Weekly Roundup - -Week Ending 6/16/13

Well, this is awkward. But I have this weekly column, the weekly roundup, that it's been over a month since I've posted. That's a little embarrassing. So today, I'm cleaning out the files. No dog bite news. Probably not much BSL News. But today I'll post a collection of links that I think are useful that I've collected over the past month that I hope you'll find of value. Let's see how this works:

Cities/States and Laws

Clay, AL (population less than 10,000) passed a law targeting "pit bulls" after the sheriff was approached by an aggressive pack of dogs that he believed to be Rottweilers. Anyone who thinks laws targeting pit bulls are done because of a rational approach, see this.

Breed Specific Legislation

Animal Farm Foundation has the details, and a really nice infographic, that notes that more communities are either looking at breed-specific laws, and choosing breed-neutral ones, or repealing BSL, than passing it. This is something I've been discussing for years here on this blog -- but the infographic and details in the AFF blog are nice to see.

Here's the trailer to the new documentary "Guilty 'til proven innocent".  Looks interest for sure from the short trailer. If anyone has more information about the movie, or has seen it, I'd love to hear feedback.

Breed Specific Legislation - Pride, Prejudice and the damning of pit bulls -- Great thoughts from Dancing Dog Blog

Increasing Adoptions

Short term offers with fee-waved adoptions are a great way to help move animals quickly for shelters and research indicates that these pets are just as valued as pets that are paid for. I'm going to post more thoughts on this, but this is good research for now.

Health

New study links herbicide exposure to bladder cancer in dogs -- this isn't probably earthshattering news to anyone paying attention...

Behavior

Are you overly protective when your dog plays rough?  - A nice article from Dogster about reading canine body language and not interfering with healthy behavior.

Miscellaneous

We are them -- ASPCA Pro, Dr. Emily Weiss, notes how spending time with "Them", with an open mind, will help people overcome negative perceptions of low income people not believing in spay/neuter, or not being safe, and turning those perceptions into the reality that "they" just need access to resources and comunication. Great thoughts Emily.

Pet Diaries: What a street savvy cat taught me about building a community -- from GOOD

 What I learned, what I've come to appreciate -- some interesting thoughts about looking back on what previous notions she had about dogs, and things she didn't know and thought she knew --  from Beyond Breed

The anatomy of a dog attack -- a reminder that dogs don't attack "out of the blue" or "totally unprovoked" -- from K9 Magazine (UK)

Black Dog Syndrome - Fact or Fiction -- more thoughts on "Black Dog Syndrome" from Patricia McConnell

Lost & Found

Could your lost and found listings use a tune-up?  Some good thoughts from ASPCA pro on how to up your Return-to-owner rates through lost and found.

Probability vs Possibility -  Lost Dogs Wisconsin has a great post on finding your lost pet -- focusing on what PROBABLY happened will more likely lead you back to your lost pet that focusing on what possibly happened.

Deep thoughts

This is an interesting post from Lucky Dog about the first pit bull that changed everything for her and drew her to rescue. I think most of us have a "that dog" and I think this post will help move you to remember back before "that dog".

And if that post doesn't get you, this visual from Poodle and Dog Blog will.

The world is not changed by people who sort of care -- not animal welfare related, but completely animal welfare related -- from Sally Hogshead.

Fun

Participation isn't difficult or mandatory -- I love this little graphic that reminds us that politics, and particular dog politics, is not a spectator sport.

25 animals at bath time - this pictoral is as cute as you'd expect

Comments

[Jen Brighton]

Thanks for posting the article by Cindy Bruckart (one of my favorite trainers). Everything she points out is so true and should be read by anyone who takes their dog to the dog park or off-leash areas. Great info. and food for thought.

[Lindsay]

I'm excited to learn more about the documentary. Thanks for the link to the trailer. Sounds interesting.

[Karen F]

Thanks very much for posting this round-up. I really appreciate the work that goes into putting these together.

I recently saw the film "Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent." It's a very, very clear look at BSL and why this kind of legislation is bad and doesn't work, by examining the real-life effects at the local, county, and state level in Ohio. It covers BSL in the city of Lakewood (the director's hometown), in Lucas County (where the notorious former dog warden Tom Skeldon worked), and in the state as a whole. The film is really well done, very logical while delivering an emotional wallop at the same time, and it packs a lot of great information into its 80-some-odd minutes. My sole complaint is that the music is far too loud and competes with the voices -- I hope the director fixes this before wider release.

Still, it's an important film and well worth seeing. Once it's available on DVD, I think it could be worthwhile to hand a copy to every local council member, every mayor/county executive, every reporter, and every news editor/TV segment producer in any community that's considering BSL. I suspect the effort to pass such legislation would face an uphill battle once the key figures viewed this movie.

[Christine]

New research: "The impact that the length of stay has on shelter dogs’ welfare was explored in this study.

The authors examined two groups of dogs who were housed in kennel-like enclosures: short-term residents (1 week to 3 months) and long-term residents (more than six months). The dogs’ welfare was assessed by examining their affective states as well as collecting urine samples and administered questionnaires to their primary caretaker at the shelter. The results showed that although there were significant individual variations in welfare, there was little difference in welfare based on length of stay." -

http://www.humanespot.org/content/cross-sectional-study-comparing-behavioural-cognitive-and-physiological-indicators-welfare-b

[Brent]

Sounds interesting Christine. I'll have to sign up with them to read the full study.