KC DOG BLOG

Repeal of Ontario's Breed Ban Tabled after first reading

Today, MPP Randy Hilliar tabled a bill that would repeal the ban on 'pit bull' type dogs in Ontario.

The bill is now scheduled to be debated in the house on February 23, 2012.  If (and hopefully) when the bill passes the 2nd reading, it will go to committee.  Then, it will go back to the house for a 3rd reading and then move on to be signed by th Lieutenent Governor, the Queen's Rep in Ontario and for Royal Assent.   So, while today is a very positive note, it has a long way to go.

That said, there is a lot of reason to be optimistic. 

The repeal bill in Ontario has been sponsored by members of all 3 political parties:  Hillier of the Progressive Conservatives, MPP CHeri DiNovo of the New Democratic Party (who has sponsored previous repeal efforts) and MPP Kim Craitor of the Liberal Party.  Having sponsors by all three parties will take some of the partisan politics out of the equation that led this to get passed in the first place.

It seems they are finally moving forward in Ontario -- as Hillier notes in his press release:

"This was the worst kind of reactive and short-sighted legislation, and I think we all recognize that it deserves another look....It's great when members of all parties can get together to fix the problems of the past -- and that's just what we're going to do.

"I don't accept that violence is pre-determined. If we had a law like this for humans, we'd call it racism. Why is that acceptable here?  I believe that when an owner raises a violent dog, and that dog is involved inan attack, the owner should be punished to the full extent of the law. But there is simply no logic behind the targeting of a single breed of dog."

Agreed.  And good luck to our friends in Ontario who are fighting for a repeal of this law -- which has been on the books since 2005.

 

Changing breed-specific policies can get us much closer to less killing

Every year, between 4 and 4.5 million pets are killed in our nation's shelter system.

That's a lot. But it's not an insurmountable goal to think that we can save all of the healthy, treatable and non-aggressive dogs and cats that enter our shelters.  In fact, the math shows we could do it almost over night if every shelter and rescue in the country got on board with no kill policies.

But let's break down that 4.5 million number a little more.

Of that number, according to some figuring from Best Friends (and others), roughly 2.5 million of these animals are cats -- about 1/2 of which are feral.  Adopting TNR programs could dramatically decrease the number of cats killed in our shelters over-night.

Meanwhile, that leaves about 2 million dogs that are dying in our nation's shelters every year.  Based again on estimates from Best Friends based on the percentages from many high-kill shelters around the country, roughly 40% of all of these dogs killed are classified as 'pit bulls' -- so roughly 800,000 of them.

Some have used this information to try to justify breed-specific policies.  However, one of the major reasons this number is so high is BECAUSE of breed specific policies.

Obviously one problem is the problem of breed-specific legislation.  There are still far too many cities like Denver, CO who's breed ban has led to the deaths of more than 3500 'pit bulls' (warning, distrubing photos at the link) since 2005.  Until about a year ago, Toledo, OH, had a similar policy under dog warden Tom Skeldon which led to the death of nearly 1000 'pit bulls' each year -- which sadlyt also included a contract that incentivized the killing.

But possibly even a bigger problem are the number of shelters that have breed-specific policies of refusing to adopt out pit bull type dogs, or even transfer them to rescues.  This essentially creates a mandatory death sentence for any pit bull type dog that enters the shelter.

 But fortunately, some of this is finally changing.

Last week, the Central Missouri Humane Society (Columbia, MO) began adopting out 'bully breeds' for the first time. For them, this breed classification included 'pit bulls', mastiffs, Boxers and Boston Terriers. This new policy will lead to hundreds of dogs having the potential for a new life instead of just showing up at the shelter being a death sentence.

Detroit Animal Control has a similar policy.  However, after a dog named Ace, who had multiple people try to rescue him from the shelter, and a court injunction preventing him from being killed, the city is now listening to rescue groups who want the death sentence policy changed.

Still, many other communities have similar policies -- including Springfield, MO (where more than 1500 pit bulls have been killed); Houston, TX; and Milwaukee, WI (to name just a few).  By creating more humane systems that would allow these dogs to find new homes, we could dramatically lower the number of dogs killed in shelters across the country.

People's opinions are changing. Slowly, but changing. And this is a crucial step in creating more humane communities across the country and ending the killing of healthy/treatable animals in our shelters. But it's changing not by creating breed-specific policies, but by eliminating them.

Weekly Roundup -- Week Ending 11/20/11

It's the typical busy week with a lot going on -- plus, I'm a couple week's behind so I'm going to go back and pick up a few older stories. As always, feel free to add any that you feel were important that I may have missed.  Because of the number of stories out there, I'm going to very much abreviate the dog bites section this week.

Cities/States and Laws

Taylorsville, UT has decided to strengthen their dangerous dog law -- and the law will not be breed-specific. "Enforcing a breed-specific ordinance becomes problematic," said council chair Jerry Rechtenbach.

Edmonton is once again looking at removing their decades-long breed-specific law. "Breed-specific legislation might not be justfied," said David Aitken, the city manager in charge of bylaw enforcement. "There's a train of thought that suggests it's not the animal, it's the owner that has the issue. Therefore, you can't hold specific breeds responsible for actions."  Of the 450 dogs that are restricted in Edmonton, only 34 are resctricted due to past bites.  The other 416 are resctricted because of their genetics.

A Montreal man is upset after he was fined after his dog was mistakenly identified as a pit bull and in violation of the law requiring them to be muzzled.  The dog is brindle, but that's pretty much where his pit bull similarities end.

A Florida Senator has proposed the "Animal Rescue Act" in Florida -- similar to No Kill's CAPA law.

Dog Bites/Attacks

Two very mixed breed type dogs ended up sending 2 people to the hospital after they found their way into a fenced in back yard and attacked a family in Wichita Falls, TX. Images of the dogs are there, but no breed was given.

A Mason, OH high school student was taken to the hospital after being attacked by an Akita. The girl was volunteering with her church to rake the leaves in a blind woman's yard, when the homeowner's dog escaped and attacked the girl.

A 2 year old Columbus, GA toddler suffered significant injuries after she wandered away from her grandmother as her grandmother was unloadng the car after a shopping trip. The girl wandered up to a neighbor's fence to see the dog, petted the dog through the fence, and then opened the fence gate and let the dog out.

A three year old European child was viciously attacked by a Golden Retreiver. The dog was tied up outside a store and the child ran up to the dog and the dog lashed out at the boy.

An 11 month old Olathe, KS toddler was taken to the hospital in serious condition after the toddler crawled over and spilled the cat's food and the Labrador/Boxer mix attacked the young girl.

Shelter News

The state department of agriculture has shut down animal shelter in St. Louis after repeatedly having a long list of violations including rusty kennels, chipping paint on floors and walls, too-small of cages and hosing feces out of cages while the dogs were still in them.  St. Louis officials approved funding for a new animal shelter the same week.

At the Taylor County Animal Shelter in Campbellsville, KY, a former employee is alleging that the shelter routinely botched euthanasia efforts and details one account where an animal was thrown into the incinerator while it was still alive. The shelter director denies the allegations and a followup investigation is planned.

No Kill News

The Humane Society of Richmond County (NC) celebrated 1 month of kill-free status. Last year, the shelter killed 74% of the animals it impounded -- but developing a foster program and relationships with other rescues has helped them make progress.

Arlington, TX, which has a live-release rate of about 47%, is looking at Austin's success and trying to also become a No Kill community.

The Porter County animal shelter (IN) has killed less than 10% of the 404 dogs and cats that have entered the shelter since August when they got a new shelter director.  As recently as 2007, the shelter had a very high kill rate. The shelter is now discussing how to define the term "no kill" because it is trying to determine how much money to spend on treating very sick animals -- which are the majority of the ones being euthanized now.

Kansas City News

Dozens of the 153 cats seized from a horrible hoarding situation in Kansas City 2 months ago are up for adoption TODAY at Spay/Neuter Kansas City.

Miscellaneous News

A newly adopted St. Bernard kept a family's home from being burgled just 7 hours after they brought the dog home in southwest Ohio.

The AVMA has noted that average starting salaries for Vet school grads less than $47,000 -- down 3.5% from 2010, and the percentage of graduates who have gotten jobs is down 4 percentage points to 74%.

More than half of pet owners will buy their pet a holiday gift this holiday season -- with the average spend about $46 on toys and treats.

Forbes magazine gave some great publicity to the booklet "The problem of dog related incidents and encounters" -- a great booklet for police officers in how to deal with dogs. I'm thrilled to see this getting so much publicity -- you can read my synopsis of the booklet here.

Pet Airways -- a new luxury airline specifically for pet passengers, or "Pawsengers" -- no humans allowed.

Interesting commentary on the common economic cycle of exotic animals -- from Marginal Revolution

Do dogs bite more often during full moons?

Rough Week for the ASPCA

I never covered this story, and probably won't -- there are plenty of places you can get the inside scoop. But in a nutshell, last week, the ASPCA "accidentally" made available a couple of documents that talked about people who promoted No Kill as "extremists".  They quickly took the document down, but then a speaker at the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (SAWA) conference this week, another ASPCA staffer referred to people pushing for No Kill as "terrorists".  It's a messed up story about a large organization working very hard to protect the status quo and not working as hard to actually save animal lives.  More at these links:

Killing apologists just want their lives back - Yesbiscuit!

ASPCA got 99 problems, but a glitch ain't one - Yesbiscuit!

The ASPCA: Too big to care? -- Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World

Little Ol' Me...The Extremist -- The Pet Studio

The ASPCA and the case of the extremely elusive documents -- Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World

I want my puppet regime! -- Yesbiscuit!

Meanwhile, in other news, the ASPCA apparently also 'saved' 41 dogs from a shelter in South Carolina, only to ship them off to kill shelters in other parts of the country. Bringing back the question:  When has "rescue" become accomplished?

Blogs

Pet Abuse and Killing Trickles Down in Memphis -- a great post yesterday from Yesbiscuit!

Seeking justice for 4000 shelter pets in Kentucky -- YesBiscuit! takes a look at the McCracken Co Humane Society and their routine law violation of heartsticking pets to kill them.

How to spot a cat person's home -- all in good fun from I love Charts

Wake County (NC) Pet of the Day: UR doin it wrong - YesBiscuit! notes one animal shelter that had their "Pet of the Day" on TV at noon, where the dog seemed completely healthy, but then killed the dog later in the afternoon (in spite of several people calling to adopt her) because she was coughing and it was against shelter policy to treat coughing, or to adopt out coughing dogs.

Prevent dog bites by teaching sharing -- The Star pets reporter discusses teaching dogs from resource guarding as a great approach to minimizing dog bites.

Dangerous legislation that takes a bite out of being Canadian -- a great article from KC Dog Blog friend Selma Mulvey that appeared in this month's issue of Cottage Dog Magazine (it can be found on page 32 of the magazine).

"Evaluations" and the tragedy of Lennox -- Canine Aggression Issues with Jim Crosby has a great commentary about Lennox -- a dog held in Belfast under the national breed ban.

More on Lennox and breeds in general -- Jim Crosby again takes a look at breeds, but this time noting how breed-specific laws actually take the idea of breeds, in general, and go in reverse of how they are typically done in the show ring as they were designed to do.

"If I go to a dog show with Parker, the first thing I must have is proof that he actually is a Curly Coated Retriever.  This identification is typically based on registration, with documentation of his parentage back many generations.  This gets us in the door.  Then, he is examined by a judge and that judge compares him to the written breed standard to see if, as a Curly Coated Retriever, he compares favorably (or not) to that breed standard.  He is also compared to the other Curly Coated Retrievers in the ring, who have also been compared to the written standard, to see if he is the best representation of the breed at that show on that day....But with Lennox, and so many others, we are going the wrong way.  We look at the physical form of the dog, apart from behavior and personality, and try and guess which breed the dog most resembles.  Then we make personality and behavior assumptions based on that guess."

Can they meet?  -- Dogs & Storks takes a look at dog introductions and when to do them and when not to

Why imported dogs could hurt your health -- Vetstreet takes a look at importing purebred dogs

Pendulum Swing - -Wisconsin Watchdog questions whether the pendulm of seekig PERFECT homes for our adoptable pets has swung too far in that direction (hint, it has)

The 'irresponsible public' strikes again -- Saving Pets looks at a public protest by 'the public' -- outraged over some video footage released of pets being killed by their local animal welfare society.

Can we save them all?  - Saving pets interviews Susanne Kogut of the Charlottesville, VA SPCA

The Humane Handling of Fearful Dog in High Stress Environment  -- a great video posted by Yesbiscuit!

With a face like that, what's not to love - great story about a 'pit bull' festival in Austin

Dogs die because of social norm -- by Penny Elms, Dog News Examiner

Fear should not define limits of learning for dogs -- by Paw Prints the Magazine

Holiday dog bite prevention tips -- from doggone safe

The dead walk the earth - Winograd takes on major animal rights organizations

Positive Momentum for BSL repeals

Last month, in my monthly Top 5, I noted a couple of posts that I thought showed some momentum toward repealing BSL.

At the time, I noted that in October, Moses Lake, WA repealed their breed specific law, as did Morgan, UT.  The United Kingdom House of Lords passed the third reading of their BSL repeal -- a major step toward a full repeal of their 25 year old breed ban.

And in November, the momentum continues.

Early this week, the community of Overland, MO repealed the breed-specific portion of their newly passed dangerous dog law. They passed the law a few months ago and it was set to take effect in 2012 - but the council listened to constituents, dog owners and experts from their community and repealed the ban before it took effect. You can see more here.

Meanwhile, another St. Louis area suburb is also looking to repeal their breed-specific law. On December 7, Wentzville, MO is planning on addressing the law after many residents came forward and said the law was too restricitive by requiring affected dogs to be in an outside kennel unless it was leashed and muzzled and if the dog was inside the house, the windows could not be open.  

This form of forced isolation actually decreases socialization and has a net negative impact on public safety.

Several residents noted either considering moving from the city or have alread moved from the city. One alderman, Chris Gard, has noted that he wants to eliminate the breed-specific requirements. "With the information we have today, it is difficult to write breed-specific laws," said Gard. "It is much easier to write better laws that are not breed-specific. I think the board will see that in our discussion."  The evidence of the difficulty they're having with breed identification can be seen here with a picture of two dogs that were declared to be 'pit bulls' under the law.  Neither has reportedly been involved in any aggessive incidents.  Good luck to the great folks in Wentzville in closing this deal.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, the state Senate heard testimony for HB 14 -- a bill that would remove their state-wide breed-specific legislation. Rep Barbara Sears helped push this bill through the Ohio House -- where it passed by a vote of 69-29 earlier this year. She testified for the bill earlier this week.  Heck, even country music legend Willie Nelson testified in support of HB 14 -- calling the breed-specific law "archaic".

The bill is designed to create designations for "nuissance", "dangerous", "vicious" based on their behaviors, not breed -- and also adds in due process language (which doesn't exist in their current law).  This is the start of a couple of month long process in Ohio to hopefully eliminate the only state-wide breed-specific law in the U.S. 

Can you feel the momentum?  It used to take an entire year to get this many repeals and progress toward repeals....now, all of this has happened just in the past 6 weeks. 

Attitudes are changing, and people are realizing that breed discriminatory laws are not an effective solution to the dangerous dog problems.  It's great to see, and good luck to those who are making forward progress in their communities.

Truth and consequences in Memphis

Yesterday, the Memphis Rotary Club released its evaluation of Memphis Animal Services.  There are quite a few disturbing pieces of this -- and you can read the 22 page report in its entirety here. 

In the report, Rotary club points out that interference and favoritism by people at City Hall have led some folks to be exempt from the rules.  This essentially helped created a situation where there was well-known, and commonly known issues with some of these individuals who were involved in dog fighting rings in the Community, and moving dogs, and supplies (likely medicines and drugs, although this is not specified) out the back door of the building.

This is definitely disturbing news. But this information, coupled with some other information, is even more disturbing.

First of all, the Rotary club's recommendation is not to fire people involved in dog fighting. Or arrest them. No, their recommendation is to just be more careful with future hires. 

Secondly, there is the issue of almost surprise that the city's new shelter didn't help solve their problems. Let me say, new shelters are nice. They can often be structured in a way that makes caring for animals easier, creates more space for more animals, and can be more inviting to adopters. HOWEVER, new shelters do not solve problems such as employees moving animals and supplies out the back door (there were literally hundreds of 'lost' animals in the Memphis shelter) and even a bigger shelter can become full quickly if steps aren't made to increase adoptions.  So while a new shelter can enhance a situation, it will not solve a completely disfunctional one.  If you're only adopting out 11% of the animals that come into your shelter, a larger shelter will only help you for a very short amount of time.

And lastly, is the issue of the cameras inside of Memphis Animal Services. This became a huge topic of debate last summer.  These cameras were installed after a 2009 raid of the shelter and several arrests were made for animal cruelty that began after a puppy was starved to death at the shelter. The cameras were supposed to increase public support for the shelter -- but instead, when people saw what was still going on, they began posting pictures from the cameras online and getting support for change at the shelter. It was this groundswell of support for change that led to director Matthew Pepper's resignation and the Rotary Club doing their evaluation. 

However, in spite of the reality that it seemed common knowledge that some animal control officers were moving animals and drug to dog fighters out the back door, there was almost universal support by the employees interviewed to have the cameras removed -- to hide the evidence of what was really happening.  Why? 

The only explanation that makes any sense is because removing the cameras helped protect the status quo.

Memphis Mayor AC Wharton continues to deflect responsibility elsewhere.  When people pushed for change earlier this year, Wharton deflected the blame from animal control and turned the blame onto the public. In this instance, while does plan to turn the information over to the District Attorney to investigate, he still found cause to blame the 'demand for those dogs by dogfighters' as something that must change.  While true, having city staff help supply this demand out the back door must also change - -dontcha think?

This is an ugly, ugly mess in Memphis -- one, that really, would never have seen the light of day without the desire by advocates to force change in what is a shelter that is facing extreme failure.  The truth is now out there, but the city must seriously take responsibility for the shelter, and the shelter management and staff, and drive to make REAL changes at the shelter that can get them to be successful. Deflecting the blame can no longer be an option.

Update on Boom-Dog

It's been a long time since I've posted an update on Boomer. Some long-time readers of the blog will remember Boomer -- some of the newer folks won't.

Boomer was one of several dogs that were rescued froma major hoarding bust in Kay County, OK -- in what was as bad of living conditions as you can imagine (I have a few pictures of him in his digs in Kay County here). 

Boomer came to us as a frightful, shut down dog - scared of almost everything. We eventually got him up playing with the other dogs -- but he was always destined to be a bit of a special needs dog.

But Boomer found his forever home - and it was a perfect home at that -- with a family that has embraced his needs, and have really helped him grow. So, below, is an update from Boomer's new family -- with some updated photos  - that his new family sent me late last week.

You can also find a Boomer update on MABBR's webpage -- MABBR, along with Bad Rap, were the two organizations primarily responsible for helping save Boomer and the other dogs from Kay County.

Thank you, thank you to Boomer's new family for all the  love and care they've given him -- he's come a long, long way. Check out by personal page on Facebook -- I'm going to try to post some of his videos over there so you can see him in action.  It's amazing the progress he's made -- and to realize that this is a dog that many would never have give the chance -- and there are many that are greatful for the chance he's been given.

From Boomer's 'mom':

--------------------------------------------

Last night, while playing on my husband’s laptop, I found where he saved Brent’s story about how we adopted Boomer in his web browser. He saves it, because he loves to tell people Boomer’s story Forever Home.

And with every story, especially Boomer’s, I thought a few more pages needed to be “written” for the Boomer fans out there.

It’s been a year and a half since Boomer went on his 12 day “camping trip” last year. He disappeared last June when something startled him and he bolted out our front door while my husband was trying to get our Bassetts leashed to go outside. Let me tell you, those were the worst 12 days ever. He and I both felt horrible, because we had just adopted Boomer in April, and now he gets away from us in June. Add to that, as you know, Boomer is very “special” in the sense of his PTSD…so not only was he lost in a foreign area to himself, but having no sense of being able to defend himself, scared of every noise, every leaf that blow in the wind, and every tree branch that moves – we were beside ourselves.

Long story short, we were able to find him, and if it wasn’t for the determination and help of yourselves, and a bunch of Boomer family, friends, and fans, we may never have found him. Since he’s been home, I have seen some really great changes in him.

We’ve had to make a few changes ourselves.

I have to be cautious of our flag that hangs on our porch. Not because Boomer is un-patriotic, but because it hangs higher than the level of his head, and the slightest breeze makes it move. This makes him very, very nervous. BUT – After introducing it to him, and putting it down on his level where he can sniff and investigate, and us humans walking outside ahead of him (on a leash, of course) – he is now used to it and doesn’t duck for cover as soon as he sees it when the front door opens.

The dog leashes hang on a shelf against our wall. As long as we “talk” to him and tell him that he is ok, and he knows they aren’t going to fall off the wall and get him somehow…he sleeps more comfortably in his kennel. He is now aware that the ceiling fan in the living room isn’t going to jump out and get him, either.

Along the way, we have discovered that Boomer eats best if he can eat in his kennel, with the door closed. This eases his “flight” fear (I don’t think he has the “fight” mechanism in him at all) and he doesn’t worry about my two Bassetts stealing his dinner. They’ve done it before, ever so politely, and he just let them have it.

So we had to make an alternate plan. My Bassetts are hogs.

He has become more adventerous around the house as well. Primarily, Boomer never leaves our front room or dining area. We have a 3 bedroom house, but he won’t go in any of those rooms unless the Bassetts, and the humans are in there. And that takes some serious coaxing. In the living room, he can park himself up against a wall, and see everyone coming from any angle. Or, he likes to loaf in the recliner with my husband and either watch football or NASCAR. (“Man time.”)

He still does not like going outside, because of being “open and exposed.” BUT – I am sooooo glad to say that over the last few weeks, he has proactively gone up to the front door with the Bassetts to go outside. This is stunning and I am so excited about this! He only does it when he really, really needs to go outside, and still stands there and shakes, but he swallows his fear and stands at the door.

In fact, over the past three months or so, Boomer has started to actually GREET PEOPLE who come to visit at our front door! But it’s only a select few, such as myself, my husband, and my mother…who is a huge Boomer fan and loves hearing about his adaptations and “improvements” in her grand-dog. (Plus, it never hurts that “Nana” brings cookies when she comes to visit…Ha ha ha.)

Boomer has also grown when it comes to going for walks outside. In one video, he has actually started to ease up in his defensiveness…and will actually wag his tail a bit when we’re outside.

He has even proactively approached a few fenced-in neighbor dogs on a few occasions when we’re out, too. And wags his tail when he does it.

My husband has been gone since June for school with the Air Force, and just got back two weeks ago. I was so worried and afraid that Boomer was going to go in reverse in acclimating to him being home again. Instead, he has surprised me, and warmed back up to my husband. I am so thankful that my husband is a patient, understanding man with Boomer and his PTSD.

Boomer is exceptionally special to us with his condition. I say this because several of our close friends are Air Force and Marine Vets who have PTSD as well. Whenever THEY come over to visit, they ALWAYS ask how Boomer is doing. They have shared with me things about their conditions, which in turn helps Gordon and I work with Boomer through his.

Humans and animals with PTSD usually have very similiar symptoms…which is why Vets usually do so much better with PTSD service dogs. So, I got to thinking one night…why not figure out how to become Boomer’s “Service Humans?” We’re trying our best.

Anyone who comes to my house knows Boomer before they even walk in our door. They know about his personality, and are heartbroke by his startings in life. They know that they need to get down on his level and let him proactively approach them. They know that when he comes outside to join us on the front porch in the summer evenings, that when my husband or I open the front door, everyone needs to be still and give him a chance to acclimate and get comfortable on a lap somewhere.

If we need to have someone come by and let our dogs out for us, we give them a complete run down on how to approach him and keep his leash tight when letting him back in the house…otherwise, he panics and will try to go crashing through it. They’re given a complete lesson in the ‘World of Boomer.’

Oh! And I’ve been working on getting him to “speak” for meal time. I wanted him to learn to bark to communicate. He has learned exceptionally fast, and can *almost* do it entirely without being asked to. Sometimes, he’d just prefer to “sing” for it instead. And I’m ok with that…cause it’s one of the most awesome songs in the world.

The Convenience of Killing

By now, you've probably heard the news about Ace.

Ace was an emaciated pit bull that late last week, wandered into an Ace Hardware Store.  The well-meaning store owner, who was touched by meeting Ace, called Detroit Animal Control and they came out to pick up Ace. 

Unfortunately, Detroit Animal Control has a blanket policy that it does NOT adopt ANY pit bull type dogs  -- or,  release any of them to rescue groups.  So Ace was destined to die.

However, there became a groundswell of support for Ace, and many people around Detroit and around the country pushed for Ace to be given a chance. 

On Wednesday night, these advocates got a huge win, when a Wayne County Judge filed an emergency injunction preventing the city from euthanizing Ace, or any dog that resembled Ace.

Unfortunately, in spite of the injunction, the city killed Ace anyway.  Yip, in spite of an overwhelming number of people who wanted to help save Ace, and in spite of a court injunction saying they couldn't kill Ace, Ace died at the hands of local authorities.

Shirley has noted that if Michigan had a law similar to CAPA, then Ace would be alive right now. She's right of course, but I think there is a larger, systemic problem that needs to be addressed. It's that sadly, and strangely, we have somehow created a large, tax-payed shelter system that apparently lacks any compassion, and has found it more convenient to kill animals than to save them. And that's a problem.

Now, I'll note that not all shelters have this problem -- as there are some that deserve to be celebrated.  But there are still WAY TOO MANY shelters that operate similarly to the one in Detroit -- and it needs to be reformed.

According to a statement by Detroit Animal Control, neither they, nor the city received the reported court injunction -- and because Ace's time was up, he was euthanized killed.  This claim seems a little odd to me given that a reporter was able to obtain a copy of the injunction, it was plastered all over local news, and I knew about the injunction from 1200 miles away.  And Marji knew about it too. 

Bruce King, the general manager of the Detroit Health Department continues in his statement:

"At the end of business today, the dog referred to as Ace was euthanized following the expiration of the four-day holding period and departmental policy.  We are not insensitive to the overwhelming appeal from citizens for an alternative approach. We are, indeed, heartened by the appeals.  However, if we grant this one exception, we are simply not set up for what will undoubtedly lead to overwhelming appeals in similar cases."

 So there -- it's not that they were insensitive -- but, well, if they saved this one, then they would be inconvenienced by the public who would then think that other 'pit bulls' would have the right to live too -- and, well, we're just not set up for that.  Besides, just this one case has really caused a public safety nightmare for the city:

"Urgent calls for help from elderly citizens, school principals, postal supervisors and police are going unanswered because our Detroit Animal Control dispatch line is overwhelmed with calls from outside the city, state and even the country," said King.

See, because so many people wanted to help this dog in spite of our bad policy, we HAD to kill him, because it was causing a public safety issue. We had no other choice.  Uh huh.

King also reiterated that:

"DAC is acting in accordance with the Stray Holding Law facilitated by the Michigan Department of Agriculture that mandates quarantining stray animals for 4 days; while ensuring they are provided for."

So Mr. King, we get that you didn't break the law, but let's be clear here, the four day hold time is the state MINIMUM requirement.  There is nothing keeping you from holding the dog for longer that that 4 days, or releasing him to a rescue group, other than your complete lack of compassion. 

Now, an attorney in Detroit, Corbett O'Meara, plans to try to get Detroit officials held in contempt of court for violating the court injunction.

What happened in Detroit is sadly not abnormal. Earlier this week I noted another city, Springfield, MO, that has created a law that has not decreased the number of dog bites in the city, but has directly led to the death of over 1500 dogs and is declaring the law a "success".  Springfield has a similar policy prohibiting the adoption groups from saving 'pit bulls' from their shelter. This type of non-caring city-run shelter is far too indicative of the standard for city-run shelters  -- managed by people who find it more convenient to kill the dogs than to actually work to save them.

Ace's death is a tragedy -- but his isn't the only one. Hundreds of dogs like Ace going into Detroit Animal Control, and Springfield, MO and shelters just like them every year and meet the same fate, with no fanfare, and no chance to live.

And this is why reform is necessary.

For more (I'll update this throughout the day):

For the Pit Bulls - Detroit Animal Control Riding the shame boat to fail

Bless the Bullys - For dogs like Ace, where's the justice?

For the Love of the Dog - Ace is Dead (in Detroit)

Bad Rap - Ace: A fitting mascot for Detroit city policy

 

Updated: New academic study regarding behaviors of dogs on walks

Updated -- based now on reading the entire study:

Last week, there was a story that was written about a new research study that details the different environmental impacts on behavior for dogs on walks.  The study claims to be the most comprehensive study ever done on this topic.

Before I dive into a few of the details from the study, I want to note that my comments about the study are based solely on the news article, as I've been unable to find an actual copy of the study online anywhere -- so my opinions of it may change if I can ever get a full copy (which should be available at some point since it has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science).

The study was performed by Petr Rezac, an associate professior in the Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics at Mendel University in the Czech Republic. The study is based on the observations of nearly 2,000 dog-dog interactions on owner-led walks in the Czech Republic. Only single dogs/single owner interactions were measured. No dogs with two owners present, incidents with multiple dogs with one owner or dogs with no owners were included in the study.

But based on the news article, I don't think most experienced dog owners will be very surprised by most of the key findings.

Among those findings:

1) Dogs being walked by men are four times more likely to threaten or bite other dogs (this was actually the factor that caused the biggest effect on whether or a dog would act aggressively). Interestingly, this held true for both leashed and unleashed dogs.

2) Dogs on a leash are twice as likely to act aggressively toward another dog than dogs off the leash. Dogs most often showed aggression if both dogs were on a leash (21%), followed by on leash toward off-leash (19%) and then off-leash toward on-leash (17%).  Both dogs being off-leash was much lower than when a leash was involved at 8%. It's worth noting however, that off-leash dogs were twice as likely (7%) to bit an on-leash dog than any other scenerio. On-leash biting on-leash came in at 3.3%.  These percentages don't involve incidents involving puppies where no bites were witnessed.

3) Male and female dogs both prefer to play with members of the opposite gender -- although females are more likely to be playeful than males. Puppies are 11x more likely than older dogs to prefer to play.

4) Dogs of the same gender were 3x more likley to show a threat and 5x more likely to bite than dogs of opposite genders. In incidents involving adult dogs, 21% of male dog vs male dog greetings involved a threat, 4.5% involved a bite. Female dogs meeting female dogs had 24% lead to threats and 7.7% to bites.  Meetings between opposite genders resulted in about 8% having threats and less than 1% in bites.

5) Biting occured in 3% of all interactions. Only 1 in 13 of those was NOT preceded by a threat. Threats were seen in roughly 17% of dog/dog interactions. All of the bites were mild bites.

6) The most common interaction to involve a threat is a senior dog toward a puppy, followed by a senior dog toward an adult dog, then, adult dog toward puppy. However, the most common type of bite came from seniors toward adults and adults toward seniors. There were zero incidents of puppies biting.

7) While dogs were most likely to play with dogs of the same size as them, biting incidents happend most often happened between dogs of similar sizes. 

Again, none of these findings should shock most readers of this blog. Leash aggression is a fairly common problem among all types of dogs and the social aspects of size, gender and age are pretty common. 

It is also interesting that sniffing was the most popularly shown interactive behavior. This isn't a surprise of course, but since it was shown in 75% of all cases, it is speculated that the inability to properly sniff among leashed dogs may actually lead to some of the aggressive behaviors.

I think the handler of the dog is is interesting -- because it is hard to determine whether the dog is feeding off of the handler's body languange or if, by chance, the handler in these cases reflects the primary trainer of the dog and may reflect different overally training styles of men vs women (also, I don't have a good feel for the demeanor of Czech men, that may be culturally different than in the U.S.). 

Interestingly 37% of the dogs in the study were walked by men, where 63% were walked by women. Men also walked male and large dogs more often than women. Women most often walked small dogs. It's worth noting here that small dogs tended to show aggression more often than their larger counterparts, so this makes the male/female data very interesting.

There are often conversations here about the differences in nature vs nurture in the behavior of animals - -but clearly nurture plays a pretty important role in overall behavior when the gender of the owner and the act of whether or not a dog is on a leash can play an instrumental role in a dog's behavior -- because those are very short term, environmental conditions.

It's also important to note that the vast majority of dog-dog interactions did not resulted in play, and most did not result in threats. Only a small percent ended in bites (although it really was a larger number than I would have expected).

If I'm able to get a copy of the study I'll post more --but I definitely think the study is interesting, even if the results aren't aren't necessarily shocking.

 I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Defining "working" -- Springfield, MO edition

Five years ago, the city of Springfield, MO passed a law heavily restricting pit bull type dogs. Owners are required to have heavy insurance policies, license their pets and dogs must wear muzzles when in public spaces.

Since the law was enacted, Springfield has impounded more than 1700 'pit bulls' and pit bull mixes  -- and  killed more than 1500 of them --an average of nearly 1 a day. This is in part because the city doesn't think restricting them is enough -- but they also insist on killing all 'pit bulls' that come into the shelter that are not reclaimed by their owners.  To put this number in perspective, in 2006, the city licensed 620 'pit bulls' -- now the number is closer to 300. This means that hte city has succesfully slaughter 3.5x more 'pit bulls' than they were ever able to even register.

In spite of the ramant killing (or maybe because of it), Animal Control in Springfield says they think ordinance is working.

"Before the ordinance in 2005 animal control says about a third or 33% of all dog bite complaints involved pit bulls or pit-bull mixes.  In 2010, the number dropped to 11%. 'It's always better to do something as opposed to nothing' said animal control supervisor Randy Barnts. "We saw what happened before and what happened after the ordinance. Obviously the situation has improved greately."

Execpt, really, it hasn't.

In 2005, before the ordinance was passed, Springfiled had a total of 102 dog bites -- 34 of them by 'pit bulls' (it's telling to note that because of 34 dog bites by 'pit bulls', more than 1500 have been slaughtered -- seems as if a law killng 44x the number of biting dogs is a bit over-reaching, no?)  In 2010, they had a total of 104 dog bites, 11 by pit bulls.

So, they decreased the number of attacks by pit bulls (which is bound to happen when you kill 1500 of them over past 5 years), but dog bites have stayed essentially the same.   Or if you put it another way, while the city has been busy rounding up 'pit bulls', dog bites by all non-pit bull type dogs has risen from 68 to 93 -- a 37% increase. Success indeed.

One city council member, Doug Burlison, continues to fight for a repeal of the law -- so that the city will focus on dangerous DOGS, not specific breeds.  He notes that the impound and death criteria for 'pit bulls' is very subjective and inconsistent.  It is a tough road for Burlison as the city staff seems content to define "working" any way they want -- especially if they consider it 'working' when no decrease in dog bites is seen and the city is just spending thousands of dollars capturing and killing 'pit bulls'. 

It's an ugly situation - and has been from the start. I wish Mr. Burlison success -- and hope the citizens of Springfield will make their feelings known about this terrible situation.

For more commentary on the recent news article out of Springfield:

Bless the Bullies - Springfield, MO pit bull ordinance a success....seriously??

Stop BSL -- Springfiled, MO: Stats don't back up claims of BSL success

KC Dog Blog -- Springfield, MO looks to possibly re-address breed specific law -- this is a post that puts together more statistical data on Springfield from roughly a year ago.

National Animal Shelter Reform/Appreciation Week -- Redux

This week is Animal Shelter Appreciation Week.

Or,  Animal Shelter Reform Week.

It depends on who you ask. The first is celebrated by HSUS. The second by the No Kill Advocacy Center.  Which group is right?  Which should we be celebrating? 

The answer is probably both.

The following are my thoughts that I posted a year ago about the topic - -and I feel they are worthy of a repost. While there are unquestionably a lot of great shelters out there -- the reality is that there are still too many shelters -- many publicly funded shelters, that are are still operating under a 1970s catch and kill model of animal sheltering. We can, and must, do better. And while we should be careful to not treat every shelter as a horrific place for animals, there are still way too many shelters like the one in Memphis out there.  And we should undeniably push for change in those shelters.

From last year:

There is no doubt that this country there are many very good shelters and tens of thousands of volunteers who work with animals and save the lives of animals every day. There is no doubt that we should take the time to show our appreciation for these people who give so much of their lives to help homeless pets.

However, the reality is that there are still approximately 4 million pets savable pets killed in shelters every year -- and a large number of them could be saved tomorrow if shelters and cities would embrace policies that would lead to their lives being saved, instead of ended.

A large number of these killed pets are feral cats (likely near 25% of them) that could live out their lives in complete happiness if cities and shelters would embrace TNR programs.

Another large percentage of the animals killed in shelters are 'pit bulls' -- dogs that wuld likely be able to find homes if cities would end their breed-specific bans - or if many of the nation's shelters would end policies that prevent 'pit bulls' who enter the shelter from ever being able to leave. Earlier this week, Donna over at BAD RAP noted that three 'shelters' in the Houston area, the Houston SPCA, the Houston Humane Society and the Harris County Animal Shelter, have policies that prevent pit bulls from being adopted from the shelter.  This isn't unique to Houston -- many shelters have policies like this, including most public shelters in the state of Ohio and even the Loudon County, VA shelter has sued the state for the RIGHT to kill all 'pit bulls' that come into the shelter.

Then there are the countless shelters -- most of them run by government entities  -- that make virtually no attempt to adopt out animals in their communities. In Carroll County, GA, during the summer months the shelter took in 902 cats and killed 904. The shelter in director in Dallas, TX allowed a cat that was trapped inside a wall to die a slow death and only removed the cat after it was dead and began to stink. Heck, virtually every day, YesBiscuit! has examples of shelter that is completely failing at its main job -- saving animals.

Many of these situations could be dramatically improved with overhauls in shelter management. Last year, Kansas City, MO made the decision to privatize the city shelter. While the shelter isn't without it's problems (by all accounts, the shelter is still pretty poorly managed) the shelter still increased adoptions by 150% in its first year -- decreasing shelter kill rates by 35%.

One can only imagine if these houses of horrors were to have significant changes in shelter management and shelter policies what a huge difference it would make in the 4 million healthy animals killed in our nation's shelters each year.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say as long as such a large number of shelters in this country continue to operate with little regard for the lives of animals, there is little opportunity to decrease the number of animals killed in this country -- regardless of all the efforts put into spay/neuter programs and shutting down puppy mills.

So in spite of the much good that is done in shelter throughout this country, there is little doubt that one of the primary reasons that so many shelter animals are dying is because of the shelter policies of too many shelters in this country.

So I'd recommend 'celebrating' the week in both ways. Celebrate the shelters that are doing it well. But also realize that there is much work to be done in reforming the shelters that are making little attempt to adopt out animals, and instituting kill policies for all 'pit bulls' and feral cats that enter their shelters that are leading to the deaths of millions of animals in this country.