A little behind this week, so here are some of the top stories from the past two weeks:
Cities/States and Laws
A new law in Florida was passed earlier this year that requires shelters to provide accurate and detailed information about the number of animals impounded, saved, and euthanized. Unfortunately, a lot of shelters are still not yet in compliance.
A family in Postville, IA is fighting for their right to keep their dog against the city's pit bull ordinance.
Bonner Springs, KS is looking at eliminating it's 25 year old breed ban after an area owner started challenging them for the right to keep her dog.
The community of Swanton, OH has decided to retain its policy declaring all pit bulls 'vicious' in spite of their behavior, being one of the few communities in Ohio that have not followed the state's lead in removing breed-specific legislation. The Toledo Blade editorial staff weighs in.
A family in Clay, AL has filed a preliminary injuction against the city's pit bull ordinance.
Even after the state of Rhode Island prohibited breed specific legislation, the community of Pawtucket has stubbornly decided to continue enforcing its ridiculous breed ban. The Rhode Island Attorney General will weigh in on that decision and it may well end up in the courts.
Dog bites and attacks
Major dog bites are very rare given the 75 million owned dogs in this country. However, they do happen, and when they do, it is important that we look at circumstances, not breeds, when determining the causes.
A bull mastiff in Corpus Christi, TX was adopted by a family an within 10 days had bitten their child twice. Turns out, the dog had a history of bad temperament and was in the shelter in the first place because it had previously bitten. Shelters need to know what they can about a dog's history and be honest with adopters about that history in order to set both up for success.
An Ottawa, ON woman lost her left arm and both legs after getting a blood infection after being "nicked" on one of their knuckles by their three year old "Shih Tzu". The infection got so bad that the woman fell into a coma and when she woke up, was told she'd have to have 3 of her limbs amputated. It's worth noting here that Ontario has had a ban on specific breeds for 8 years now and instead of focusing on education and what the ACTUAL risks from dogs are, they've been spreading breed hysteria for nearly a decade.
A 17 year old Illinois boy recieved a $1.1 million settlemend from a dog bite that occurred in 2011 after being attacked by a 120 lbs Bull Mastiff. This is the highest-settlement ever in the state of Illinois. This is another reason why Merritt Clifton's report from last week is ridiculous as one significant outlyer (which this is) can skew data not to mention that it's somewhat telling that Clifton used his report to try to villify pit bulls, but the outlyer here isn't a pit bull at all.
In a non-dog-related story, and very weird one, a French woman was strangely attacked by a pack of feral cats. Feral cats are normally shy and fearful and flee from people -- not aggressive.
A 5 year old girl in South Ogden, UT sustained critical injuries when she was attacked by a neighbor's Husky that reached over a 3 foot tall fence and grabbed her.
No Kill
In Cleremont, OH, a new contract between the city and local humane society (who owns the only shelter in Cleremont) requires the humane society to partner with a third party to decrease euthanasia rates. This agreement comes after several years of discussion about the humane societies inability (unwillingness) to try to same more of the 3500 animals they impounded last year -- but the humane society owned the only shelter in town. Now, the city, a group Cleremont Pets Alive, and the Humane Society are going to partner to try to make no kill happen there. The temporary contract will be in place for the next 5 months and re-evaluated at the end of the year when contracts are up for renewal.
Austin, TX is a model for many communities seeking to be no kill -- but that doesn't mean it is easy, even for them. Austin, which is the largest no kill city in the US was facing capacity issues two weeks ago as well. Like a lot of shelters, intake goes up in the summer and can really stretch the capacity at a shelter, even a good one. Austin was reaching out to the public asking for help as they try to retain their no kill status.
The Niagra County (NY) SPCA is concerned after the city mayor did a 180 on his support of their no kill mission.
Miscellaneous
In a ridiculous piece of breed discrimination, a Griffin, GA couple was denied adopting a child because they own a 'pit bull' type dog.
Pet Health
Forcing ideologies on your pets can be dangerous, as noted by this cat in Australia that nearly died when his owner tried to feed him a vegan diet.
The Companion Animal Parasite Council has altered its guidelines on heartworms --- and no longer recommends the "slow kill" method of treatement
Blogs
Can helping animals make you happier? A new study says that having a purpose in life makes people overall happier. So help animals, live well.
The Poodle and dog blog talks about the life of dogs on Indian Reservations and how a dog birth control vaccine could limit the feral populations there.
Beyond Breed takes a look at her experience with a low cost spay/neuter clinic in Brooklyn -- where a line began forming before daybreak and nearly 2/3 of the people who came had to be turned away because there weren't enoughopenings at the clinic that day. Seriously, if you click on one link today, make it be this one.
Dogs don't touch us on accident -- the behavior is very meaningful to them and something we should be mindful of when "correcting" behavior in a shelter setting -- from Emily Weiss at ASPCA Pro
Your dog isn't being friendly. He's an asshole. And so are you. -- The Dog Snobs talk about inappropriate greetings.
If you were bitten by a dog as a child, doggone safe is doing a survey and would like to get more information about your story.
On breeds and profiling -- a great read from Dogs Spelled Forward
Yellow ribbons and wishful thinking -- a few weeks ago I posted an article about how there is a movement to try to make tying a yellow ribbon on your dog a standard signal for your dog not being great on a leash so other owners know not to do intros. Dogs Spelled Forward (I'm so glad Eric is back writing again) has a great opinion on this and that it is a poor solution instead of actually dealing with your dog's leash reactivity.
All you need is love -- Beyond Breed has a look at dogs, love and poverty in the US
A great interview from PBLN Radio with Paul Tullis, who is the writer of this story by Time Magazine. It's a solid article, but the interview with Mr. Tullis shows us just how informed the writer was in his writing. This is worth the 20 minutes to listen to the entire interview.
Stop the introductions -- ASPCA Pro looks at dog/dog introductions at the shelter and why they really aren't meaninful to transferring whether two dogs will get along in a home environment.
For several years, veterinary programs have been teaching the "5 Freedoms" to students. The five freedoms include "Freedom from Hunger", "Freedom from Discomfort", "Freedom from Pain", Freedom to Express Normal Behavior" and "Freedom from Fear and Distress". Maddies Fund is recommending a 6th freedom for shelter animals -- the Freedom to Live.
Re: Yellow Ribbon
"If your dog does want to interact with other dogs, keep her away from other dogs.
It’s really simple, and all you need to do is look out for yourself and your dog, which is what you should be doing anyway."
That's right. If you, despite my best attempts to maintain space, allow your dog to approach my 10-year old dog with arthritis and spondylosis, your dog WILL get kicked in the face. Repeatedly if necessary.
Brent, did you not read the article you posted about asshole dog owners?
Posted by: Stacey | August 04, 2013 at 07:26 PM
I skimmed it. Did I error in including it?
Posted by: Brent | August 04, 2013 at 07:32 PM
On Niagra County, NY I know nothing except what was in the article. However it is not clear to me exactlly what the mayor was supposed to do if the City did not have the funding to support the no kill efforts there. Although I thought no kill was supposed to be no cost. Does not appear that way based on many data points. What I really find sad is that the writter of the article does not attempt to address the funding issue but instead tries to paint the mayor as some sort of "animal abuser" I guess because he likes to fish. Seems like the author of the article kind of lost track of the issue some where and I don't see how that helps at all.
Posted by: Randy | August 05, 2013 at 01:08 PM
I've been reading about the progress in Niagra County for awhile via their newspaper and confess that this story is pretty typical of the writing there -- where often I'm left a little confused about what really is going on.
Posted by: Brent | August 05, 2013 at 01:11 PM
Sad part is Brent it sounds like it has disenigrated into a name calling contest rahter than a focus on how to get it done. Guess after everone sets their hair on fire and runs around a bit maybe the can focus back on the problem. Best wishes to them!
Posted by: Randy | August 05, 2013 at 01:48 PM