KC DOG BLOG

Very Good Sentences -- from a Retrieverman

 "And to make things even more complicated, both of these breeds are so common that it is really foolish to make broad, sweeping statements about either. There are so many of these dogs that exist in so many different lines that have experienced so many different kinds of selection pressures that you simply cannot make generalizations about them." 

The post, from Retrieverman, is comparing Labrador Retrievers to Golden Retrievers. The sentiment is true of course throughout the canine world -- particularly so with breeds that exist in very large populations (possibly less so among breeds with very small, tight lines).  

The post ends with two great pieces of advice -- that seems pretty universally true:

"You're much better off meeting a dog as an individual"

"And stay the heck away from internet forums and Yahoo! groups."

 Click through and read the whole thing, which also has a fantastic title: "Making generalizations about popular breeds is what morons do."

 

Weekly Roundup -- Week Ending 5-5-13

I'm a couple weeks behind on roundup, so I have quite a bit of stuff to get through. So sit back, relax, and let's take a look at the top stories from the week(s) that was:

Cities/States and Laws

In North Carolina, a bill was filed that would have restricted ownership of six different breeds of dogs. The bill was wisely killed only 3 days later, again, showing the completely lack of support for laws restricting ownership of certain breeds.

Madison County, AL has a new breed-neutral Dangerous Dog law that has taken effect -- targeting owners who's dogs show signs of aggression, regardless of the type of dog.

Murfeesboro, AR, a town of about 1700 people,  banned all 'pit bulls' from the community -- taking 25 year step back in time in how to deal with aggressive dog issues.

 

Dog bites/attacks

In this country there are more than 75 million owned dogs. Most never bite, and dogs continue to be among the safest creatures on the planet. But sometimes they do bite, and when they do, it can occassionally lead to major injuries. When this happens, it is important to look at the CIRCUMSTANCES behind the events, not breed. By focusing on responsible pet ownership (and parenting) and focusing on dangerous behaviors of owners, we will be better equipped to deal with the few dogs that act aggressively.

An Ohio inmate lost part of his nose while playing with a dog that was part of the prison dog program there. The inmate reportedly tripped while chasing a ball during recreation and fell onto the dog and the dog spun around and bit him.

A woman in Madrid, IA lost her nose when a 50 lbs "Lab Mix" ran out of the yard and attacked her, her husband and their pet Beagle. The husband bit the dog back to stop the assault. Interestingly, the type of dog involved in the attack was not mentioned when USA Today covered the story.

A three-year old Alabama girl suffered bites to her face and wounds to her arms after she was bitten by her Grandmother's German Shepherd mix. The young toddler was left alone, unattended with the dog and unfortunately "came into contact with the dog" and the dog bite the child multiple times. The dog was put down so it could be tested for rabies. Parents, PLEASE, supervise all interactions between your toddlers and dogs.

A Long Beach woman suffered major injuries, including "significan nerve damage" in one of her arms, when she was attacked by an off-leash Akita. The story wasn't picked up by any main stream news reports, but only by a citizen journalism news source.

In Bradenton, FL, a 6 year old boy was severely bitten by a 'pit bull'. The dog actually had a bite history of two other bites, one to its owner, and another to the owner's niece. If your dog has a history of aggressive behavior, it is YOUR responsibility to get the dog the training and socialization it needs to overcome these issues. Hire a professional. Do whatever, but fix the problem.

In the Town of Kinston, NY, a five year old girl was airlifted after being bitten on the face by a German Shepherd that lived at the home.

A 3 year old Maine girl is expected to remain in the hospital for at least a month after being severely attacked by a Rottweiler. According to the report, the dog was tied by a metal cable to a barn and the young girld approached the dog with a dog biscuit.  The dog broke the choke collar and attacked the girl. Apparently someone in the household watched the event take place and didn't recognize what were likely obvious warning signals in the dog's behavior that would have led up to it breaking its collar.

A 7 year old Akron girl was severely injured when she was attacked by a Rottweiler that police say belonged to a neighbor and got out of its enclosure.

 

Positive Press

A "pit bull" in Long Island, NY saved its owner's life when it barked to wake her as fire began to engulf the house.

Pit bulls in Michigan are helping build responsibility and compassion at a juvenile detention center. Through the dogs, the youth learn about dog behavior, patience and affection.

Aggressive pit bulls: Nature or Nurture?   In Lee County, FL the media gets an opportunity to meet a few of the many very good pit bull type dogs at their local shelter.

An update on another one of Mike Vick's dogs named Mel, who is doing well in a home environment 6 years after he was saved from Vick's property.

A tail-wagging pit bull helps students with their reading. This is from Des Moines (which has breed-specific legislation targeting pit bulls) -- really cute picture at the link as well.

A pit bull's aggression is nurture, not nature, says a Sacramento area veterinarian. Experts overwhelmingly agree.

 

No Kill News

In response to some ridiculous statements by PETA, the Gainsville Sun ran the editorial "Don't be absurd: No kill shelters are beneficial for animals." Yes, saving them is better than killing them, under most circumstances.

Miscellaneous

Stray Rescue in St. Louis is uniting dogs with runners in a Running Buddies enrichment program. The program helps get high-energy running dogs the exercise they need....and runners a running buddy.

FitBark, a new company that recently launched a Kickstarter campaign, seeks to monitor the amount of exercise your dog gets during the day to see if it is getting the amount of exercise it needs.

In what I can only describe as a simply amazing story, in Russia, wild dogs learned to take the subway into the city center to get food scraps from urban dwellers, and then take the train back to the suburbs each night for safer dwellings.

Bite prevention requires common sense -- a solid article from Jean McGoarty, the executive director of the Kokomo Humane Society.

Humans and dogs need training to avoid bites -- another veterinarian gives her viewpoint, which again, focuses on owner education, human education, and how to handle dogs.

National Animal Groups in the News

A positive reveiw by the ASPCA for HSUS and their Pets for Life program -- which is a great program. On the flip side, this news report notes that HSUS does not give money to local Humane societies, like many people mistakenly believe.

The Today Show takes a look at the AKC and how just because a dog has AKC papers doesn't mean it's a well-bred dog or that it came from a well-raised environment.

Blogs

Why the internet loves cats -- an infographic from social media times

Volunteer programs, what we're learning -- from the ASPCA Pro.

Fear and Loathing in Ontario - SnorkyShorkie takes a look at biased media reports and anti-pit bull propaganda in Ontario

Top 5 +1 for April, 2013

The Top 5 is my monthly look at the 5 most popular blogs for the month based on information from Google Analytics. The +1 is my opportunity to highlight a post that wasn't in the Top 5, but I think was worthy of more exposure. Here's this month's top 5:

1) (Almost) Horrifying Video highlight why human behavior is so important in judging dog behavior -- This video of a toddler jumping on a dog (repeatedly) while the dog shows obvious distress signals and the adults in the room just laugh and egg it on was by FAR the most popular post of the month. While the dog in this case (miraculously) didn't bite, it shows why human behavior is so important in determining dog behavior.

2) Four year old girl dies from dog attack in Iowa and why you can't talk about dogs without discussing owners -- in a similarly themed post (with a catastrophically different ending), a four year old girl was tragically killed in Iowa while being "babysat" by a woman who was just a year away from pleading guilty to various drug charges and child endangerment of her own child.

3) New York Court rules no legal basis for breed discrimination - Very Good Sentences - The New York Supreme Court once again ruled that there is no legal basis for discriminating against breeds of dogs.

4) Failure of breed-specific policy in the UK - The UK has banned four different breeds of dogs for more than 20 years, and yet, in spite of the ban (and likely, because of the ban) hospitalizations due to dog bites continue to grow. A recent case shows why....

5) KC Pet Project spends week with Aimee Sadler - thoughts on shelter playgroups - We spent an amazing week building up the playgroup program with the shelter dogs at KC Pet Project -- my thoughts on the process, what it means for our dogs, and some video.

+1 Maryland's missed Opportunity - Both houses of the Maryland legislature unanimously opposed a court ruling that declared 'pit bulls' potentially dangerous. While everyone agreed that that ruling was wrong, and causing unnecessary, unwarnanted hardship, the two houses were unable to agree on an alternative. I chose this post as the +1 because I think it's important for people to realize just how little support for singling out breeds there is -- in this case, exactly zero support within the Maryland legislature.

Links to what I'm reading today

Doing a little catching up, and here are some links to some of the articles I'm finding interesting this morning:

A new report from the Koret Shelter Medicine Program shows that the average adopter coming intoa  shelter to interact with cats is NOT a large risk factor for transmitting disease between animals. Meanwhile, the ability to interact with cats is a major factor in getting people to adopt. So in other words, the potential benefit of potential adopters interacting with cats greatly outweighs the risks that are posed.

 

Fox Files: Area Shelter Euthanasia Rates

This story is done just down the road, in St. Louis, and it is done by Chris Hayes, who has been doing a lot of VERY good animal reporting lately including breaking the news about the Sikeston Pit Bull Roundup back in December., this article about how many shelters hide behind the word "adoptable" at shelters, this story about how a family pet was threatened to be killed due to how it looks, among others.

If only all reporters were as well-informed on these topics as Hayes seems to be.

This article shows how Stray Rescue in St. Louis is helping save lives at the city shelter, how the county shelter is improving even though they are still killing 1/2 the animals in their care, and how the Humane Society of Missouri, probably the wealthiest organization in the state with a budget of around $18 million a year, is one of the shelters killing the most animals in the community.

Naming Shelter Dogs: The Framing Effect

Animal Farm Foundation has an interesting article about the framing effect that comes with how shelters name animals. Positive associations are good. Negative ones can harm an animal's ability to be adopted.

Analyzing the Analysis: Wisdom Panel DNA Tests and Mixed Breed Dogs

Patricia McConnell takes a look at DNA tests, and concludes that after a fair amount of research, she has more confidence in the results than she did previously. The test makers note that the test is about 90% accurate at this point (which means, it's 10% wrong, which is still signicant, and mostly likely why some very rare breeds seem to crop up in distant histories of the test -- advice, take these with a grain of salt). I also think it's interesting that dogs with a heritage of being bred for looks have more reliable markers than breeds with a closer history to function -- such as Jack Russell Terriers and Catahoula's.

Are dog rescue groups too picky?

An interesting read from Vet Street. While there is obviously a huge variance from group to group, there certainly seem to be a lot that side with being overly particular. 

 

The Silent Killer

An interesting read from "Balanced Trainers". You may or may not agree with this, but it's an article calling out 'aversive free" dog trainers for sometimes not using all the tools available that might help rehabilitate shelter dogs -- leading to their deaths in shelters. I think it's important to note that the author here claims to be very pro-positive training (as am I), but also willing to use aversives if that is the only way the dog responds (and sometimes it is).

I think it's also interesting to note that they note there is even a difference in philosophy when dealing with shelter dogs vs owned dogs. As they note: "Even in situations where an aversive free only approach can work, it often takes a very long time, and time is something that many shelter dogs just don't have".

I'm certainly not going to defend everything in the article (and I think the article is a bit too hasty to group all positive trainers into their term 'aversive free', and there is a differenc), but I think it's worth a read and would love to hear your thoughts.

Playgroups continue

Last week, I highlighted our experience having Aimee Sadler come out and work with us on establishing playgroups for the dogs at KC Pet Project. This is a cute little video of a couple of our dogs getting some quality playtime thanks to our staff and some volunteers who are making it happen. Thanks to Shannon Wells from the KCPP staff for sharing this video. Both Picabo and Honey are available for adoption at KCPP.