There's quite a lot going on this week -- some good, some bad. Let's dive into the top stories of the week. As always, if you have something you'd like to add, feel free to do so in the comments.
Cities/States and Laws
A city councilman in Pasadena, CA seems to be pushing ofr his city to ban 'pit bulls'. He's obviously done a lot of research on the topic as he doesn't seem to realize that such a ban would violate state law in California. There is also talk here though of mandatory spay/neuter of pit bulls -- which would also be very bad. The local humane society, which handles both the animal control and sheltering or the city, seems to be very much against this, but if you live in the area, you might want to express your views on why this is an awful idea.
The RSPCA (UK) is angry about the delays in repealing the UK's horribly ineffective and costly ban on 4 breeds of dogs. The law has been around for 25 years, and the move to elminate the ban is moving forward, although VERY slowly.
Woonsocket, RI continues to look at passing a law banning 'pit bulls' from the community. If you live in or around Woonsocket, please let them no why the law would be ineffective and only lead to the killing of more dogs in that community. The community is planning to talk to the Pawtucket Animal Control (which has a similar ordinance) to see how that ordinance is working.
A lawmaker's task force in Maryland is beginning to reconvene to come up with a solution to over-rule the Maryland Court decision that declared pit bulls as "dangerous". The court ruling was passed earlier this year, but state lawmakers immediately began the process of overriding the faulty judge ruling.
A new Alabama state law would actually eliminate non-profit, low cost spay/neuter clinics. This would be an awful thing as studies consistently show that people need MORE access to low cost services, not less. Even the discussion of such a law falls under a "what the hell are they thinking?" question.
Ishpeming, MI appears to be looking at several different dangerous dog laws -- including possibly restrictions by breed or by size.
Maple Ridge, BC may be moving forward with breed-specific legislation.
Deer Park, OH is considering repealing their breed-specific legislation.
Dog Bites & Attacks
Major dog bites are very rare when compared to the 72 million owned dogs in the United States, but occassionally they do happen. And when they do, it is extremely important to look a the CIRCUMSTANCES behind those attacks, instead of incorrectly focusing on breed.
A young man in West Vancouver, BC was badly attacked by a stray/off-leash German Shepherd that went to attack his dog and he tried to intervene.
Two young girls in Mansfield, OH were badly attacked by 3 Rottweilers. The dogs were apparently being walked, but not on a leash. The two girls saw the dogs and began running and the dogs chased them and attacked them, causing pretty significant injuries. While this is not the children's fault, we do need to teach children NOT to run from dogs -- as they could never outrun them and it only incites prey drive. Meanwhile, the owner of the dogs definitely needs to control her animals.
A young girl in Perham, Ontario, was badly attacked by 2 dogs -- also described as Rottweilers. The dogs did have a history of being violent. Ontario has had a breed ban for 7 years that has been ineffective and costly for them to enforce.
Miscellaneous
Ken Foster, author of "The Dogs Who Found Me", is launching his new book tour at the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference for his new book, "I'm a good dog." The link has a good Q&A with Foster about his writing of the book and this is another one I need to add to my growing reading list.
Owners of a pit bull in San Antonio are upset after police officers showed up at the wrong house and shot their family dog.
A homeless man in Kansas City is heartbroken after his dog was taken away from him. The man had a lot of people helping him with the dog, providing food and other care. Unfortunately, the dog was still taken away from him.
No Kill
More on the changes being made at the Niagra (NY) SPCA in their attempts to become No Kill.
The new shelter director in Kern County (CA) is looking to lower the shelter euthanasia rate. Last year, the shelter took in 27,000 animals, and killed almost 18,000 of them, and the new director is looking to lower that number significantly.
Several communities in Michigan were recently recognized for their No Kill Success.
A new group, Cleveland (TN) For a No Kill City took over animal control earlier this year, and in their first 3 months were able to save 80% of the animals at the shelter -- this was up from only 24% saved during the same 3 months a year ago. Congrats to the folks in Cleveland, TN.
Blogs
Animal Farm Foundation is launching a "I am the majority" campaign to focus on good, responsible pit bull owners.
If you click one link this week, click this one. Not Good Enough is a fantastic blog from the folks over at Team Unruly that discusses blanket adoption policies that cause potential adopters to not be good enough -- and how they systematically eliminated pretty much everyone from their rescue team through these unnecessary requirements.
Video of the behind the scenes shoot for the 2013 Pin Ups for Pit Bulls Calender.
Christie Keith tackles the facts and realities behind Halloween Pet threats -- tackling which ones are urban legends and which ones are real threats. In a nutshell, Chocolate is bad but your black cat is probably safe.
We can rebuild him...we have the technology -- Paw Prints the Magazine discusses how they used stem cell therapy to help their dog that had very bad hip displasia. This is a very interesting article in the newest research in treating sick animals.
Why you should volunteer -- one of KC Pet Project's awesome volunteers writes about what benefit she gets from volunteering -- including meeting new friends, getting warm hugs, and being a part of the solution.
Has HSUS walked away from companion animals? Wayne Pacelle posts his top 10 important state laws for animals and not a single companion animal act among them (and I'd note that Ohio's repeal of its state-wide breed-specific law and Massachussett's banning Breed-specific laws state wide both happened this year and were not even worth a mention).
A yellow lab saved a newborn calf from freezing to death -- from the Poodle and dog blog
Mike Vick
About a week ago, word was announced that Mike Vick, who was a leader of a very high-profile dog fighting ring bust 5 years ago and confessed to many horrible forms of abuse was allowed to get another dog. Obviously, a lot of people were angered and outraged by the decision to allow him to get a dog (which was partly facilitated by the Humane Society of the United States. Here are some of the best takes:
Douglas Anthony Cooper takes on HSUS in the Huffington Post: Michael Vick just adopted what?
Did Michael Vick get a dog? from Yesbiscuit
Just wanted to note that Tamara Lush, AP correspondent at the wire service's Tampa Bay bureau, has done a profile of Jim Crosby, published over the weekend: "Criminal canines' lives in hands of dog-bite forensic expert."
It has presumably been picked up by papers around the country . . . I read it here:
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019484456_dogbiteexpert21.html#.UIQQCgOxPkQ.facebook
Posted by: Karen F | October 21, 2012 at 01:10 PM
I posted Not Good Enough to my facebook page so anyone reading will know I am flexible in adoption; if not, I would not have dogs as I'm not married and started with no fence....just lots and lots of walking and personal time.
Posted by: Roberta Beach | October 21, 2012 at 02:02 PM
Thanks Karen -- great article. And yes Roberta, I understand. I think many organizations in town would deny me from adopting based on blanket principals.
Posted by: Brent | October 21, 2012 at 02:08 PM
I was wondering where all the traffic to the post suddenly came from. Thanks so much for sharing it here! I've always been a huge fan of what you do here and have followed your blog for quite some time so I feel very honored that the post was linked to over here.
Posted by: Michelle | October 22, 2012 at 11:45 AM
*squeak* Thanks so much for linking to Team Unruly! We're huge fans of your blog and really appreciate the influx of traffic. As you can see, lots of us have pit bulls and bully mixes, so we're big advocates for responsible dog ownership and opponents of BSL.
Posted by: Bex | October 22, 2012 at 12:45 PM
Michelle and Bex -- thanks for a great post. It really is completely in line with how I feel about adoptions and that we need to work harder at finding good matches for people's lifestyles instead of putting blanket policies in place to prevent extreme situations.
Posted by: Brent | October 22, 2012 at 06:13 PM
re: kids running from dogs.
A mastiff owning friend of mine recently had an experience that horrified her: She lives across the street from a popular park with children's play equipment. A van with a woman (who appeared to be the grandmother rather than the mother though she didn't ask) and two kids parked along the street infront of her house.
A girl got out, saw the mastiff in the front yard, SCREECHED and turned and ran across the street (infront of traffic), screaming the whole way. The boy saw the mastiff, and asked the woman if he could pet the dog, the woman grabbed his hand dragged him across the street (without checking for traffic) telling him that you NEVER pet dogs, ALWAYS run scream and run away as fast as you can!!
My friend was horrified to put it mildly. Of all the behaviors to react with, running away is a VERY good way to get the dog to chase....
Posted by: Ruth | October 24, 2012 at 07:49 AM