Things are really busy here. We've just had our local elections. There is turmoil at my city shelter, and my personal job is probably the busiest it's ever been.
As such, posting has been a little light (that will likely continue for the upcoming week) and I'm three weeks behind on weekly roundups. I'll be going back and picking up a few of those relevant older stories -- but will do my best to keep only the most relevant stuff, as to not overwhelm you with 3 weeks worth of links. I have a few other things that I'm forgoing so I can talk more about them this week, but if you have other links, feel free to post them in the comments.
Cities/States/Countries and Laws
Aurora, CO's city council is still discussing either adjusting their city-wide breed ban to allow for 'pit bulls' as service dogs (so they can comply with the ADA) or possibly getting rid of the breed ban altogether. Obviously the latter is preferred, but they've been discussing this now for 6 months...must be nice to have no other issues to discuss in Aurora. Get rid of it all. It's led to an increase in dog bites and is costing you a small fortune in lawsuits, just get rid of it and move on to other stuff already.
Seward County, in southwestern Kansas (this is the county where the town of Liberal is), voted 4-1 to revisit their 20 year old breed ban in the community. They'll be taking a look at the breed ban to see if it needs to be replaced with a breed-neutral dangerous dog law.
The nation of Norway appears to be looking at getting rid of their national breed ban -- as they've continued to have a lot of problems with breed identification issues and no improvement in public safety. They would be following the lead of other European Countries such as Italy and The Netherlands who have each recently repealed their national breed bans.
Fulton, MO is taking a look at some changes to their dangerous dog law. At least one citizen has come forward supporting a breed ban, and while there doesn't seem to be much council support for the idea, if you live in the area, please plan to meet with your representative.
Twice in the past 2 weeks, Aberdeen, SD has decided against the proposed breed ban in the community.
The city council in Beatrice, NE held a meeting to discuss a new law that, among other things, would require higher licensing and insurance requirements for owners of 'pit bull' type dogs. The city acknowledged that breed identification may be an issue and that if DNA tests were necessary to determine parentage, the cost of that would likely fall on the city.
Kirksville, MO passed a new law that would add 'pit bulls' to the city's dangerous animal list. The vote was 4-1. "Pit bulls' are still allowed in the city, but now must have a 5 foot tall fence and $100,000 liability insurance policy (the irony here is that by making the animals 'dangerous', they've made it almost impossible to get such insurance when home owners are automatically insured for their dogs as long as they're not listed as "dangerous"). In the past 4 years there have been 46 dog bites in the community of Kirksville, a total of 3 (about 6%) have been by breeds of dogs affected by the ordinance.
Ft. Smith, AR apparently voted this week in favor of a Mandatory Sterilization law for pets - a law that has driven up killing in communitiies in almost every instance.
Los Angeles County passed a new ordinance targeting dog breeders in the community. I've not read the full text of the law but many of the regulations seem solid -- like keeping puppies until they are at least 8 weeks old. However, LA is not the epicenter for good animal welfare policies, so I am skeptical. Time 4 Dogs details a few of the things they think are "gotcha" provisions.
Buellton, CA has also moved forward on a Mandatory spay/neuter law....sigh.
Idaho SB 1143 is newly proposed law that would prohibit cities in the state from defining dogs as vicious or dangerous based on breed. 14 states in the US have similar laws.
Miami-Dade County threw out their Mayor and a city commissioner....making a huge statement for the deisre/need for better city leaders. There is some talk that he city manager and head of the animal shelter may be next.
A good article that notes that the majority of Iowa cities are shying away from breed-specific laws. I love this article because so much emphasis tends to be about cities that do adopt breed-specific laws...but the reality is that the vast majority of cities (and it's not even close) adopt breed-neutral policies.
The Elkader, IA city council seems to be looking at potential breed bans in that city -- if you live close, please schedule a meeting to get accurate information to them.
Dog Bites and attacks
A four year old Indiana boy who was playing with his neighbor's German Shepherd/Chow mix by himself was very seriously attacked by the dog. Hard to say what caused the attack, although parents should always supervise younger children around dogs because, well, kids can sometimes not treat dogs well and dogs will react....see the next story.
A 5 year old Brownwood, TX girl received major bites from a 'pit bull' that she was apparently riding as if it was a horse. The dog, likely injured in the process, bit the girl. I'm actually pleased that they are going to monitor the dog for aggression and not kill it immediately.
A 7 year old Jackson, MI received 40 stitches after she was bitten when she tried to take something away from the family's Golden Retriever.
An 18 month old Palm Beach (FL) girl was bitten by the family's "pit bull/German Shepherd mix" when she apparently got too close to the food bowl. This story is very confusing, but also involves a family member rescuing the child from the swimming pool...
A four year old Saskatoon boy was hospitalized after he was attacked by one of four sled dogs. The caregiver of 14 musher dogs was feeding the dogs and told the boy to stay in the vehicle, but the boy got out and was seriously injured by one of the dogs while it was being fed. All fourteen dogs were euthanized.
A 12 yar old Haskell, NJ girl was wounded and taken to the hospital after being attacked by a Golden Retriever that darted out of a neighbor's yard.
While some experts in Winnipeg are trying to get the city to eliminate it's 20 year old breed ban, another couple is devastated after their dog was attacked and killed by two dogs that are not part of the city's breed ban -- further highlighting the ignorance of breed-specific provisions.
A Hermiston, OR woman was attacked by 4 dogs, described as "Heeler types" that ran up on her while she was jogging -- biting her several times and causing a broken ankle. According the comments, this isn't the first time these same dogs have been responsible for an attack.
Miscellaneous
An article about what really prompts a Dog's 'Guilty Look' -- I'm not sure I"m buying it...
Farmers get paid to let pet dogs herd their sheep.
A solid article from the Morning Sun (Michigan) about a Veterinary Technician that has learned to love and respect 'pit bulls' as an owner of three of them.
Things just keep getting worse for the Chesterfield County (SC) shelter. The shelter staff has already been accused of shooting dogs, and of beating kittens with metal pipes, but now, there are accusations of the shelter using some of the animals for dog fighting. YesBiscuit! has been keeping up with the latest on this...
Animals that were 'rescued' by a rescue, were then 'rescued' again after accusations of the rescue not providing proper care for the animals.
Breaking breed stereotypes -- in Augusta, ME
Missouri's Prop B
While the bill making major alterations to the law has passed the Senate and awaits hearing in the House, some reasonable conversations are taking place on the bill (and a lot of unreasonable ones too). Here is a sampling of some of the reasonable ones:
Missouri House Debate on Prop B reveals deep rural-urban split - I think this is a great debate (probably the best news article I've seen) on the topic of the changes to Prop B.
Puppy mill issue hits the house - a State Representative states his views on Prop B while asking for the input of his constituents.
Why one state Senator, Scott Rupp, voted to make major revisions to the law. Among the major problems was the 50 dog breeding limit.
Wayne Pacelle calls the changes to Prop B "Hokum". If anyone should be accused of Hokum, it should be Pacelle, who has been far from honest throughout the entire process.
Gregory Castle from Best Friends also has commentary on the law. My frustration with BFs and HSUS (among other things) is that they continue to not tell the whole story in their blogs and mislead people as to what is happening. In Castle's review, he says that SB 113 "would put an end to the hope for improved care for many thousands of puppy mill dogs in the Show Me State and effectively put a stake in the heart of democracy in Missouri". He of course fails to note that SB113 does increase funding for the enforcement of already existing laws (and lack of enforcement is what the state auditor, Better Business Bureau and MVMA have all identified as the problem).
More on the KCMO Animal Shelter Situation
From KMBC.
The Kansas City Star: Resolve animal shelter's woes
Restore the faith in Kansas City's Animal Shelter -- also from the Star
Dogs as reading companions for children
There were a lot of recently on the ability for trained service dogs to be good "listeners" for children who need help in their reading skills.
Dogs as library mentors - -a non-dog based blog, PSFK, talks about these types of reading programs
A feature on a librarian in Burlingame, CA that banned 'pit bulls' from the Paws for Tails reading program at her library and a response from Chrish Cohen, owner of Jonny Justice, one of Mike Vick's former dogs that is now a dog certified for helping children read in library programs.
Pictures of Dexter -- a 'pit bull' involved in a reading program -- via Our Pack
Change.org has their take on this as well
When Librarians judge books by their covers - Bad Rap
A furry different kind of teacher for little kids and big kids -- from Poodle and dog Blog
Mediots
The headline points out that three police officers were injured whena 'pit bull' attacked them during a search -- of course, the search involved them showing up at a drug house with marijuana and unlicensed weapons but that was barely even mentioned in the story. This is from out of Detroit, where guns and drugs are a bigger problem than dogs will ever be.
A couple of dogs were involved in an attack in Baltimore and were originally wildly reported to be 'pit bulls', however, the dogs turned out to be American Bulldogs.
Blogs
The best of the last 3 weeks (and there are a lot of good ones):
Confiscation should be last resort - For the Pit Bulls
Cute or not? - Dogs & Storks has yet another great video of a child with a dog questioning whether it is cute, or dangerous.
End "Convenience Killing" in Texas - Winograd takes a look at a proposed law in Texas that is similar to the Companion Animal Protection Act passed in Delaware. More here from the Houston Animal Shelters Examiner.
"Good Dog" - Time 4 Dogs has a great post about the Canine Good Citizen program and a program that is promoted for people to take an active role in training their dogs that has now been abused by people who want to make it mandatory for pet ownership.
Marketing not blaming II -- Saving Pets notes that telling people they're bad, doesn't get people in the door to adopt.
Loyalty - Pound Dogs has some great photos (and a video) of people with their pets (and one dog protecting another dog) following the tragedy in Japan 2 weeks ago. The photographers of these photos deserve a LOT of credit for capturing the strength of the human/animal bond.
Think your community doesn't want to save 'unsavable' pets? Really. -- Saving Pets notes that the community, by and large, really does want to help save animals.
Kill Shelter Fail, enabled by its supporters -- For the Pit Bulls takes a look at the ridiculousness of many shelter temperament tests and how they lead to dogs bein unnecessarily killed.
Lost Dogs Home wants me "Humanely euthanised" - Saving Pets tells the story of a high kill shelter in Australia that is trying to end a life saving program because the organization is vocally opposed to the high kill shelter's poor management and unnecessarily killing. It's amazing that a shelter would want to defend their right to kill animals so much that they would try to shut down an organization that is trying to help save them.
Memphis Animal Shelter: It gets the hose again - YesBiscuit! shows screen grabs of video footage of animal care facilities workers powerwashing dog kennels while the animals are still in the cages. The Memphis shelter has been one story after the next of incompetence and neglect....and YB has been all over exposing them for it.
Just 30% of Brimbank's dogs are being reunited with owners -- Saving Pets takes a look at animal control failing to get animals back to their rightful owners and offers some suggestions on how to improve Return to owner rates. Remember, think lost and not stray, and each dog returned to its owner is a dog you don't have to find a new home for.
Legislating Doublespeak - -Winograd takes a look at various California laws that legislate excuses for needlessly killing animals.
Canine Vaccines Part 1: One Size does not fit all - a great blog from Pawcurious
Everything is conspiring against you -- now what? -- I love this post from Saving Pets -- yes, the public is unappreciative, rescue groups are flaws, laws are problematic, leadership lacks vision, the shelter is underfunded and understaffed -- so what? Realizing that most areas deal with this, and yet many are still making the decision to improve and end killing without using these excuses.
Helping Puppy Mill Dogs - The other end of the leash
Mythbusters - The Public are Irresponsible with Animals - More myth busting from Wisconsin Watchdog
In Hiding: Escaping a life in the dark when a town banned 'pit bulls' - a story of surviving a breed ban from Stubby Dog
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