KC DOG BLOG

The 10 Most Popular KC Dog Blog Posts of 2014

In the 8 years that I've been writing this blog, this may have been the least active year on the blog. Time just got away from me and the changing nature of internet activity has led me to post more articles simply on the KC Dog Blog Facebook page vs writing entire posts about the topics. 

However, I alway enjoy a look back at some of the most popular posts on this blog over the past year -- to see the things I hope resonated with people. 

It's been a big year on many fronts. Two more states have prohibited cities from enacting breed-specific ordinances and many cities have come to the same decision on their own and repealed their ordinances. Shelter Life-saving has increased to as more and more shelters are taking proactive measures to increase the number of animals that they can put into rescue groups and homes.

All of this is good stuff. 

So with that, let's take a look at some of the most popular stories of the year on KC Dog Blog:

1) Fatal Dog attack in Dayton - on breed, the media, common denomenators, reckless owners and ineffective animal control -- Back in February, 57 year old Klonda Richey was tragically killed by her neighbor's two dogs. The story highlighted a lot of elements, including irresponsible dog ownership, an animal controll department that knew the dogs were a problem and failed to do their jobs and highlighted how stories by particular breeds of dogs are covered more by the media than others. This was, by a fairly large margin, the highest read post of the year.

2) More acceptance for open adoption policies - -At this year's HSUS Expo, there was a solid presentation about open adoption policies for shelters and the importance of working for ways to say "yes" to adopters vs denying adopters that we don't feel are "good enough". The practive of loving our adoptable pets to death is fortunately falling out of favor and being more open with adoptions is gaining more momentum. And I'm glad this was a popular post, and hope it will continue to be so.

3) BSL Continues to be an embarrassment for Springfield, MO - -this post, from just last week, ended up #3 on the list. Advocates in Springfield, and the city itself, continues to have to work around a law that is getting in their way, costing taxpayer dollars, and is constantly being reviewed. A city-appointed task force recommended more than a year ago to repeal the law, but no action has been taken.

4) Bonner Springs, KS Repeals ban on pit bulls and great info on the story you need to know - In January, Bonner Springs, KS repealed its 24 year old law banning pit bulls. In the process, they wrote a very compelling testimony about why they repealed the law -- including noting that those who support breed specific ordinances relay on skewed and inaccurate statistics.

5) More research on the health impacts of spay/neuter -- where should we go from here? -- For decades, spay/neuter has been a critical component of animal welfare advocates and controling animal population, and as a result, the number of animals killed in shelters. However, a lot of new research over the past couple of years highlights some potential negative health consequences of spay/neuter. This is a look at the new science, and some potential options moving forward.

6) Seven facts about Aurora, CO's breed ban before next week's vote -- In November, citizens of Aurora voted to keep it's 9 year old breed ban. The ban has been expensive and ineffective at doing anything other than causing the mass slaughter of a bunch of innocent dogs, none of which the mainstream media reported upon. 

7) More deceit from Merritt Clifton attackign shelter pets, information availability and how Time magazine got it wrong (again) -- Merritt Clifton is one of the more active anti-pit bull voices in the US, and has essentially made a career out of making up information and skewing "statistics" to support his agenda. This article discusses Clifton's agenda and lack of reasoning. But don't just take my word for it, more here.

8) A truth, two mistruths, an important factor and a telling quote -- An Associate Press Article discussing the "Softening reputation on pit bulls" allowed a couple of its anti-pit bull sources to make statements whose facts went unchecked - -but a telling quote from one of those sources definitely highlights an agenda.

 9) Behavioral differences among breeds of dogs - current status of science - This blog entry analyzes a peer-reviewed research paper that highlights the current status of what is known about breed differences in behavior based on science (not bloggers, or hysteria). It's a good read for anyone in animal welfare, or city government, that may make you question what you think you know about breed stereotypes, and what science tells us.

10) Some interesting data on pit bull intake and adoptions in shelters - shelters everywhere are full of pit bulls. But some interesting data from Dr. Emily Weiss at the ASPCA highlights that pit bulls are really very highly adoptable dogs (they are actually the third most adopted breed from the shelters she studied) but that other issues, including breed-specific housing issues, are leading to many of their challenges. 

 

Top 10 Posts from 2013

As one year moves on, and another one emerges, the end of a year creates a lot of opportunities to look back at the year that was.

It was a busy year for me personally -- and as such, I did less blogging here than I have in most past years.

But in spite of that, thank you to everyone who continues to come back to this site day after day, week after week and share some of the posts, thoughts that are relayed here and also engaging in the dialogue.

As we look back at 2013, I'm going to highlight the 10 most popular posts of the year -- based on information from Google Analytics. 

1) (Almost) Horrifying Video highlights why human behavior is so important in judging dog behavior --  In maybe the largest landslide ever, this post was by far the most popular of the year. It features a video of a child and dog interaction where the dog (in this case a Rottweiler) gives every warning signal imaginable that it is distressed and not enjoying the interaction while the child interacts with the dog while the parents laugh at and film the interaction. It's painful to watch, but a good reminder of how the role of the humans in dog/human interactions is crucial to the story when these interactions turn negative.

2) Dog Attack Fatalities - 2012 Final Report -- every year this is among the top-read posts. In the post we try to look at causal circumstances that led up to the attacks for a more accurate look at why these rare tragedies occur.

3) More misinformation, deceit and attempts to mislead by Merrit Clifton -- Clifton has long been a hater of 'pit bulls' and continues to use false data to try to justify his hatred. This blog post broke down another Clifton article that not only used false data, and misleading data, in the article, Clifton also showed the fallacy of his own dog bite data set. 

4) New study points to many factors related to dog bite fatalities -- this post from December highlights a new study that looks at contributing factors in dog bite related fatalities over a 10 year period. It's well done, and will hopefully change the conversation from decades-old studies that focused on "breed" and not animal husbandry issues.

5) The Results of Breed-specific laws in Aurora, CO - Aurora, CO appears to be considering a repeal of its law targeting specific breeds of dogs. In the years since the law was passed, the number of bites in the community has increased 67%, and 1200 dogs have been killed directly because of the ordinance. The results of breed specific laws are consistent -- with no increase in public safety, and a lot of dead dogs.

6) Understanding Cause and Effect when it comes to Mandatory Spay/Neuter Laws -- At present, almost no major animal welfare organization supports mandatory spay/neuter (MSN) laws. Most people prefer to spay/neuter their pets, and the reason most people don't is because they cannot afford it. Providing access to low cost spay/neuter services has proven to be an effective solution to this problem, where MSN laws have shown to be completely ineffective, and deadly for the dogs (and cats). In spite of the evidence, a lot of people still seem to support MSN because they "hope" it will work, in spite of the evidence that it will not.

7) Rethinking Shelter Dogs and Social Influences -- thoughts from the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference -- This overview of Kim Wolf's presentation featuring how poverty, lack of pet-friendly housing and resource deserts (among other issues) are highly influential to putting pets at risk in our nation's shelters.

8) The Common Denominators - a look at three, tragic, fatal dog attacks in one week and the common factors in all of them.

9) KC Pet Project logs 12 months of No Kill Success -- our organization here in Kansas City celebrated 12 months of No Kill Succes. As recently as 2008, the city shelter only saved 38% of the animals coming into it. However, with new leadership and committment (and a LOT of hard work by an amazing staff and volunteer group) we celebrated 12 consecutive months with a 91% live release rate.

10) Omaha's breed-specific law "successful" at increasing the number of bites -- more breed-specific law failure -- this time in Omaha, where the number of dog bites has gone up 21% since the city targeted 9 breeds of dogs five years ago. The results are consistent with all other failed attempts at targeting breeds in the name of public safety.

Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and helped inspire this blog over the past year. Here's to more positive change in 2014.

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.

The Top 5 +1 for February, 2013

The Top 5 is my monthly look at the 5 most popular posts for the month based on information from Google Analytics. The +1 gives me an opportunity to highlight a post that I really wish had made the top 5, but didn't.

The list is centered around posts that are written in the month -- not old posts that get redistributed. However, I do think it's interesting that this month the single most read post on the blog is one I wrote about dogsbite.org back in March of 2010. While this post gets read quite a lot, being the most-read post 3 years after writing it is pretty telling in that I believe most people are finally catching on to the reality that dogsbite.org is NOT an education site and NOT written by an expert in animal handling or behavior. Bravo.

Now, onto the Top 5:

1) Breed-specific law continues to fail in Omaha -- the 2012 numbers are in for Omaha -- and bites are the highest they've been in more than 7 years. Their law, and the increased cost of enforcing the law, have NOT made the community safer, and in fact, appear to have done the opposite.

2) Some positive imagery from Men's Health -- In spite of bumps in the road, I do believe the narrative about pit bulls is changing in the mainstream media -- and this story from Men's Health from back in September shows some beautiful imagery of the dogs.

3) Another research paper on the health impact of spay/neuter -- the book of research on the health impacts of spay/neuter (particularly early spay/neuter) continues to grow and I think every single person involved in animal welfare needs to read this study -- because it's going to dramatically impact how we operate in the years to come. If you go back and read just one of these posts, read this one. Please.

4) New Florida Bill Seeks to mandate shelter transparency -- Love the idea of this bill

5) Orville, OH repeals breed-specific law -- the trend of communities undoing their archaic laws targeting dogs based on their looks, and not their behavior, continues.

+1

This is a tough one for me as there were a couple of posts I thought would get more traction -- but the +1 goes to "Recreating the wheel -- very good sentences from the Book, Little Boy Blue" -- which I think highlights just how long the ideas of running shelters/rescues like businesses and increasing adoptions through customer service have existed -- and why, still 30 years later, too many shelters still aren't learning from these models.

The Top 5+1 for January, 2013

The Top 5 is my monthly look at the 5 most popular posts from the previous month based on data from Google Analytics.  The +1 gives me an opportunity to highlight a post that I wish had made the top 5, but didn't.

So here are the 5 most popular posts from January, 2013

1) Dog Attack Fatalities - 2012 Final Report - This isn't a huge suprise, this post is generally one of the wider-read posts each year on this blog. In it, we highlight the CIRCUMSTANCES behind these incidents and what can be learned from these circumstances.

2) Progress as promised - 2012 Final Report from KC Pet Project in Kansas City, MO - Our organizations is working diligently to take a once high-kill shelter and turn it into an open-admission, no kill shelter. In our first year, we achieved an 86% live release rate. Some work to be done, but we're making progress.

3) Some Positive Pit Bull Press -- KC Pet Project, like a lot of urban shelters, has a fairly high percentage of dogs that enter our shelter that are pit bull type dogs (our numbers are lower than many others).  So earlier last month we promoted the positive traits of these types of dogs and the media did a great job of sharing the story.

4) The Pyramid of Saving Lives -- what the 90% looks like -- This overview I thought was helpful to people to understand the makeup of the 90% of animals that are generally considered "savable" in open-admission shelters. There isn't a clear cut line of "these are savable, these aren't" and there is a lot of grey area in the last 5-10% of animals with special needs, but are still savable.

5) The World of Made up Statistics - In this post, I tackle some made up statistics a lawyer uses to try to create fear and hysteria. Unfortunately, made up statistics are not all that uncommon in animal welfare. Fortunately, the internet provides us opportunites to check their data.

+1 Considering your sources - redux - what is a reliable source - On the internet, voices appear to be equal and it can sometimes be tough to determine which sources are reliable, and which ones are not. In this post I attempt to provide some insight into how I try to weed out reliable and unreliable sources. I actually got quite a bit of feedback on this post, and was surprised that it didn't make the top 5 list.

2012 Year in Review -- Top 10 Posts of 2012

It's been a heck of a year at the KC Dog Blog. Thanks to everyone who is a regular reader, commenter, participant, and sharer of the information on this blog -- whether you read the information here, or follow the blog on Twitter or Facebook.  You all make this blog what it is and thank you for your ongoing support.

Below are the 10 most popular blog posts from 2012 -- based on information from Google Analytics.

 1) On December 6, word came out that authorities in the community of Sikeston, MO were rounding up pit bulls from their community and taking them to the local shelter. The shelter director there moved 30 dogs to other shelters to make room for the expected roundup. Later reports showed a discrepency between what city officials said their intent was, vs what was reported (by multiple sources) -- and many believe the city backed down after more than 1000 letters from Misssouri Residents were sent. Either way, this story was the #1 most popular story on this blog this year, and the subsequent update was #2.

2) Lennox, the dog, is dead -- the power of Channeled Passion -- in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a dog named Lennox was seized from his owners for being an illegal American Pit Bull Terrier. The owners fought for 2 years to save Lennox's life -- but Lennox was killed by the local authorities. There was anger from around the world -- and it is this channeled anger at owned family pets being killed by public officials unnecessarily that is a product of the change in how pit bulls are viewed around the world -- as pets.

3) Breaking down the numbers on last night's lost vote in Miami-Dade -- Miami-Dade has one of the longest-standing bans on pit bulls in this country, and local officials took the issue to a vote in August to see if the ban should stay. The vote to repeal the law failed, but was always destined to. People in Miami haven't seen a legally owned pit bull in their community in more than 20 years, so their image of the dogs isn't one based in reality, but only on what they see from the media. However, the longer voter education efforts went on, the more people who got on board with the repeal, meaning that knowledge can overcome ignorance in this fight. Prior to the law going to a public vote, it nearly was forced upon them by the state legislature -- and should have been, as much of the initial law was built on inaccurate information.

4) Identifying Mixed breed dogs is easy -- This blog post promoting a survey by Maddie's Fund to see how effectively experts can identify dog breeds compared to DNA testing was the 4th most popular blog post of the year. The results of the study are here.

5) Shooting the messenger -- This was some commentary regarding the ongoing debate between the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Humane Society of the United States and the reality that when CCF attacks HSUS, HSUS NEVER disputes their claims, only points out what CCF stands for.

6) Hidiing behind the word "adoptable" -- earlier this year, Springfield, MO was claiming that the shelter had been operating for nearly 4 months as a "no kill" shelter. However, further looking at what is really happening shows that the community shelter doesn't even attempt to adopt out any animals, and actually refuses to allow 'pit bulls' or feral cats to leave the shelter alive -- and just simple calls them "Unadoptable" and kills them. So while the shelter was calling themselves "no kill", they were declaring nearly 40% of their shelter population "Unadoptable" and hiding behind the word. That's not what no kill is.

7) Compassion (and have we lost it when it comes to people) -- My wife and I came across a young man who was distraught over the unfortunate death of his dog that got loose and was hit by a car -- and I was saddened to think that of how judgmental the animal welfare community could be to a man in this situation, instead of sympathizing with him for this loss.

8) Breed Specific Law in Ohio is no more -- Ohio has for years been the only state in the US in which specific breeds of dogs were targeted under state law (whereas 13 states prohibit the practice of targeting specific breeds). In February of this year, the state law was changed to target dogs based on behavior, not breeds.

9) Pit Bull Facts/Myths Infographic -- reposting this infographic from 1-800- Pet Meds was the 9th most popular post of the year.

10) Are shelters euthanizing the wrong dogs for aggression -- a Forbes interview with Ian Dunbar on dog bite inhibition sparked this story.

Thanks everyone for an outstanding year. More year end follow-up to come.

 

Top 5 +1 for November, 2012

The Top 5 is my monthly look back at five most popular posts of the month based on stats from Google Analytics.  The +1 gives me a chance to highlight a post that I wish had made the top 5, but didn't.

1) US Pet Ownership Statistical Breakdown -- this look at pet ownership statistics was my most popular post for the month.

2) Pit Bull Perceptions -- some new research from Maddies Fund shows that the handler of a dog influences the image of the the dog itself.

3) The costly hysteria about community cat caregivers - In two separate incidents in the Kansas City area, one community cat caregiver was sentenced and fined for feeding outdoor cats and another had surveillance cameras set up (illegally) to catch him feeding cats -- how'd we get to this hysteria about feral cats?

4) Manipulation and justification in Saginaw, MI -- Officials in Saginaw, MI are using statistical data to try to justify their breed-specific requirement. However, almost all of the decrease in dog bites came the year before the law was passed.

5) KC Pet Project opens retail adoption center -- Our group, the KC Pet Project, opened a second adoption location earlier this month as a way to increase adoptions so we can keep up with the steady stream of intake

No +1 this month -- everything I felt was worthy of consideration made the list already -- thanks for reading!

Top 5+1 for September/October 2012

The Top 5 is a monthly post featuring the 5 most popular posts for the month based on information from Google Analytics. The +1 is my opportunity to highlight a post that I wish had been more popular but didn't make the list.

Because I missed the Top 5 in September, and posting was pretty light that month, I'm going to combine September/October for the top 5 posts over the two months.  Enjoy.

1) Pit Bull Facts/Myths Info Graphic -- this infographic, put together by 1-800 Pet Meds for Pit Bull Awareness Month, was the most popular post over the past 2 months.

2) Considering the Source -- while the internet has been great about allowing the free-flow of information, it has also evened the playing field where sites by professionals are often given the same priority as sites by people with no real knowledge or expertise in the topic they're covering. This is very true with breed-specific legislation, where virtually every professional expert in the field of animals, or law, realizes that laws targeting specific breeds are ineffective and based on poor science. This post was about making sure we were smart about considering our sources before making decisions.

3)What kind of doggie is that in the window? - my coverage of the results of a breed identification panel done by the University of Florida and Maddies Fund shows the difficulty even professionals have at identifying breeds of mixed-breed dogs. My follow-up to this story just missed making the top 5, and you can find it here.

4) The case against breed-specific legislation in Australia -- I cover a new report from experts in Australia breaking down the case against breed-specific legislation, including breed identification issues, the science against breed-specific laws and the failure of such laws across the nation. This was a fantastic report and I hope everyone takes the opportunity to read it in its entirety.

5) Barriers to Pet Adoptions -- a new report from the AVMA highlights the top reason why people don't get pets. I think this is valuable information in helping us to convince them the value pets bring to their lives.

+1

There were a couple that I considered here -- but this one is especially dear to me: Determining what is dangerous, the military and base breed bans.  While the military is banning breeds from their military bases, the reality is that the biggest threat to soldiers, many of whom suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is themselves. The reality is that large-breed dogs often provide the best comfort to these soldiers, who often feel tough and misunderstood themselves, and the military is banning these dogs, which could potentially save these veterans' lives from the bases they live on.

Top 5 +1 for July 2012

The Top 5 is a monthly look at the most popular posts on this blog for the month based on readership information from Google Analytics. The +1 is my chance to highlight a post I wish had been in the top 5, but wasn't.

1) Lennox the dog is dead -- and the power of channeled passion -- after a 2 years of fighting to keep their dog, the owners of Lennox lost and Lennox was killed based on his perceived breed. While Lennox's story is tragic, it is a story that is replayed daily in cities with breed bans across the United States.

2) Fatal Dog attack in Cincinnati -- and more evidence why the breed haters are wrong -- a 40 year old Cincinnati man was killed by his dog -- and the series of circumstances that surrounded it is exactly why targeting breeds with laws is ineffective.

3) Breaking down the Manitoba BSL Effectiveness Study - - Some researchers created a study to try to justify breed bans in Manitoba by mixing and matching data, however, scrutiny of the data and their own analysis suggests that breed bans did not improve public safety in the communities that passed them.

4) Sioux City should repeal their breed ban; and celebrating decreases in public safety -- Sioux City, IA has had a multitude of problems with their breed ban, including an increase in dog bites since it's passing -- and advocates of the ban are LOL'ing at the results.

5) New ASPCA Study on the frequency of lost pets and their reclaim by owners -- this is a good study about how many lost pets are reclaimed by their owners and how it is they are reunited.

+1

Enabling, empowerment and forcing change in Wilmington -- Wilmington, DE decided to repeal its breed ban after struggles in finding anyone to take their animal control contract because no one was willing to enforce it for them -- a nice power play that many organizations can do themselves in their own BSL communties.

Top 5 +1 for May, 2011

The Top 5 is my monthly look at the 5 most popular new posts for the month based on data from Google Analytics. The +1 is my chance to highlight a post I wish had made the top 5 but didn't.

1) Identifying mixed breed dogs is easy - an online survey asking people to determine the heritage of mixed breed dogs was tops on the list. While some debated the merits of DNA testing, others tookt he test to get the main point that determining a dog's heritage based on visual criteria is nearly impossible.

2) No Kill is a Journey, not a destination - and what we can learn from Austin's news this week -- my thoughts on an announcement from Austin that they were above capacity. I continue to be highly disappointed by the criticism that they've gotten and while they didn't do everything perfectly, they certainly don't deserve the criticism they've gotten.

3) Atlanta Humane Society imports thousands of animals while others die down the street -- this is why I think we need to put more focus on no kill communities than no kill shelters

4) An influx of animals, an adoptoin promotion and a village of suport -- An appeal to the media by the KC Pet Project helps get a huge number of cats out of our shelter after 2 hoarding busts in the same week. The community does want to help, you just need to reach out to them.

5) Very good sentences - Kansas City adoptions - another columnists writes about her experience in trying to adopt a dog without a fenced in yard -- and a quote from me in her article about shelters/rescues arbitrarily limit adoption pools.

+1

The plus one this week is really a plus 4 -- as I think it represents a huge turning point for where we're headed with dangerous dog laws in this country. But just in the month of May, at least 6 communities repealed their laws targeting specific breeds of dogs, including DeKalb County, GA; Shreve and Bay Village, OH; Strongville and Geneva on the Lake, OH; and Cincinnati. There is definitely strong momentum toward more effective behavior-focused laws and away from ones that target animals based on what they look like.