Limitations.A few commenters suggested that certain breeds of dogs should not be allowed to be used as service animals. Some suggested that the Department should defer to local laws restricting the breeds of dogs that individuals who reside in a community may own. Other commenters opposed breed restrictions, stating that the breed of a dog does not determine its propensity for aggression and that aggressive and non-aggressive dogs exist in all breeds.

The Department does not believe that it is either appropriate or consistent with the ADA to defer to local laws that prohibit certain breeds of dogs based on local concerns that these breeds may have a history of unprovoked aggression or attacks. Such deference would have the effect of limiting the rights of persons with disabilities under the ADA who use certain service animals based on where they live rather than on whether the use of a particular animal poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others. Breed restrictions differ significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions have no breed restrictions. Others have restrictions that, while well-meaning, have the unintended effect of screening out the very breeds of dogs that have successfully served as service animals for decades without a history of the type of unprovoked aggression or attacks that would pose a direct threat, e.g., German Shepherds. Other jurisdictions prohibit animals over a certain weight, thereby restricting breeds without invoking an express breed ban. In addition, deference to breed restrictions contained in local laws would have the unacceptable consequence of restricting travel by an individual with a disability who uses a breed that is acceptable and poses no safety hazards in the individual´s home jurisdiction but is nonetheless banned by other jurisdictions. State and local government entities have the ability to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether a particular service animal can be excluded based on that particular animal´s actual behavior or history--not based on fears or generalizations about how an animal or breed might behave. This ability to exclude an animal whose behavior or history evidences a direct threat is sufficient to protect health and safety."

It makes it very clear in their ruling that breed discrimination of service dogs should not be tolerated. And the service dog issue has become a very important one recently as dogs are proving to have a very positive effect on helping people deal with certain social issues -- particularly around post traumatic stress.

This is obviously devastating news for the cities of Denver and Aurora, Colorado. Both cities are currently facing lawsuits in which three separate individuals are claiming to have their rights violated under the ADA in these cities because their service dogs are of breed types banned in these jurisdictions. Denver has already spent over $15,000 in legal defense to help them prepare for the case -- although with the recent DOJ ruling, it seems impossible that they could win the case.

Breed bans continue to be very problematic for cities because they target exactly the wrong thing - a dog's shape, not its behavior. The ruling makes it very clear that this should be the way issues surround dogs should be handled: on an individual basis not based on very broad (and inaccurate) generalizations).

More great commentary on this from Game Dog Guardian and from For the Pit Bulls.

Denver Columnist confirms media bias in over-reporting stories about 'pit bulls'

A writer for the Denver Post had an interesting article late last week on whether or not there was media bias about 'pit bulls'.

The writer publishes a letter from an advocate claiming a bias in over-reporting of bites involving 'pit bull' type dogs.

The reporter then covers a report by the National Canine Research Council that shows how similar attacks over a 4 day period involving four different types of dogs resulted in significantly different media exposure.

It also includes a note by the ASPCA that said that the media has repeatedly told them that they have no interest in reporting attacks involving non-pit bull type dogs.

The reporter, himself, even looked at the headlines for articles in his own newspaper. Over the past 5 years, the newspaper has covered 20 different stories involving dog attacks -- of them, 9 had the breed of dog in the headlines.  The breeds mentioned?  8x 'pit bulls' and 1x a Rottweiler.

This is even more interesting when put into the context that 'pit bulls' make up only 8% of the dog bites in the state of Colorado -- and aren't even the top biting dog in the state (see page 23). Labs were #1.

This isn't unusual of course, last year I did a story about Mobile, AL and noted that one TV station there had 100% of their dog bite stories that mentioned the breed in the story involving 'pit bulls' -- but were only involved in about 20% of the dog bites in the community (also behind Labs).

Media acknowledgement that they may be responsible for the hysteria is a good first step. And in Denver's case, the hysteria has led to countless lawsuits, thousands of dogs being killed, hundreds of families ripped apart and thousands upon thousands of dollars in legal fees paid at taxpayer expense to support a ban that no one even claims has even really worked.

It's a good first step in changing the narrative with our local media.

Kansas City Mayor Talking Pet Issues on the Radio Today

Don't forget, today, from 3-4 CST Kansas City, MO Mayor Mark Funkhouser will be on Paw Prints Radio discussing a variety of pet-related topics in the city.

You can listen live on KCTO 1160 AM -- or you can listen on their website.

They are also taking live call-ins - so this is a great opportunity to express your opinions and concerns aout different pet-related issues going on in the city. 

Possible topics:

- The city funded, privately run animal shelter with Half Way Home Adoption running the show now.

- Weekly Animal Control Sweeps searching for unlicensed pets

- Kansas City's Mandatory Spay/Neuter of pit bulls law that has been leading to the killing of hundreds of animals per year.

- KCMO AC's quota system requiring animal control officers to impound a minimum number of animals each month.

- Why a city continues to ignore constituents when it comes to building dog parks.

More ideas (and more details on these) can be found here.

Join the conversation -- politics is not a spectator sport.

The media's race to be first

 Not long ago, when a breaking news story hit, there were deadlines. If a reporter got the story done by 5 pm it'd make the 6 pm news. If they got the story in by midnight, it might make the next day's paper. But there was a set cutoff time -- and the reporter had until that deadline to gather as much information as possible before the story was due.

There are no deadlines any more. With the development of the internet, there is no need for deadlines. Every minute is a deadline, because when breaking news hits, the information is now available almost instantly around the internet.

If a news source wants to lead on breaking news, every minute counts - -because being late will hurt the number of page views, and thus, the number of advertising dollars the media outlet gets.

And in the rush to be first, digging for truth and accuracy have taken a back seat.

The chart up above is the Google tracking chart of the number of media outlets that covered last week's story about the fatal dog attack in Memphis.

In the first hour of the 'news' being available, media outlets rushed to be first. The news of "pit bulls'  attack man" hit the media and spread quickly. Within an hour, 150 media outlets could lay claim to being on top of breaking news.

Then, in the next 5 days, the majority of the media outlets were no longer interested. Those next 5 days featured information about the events that led up to the attack.

- A dog owner who had an extensive criminal history

-  Dogs that had been loose and aggressive only two days earlier, but were left in the home

- Police hauling the dog's owner to jail, leaving the dogs behind to live in the home with no supervision

- A woman who let the dogs out - -even while knowing they were aggressive -- because a plummer needed to get into the apartment

-  Acknowledgment that police may or may not have ever called animal control about the dogs -- and even if they had, animal control is running 800 calls behind in their responses so may not have had time' to deal with the issue regardless.

Nope, once that information came out, there was little interest from most media outlets. They were too busy being "first" on something else -- likely with equally shoddy details.

This case in Memphis is far from isolated. The chart on the left is the media reporting of the fatal attack in Concord, CA.

Look familiar?

In the California case, the media equally reported only the initial "what" -- but few came back to hit on the "why's" that came out in the subsequent days.

We're all the victims in this -- because the majority of the media outlets hit a few glossy facts and moves on. We get little information that would be valuable in our quest to actually know the circumstances that led to the event.

Circumstances are important  -- in fact, they are the most important part of serious dog attacks. Unfortunately, in the race to be 'first', the media often just skips the time needed to get to the why. And as a society, we often become more ignorant as to why dogs bite, and why attacks occur.

This is why we should rely on experts (who understand canine behavior) and not just media reports and people who make irrational recommendations based on them when dealing with issues pertaining to dog bites and how to prevent them.

Because in their race to be first, the media often gets it wrong -- and often without complete information.

And if we want to get it right, we should focus on all of the information that is available -- not on knee jerk reactions based on initial media exploitation in attempts to gain eyeballs.

Meanwhile, for the media, take note. There seems to be a big place of differentiation for those who are more concerned about getting it right vs those who only seek to get there first. The internet has allowed everyone to get there 'first', but few appear to be willing to stick with it and get it right.

Weekly Roundup - Week Ending 7/25/10

A tough week this week -- with two major tragedies stealing the headlines. A lot of other news this week that needs to be covered.

Next weekend is the No Kill Conference -- so there will be no roundup next week. As the weekend draws closer I'll try to provide you ways of getting the information you need so you can somewhat follow the conference even if you're not able to attend. I'm not 100% sure if I'll be blogging or tweeting from the conference -- I'll let you know.  If you are there -- I'll see you there. 

Ok, onto the roundup.

Cities/States and Laws

A large audience attended a meeting in El Paso to discuss a proposed law that would ban pet sales in the community. Many people pointed out that only a fraction of the animals that enter the shelter are purebreds and the proposal focuses solely on purebred animals.

A good column from the the Worcester (MA) Telegram that talks about the city's newfound problems with their proposed breed-specific ordinance. The council pushed the ordinance through very quickly -- without assigning it to a committee first (as is the usual way). The newspaper is critical of the council's lack of forsight into knowing what the consequence of the new law would be before passing the first reading of it.

Hannibal, MO is looking at new dangerous dog legislation that they hope will be more proactive than their current ordinance. Breed specific regulations have been mentioned, even though there are other actually effective ordinances out there. One member of the city council actually owns a Staffordshire Terrier, so at least one person on the council is already educated on these types of dogs.

Victoria (Canada) is reviewing their animal control bylaws to better define animal cruelty to help them prosecute people for mistreatment from animals. Most of their ideas seem like strong idea -- although there are a couple that are a bit over-kill (like no exercising dogs while riding a bicycle and the pet limits).

After a packed house caused the city council to have to move their meeting to the neighborhood school gymnasiam, Rockville Centre, NY repealed its recently passed breed ban.

Concord, NC is now looking at options to create a no kill shelter in the community.

Lynn, MA recently passed a new law that has specific requirements for owners of 'pit bulls' -- however, it looks like the city may run into problems enforcing it because they are about to run out of money to pay for an on call dog officer.  Looks like the city didn't plan on the increased enforcement costs of their new law.

Dog Bites & Attacks

Major attacks are rare --but they do happen. And when they do, a variety of different breeds of dogs are responsible. If we want to solve the problem, we must focus on why the attack happened, not what type of do did it.

In Carson City, NV, authorities responded to a civil dispute call and a deputy was bitten several times when he was attacked by a Shepherd/Lab mix -- the dog was fatally shot.

Dog attacks are on the rise in New South Wales Australia -- where their breed specific laws have not helped them curb dog bites in the community.

A six year old New Jersey boy was attacked three months ago by an Akita that was just euthanized this week. The boy needed nearly 700 stitches to repair his wounds.

In Columbus, OH, a'pit bull' that was responsible for two attacks was found to have cocaine in its system. Now the dog's owner is charged with not only felonious assault, but also for animal cruelty.

A 1 year old Annapolis, MD boy was severely bitten by a Labrador Retriever. The injuries are described as "very serious".  

A Rhodesian Ridgeback's life will be spared after it was responsible for seriously biting a 4 year old girl.

A six year old Sheridan, CO girl was hospitalized after she entered an unfenced yard and was bitten by a 'mixed breed hound' that was chained to the porch of the neighbor's yard.

A Tampa woman was attacked while biking when two 'pit bull type dogs' escaped a fenced yard and attacked her. Hillsborough County has a database of over 900 dog bites that occurred in 2009 -- I wonder how many by all of the other breeds have been covered by the media there.

A Pickering (Canada) boy was attack by a St. Bernard that had a previous bite history.

Positive Press

A pit bull that recently rescued his family from a burning home in Elhart, IN was honored as a hero.

A Rhode Island 'pit bull' has been certified as a part of the state police search and rescue disaster team.

Creating Fear

The San Francisco Chronicle has sidebar article listing some 'pit bull' attacks in the bay area over the past decade. San Francisco alone averages about 450 dog bites per year -- and yet felt the need to list a small handful of 'pit bull' bites that will help create fear after the most recent tragedy across the Bay.

Thispress release announces that dog bite attacks have reached "alarming new highs" - -citing the CDC's mention that there have been 16 fatal dog attacks already this year. The release went out more than half way through the year and last year's total number of people killed was 33 -- so we're actually behind last year's pace. There was a total of 23 fatalities in 2008, and 33 in 2007 -- so there is little to indicate that the numbers are "alarming" or "increasing"  or even "new highs". Of course, the "news" was issued by a dog bite lawyer....so maybe a hope to drum  up more business is the reason for his exaggeration.

Miscellaneous

HSUS talks about what it is doing to help dogs in Baghdad that are being killed. Sadly, HSUS's outreach doesn't extend to all foreign dogs as they have not mentioned helping the culling of 'pit bulls' in Turkey over the past month.

The Greeley (CO) Tribune follows their animal control officer as he goes out on calls. It's an interesting look as he discussed 'pit bull' type dogs. "Ninety-five percent of 'pit bulls' are fine, it's the owners of some 'pit bulls' that make them mean. With pit bulls, the tail wagging gives them away, sais officer Rod Unrein. Real life experience trumps urban legends of 'pit bulls' tricking people into them being nice but then not.

ALabrador Retriever miraculously survived after a neihbor shot the dog in the face with a shotgun.

Blog Posts You Should Read

Humane Watch has a recent HSUS fundraising newsletter talking solely about how HSUS is dedicated to helping companion animals -- even though the majority of their money that is raised is not used to help companion animals.

The Benefits of Raising Families and Pets Together - from Change.org

Friends don't let friends kill each other -- YesBiscuit!

There's no "I killed my dog" box on the merchandise return form" - YesBiscuit! writes about a woman in Virginia who left her dog in the car while she went to go buy pet supplies. When she returned, the animal had suffered heat stroke in her car, so she promptly went in to get return the purchased merchandise because the dog was now dead. She is being held for animal cruelty.

Serious Warning Signs from a Dog - Doggone Safe helps us understand dog body language with possession aggression.

Dexter at the Children's Reading Program - Our Pack has great video footage of one of their dogs helping with a children's reading program in California.

Where it all begins - Our Pack talks about the importance of early socialization for dogs - -which is a way bigger determinent of aggression than 'breed'.

The elderly - how we're failing the people who need their pets most - another great observation from the Wisconsin Watchdog.

Glass Menagerie - the fragile difference between helping and hoarding animals -- by Paw Prints Magazine.

When dangerous dog owners fail good dogs - -Save the pit bull, save the world

 

Updated: Tragedy in Concord, CA

Update 8/6 - Turns out the aggressive past of these dogs is becoming more clear. The dog apparently had shown aggression before to both the 4 year old son and the 2 year old victim. The dogs had also attacked and killed the family's Akita as well. Previous signs of aggression are a sure sign that you need to fix the problems with your dogs...because if you don't, the behaviors will escalate. Dogs don't just snap. Their behaviors build up over a period of time and recognizing and correcting these behaviors early is important.

Update: According to the owner, one of the dogs, named Kiwi, had shown prior instances of aggression, including attacking and killing the family's Chihuahua a year ago. "I never let Kiwi aroud my grandchildren because I didn't trust him," said Hayashi.

As Karen Delise of the National Canine Research Council says, a major act of aggression is never a dog's first sign of aggression, but usually its last.

Dog owners, if you have a dog that shows signs of aggression, PLEASE call a trainer and work with a professional on having the dog overcome its issues. There are numberous great trainers out there that can help with overcoming aggression issues -- you just have to be willing to work at it. And it's your responsibility as a dog owner to make it work.

Original Story:

Yesterday, a 2 year old child, Jacob Bisbee, was attacked and killed by three dogs at his family's home. The dogs, currently being called 'pit bulls', were in the garage of the home, when the 2 year old toddler opened the door to the garage and was attacked by the dogs.

There were a couple of adults in the home at the time, but it sounds as if they may have been in bed at the time of the attack. According to the child's step grandfather, it was not uncommon for the 2 year old to crawl into bed in the mornings with his grandmother to sleep some more. But around 8:45, Jacob's 4 year old brother came into the bedroom and hinted that something may have been wrong.

Tragically, there was.

The three dogs in the garage were all killed by animal control, as were two other dogs that were in the back yard at the time.

The step grandfather, Steven Hayashi, owned the dogs and has been arrested and is being held on the suspicion of felony child endangerment and possession of mischievous animals that result in death.

Young toddlers wandering away unattended continues to be a common theme among dog bite-related fatalities. Last year, of the 33 dog bite fatalities, 13 of them involved a toddler aged 1-5 that was attacked by a dog - in 9 of those cases, the child was left unsupervised with the dogs (there were 9 different breeds of dogs involved in these 13 attacks).

Young toddlers shouldn't be left with dogs (regardless of breed type) unsupervised - -and proper percautions should be taken to ensure that young children are not able to open doors and leave unattended. Work should also be done with the dogs to be sure they are well-socialized with children living in the home to help make sure something doesn't happen just in case something happens and they do end up alone together.  While fatal attacks like this are very rare given the population of 75 million dogs in this country it is still always smart to be cautious.

There has been very little other information provided about this story -- but it has been picked up by 260+ news sources already -- including multiple national media outlets including CNN.

My heart goes out to this family as they deal with this tragedy.

As always, I'll update this with any new news as it is released.

For More on this story, see:

Bad Rap: Concord Tragedy - The phones are ringing

Bad Rap: Media Has a Field Day

For the Pit Bulls - These were not pets - discussing the difference between companion dogs and resident dogs.

Worcester's idea to put restrictions on 'pit bulls' becomes problematic

Earlier this week, the city council of Worcester, MA unanimously passed the first round of an ordinance that would require all 'pit bulls' in the community to be muzzled when off the owner's property and for the owners to place a sign on their property declaring that they have a dangerous dog.

The ordinance has one more vote before becoming a law.

Apparently, not everyone agrees with the decision which may create more problems for the city.

Today, the Worcester Animal Rescue League announced that if the city passes the ordinance, the Animal Rescue League will no longer help save animals from the city:

"The Animal Rescue League values the long-term relastionship it has built with the City of Worcester, however, it is not currently help by a contract to  accept impoundd dogs found in Worcester," said Allie Simone, the acting director of the League.

The Animal Rescue League is a 98 year old organization in the community that has grown to become the largest animal shelter in central Massachusetts. Each year, about 3500 animals are rescued by the shelter -- which is a limited admission, no kill shelter. The organization runs completely off of donations and receives no financial support from the city.  The organization feels that the new ordinance would lead to a large increase of animals coming into the shelter and thus threaten their ability to remain no kill.

And if what has happened in other cities across the nation is any indication (as it should be) they are most likely right.

It remains a bit unclear to me if the city actually has its own shelter facilities -- there is no mention of  it on their city website.

Without the organization working so closely with the city, it would be likely that the city would have to potentially fund some other form of animal sheltering -- and the without such an established organization working with them to adopt out animals, would likely greatly increase the number of animals killed in the city.

In passing the new law, it has become clear that the city hasn't been partnering with the actual animal experts in their community (whenever breed specific laws are passed, it is always done without the support of the local experts in the community who always oppose such laws). 

The Animal Rescue League has decided that if they are going to be snubbed by the city council, they're going to snubb back -- which leaves the city council in a bit of a not-well-thought-out pickle.

Many organizations are fearful of taking such a stand and will continue to help the animals even though they are enabling the city to have irresponsible legislation. To them, controlling the final outcomes is more important. It's hard to criticize putting the animals first, but it is also refreshing to see an organization not willing to just enable bad legislation when their expertise is ignored.

Which do you think is the wiser choice?

Meanwhile,I love the picture that is chosen for the story -- of a new adopter of a 'pit bull' at the Animal Rescue League. Is there anything about this owner and this dog that makes anyone think targeting them with a law (and wasting animal control resources on it) is going to make anyone safer? 

Once again, another city is finding itself in a situation where they are going to have a lot of difficulties if they decide to pass a law while ignoring the experts in their community. Why not just target the negligtent owners instead? 

Mayor Mark Funkhouser to be on Paw Prints Radio Next Week

Kansas City, MO mayor Mark Funkhouser is going to be on Paw Prints Radio next Monday, July 26.  The program is from 3-4 on KCTO 1160 AM. You can listen live here.

Mayor Funkhouser will be live, in studio, talking about Kansas City Pet-related issues - -and will also be taking phone calls on the show.

This is a great time for pet owners in the city to bring up pet-related issues with the mayor. 

Don't know what to ask, here are some idea-starters:

Ask for his thoughts on the newly-privatized shelter now being operated by Half Way Home Pet Adoption (or, give him your thoughts)

Ask him why the city is suffering from major financial issues and yet has enough animal control staff for them to make weekly sweeps through neighborhoods enforcing pet licensing -- while major issues like stray dogs and animal cruelty remain under-enforced.

Ask him if the city will consider repealing it's four year old law that mandates that all 'pit bull' type dogs be spayed or neutered -- a law that has had no impact on dog bites in the city and has directly led to the killing of over 2000 pit bull type dogs in the past 4 years -- including be the sole reason for 25% of the total 'pit bulls' impounded into the shelter last year.

Ask him why city hall has remained silent while the leaders of animal control have put into place 'performance standards" that require animal control officers to impound a minimum number of animals each month -- a policy that has increased impounds (by about 420 dogs per year) -as I predicted when they policy was announced, and has yet to lead to the firing of a single officer (the policy's stated goal) -- here are some better alternatives to recommend.

Ask him if there is any considerations for adjusting leadership over animal control after the department has consistently performed poorly in the Citizen Satisfaction Survey -Only 38% of people approved of the job they were doing in the most recent survey -- down 7 percentage points from only 6 months ago.

Ask why his he stood silent while his appointed Parks Board shot down a citizen-led proposal for a new dog park, then ignored the recommendation provided by the Park's Board's own appointed citizen's advisory group, and still has yet to produce a much needed, and wanted, dog park in the community. Even Funkhouser himself promise 3 years ago at the Waldo Neighborhood meeting that "You will get your dog park" before he was out of office - which looks to be about 6 months away if current approval ratings hold true come election time.

Ask him if the city would be open to a comprehensive plan to create a no kill community in Kansas City that would include some major changes to the animal control ordinances and whether he thinks solidifying KC as a pet-friendly city would help strengthen its position in the Animal Health Corridor.

Or, asking him if the city can change some policies to allow for more pet-friendly restaurants, safer parks, or whatever your heart desires.

I think in many ways the animal welfare community helped Mayor Funkhouser win the election 3 1/2 years ago (his opponent was the one who proposed a breed ban back in 2006) -- so it's good that he is at least making himself available to take questions next week. Let's make the best of it.

Urgent help needed at Halfway Home Pet Adoption in KCMO

Last night, violent thunderstorms with lightening, heavy rains and high wins raced across Kansas City -- and with that, fallen trees and downed power lines. Due to last night's storms,  Halfway Home Pet Adoption lost all of its power -- cutting off their lights, their computer system  and their air conditioning. Meanwhile, the shelter is filled to the brim with great dogs and cats that they desperately need to find rescue groups to take -- because today (and tomorrow)'s 95 degree heat and high humidity makes the shelter not a good place for a dog or a cat.

Unfortunately, one of their primary forms of communication is via the internet, which means the folks at the shelter are not able to keep people up-to-date on all the latest developments.

So if you work for a shelter or rescue group and have space -- even if its for only one animal -- please call Halfway Home at 816-921-0201 to offer to help out. Many rescues in the area are pitching in and helping out, and every animal pulled from there may be a life saved.  At this point it remains unclear how long they'll be without power. Half Way Home is offering discounted pull fees.

There are some great-looking animals down there, big and small dogs, and from what I understand, some great characters.