pet connection

Last night I dreamed that Drew was herding cats while I directed him to drive them into a pen. The scene was lifted entirely from “Babe,*” with Drew playing Babe and two large brown tabbies and one calico in the role of sheep. The cats walked eagerly forward, tails happily aloft, talking to Drew and gossiping to each other as they went.

I woke up to find Drew licking my face and the other pets looking at me in bemusement and concern. This is why I suspect my “That’ll do, Drew” was spoken not only in the dream, but to the bedroom at large.

That’ll do, indeed. It’s always like this in the Red Zone of a book project. …

***

Been meaning to point to Luisa’s post over on Lassie Get Help (speaking of herding dogs!) about Toronto’s pit bull ban. Does it ever seem that common sense has never been more lacking in legislation than it is today? (Asked and answered … yes!) Personally, I would rather my government act against real risks to public safety, like imported food and food ingredients. But that would buck some big money, and it’s far easier to take people’s pets away and pretend you’ve done something good.

Luisa’s post:

Dogs aren’t people. Toronto’s city animal shelters aren’t Guantánamo. But dogs aren’t refrigerators or cars, either, so forgive me for comparing Toronto’s shelter system to a prison system, a place of isolation and suffering, when the wardens issue chilling statements like this:

A sign of just how controversial the [pit bull] issue can be, animal services officials refuse to allow the media to photograph or have contact with the condemned dogs in their shelters.

“All it would do is make the public very upset about that particular one dog and whoever might own that dog — it would potentially cause them further upset,” says animal services manager Eletta Purdy.

“Make the public very upset”? And why on earth shouldn’t we be “very upset” that a good dog — a dog that has never harmed nor threatened to harm anyone — may be scheduled to die because of a brindle coat or a broad head? Why on earth shouldn’t a family rage that a beloved, trustworthy companion was taken from them on the basis of a law rooted in ignorance and hysteria?

Why, indeed.

Perhaps Christie or Kim will blog today. Me? The 15th is the elephant in the room here, and he’s stamping his feet. You got more? Put it in the comments. I’m going to write, and then I’m going to the river with the dogs.

* I love “Babe.” I love when the mice sing “Blue Moon.” Yes, I’ve seen it lots. My brother was on jury duty once, and in the jury room they had “Babe” on an endless loop. My brother’s story: “So I’m sitting there in the jury room, and this cranky old man walks in. He looks up at the monitor, shouts, “NOT THE GODDAMN PIG MOVIE AGAIN!” and stomps out of the room.”

Don’t care. I love the goddamn pig movie. Which reminds me: Factory farm discussion over at Dr. Khuly’s, with a post from a “Swine Consultant” point of view.

(Why, yes, I have switched to decaf. Why do you ask?)

I feel bad slipping this in here among all the Westminster reporting from Kim, which I’m otherwise enjoying very much, but it broke my heart and I don’t want to suffer alone tonight.

From K9, a British dog magazine, one of the best arguments against breed-specific legislation I’ve ever read, in the form of one animal control officer’s life-changing experience with Britain’s pit bull ban. Her name is Celine Jacobs, and she told this story:

The other day I had to do something that went against everything I have ever strived for, I took a lovely, young, healthy dog to the vets and I had it put to sleep, the reason for this was that he had been identified by an expert as being a Pit Bull type.

When the expert identified the dog yesterday I thought my heart would break, without an owner to fight the dog’s case the law says we have to destroy them. For seven years I have been a dog warden and for seven years I have never put a dog to sleep that wasn’t on the advice of a vet due to illness or injury.

Red was a stray. He couldn’t help the fact that his genetics and appearance categorised him as dangerous. He was young, healthy and apparently very friendly.

Red showed no signs of aggression with people or other dogs, and yet England’s breed specific laws against pit bull-type dogs meant he had to die. The morning of his death, Celine took him out of his kennel, took him for a five mile walk, and let him run and chase a ball in a secure field until he was exhausted, after which she took him out for a junk food meal. Then she held him in her arms while he was killed.

When we went in to the vets his tail was still wagging and he sat there licking my face and licking the tears of my face, he didn’t know I was going to have him killed. I held him all the time and he slipped away in my arms quietly, I held him even when he was dead and sobbed my heart out.

Now I feel empty, I feel like I have finally been beaten and that all I have ever tried to do has been broken, I wanted to dedicate my life to saving dogs and now I have killed a fit, healthy, happy dog and I don’t think I can live with it or continue to work as a Dog Warden.

I know a lot of people think dog wardens enjoy killing dogs, I have never been so miserable or felt that what I was doing so wrong. Now I feel that I hate people, I hate the law and I hate my job. The only small thing that has kept me from falling completely apart over this is the fact that at least I know no one can hurt him now, he will never be thrown in a pit and ripped to pieces and no one will ever abuse him or beat him. I hope he enjoyed his morning with me before he went. I know that I had to do this as it is the law and it is what my job entails, as a dog lover however it is heart breaking.

Read the story. Fight BSL.

Since the “new parvo scare” fire is still raging on the lists, blogs, and forums, I wanted to link to the post I made about it yesterday, explaining why everyone needs to take a deep breath and stop freaking out because this “new” strain of parvo is 8 years old, the current vaccines cover it, and oh yeah, the sky is not falling. Please check it out and help spread the word.

In other news, Gina asked me to do the weekly roundup today, because she’s busy making “Bad Girlz Club” badges for her dogs working on her books.

Now, I, too, have a life. Well, no, I don’t. I have deadlines, which is not the same thing at all. But we’ll pretend that’s remotely like a life, and that this was thus a huge sacrifice on my part, and that therefore Gina owes me something, and so I’m going to steal a bit of Pet Connection bandwidth to remind everyone to come chat with author Karen Delise tonight, Sunday, February 10 at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT on DogHobbyist.com.

Karen Delise is the author of “The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression” and “Fatal Dog Attacks: The Stories Behind the Statistics, as well as the founder and lead researcher for the National Canine Research Council.

In her words:

“The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression” explores and reveals how our views and beliefs about canine aggression have changed over the last 150 years and how our perceptions about the nature and behavior of dogs has been influenced and shaped by persons and organizations who often times disseminate information about dog attacks which is tailored to further an agenda unrelated to the improvement of the human/dog bond.

We have come to be in the midst of a social hysteria about Pit bulls because we have abandoned centuries-old common sense and reasoning and have been duped by inaccurate reporting from a media that thrives on sensationalism and by politicians who traffic in rumors, myths and pseudoscience in their efforts to pass legislation that demonizes dogs while exonerating criminal and abusive owners.

Despite the intense media, political and public interest in dog attacks, there is a disturbing scarcity of accurate information and investigation done on the real causes and reasons for these incidents.

If we truly believe that the extremely rare cases of fatal dog attacks merit extreme measures in the management of dogs — if our concern and shock is genuine — then we must be equally genuine and sincere in seeking out and addressing the real causes for these incidents.

Whether our goal is community safety, understanding canine behavior, furtherance of humane treatment towards dogs, or the advancement of the human-dog bond, it is critical that we examine all the details available about dog attacks.

I hope some of you will drop by!

And not about pit bulls specifically, but from the “save the pit bull, save the world” blog, a few words on Prozac for pups:

I’ve come across a number of people on the internet who think that the use of Prozac (including the doggy version Reconcile) is an absolute Laff Riot. They see it as another symptom of our excessively medicated society. And maybe they’re right, but here’s the thing– it’s not so funny when you’ve seen dogs tear up their feet and break off teeth trying to escape a crate during a thunderstorm. It’s not much fun when you have a dog come in all broken and bleeding because she’s jumped out of a second story window when the low battery warning for the smoke detector started beeping. It’s no fun to have your dog hurt himself, destroy your house, and be a complete disaster because he’s got fears that are out of control and neither he nor you know how to handle them.

I know there are cases where psychiatric medications are prescribed inappropriately. But that’s true of many medications, from steroids to antibiotics to Prozac. That doesn’t make the medication bad or ridiculous. And there are many cases where psych meds could be extremely helpful, but the owners are unwilling. They scoff about it “just being a dog” or laugh about it being Prozac, and allow their dogs to suffer just the same.

Phobias like this are very real medical issues. Thunderstorm and sound phobias can claim lives. And yet, there’s help available. Karen Overall, a well-respected veterinary behaviorist, wrote an excellent article about thunderstorm phobia for DVM magazine, in which she talks about the benefit– the importance– of medication, specifically with alprazolam (Xanax), and the absolute necessity of treating these dogs.

[....]

To me, sound phobia is just another medical issue, and one that there is help available for. Watching him suffer and stress through storms, through fireworks, was heartwrenching, and knowing that by doing anything to comfort him, I’d be making him worse, was incredibly hard for me. So being able to pop him some pills and make him not need that comfort was just wonderful for me. Call me lazy if you will. Call me just another brainwashed victim of the drug industry. But if a couple of pills can improve both of our lives so dramatically, sign me up.

I didn’t mean this to be a pit bull-theme post, and it’s really not… but Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly is scaring the crap out of me with her post about a nasty infection at her local shelter that’s killing dogs:

The tawny pit bull mix was clearly dead, lying in a pool of his own blood. In the run next door, a shepherd mix was laying on his side, panting heavily and staring at the wall with a glazed expression on his face. Omigod, is this what it’s always like at these places?

I made my first visit to Miami-Dade Animal Services (our County-funded animal shelter) last Monday night. In an overabundance of guilt I decided to get a little more active in my local VMA (veterinary medical association). Truth be told, it was because the South Florida Veterinary Medical Association (SFVMA) held its first board meeting of the year at this venue that I felt compelled to attend. (Killing two birds with one stone, as it were.)

For a while now, I’ve been hoping to get a bird’s-eye view of the shelter with a behind-the-scenes tour. Last Monday’s meeting offered a double-bonus: A full-facility tour presented by Miami-Dade’s top dog in Animal Services, Dr. Sara Pizano.

I also got to see the first two cases of a devastating disease now sweeping through the facility: a fulminating respiratory infection that looks like kennel cough but progresses quickly to what looked to me like canine Ebola. Blood everywhere. Within 24 hours of the first symptoms. I can’t imagine anything scarier.

Me either, Dr. Patty! She goes on to describe a scene out of any animal lover’s hell, and tells of efforts being made to identify, treat, and prevent the spread of the infection. She goes on:

Dr.Pizano has been at the shelter since its management structure was overhauled by the County three years ago. Instead of law enforcement managers (yes, the police department), the County recruited a vet who had cut her teeth at a neighboring county’s shelter.

It’s clear that Dr. Pizano is a political animal of the take-no-prisoners variety, which I’m hoping will serve her well in our cutthroat county government. Since she arrived at this dilapidated, egregiously mismanaged shelter, she’s doubled adoption rates and can recite chapter and verse of Winograd’s treatise. When I questioned her, she claimed that, “there’s nothing [he advocates ] we’re not doing here.”

To that end, she’s lobbying hard for a private foundation to funnel money into building a new facility where infectious disease can be better managed and the citizens of our County can be better enticed to meet their new loved ones.

But every day brings new disasters. Over a hundred new animals come in every day. Over 30,000 a year. And she’s only one person.

As I left the facility on Monday night I couldn’t help asking the security guard on duty at the gate one last thing: “How many employees work here at night?” It was a trick question. I already knew the answer: “Just me, Miss.”

Read the whole sad, scary thing here.

Other good stuff out there: Our friend the Terrierman has some rants on about the AKC and puppy mills (with which I agree) and dog shows (on which I both do and don’t; a lot of what he says about their impact on working dogs is inarguable, but dog shows and the clubs that put them on can do a lot of good, too).

Hope to see you at Karen Delise’s chat, and enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

From the Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10 to 1 Friday to approve mandatory sterilization of most dogs and cats at the age of 4 months or older, and city officials pledged low-key enforcement driven by complaints. The ordinance must get a second reading in a week, but it is expected to pass.

The measure, initiated by Councilman Richard Alarcon, offers exemptions for animals of licensed breeders, show animals and service animals.

Veterinarians who believe that sterilizing certain dogs and cats is too risky, or that four months is too young an age, can provide a letter to get the animals exempted.

The council decision Friday was greeted by cheers and a standing ovation from about 100 supporters, most wearing bright yellow stick-on badges proclaiming their position.

Proponents as well as dozens of critics filled the Van Nuys City Hall room where the council met Friday. Those in favor of mandatory sterilization and those against the measure spoke passionately and staked their positions on their concerns for healthy dogs and cats.

“The bottom line . . . is that all of you are here to save animals’ lives,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.

Yes, because those of us who support no-kill solutions  (Maddie’s Fund and NoKillAdvocacyCenter) and the responsible, ethical breeding of healthy, well-socialized dogs and cats by breeders who remain responsible for those animals for life are all about killing animals.

Pretty interesting that L.A. goes this direction, considering that the L.A. Times is the news organization that has done the most to expose the selling of sick, underaged puppies from Mexican puppy-mills.

The winners in this bill? Meth-heads who abuse their pit bulls litter after litter and sell the puppies for cash aren’t going to be affected. Puppy mills who sell through the Internet or retail puppy boutiques — hello, Paris! — aren’t going to be affected. Feral cats … will keep producing more feral cats.

We’ve written about this legislation before. Click to read it all.

People who don’t pay attention to the laws now won’t in the future. And instead of a community-wide no-kill effort to truly reach the people who are causing the problems, we get feel-good crap legislation that punishes people who aren’t the problem.

Simple solutions rarely are either simple or solutions, and California is where the laws of unintended consequences are always the strongest.

***

This week I’ve got the third of three different but nonetheless extraordinary DogCars — the Honda Element SC, the new Volvo XC70 wagon and the new Mazda Tribute. I’m writing up my reviews of them all for the DogCars.com Web site today. The Tribute would be a wonderful DogCar by any measure, but the model I’ve been driving is even more spectacular — it’s a hybrid! (Alas, the hybrid model is in very limited production for 2008.)

Bless the folks at BAD RAP and the ASPCA who insisted that these dogs be evaluated as individuals. From Cheryl Wittenauer of the Associated Press (with fabulous pictures from the AP’s Eric Risberg) :

His back resting comfortably against her chest, Hector nestles his massive canine head into Leslie Nuccio’s shoulder, high-fiving pit bull paws against human hands.

The big dog — 52 pounds — is social, people-focused, happy now, it seems, wearing a rhinestone collar in his new home in sunny California.

But as Hector sits up, deep scars stand out on his chest, and his eyes are imploring.

Hector ought to be dead [...] — killed in one of his staged fights, or executed for not being “game” enough, not winning, or euthanized by those who see pit bulls seized in busts as “kennel trash,” unsuited to any kind of normal life.

Here’s the rest (be sure to click on the images link). And here’s a slideshow at BADRAP. Look at these darling dogs!

And here’s a list of the people who made it happen, from the ASPCA’s media release:

The ASPCA^® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^®) worked closely with federal authorities at every step of the case, first assisting in the investigation itself through the involvement of Dr. Melinda Merck, forensic veterinarian with the ASPCA, and later when Dr. Stephen Zawistowski, CAAB, executive vice president, National Programs for the ASPCA, led a team of several Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (trained animal behavior experts who have been certified by the Animal Behavior Society) in the behavior evaluations of the seized dogs.

[...]

In addition to Dr. Zawistowski, the evaluation team comprised the following: Dr. Randall Lockwood, CAAB, senior vice president, Anti-Cruelty Initiatives and Legislative Services, ASPCA; Dr. Pamela J. Reid, CAAB, vice president, Animal Behavior Center, ASPCA; Dr. Daniel Q. Estep, CAAB, of Animal Behavior Associates, Littleton, Colo.; Dr. Crista Coppola, CAAB, of Tucson, Ariz.; and Nancy Williams, Associate CAAB, of Manchester, Md.

In addition, BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls), a San Francisco-based non profit organization that is an educational resource for pit bull owners and the shelters that house them, also worked with the ASPCA-led team to help identify dogs that could be absorbed into experienced foster programs for further observation and possible re-homing into appropriate homes. BAD RAP was represented on the evaluation team by co-founders Tim Racer and Donna Reynolds. Finally, Justin Phillips, shelter supervisor/behavior supervisor of the SPCA of Monterey County, Calif., was also part of the BAD RAP team.

These people put it all on the line for these dogs. Good job, all of you.

More: BAD RAP’s Tim Racer on CNN. Great interview, and it’s nine minutes long! The message: Dogs are individuals. I hope these abuse survivors open some eyes and some hearts, especially at the nation’s so-called “animal advocacy” groups that pushed for an automatic and sweeping death sentence for the former fighters. (Thanks for the pointer, Pat!)

And finally, speaking of “animal advocacy” groups, thanks to Luisa at Lassie Get Help for this gem from PETA:

[F]rom the boundless, staggering ignorance dept., a PETA news release:

For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2008

Richmond, Va. - Holding signs that read, “Report Dogfighters” and “Dogs Deserve Justice,” next to photos of dogs who have been mauled in fights, PETA members will rally outside the federal courthouse in Richmond on Friday as Williamsburg-area resident Oscar Allen is sentenced on dogfighting charges. Allen’s sentencing is related to the case that has already seen fallen Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three codefendants receive prison terms.

Date: Friday, January 25
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Place: U.S. District Courthouse, 1000 E. Main St., Richmond

[...]

“Vick’s heinous dogfighting operation has been busted, but there are others just like it across the county,” says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “We’re calling on people across the U.S. to report dogfighters and for police and prosecutors to send them to jail.”

“Holding signs that read, ‘Dogs Deserve Justice’”? [Stop laughing, dammit!] Yes, that’s the same Daphna Nachminovitch who told the press, “These dogs are a ticking time bomb. Rehabilitating fighting dogs is not in the cards. It’s widely accepted that euthanasia is the most humane thing for them.” Yes, the same Daphna Nachminovitch whose organization wants all pit bulls dead. Ironic? Ironic doesn’t even come close. Talk to the paw, Daphna: a bad day for PETA has been a very, very good day for some very good dogs.

Amen, Luisa.

As Nathan Winograd asks, “Why is anyone still listening to PETA?”