Is it possible to take a step back at this point?

City Council Meeting January 26th at 6:30 pm

I am attending this City Council meeting, but have not yet decided whether or not to speak. I just want to jot down a few of my thoughts on this subject...

1) I hope that everyone who attends these city meetings, no matter how upset and passionate about the BSL subject, will show up and act in an appropriate manner. We are going to make no headway if we build a wall between "us and them".

2) If people are speaking, remember to keep personal stories, about their beloved pit bulls, out of their speeches. What we need now are facts and professionals that know what they are talking about, and for the citizens to take the time to learn about what they do not know....preferably before speaking.

3) We all need to focus on keeping the person liable for the dog's behavior, especially if it is repeated behavioral issues. Unfortunately, bites happen...but attacks shouldn't. People need to take the time to educate themselves on the body language of dogs. Here are some starting places...

Turrid Rugaas Calming Signals

Living With Kids and Dogs

4) We need to educate people on proper dog-dog behavior, proper human-dog behavior, and the real facts behind the statics.

5) Instead of blaming dog owners and city officials...no matter what side of the fence you sit on...understand their concerns and find a happy medium. Some people don't love dogs, believe it or not! In fact I know one person on the city council (the Mayor) that is a "cat" person.....

6) AND ABOVE ALL... Stand proud with your dog, even if it is a PIT BULL! And continue to socialize them, train them, raise them with your families, and show the world how great an animal they are when given the chance to shine!

There is a link to the legislation proposed to the City Council in 2014 on the right of this blog page...Here we go!!!

A Must Read!!!

I'm going to leave this blog pretty plain and simple...The National Canine Research Council had a great blog post this week that is extremely important. There IS documented proof that BSL is not effective and dangerous dog laws are. The link is below.

NCRC Blog Post July 2014

The NCRC is also offering this free download that every dog owner and concerned citizen should read. Here's a small piece of the newly revised "Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions".

"Many “dangerous dog” laws try not only to control dogs who have 
already injured people, but to predict which ones will do so in the 
future and attempt to prevent this. Typical legal descriptions of dog 
behavior include “approaches in a vicious or terrorizing manner,” or 
“in a menacing fashion,” or having “a known disposition, tendency, 
or propensity to attack,” or “engages in any behavior that requires a 
defensive action by any person to prevent bodily injury.” 80,81 Aside 
from the subjectivity of these descriptions, the main difficulty with 
such an approach is that the best research to date indicates the 
likelihood that a majority of dogs engage in threatening behavior, but 
that few among these bite, and far fewer actually injure when they 
bite. 
One groundbreaking study found that 41 percent of the dogs studied 
had growled, snarled or snapped at a familiar person at some time in 
the dog’s life. A smaller proportion of all the dogs, 15 percent, had 
actually bitten.82 Of those who had bitten, fewer than 10 percent of 
the bites had injured.83 This means that a net cast to identify the 1.5 
percent of dogs who will injure based on whether they had growled, 
snarled, snapped or lunged would actually capture at least 41 percent 
of the dog population. In other words, at least 93 percent of the dogs 
identified in this way as “dangerous” would never actually injure 
anyone. And since these studies only included behavior toward family 
members and other people well known to the dog, and only included 
guardians responsible and caring enough to provide veterinary care 
for their pets, the percentages of dogs that growl, snarl and snap 16
Animals and Society Institute: Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions (Revised 2014)
within the entire dog population must certainly be considerably higher. 
Simply put, growling, snarling and snapping at humans is normal 
among domestic dogs. Biting is common; inflicting injurious bites is 
not."

Their findings about BSL are in Section 3.2.

Below is the link for the printable version of the free download...

National Canine Research Council Revised Download of Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions

More Legal Tug-o-War

Click the link below to see what's going on with the opposition for the Winston Law.

KC Dog Blog put out an article today about the other side of the Non-Breed Specific Legislation.

Apparently instead of listening to the professionals in the dog behavior fields they are trying to pull the "smaller government" card. I guess when you don't want to admit someone knows a profession better than you the typical human response is to grasp at straws. 

KC DOG BLOG

So how do we determine if a dog is a Pit Bull or Pit mix?

This is one of those million dollar questions. And the answer is...it's impossible. Aside from the fact that Pit Bull is a "type" of dog not a specific breed...Even scientists that specialize in DNA testing and AKC judges who specialize in breed conformation admit it can be impossible to tell if a dog has a predominant gene of the Staffordshire Pit Bull Terrier. The problem is that only a small fraction of genes determine how a dog looks. Check out this clip to see if professionals can tell which dog is the Pit Bull.

  Pit Bulls Wrongly Accused?

Animal Issues Input Group and City Council meetings... I will let you know when I hear anything. There was nothing BSL in the meeting last week. 

I had to take a deep breath... again!

I missed this on the news a few weeks ago, but it didn't take long for my email, FB page, and phone to start blowing up. After watching it I really had no words. For those of you who know me, a loss of words is rare and when it happens you can bet that the next thing that will happen is Misti Fry will be peeling me off of the ceiling. So here you go...

First, I want you to watch the video... After... Well... you'll see I got my speech back...

                                                                                                                                                             Kolr 10 News: Laws to Create Equal Rights for Dog Breeds

                                                 

 Take a deep breath and count to ten!

So, what is the new proposed Missouri law about?  As Representative Ron Hicks said, "It's not about eliminating laws, its about creating an equal playing field".  A law that prevents breed-specific legislation doesn't take away the safety of the people. It makes it so any person with any breed of potentially dangerous and/or dangerous dog will be held accountable. In turn, that makes people safer from any dangerous dog. Dogs will not be punished due to the breed; people will be held accountable for being irresponsible and dogs will be held accountable due to the situation and their temperament.

Assistant Director of Health, Clay Goddard said, "the bite is more serious with a Pit Bull than a nip from a smaller breed of dog". My simple response to that?... A bite from any dog is more serious than a nip from any dog! (Hehe)

As I have explained in past entries, a dog's bite can be more severe for a few reasons...
               1)The size of the dogs head; The bigger the head, the stronger the jaw strength.
               2)The size of the human and placement of the bite; same size dog bite on a child's face and a man's calf...different levels of damage.
               3)The gameness of the dog; If it doesn't have a "shut off" there is more of a chance of fatal damage.

Animal Control Supervisor Randy Barnts' comment made me laugh. "Most people don't want to live next door to a pit bull".  Really!?  What facts are the basis for that "opinion"?

*Just a note*
How ethical is it to put a person, that doesn't like a certain breed of dog, in charge of supervising Animal Control? How do we know he treats them humanely? We wouldn't have someone who hates little boys work at a daycare would we?  Maybe we should ask the ASPCA or the HSUS  how ethical this is?  Or maybe we should ask our Mayor?

Clay Goddard also stated that bites from pits and pit mixes are down such high percentages. I give that two reasons...
           1)When you kill 1500 of anything, you are bound to have a decline in any behavior from them, positive or negative.
          2) Public Awareness- When you plaster scary stuff for both sides of the BSL, all over the news, people notice and either hide their dogs or become more afraid of the Pit Bulls in the city.

In closing, if Clay Goddard says "the legislation has done what was intended", why not move forward?  If statistics show BSL costs more money than it makes, why not try something that could make the city money to build that new shelter?  Why are we not holding people more accountable for their actions?  Why are dogs being punished because of neglect caused by a human and the human gets a pardon? 

I wholeheartedly agree with the news anchor that said a Pit Bull is a beautiful thing to look at as long as you use it to its advantages. I would just change a few words...

A dog is a beautiful thing as long as you use it's strengths and weaknesses in a positive way.

Please support Missouri House bill 1116 also known as Winston's Law:

Winston's Law

Missouri House Bill 1116

Sign the Petition for HB1116   

White House official statement on Breed Specific Legislation

Send emails stating your "public opinion and expertise" to your Springfield city officials:

***Remember how much I stressed, in my past blogs, how we went wrong six years ago?

Let's be professional.

Mayor Bob Stephens- rstephens@springfieldmo.gov

Springfield City Council contact info- 

https://www.springfieldmo.gov/citycouncil/mayor.html

Director of Health, Kevin Gipson-kgipson@springfieldmo.gov

Assistant Director of Health, Clay Goddard- cgoddard@springfieldmo.gov

Animal Control Supervisor, Randy Barnts-rbarnts@springfieldmo.gov

No new info in Springfield

Unfortunately, we have not talked about the ordinance change at recent Committee meetings. Next meeting scheduled for Feb 24th, I believe. Click the link for some good news from around our nation to tide you over...

                                              KC DOG BLOG

Quick note about the child that got bit multiple times by a Pit mix here in Springfield this week. 

First of all, my heart breaks for all of those involved in this unfortunate incident. Second of all, as Karen Prescott noted..."The dog was unaltered and not registered with the city". Tell me how the Pit Bull Ordinance kept this child safe???- Just sayin

Time to Move Forward

      Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. There haven't been any new developments until last week. On Thursday I attended a joint meeting of City Council's Community Involvement Committee and Plans and Policies Committee. The public did not speak at all, but key city officials, not on the committees, got to speak as needed. They discussed whether or not the City and the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri would be able to join forces in the huge project of improving our city's Animal Control programs. The decision of the committees was that key people from both entities get together and see if there can be some sort of compromise for the greater good of animal welfare here in Springfield and surrounding communities. They are to meet and discuss whether it would be more cost effective in the long run for them to join forces and use the Humane Society's building or if a second facility is needed for the City. The faster they can propose their findings to the City Council, the faster they can get the ball rolling.

      The second topic discussed is that the a new committee will be formed and will meet for the next year to help aide in the ongoing work of the AITF. The recommendations that the AITF proposed to the City Council will also be divided up into two sub-committees; one will tackle the need for a new facility, and one will tackle the policies and legislation. City Council agreed that professionals from the AITF will be called as needed to answer questions pertaining to the conclusions on the proposals. Unfortunately, this is all moving very slowly...but that's government for you. We'll get there guys, just be patient.

     

 Now Carrie's unfiltered expertise:

      I have done quite a bit of research over the years and there are still a few officials in the city that think the Breed Specific Legislation is working. I ask these people....Please take the time to let me shadow you. Then sit down with me and explain why you think it has worked. As of now, I just haven't seen any proof. Anyone can play a numbers game with me, and unless I have all the statistics in front of me (and have consumed three cups of coffee), they may win verbally, but I have lived their twisted number game in my real life, for 15 years. I don't see the proof that the BSL is keeping all of the power breeds out of the meth labs in town. I don't see how the BSL is keeping dogs from being dumped. I don't see how the BSL is helping educate people about appropriate dog behavior, or human behavior around dogs. All I see is that we don't have a dog problem in Springfield, Mo...We have a people problem.           We have to start at the root of the issues (like drugs and education) and not make excuses by blaming the dogs. Humans are the ones that have allowed these precious dogs and cats to be born at a rate that we can't keep up with. Only humans can find the solution to helping make this city have a better animal welfare system... and the solution is not breed specific ordinances. Banning alcohol obviously didn't work, and neither is putting rules on specific breeds of dogs. In 2006, when we put the Pit Bull Ordinance into effect, the black dog was the most prevalent dog in the US...now, in 2013, it is the Pit Bull... Is this your proof that BSL is working? 

Important Info on Current Breed Bans

I love seeing state and city officials discussing and realizing that it is the specific ordinances that make or break the results. The Association of Pet Dog Trainers, Calgary Canada, and Omaha, Nebraska have great ordinances to use as models for cities looking to update outdated ones.  The only thing I see wrong with Omaha is the Pit Bull Ordinance. The statistics have come in on Omaha's dog bites. Pit Bull and Pit Mix bites have gone down, but bites in general have gone up. To me this is proof that the Springfield AITF is on the right track.  Inform owners lacking in know how, and punish the owners not willing to learn that times have changed and animal abuse and neglect will no longer be tolerated... No matter what breed! Check out this post from KC Dog Blog. I don't think I need to restate what he has already stated so elegantly about Omaha's 5 year breed ban.

Here is some info on a Breed Ban Repeal from last week! One step at a time!

Riverside, Mo

Comments welcome!