Kind of a soft news week this week...it's amazing how much less there is to write about when city council's aren't in session and the reporters aren't out creating as much news. It was also an understandably slower blog week this week. But still, some interesting news to cover.
Meanwhile, this should be a pretty active week on the blog -- I'll have a lot of year-end wrap-up material and a few other things that have been on hold until I could get the time to get to them, so hopefully I'll be able to get most of that up in the next week or two. Hope everyone had a safe holiday.
Cities and Laws
Activists in Great Falls, MT are asking if they can have more involvement in the opearations of the local city animal shelter.
Smithville, OH has proposed a potential ban on 'pit bulls'.
In the "laws are arbitrary" category, the New London, MO city council has declared an American Bulldog to be in violation of the city's ban on 'pit bulls'. When cities can make up what dogs qualify for the ordinance and which ones don't as they go along, the law is, indeed, arbitrary.
Dog Bites and attacks
Dog attacks are very rare compared to the total number of dogs that live in the US (and internationally). However, some times they do happen. When they do, it is always a variety of different breeds and breed types that are involved. If we want to decrease the number of dog attacks, we must put our focus on the root causes of attacks, and not on the breeds.
A New Zealand woman was attacked by a dog that is believed to be a Rottweiler.
An 85 year old woman in Lady's Island, SC was attacked by a neighbor's American Bulldog mix. The dog's owner says the dog is a sweet dog, but that he knew the dog was often aggressive toward bicycles....and the 85 year old woman was attacked while riding a bicycle. If you dog has known circumstantial aggression issues, you need to train your dog to be able to overcome them.
A woman in the UK is dead after being attacked and killed by a Belgian Mastiff. The UK has a breed ban on four different breeds of dogs that is nearly 20 years old, but their country has been plagued by an increase in major dog bites. The country needs to change the law to focus on a dog's (and owner's) behavior, not breed. Belgian Mastiff's are not covered under the national law. The dog's owner has been arrested in conjunction with the attack.
A 2 year old Riverside, CA girl was attacked by the family's American Bulldog. The girl was with her aunt and grandmother in the room when the adults report that the dog began looking at the young girl "oddly." Parents would do well to recognize warning sings like "odd" looks that can help them divert a dog's attention and avoid a possible situation because of it. At least one media outlet tried to turn the event into an unprovoked pit bull attack.
A San Jose woman was attacked by two 'pit bulls' in that were roaming a neighborhood unattended.
A toddler in Australia received 300 hundred stitches in his head after being attacked by the faimly's Maremma Sheep Dog.
A 4 year old Covington, OK boy was badly attacked by a Bull Mastiff.
A 5 year old Texas boy lost a finger when it was bit off by a Labrador Retriever that he was playing with. While I realize that incidents like this can happen when young kids play with animals with teeth, it is funny that the Lab gets credit for 'playing' when a toddler loses a digit, but a lot of other breeds would not get the benefit of the doubt -- as evidenced by this story in which an 8 month old 'pit bull' puppy 'attacked' a young boy causing only 11 stitches to the boy's face.
A nine year old Gilbert, AZ boy was bitten by a Labradoodle at the local dog park.
Two Bullmastiffs that were involved in an attack of a 10 year old boy that climbed the fence into the backyard where they were contained were returned to their owner last week -- and a week later were involved in another aggressive incident. The dogs pinned a woman's Australian Shepherd to the ground and were aggressive toward the dog's owner -- although neither were hurt in the incident.
A Canton, OH toddler was hopsitalized after she was bitten by the neighbor's Chow-mix. The dog's owner was bringing the dog into the house where the the child was and tripped over a ball -- when he stumbled to catch himself, he stepped on the dog's foot and the dog bit the girl. The dog is wisely going to be allowed to stay with his owners as the dog clearly isn't a'aggressive', but was reacting to being hurt.
Miscellaneous
Animals are more like us than we give them credit for some times, as is the case of some young chimps play with sticks in the same way that human children play with dolls.
A mother 'pit bull' that was ready to nurse has 'adopted' a litter of German Shepherd-mix puppies that were orphaned when their mother was hit by a car.
A Lawrence area group aims to help dogs by helping people -- a solid article about our friends at the Game Dog Guardian.
This is a great story from out of Carney, MD of a badly neglected 'pit bull' that is doing well and gets a new shot at life.
Therapist uses dog for assistance for helping patients with a variety of problems.
Blogs worth reading
Rethinking spay/neuter - -I don't necessarily agree with all of their conclusions here, but this is overall a very accurate and thought-provoking post from Time 4 Dogs.
Dogs don't like hugs & kisses -- some great kids and safety advice from Doggone Safe. Respecting how animals want to be communicated with is important -- and tip, they don't necessarily communicate the way we do.
Postion on Michael Vick's Desire for a Family Dog - the Executive Director at the Washington Animal Rescue League who's organization, at the time he was there, cared for 11 of Vick's former dogs comments on Vick's desire to own a dog again.
Michael Vick's True Message to Young People, "I got away with it and you can too" -- from Michael Mountain.
The whole "Mike Vick wants a dog" thing -- from Save a Pit Bull, Save the World
Did $50,000 to HSUS from Michael Vick's team influence its support? -- Seattle DogSpot has thoughts.
Top 10 quotes in 2010 - some great stuff here from Sarge the Elderbull.
Another 'oops' killing at Charlotte Mecklenberg AC&C -- YesBiscuit!
New Veterinary oath: What do you think? - The Pet Connection takes a look at the new veterinary oath that now includes a commitment to the welfare of animals (not just health). The move is one that can (hopefully) start making the veterinary a community more of a leader in the animal welfare movement...
Wayne Pacelle gloats about winning a $250,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Grant project....claiming that everyone who was opposed to them winning was a puppy miller or cockfighter -- instead of realizing that a large number of people in the animal welfare community wanted the money to go to an organizatin that needed the money, instead of one that already takes in over $100 million a year.
Pack aggression and the media microscope -- Bad Rap looks at two similar attacks in the Bay area that included dogs acting out in Packs, and how the media coverage of the two incidents were covered very differently by the area media based on the types of dogs involved.
Attention canine, halt in the name of the law or I'l shoot - YesBiscuit! takes on the growing problem of police unnecessarily shooting dogs. The Seattle Dog Spot says this is because police are only trained for encounters with suspects dogs.
Abuse of the Family Dog -- some great dog training advice from Sam the Dog Trainer
"about 3.6 million deaths each year. ... This can effectively be considered a “no kill” rate."
um, what?
Posted by: EmilyS | December 26, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Brent, I so appreciate your blog and follow multiple links in your round-ups. Thank you for speaking for those who can't - and for those of us with much less audience. I sent Pacelle a comment - it most likely won't show up as I asked him to share the Pepsi grant with MO to help fund Prop B which he so wanted but is not helping implement....
Posted by: Roberta Beach | December 26, 2010 at 12:58 PM
and "Vick himself pled guilty to drowning, electrocuting, hanging, shooting and beating dogs to death" from the WARL guy. WTF???NO that's not true (unfortunately). You'd think someone so intimately connected with the salvaging of the dogs would get it right.
As Mountain writes in the blog you link: "I noted that Vick has never to this day actually admitted in public the unspeakable acts of torture he personally inflicted on the dogs. The judge commented on this when sentencing him to prison.
“I’m not convinced you’ve fully accepted responsibility,” Judge Henry Hudson told Vick. But in response, Vick still wouldn’t talk. All he would admit to – doubtless on the advice of his attorneys and PR people – was using “poor judgment.” No mention of what he’d actually done to the dogs. And no mention ever since."
Posted by: EmilyS | December 26, 2010 at 01:01 PM
Pacelle said "we are the big problem for animal abusers." Apparently, that is only true for those who don't donate $50,000 to HSUS. $50,000 earns you a pass and a proclamation by Pacelle that you will make a great pet owner.
Posted by: Nokillhouston | December 26, 2010 at 08:53 PM
Thanks for mentioning Seattle DogSpot. I just found your site and appreciate all the information you provide. I'm a subscriber now.
Posted by: Robert | December 27, 2010 at 08:48 AM
I tried to follow the link titled "Position on Michael Vick's Desire for a Family Dog", which is a link to a facebook note it seems, but it only comes up with a page that says "content is currently unavailable." Do you have a link that might work?
Posted by: CristyF | January 02, 2011 at 03:04 PM