KC DOG BLOG

Very Good Sentences -- from Best Friends Animal Society

From yesterday's Best Friends Blog about their pit bull terrier initiative:

"A Best Friends-commissioned study found that 84 percent of people polled believed local, state or federal governments should not infringe on a person's right ot have whatever breed of dog they choose. That's a pretty powerful statistic, and one that has supported our work on breed-discrimnatory legislation preemption bills."

It's this lack of support that is also leading to cities like South Bend, IN to repeal their existing breed-specific laws. And more of a sign that times are definitely changing for the better.

 

 

The ongoing wave of change -- this time in South Bend, IN

Last night, the South Bend, IN (population 101,000) city council voted unanimously to eliminate its 3 decade old law targeting specific breeds of dogs.

During the conversation, the city made a major overhaul to its entire animal welfare code and while I've not read the bill in detail (and the devil is always in the details), at first glance, it seems that they've added a lot of progressiving things:

1) Replaces breed-specific language with behavior based language for defining dangerous dogs

2) Provides for the practice of trap-neuter-return for controlling the feral cat population

3) Strengthens enforcement on repeat offenders

4) Eliminates pet limits

The momentum continues for cities to take a more favorable approach to animals in their community and focus their limited animal control resources on truly problem animals (based on their behavior) and problem pet owners. Cities are continuing to remove decades old breed-specific laws in favor of breed-neutral, behavior based laws as they continue to recognize that targeting laws based on behavior are more progressive and effective.

The new law reflects the trend of eliminating pet limits, and allowing for TNR, which are now the more current best practices in animal welfare laws. 

It is great to see so many cities agreeing to change their outdated laws and replace them with smarter, more humane laws. And while this is happening all across the country right now, it is still happening too slowly, and in 19 cases now, states have stepped in and forced cities to make the changes by prohibiting breed-specific laws -- a trend I hope will also continue. 

Some interesting data on pit bull intake & adoptions in shelters

Last week, Dr. Emily Weiss wrote a really interesting blog about pit bull adoptions and shelters.

Before I go into the details of the post, I will note that Dr. Weiss has been doing a great job of writing for ASPCA Pro over the last several months including a lot of data-driven information and I would recommend putting the ASPCA Pro blog in your "must read" list if it's not already. 

But last week, Dr. Weiss wrote an article entitle "Filling up the Pit" -- talking about pit bulls, which according to most shelters are the dogs that are most likely to be "at risk" in their shelter.

In the article, she pulls data from 30 shelters (she does not say which shelters, or even what region the shelters are in).  

Based on the data she collected, Pit bulls were the 3rd most popular breed of dog adopted from these 30 shelters (Chihauhuas were #1, Labrador Retrievers #2). In total, 11,376 pit bulls were adopted from these 30 shelters, which is nearly 7,000 more than German Shepherd/Shepherd mixes which were #4 on the list. 

This isn't really surprising. All three of these breeds are extremely popular and as such, are very common in shelters. It would make sense that more would be adopted from shelters because that is what is most commonly available. It's not like shelters are overflowing with Wheaton Terriers. 

What I do think is interesting is that it factually debunks a common mantra about pit bulls in shelters in that they are somehow unwanted or not desireable. It's simply not true. We've known that pit bulls are one of the most popular types of dog throughout the United States, now we also have the data to show people want to adopt them from shelters also.

She then pulls the information for intake of those shelters. I this case, it turns out that pit bulls are also the most popular dog to come into the shelter with nearly 53,000 intakes.. The combination of being #1 in intake (by a large margin), and #3 in adoptions, pit bulls ended up unfortunately being the most commonly euthanized breed/type by a very large margin. In total 25,142 pit bulls were euthanized, compared to 7,837 Labrador Retreivers. 

 

 Based on Dr. Weiss's research on reasons people surrender their pets to the shelter, she hypothesizes that we don't necessarily have a pit bull adoption problem (I agree, to a point) but that we have a pit bull intake problem -- much of which is being driven by the difficulty in finding housing for pit bull-like dogs. 

I know from our shelter experience, housing issues are a leading driver in why owners surrender their pets. Sometimes it's due to size, breed requirements for renters, but also by a person's own insurance company denying coverage. 

This becomes even more problematic in many areas of the country where breed-specific legislation further causes pit bulls to enter shelters in spite of having owners who care about them and want to keep them.

But the problem doesn't just stop with the high intake of pit bulls at shelters. The same housing/insurance/breed ban issues that cause pit bulls to come into shelters at a greater clip than other types of dogs also impact a shelter's ability to adopt them back out on the back side -- as many potential adopters will not be able to adopt a pit bull for the same reason the dogs ended up in the shelter in the first place.

In that way, I also believe that we also have a major pit bull adoption problem as well. Then tack on some shelter-specific policies that may preclude pit bulls from adoption, or a false belief by a shelter that adopters aren't looking for them (which often results in really bad profile descriptions).

It's a complex circle to be sure, but one that is infinitely solveable if we focus on what the data tells us, which is this:

1) Pit bulls are very popular dogs. People want them. People will adopt them. We should treat them accordingly.

2) Pit bulls enter shelters at a higher rate than other dogs. Obviously pet retention programs are a must, but what breed specific things cause pit bulls to enter shelters at a higher rate? 

Just raw numbers would be one factor - -the high number of pit bulls in general would be why there are so many in shelters (the same is also true for Labs & Chihuahuas). Restrictive housing  & insurance policies, laws targeting breeds, etc would also be a factor. 

This would call for eliminating breed bans and other breed specific policies. It would call for the blanket removal of breed-specific landlord policies, insurance requirements and home owners association rules.

And it would call for elimination of breed-specific adoption policies that make pit bulls harder to adopt and artificially prevent pit bulls from finding homes when they inevitably do make it to the shelter.

So in many ways, we still have a pit bull adoption issue as well. Because as long as there are more coming in, than going out safely,  there is the need for us to come up with innovative solutions to finding more of them homes. Many shelters are doing this already, but many are not which is helping contribute to the problem.

It's all inherently manageable, but it takes focusing on the data to help drive our decision-making practices. 

Love to get your thoughts. 

 

 

 

Memorial Day Tribute

It's Memorial Day --- and a great day to reflect on those who have sacrificed their lives for this amazing country we live in.

 The June issue of National Geographic has a really great article about Military Service Dogs and their handlers. It's a great piece, and really highlights the bond between the soldiers, and their animals, who seek to protect each other. 

It's a great piece (be sure to also check out both photo galleries) that is everything you'd expect from National Geographic. Have a great day. And thanks to the men, women and canines who have served this country.  Enjoy: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/war-dogs/paterniti-text

Photo Credit: National Geographic. 

Welcome back, and a bit about Missouri HB 1116

Welcome back. In the past 8 years of writing this blog this is (by far) the longest stretch between posts. Things have been busy. Life has been busy. A LOT has been going on. I appologize for my absence. Meanwhile, I've been gathering a whole host of blog post ideas -- some long, some short -- but all I think important. We'll see if somehow I can get those thoughts articulated into actual content but I think I'm back in the saddle.

One of the items that has kept me busy the past couple of months is HB 1116/SB 865.

This bill would have positioned Missouri to become the 20th state to pass a prohibition on breed-specific laws - -joining Utah and South Dakota in this legislative session.

I confess, that I wasn't terribly optimistic when the bill was introduced. Freshman bills seldom get much traction in the Missouri Legislature unless there is a perceived urgent need. However, the bill got a lot of support very quickly. It passed out of committee in both houses, and passed the entire House of Representatives. However, it never made it out of the Senate in spite of a lot of support.

So, without much fanfare, the legislative session ended and the bill was still left unpassed.

In many ways, it's sad. Because for each passing day that waits with breed bans in place, dogs are removed from homes, and killed in state shelters just based on how they look. Springfield, MO, Missouri's third largest city, has killed one pit bull per day for nearly a decade due to their breed-specific provisions. (Interestingly, Springfield is very high on the national list of dog bites to mail carriers for such a small city, which is strong indication of the lack of the success of the ordinance from a public safety perspective). 

But overall, experts overwhelmingly oppose laws targeting specific breeds of dogs -- and many municipalities are already taking steps to repeal their own laws.  And I feel good about the number of members of the state legislature that are on board with making the change. I do think we'll overcome a few small hurdles and eventually be successful in passing this piece of legislation.

However, the sooner the better for the sake of the animals and the families that love them.