KC DOG BLOG

More on Delta, BC's bid to repeal breed specific legislation

A couple of months ago, I noted that Delta, BC was looking at the possibility of repealing their breed-specific law.

Dropping the ban remains part of the discussion in Delta - and the idea appears to have a lot of support.  But there is a bit more information that I want to share for those who have not spent a lot of time clicking through comment links here.

Back in April, Municple Solicitor Greg Vanstone wrote up a review of the community's current breed-specific law.  But there are a couple of pieces of of his review that I want to highlight -- because he did a wealth of research on the topic of breed-specific laws, and I think his findings speak for themselves (all emphasis mine):

Staff researched this topic extensively but were unable to locate any studies that arrived at a list of dogs that are more genetically prone to fight or kill other animals or people. Instead, it appears that animal behaviour, characteristics and traits are determined by both genetics and environmental factors. Environmental factors that may affect a dog's behaviour include:

• the owner's treatment of the dog, including training and feeding
• the owner's tolerance for aggressive behaviour
• the opportunity for the dog to properly "socialize" between the ages of 3 and 12 weeks
• housing conditions
• the owner's maturity level and ability to meet necessary time commitments of dog ownership
• inappropriate dog selection criteria

 

 

 

Other factors that may impact the aggressiveness of a dog include:

• whether or not the dog is spayed or neutered
• pregnancy and whelping
• medical problems or injuries

As a result of this, dogs of the same breed can display a wide range of behavioural variability.

So after extensive research, they concluded that dog breeds can have a wide range of behaviors -- much of which is determined by its environment. Makes sense. 

However, there's more. In a previous report -- which also included conversations with British Columbia's only Veterinary Behavior Specialist and the Canadian Vet Medical Association -- he concluded:

...staff are not aware of any studies that arrive at a list of dogs that are more genetically prone to fight or kill other animals or people. Instead, it appears that animal behaviour, characteristics and traits are determined by both genetics and environmental factors. One very influential element of environment is the wide range of human behaviour that dog may be exposed to. As a result, dogs of the same genotype (Breed) can display a wide range of behavioural variability.

This report goes on to give more detail over each of the individual environmental elements as well.

In the earlier report Vanstone notes:

To summarize, when determining if "Pit Bull" type dogs should remain in the bylaw as "Dangerous" or "Aggressive", genetics are only part of the equation. Evaluating society's influence on breeds should also be considered. Human involvement in breeding and influencing environmental factors have to be considered when determining if one type of dog is going to be more aggressive than another.

Most people shouldn't be surprised by Vanstone's findings. You can't judge dogs without judging people -- because people are one of the single biggest determinents of how dogs turn out. Focusing only on the dogs (by focusing on breed) misses the largest part of the equation.

And this is why Breed Specific Laws fail.

Vanstone's report is not at all a surprise to me (or to most I'm sure). When unbiased research is done, and when experts are consulted, the evidence becomes clear -- laws should be focused on owners, not breeds of dogs. It is only when decisions are made in the hysteria of the moment, or under the hope of political gain, that breed-based laws come into play.

Good luck to the city of Delta as they work to possibly remove breed-specific laws from their books based on sound research and expert opinion.

Fur-ever Home - the Animal Rescue Board Game

A while back, I obtained a copy of a new board game entitled Fur-ever Home - The Animal Rescue Game.

Fur-Ever Home (developed by Petsapolooza) is a game about animal rescue. It can be played by up to four players, who each run shelters in the game. All of the shelters are working to adopt out all of the animals in Strayville -- and the winner is the rescue that adopts out the most animals.

And in a nutshell, the game is great. Loved it.

To some, the game may feel a little too much like real life. Animals sometimes get returned to the shelter because it doesn't work out for the owner. A virus may hit the shelter and you may have to pay health care costs for all of the animals in your shelter. Someone may drop off a couple of animals and you don't have enough room for them -- having to send them to another shelter (with a small fee). Someone may come to your shelter looking for a particular type of pet -- that you don't have -- and the adoption may then go to a different shelter. Dogs escape. There are also ways to raise funds in order to pay all of the bills.  There are even pros and cons to having a large vs a small rescue.

But I think it's great. Not only does it provide legitimate situations, but it also is a great way to educate kids on animal welfare.  And it has some great real-life scenerios that I think are very educational (and some rescues are even using the game to educate new volunteers).

Some animals are harder to adopt (often elderly, or blind/deaf, or of harder-to-place breeds) -- but when you place those animals, you get more points. You can hire a behavior educator that will work with people who seek to return pets to the shelter that will work with them so the pet can stay in the home. One card involves someone going to your shelter to adopt on a Sunday, but your shelter was closed, so the adopter adopts from another shelter in Strayville. Another involves one of your staffers being rude to an adopter, so they go elsewhere.

In total, I give the game an A. It's easy to play, easy to get the rules right, and should be fun for the whole family, even the young-uns in your life.  The visuals/graphics are very fun and family-friendly.

$5 for the sale of each game goes to a participating rescue (you can choose which one it goes to).  It's a great game -- made by someone in the animal welfare community -- and fun and educational for the whole family.  There are also volume discounts available so rescues can buy several at a discount and sell them at events.

Go buy one for yourself or for your holiday gift-giving. If your order before midnight, PST on Friday September 10th, you can enter the following promotional code: KCDOGBLG  and get a 25% discount.  Limited time, so don't delay.

More on the game from  over at Best Friends.

Weekly Roundup -- Week Ending 9/5/10

Some great stuff this week -- and I'm short on time  -- going to dive right in.

Cities/States and Laws

SB 250 -- a bill that would have mandated the spay/neuter of all dogs and cats in California and would have led to the killing of thousands of animals in the state is finally dead.

Lubbock, TX also decided against an ordinance that would mandate the spay/neuter of all pets.

Wentzville, MO is considering a ban on pet sales in their community -- an ordinance that has been looked at by other communities and almost universally shot down once people realize it won't solve the problem.

An apartment complex in Colorado Springs isn't letting a military veteran keep their Labrador Retriever mix dog in their apartment because the dog is mixed with 'pit bull".

Dog owners in Ontario held a protest against the Provence's 5 year old breed ban - saying they want the same laws for all breeds of dogs.

A couple in Whitehall, OH spent 8 months trying to protect their dog as it was accused of being a 'pit bull' by the city. After 8 months, the dog was ruled to be a Boxer/Labrador Retriever mix. There is no indication that the dog was aggressive, but the city wasted resources trying to prosecute it anyway because of the way it looks.

While the newspaper seems to be trying to create some momentum for breed-specific regulations in Jackson, MI, there seems to be little support by the city council.

Shadyside, OH has made it ilegal to own pit bulls.

Kirksville, MO  is once again looking at the possibility of breed-specific legislation. If you live in or near Kirksville, please plan to meet with them to give them some good education on what makes for effective dog legislation.

Chetek, WI tabled an ordinance that would have banned several breeds of dogs --- deciding it would not be effective.

Dog Bites and Attacks

Most dogs don't bite, but when they do, they come from a variety of different breeds.

A 12 year old boy on his way to the bus stop was attacked by an escaped Alaska Malamute in North Escambia, FL.

A 10 year old Sandy, UT boy was bitten by a German Shepherd.

A 7 year old girl in Indiana was bitten when a 'pit bull' that is always kept unleashed bit her while she was riding her bicycle.

A Midvale, UT boy is still recovering after a serious mauling a month ago by a Belgian Malanois.

An 11 month old boy was hospitalized after what sounds like a pretty gruesome attack by the family's Jack Russell Terrier.

The UK's struggles continue

A 10 year old girl was treated in the hospital after being bitten by a Japanese Akita.

A seperate incident, another 10 year old girl was attacked by two Rottweilers.

A joint group of 20 organizations in the UK note that the current law in the UK banning four breeds of dogs is "inadequate" -- in part because it's not always the same breeds involved in attacks.

Abuse Cases

In Ocala, FL, a man shot two Great Danes that were running at large after they slipped through an open gate.  Witnesses say there was no reason to shoot the dogs, yet the shooter claims to have feared for his life. While I'm all for people having the right to protect themselves, we also need to be sure people aren't unnecessarily shooting dogs when there is no immediate risk....which appears to be the case here. There has been a petition set up on Change.org looking for justice for the dogs.

A pit bull showed up a parole board hearing -- the dog was there to help a judge rule on whether his former owner should be eligible for parole or not -- the judge denied parole.

In Corpus Christi, TX, a dead pit bull was found chained to a tree in what was clearly a major abuse case.

Media Reports

Is a bite incident where the 2 year old victim needed 1 stitch newsworthy?

Miscellaneous

There are a lot of great 'pit bulls' -- Montreal gets a dose of common sense after some hysteria-of-the-moment.

Blogs You Should Read

It's hard to believe the book Redemption is only 3 years old. Amazing what a movement has been created in just a few short years -- congrats on the anniversary.

Should Rottweilers be banned? K9 Magazine asks if the UK should look at banning more breeds of dogs after another attack in the UK.  The answer is of course no -- in a well-written article.

It looks like people are starting to catch onto PETA.

Media bias in two recent attacks -- For the Pit Bulls has the story of two dog bites and how the media handled the two reports -- including the number of times the breed of dog was mentioned in the headline.

The business of saving lives -- The Wisconsin Watchdog thinks animal shelter workers should have this on their business cards -- and provides reasons why.

Martha Stewart notes that Staffordshire Bull Terriers are among the breeds that are good with children.

With Elected Officials Like These, who needs enemies? No Pit Bull Bans talks about some of the cities that are discussing really bad laws.

Some great articles about dog bite prevention and why dogs bite -- from Doggon Safe. There are a lot of great resources out there about how to be safe with dogs (which is easy, but takes some knowledge and common sense) -- and Doggone  Safe is one of them.

Humane Organizations, please stop lying to us! (Part 1) - from Bett Sundermeyer, Houston Animal Shelters Examiner.  And Here's Part 2.

The Ghost of Oreo -- from Michael Mountain.

The Atlanta Animal Welfare Examiner wants to know why a dog was needlessly killed when it was on its way to be rescued.

Dallas city official: "The conditions at the shelter are good" -- YesBiscuit! questions that based on the number of recent complaints.

More animal cruelty laws, or the will to enforce them? - Dog spelled forward asks if more laws are necessary, or whether better prosecution is necessary.

A justice roundup of abusers getting their medicine at For the Love of the Dog Blog.

Top 5+1 for August 2010

The following are the five most popular blog posts from  August 2010 based on information from Google Analytics:

1) With or without 'pet overpopulation', the solution is still the same -- whether you believe no kill is possible or not doesn't really matter - -the solution to saving the lives of more animals remains the same.

2) Walter, an abused 'pit bull' rescued by ordinary people, makes the Today Show -- Just the start of some good, positive national media for the month.

3) Jerry Lee Southern gets 90 days in jail - a man on his second round of severe abuse charges involved over 100 dogs gets what seems to be a very minimal sentence in spite of strong cruelty laws that would have allowed for much more.

4) The Changing Narrative - Parade Magazine also did a cover story on the recovered/recovering victims of Bad Newz Kennels -- more positive national media exposure for the month -- and a trend toward a changing narrative.

5) A Better Way - a shining example of how working with dog owners to create better dog ownership and improving the human/animal bond proves to be a better way than trying to punish people into doing it "our way".

+1 allows me to feature a blog post from the month that was not in the top 5, but that I wish more people had taken the time to read:

Everybody is doing it! (why watching our language would help our cause).

Many Denver city leaders still don't get it

Denver is in the wake of a significant challenge to their 20 year old breed ban. The city faces a legal challenge from  three different plaintiffs that the city's law does not comply with the American's with Disabilities Act guidelines for service dogs -- and a recent statement by the Department of Justice says loud and clear that Denver is in violation.

According to Attorney Jennifer Edwards:

"It's pretty offensive that this has been on the books this way for this long in complete violation of the ADA, in complete violation of our Constitutionally protected rights and it took a lawsuit from the Animal Law Center to Open their eyes."

But Denver many of the city council members still don't get it -- and it's painful listening to how dense they are in their quotes in this article.

Councilwoman Carol Boigon, who has a disability, shares her thoughts:

"I'm  thinking of all the drug houses that I have worked on over the last seven years, and a couple of them have people who have become paraplegics in bad drug deals, but were still dealing out of their house, and they had tough dogs. Was that a servcie dog? Well, I don't know, but those certainly were handicapped people. I think we're going to be in a world of hurt down the road on this."

For more reasons than one.

Here's a hint, if you have people dealing drugs out of their home, and if they are getting injured (shot?) in deals gone wrong because of drug deals gone wrong, whether or not the dog is a service dog is the least of the city's concerns.  How about maybe stopping the drug activity?  And yes, if your concern in that situation is the dog, your city is definitely gong to be in a world of hurt down the road.

Carla Madison at least seems to get it:

"Maybe we need to re-look at our pit bull ban and see if there's a way we can close that gap....maybe put in a dangerous dog act, just look at it differently."

Which is how the majority of cities do it. Which is how cities that have had success in dealing with dangerous dog issues have dealt with it. The ADA does allow  for dogs to be targeted based on behavior -- and if the dog is well-behaved, why does it matter what it looks like?

The status quo is hard to change. Denver has created an aura of fear around 'pit bulls' to the point where they think that the problem with drug houses are the types of dogs they own. 

Fear mongering still lives.  But thanks to the citizens of Denver who continue to fight, change will, I believe, eventually happen.

Academic Study on dog bites in the Netherlands (and partially why they repealed their breed ban)

A couple of weeks ago, Karen Delise over at the National Canine Research Council pointed out a study that was released by The Veterinary Journal that studied dog bites in the Netherlands. The study was commissioned by the Dutch government -- and as a result of the study, the Dutch government repealed its 15 year old ban on 'pit bulls' in 2008.

You can read the abstract here. I was able to get a copy of the study and I want to share a few of the findings of the study because I think they are extemely important, and frankly this may be the most in-depth reporting on the causes of dog bites I've seen.  I will also note that the study was commissioned by the government, so I'm not inclined to believe there was bias toward trying to achieve particular results.

In total, 1078 dog bite incidents (selected via random sampling) were studied. Of the bit victims, 79% were adults, 21% children under the age of 16.

* 51% of dog bite victims were dog owners even though only about 20% of the people in the Netherlands own dogs -- indicating that dog owners are more likely to be in a position around dogs than those who don't own dogs.

* 28% of the victims were the dog's owner (72% were not but more than 1/2 of these knew the dog's owner) 

*38% of the cases were in a public area (with 52% on the dog's own territory).  Children (75%) were more likely to be bitten in non-public areas than adults (59%)

* 60% of victims cited having intentional interactions with the dog

* 80% of the bites involve either no, or only minor, injuries. Medical attention was more often needed when the bite victim was the non owner than when the bite victim was the owner.

Because the majority of the dog bite incidents were on private property (including 3/4 of the ones involving chidren) the researchers made the following recommendation:

"Mitigation strategies addressing children shoudl focus on teaching the young how to behave around dogs so that their behaviour dos not trigger a dog bite. Since the majority of the child victims bitten at home were unsupervised at te time of the incident, strategies should also include the parents. It should be emphasized that leaving a child unattended with a dog poses a serious risk for the child. Dog bites to children cannot be prevented by measures at the public security level, but should target children and their parents directly."

Regarding adults being bitten by their own dogs:

"To reduce bite incidents involving dog owners and their own dogs it will be necessary to focus on interactions with the dog and understanding 'dog language'.

This then left the group of people, mostly adults, that were attack on public property, more often by dogs they didn't know, and more often requiring medical treatment. The report discusses the need for owner education, and then addressed the breed issue:

"Our findings, liek those from other groups, do not support the use of an attack record in developing mitigation strategies. We found tha all dogs can bite and therefore one should always be careful when interacting with a dog, even a family dog and during play. if we were to use base mitigation strategies on attack records, this would not lead to the establisment of feasible actions to take. Removing the most common biters would also imply removing the most common breeds; for example, we found that the Jack Russell terrer was responsible for approximately 10% fo the bites and 8/10 of the most popular breeds were the most common biters (including the highly polymorphic group of mixed breed/mongrel). Eliminating these breeds is neither practicable nor desirable."

One academic study after another concludes the same thing. In order to affect dog bites, we must focus on education of parents and their children, and dog owners and dog behavior. It's the only way. Focusing on anything else is merely a distraction and leads to the lack of knowledge that causes the problems in the first place.

City/state and international leaders are beginning to take notice of what the experts in the animal welfare community have been saying.  Bravo.

All stats and quotes from Cornelissen, J.M.R., Hopster, H. Dog Bites in The Netherlands: A study of victims, injuries, circumstances and aggressors to support evaluatio of breed specific legislatoin. The Veterinary Journal (2009), doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.10.001

Petco, Iams, Hoover, Petfinder, and Sergeant's team up to promote adoptions

In this week's Time magazine, Petco, Iams, Hoover, Petfinder and Sergeants team ed up with an 8 page insert titled "A Pet Parent's Guide to Adoption."  The section in addition to advertising promoting the companies, featured a lot of good, practical advice for people who are considering adoptions.

It's a good piece -- that will be distributed to over 3.3 million Time subscribers.

Bravo to these companies for spending to help promote responsible adoptions. Good organizations making the effort to bring adoption to the forfront will continue to make adopting more desireable and more common -- which is a good thing. Bravo.

Hat Tip to KC Dog Advocates via Facebook.

Weekly Roundup - Abbreviated for Week of 8/29/10

I'm not going to have time to get to a complete Weekly Roundup this week. I'll get most of the stories up in next week's roundup, but there are a couple of stories I think are really important from this week that I want to make some comments on. 

CA SB 250 Fails

Last week, SB 250 -- a bill that would mandate the spay/neuter of all dogs and cats in the state of California - thankfully failed in the Senate.  This is great news given that the law is not based on what is good for animals when the state's largest city has tried the law and has failed miserably with it. The final vote was way closer than it should be -- 34 for, 40 against, 4 not voting. If you live in California, contact your Senator. If they voted against the bill, thank them for making a wise decision. If they voted for the bill, contact them and tell them to look at the failure of the law elsewhere and pursuade them to not repeat the mistakes of others.

The law could be resurrected at any time, so please keep and eye on this and work to educate your senator so they realize that even the majority of animal welfare groups oppose this law -- because it doesn't work.

More on the laws in a great blog post from the Pet Connection.

More on the Jerry Lee Southern Conviction

I posted the news about Southern's plea deal on Wednesday, but Donna has a follow  up that is better, and more detailed than mine (which makes sense, she was there after all).  It turns out that the DA accepted Southern's plea deal to a sentence of 90 days because the judge that was hearing the case has a track record of not giving harsh sentences -- and in fact, deferring sentences a lot -- and the DA thought it was worth getting SOME jail time vs no time at all (which sounds like a real possible option).

We must continue to push judges into realizing that harsh sentences are deserved for  severe cruelty cases like this so that abusers like Southern, who was a repeat offender with no remorse, should not be allowed to get free passes for their actions.

Sioux City BSL Continues to fail

Back in 2008, Sioux City, IA passed a ban on 'pit bull' type dogs. The ban has been nothing but headaches for them  since it's passing, including multiple lawsuits, and other problems.

Turns out dog bites are up too.

Last week, a 19 month old boy suffered severe puncture wounds, collapsed lungs, a bruised kidney, a bleeding spleen and stomach and pancreas damage after being attacked by a Husky-type dog that was chained up in the neighbor's yard.   This of course follows a year in which the city focused on breeds of dogs being responsible for attacks, not aggressive dogs regardless of breed, chaining dogs, and unsupervised toddlers wandering up to those dogs.  This story was actually on the front page of the Sioux City Journal on Thursday morning.

Bites are up in Sioux City this year.  The city is already at the same number of dog bites as they recorded in all of last year.  Here are the dog bites over the past several years:

2006 - 88

2007  - 115

2008 - 94

2009 - 81

2010 - 81 (pace 122)

So outside of a very crazy 2007 -- the city averaged 88 dog bites per year- and was on a downward trend. The 2009 numbers (about 2/3 of which had the BSL ordinance) numbers were pretty good -- but 2010 is shaping up to be a complete disaster in terms of dog bites -- in large part because of the ordinance. And as you can see, the severity of the injuries has not decreased.

When cities focus on the wrong things -- like breeds -- instead of the right things like promoting responsible dog ownership, bad things happen. Sioux City is continuing to show their failures with their breed ban - -even though they are stubbornly holding onto the ordinance. 

Denver re-evaluating their breed ban

Last month, the Department of Justice released an official statement about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how all service dogs are protected under the ADA - -and that cities with bans on particular breeds do not trump the ADA. Service dogs are to be welcomed under the ADA regardless of breed (and regardless of what the city thinks of that breed).

So, now  the city of Denver is re-evaluating their breed ban. Well, they have to. At the very least they're going to have to adjust the law to allow for service dogs in the city -- particularly since Denver is currently facing three lawsuits for harrassing people protected under the ADA with 'pit bull' type service dogs under the city's breed ban.

The city is looking for a quick end to the situation given in order to squash the lawsuits and stop the mounting legal fees in a time when the city is facing a major budget deficit.

The city will likely get rid of the breed bans for service dogs (they have to) -- but it is already causing some to ask the question  that if the Department of Justice suggests that breed bans for service dogs are overly broad, why not for all dogs?

At this point, I highly doubt that Denver will really consider a full-on repeal. There doesn't appear to be much support for a full-on repeal at city hall or in the city attorney's office (where the assistant city attorney build his career on the ban and refuses to acknowledge the ban's failure in spite of the numbers and in spite of the reality that the law is causing the city a huge amount of wasted funds).  But I think eventually the ridiculousness of banning dogs that are capable of being service dogs, the huge difficulty of enforcing the ban with the ADA guidelines now impacting Denver, and, well, the fact that the whole law is ignorant an ineffective, will lead to the law being repealed. But it may take some more time. Or not. But the law is crumbling....

An Anniversary - and looking forward by looking back

Four years ago today I typed my first post into this blog.  At the time, I never could have forcasted that I'd still be writing here four years later, or the changes that the animal welfare world would have seen that I've had the privilage to witness and write about.

And I want to thank everyone who has chosen to spend a few minutes of their time every day to read, and to those who have commented. 

I think it's only fitting that on the fourth birthday of my blog, that I reflect a little on where it's been -- because in so many ways it demonstrates where the animal welfare world is going.

And things have changed a lot since when I started writing this blog 4 years ago, and at the risk of sounding like my grandfather talking about 'the good old days'....

Four years ago, there weren't many people out there blogging about legislative issues when it comes to our pets. There were a few, many of whom have long since discontinued their writing. But there weren't many of us.

In the time since, many bloggers have come and gone, but at no point have I seen more people posting more great content than there is right now. Now, my personal RSS feed is filled with great content from aroudn the globe with just fabulous points of view and insights. And that's pretty cool.

Now it is not uncommon for my blog postings to get reposted on facebook, or twitter -- attracting new people to the blog that would otherwise not know about it. That wasn't always the case. In December of 2006, 5 months after I started this blog, Facebook celebrated it's 12 millionth profile being created. That sounds like a lot, until you compare it to the more than 400 million profiles that exist on it today.  Twitter officially launched to the public one month prior to me starting the blog -- and almost no one outside of the founders and a few of their friends were using it yet.

A big traffic day on the blog would be when my blog got started was when it got re-posted on a chatroom -- drawing me 30-40 eyeballs. Now, a repost on the No Kill Nation (which has over 150,000 followers) or other facebook page will literally draw several hundred eyeballs almost instatnly.

It has been pretty crazy to watch how quickly information is passed around on Facebook and Twitter. Information spreads so much faster now than it used to.  And that's a good thing. 

Only a few short years ago it seemed like we were all alone, on an island. Now, we all realize that our problems are all the same, and that there are people all over the country are facing the same struggles as we are -- and achieving great things. Knowing it's possible to achieve success is half the battle.

Four years ago I was yet to hear about the No Kill Movement. Redemption was still a year from being published. Now, an entire movement has surrounded the book -- of people who are eagerly pushing for a better way of working with our companion animals - and finding them homes instead of killing them in the shelters that were originally created to help them.

Four years ago, Michael Vick was just a football player. No one knew he even owned dogs -- now many of his former dogs have graced the pages of popular magazines, including being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Parade Magazine, and inspired the writing of a book about them.  It seems so long ago now that it was assumed, even among animal welfare people, that dogs from fight busts had to be systematically killed and could not be rehabilitated. But we'd never tried. And the stories of these dogs going from a horrific environment to being in loving homes has told a completely different story about the ability of dogs to adjust to their new environments.

Yeah, a lot has changed in the past four years. We have a movement based on the idea of saving the lives of healthy and treatable animals. We have shown compassion for the victims of horrible animal cruelty situations and dog fighting situations and decided they should each be given the opportunity to live. Animal lovers everywhere have lended their voices to blog postings -- relaying their stories and their experiences. And more people are learning about these stories, these successes and failures, more quicky than ever via social media outlets that barely existed a short time ago.

It's funny to think back to a time when it felt like we were all on individual islands -- almost alone in our fight to make things better. Because now there are literally hundreds of thousands of people involved in the movement to change the status quo and make things better. They're using their voices to educate others on the internet. Success stories are spreading rapidly. And most importantly, it's a movement based on compassion for the animals.

And that's pretty cool.

And as we look to the future, with the fast ability of information -- of true and accurate information, I expect a movement that didn't exist a short time ago, to gain even more momentum and grow in a way that would have been impossible 4 years ago. And I expect all dogs and cats to get a fighting chance.

And THAT's worth celebrating.

Updates: Two dog attack fatalities in one day in separate incidents

For as rare as dog bite fatalities are, this has been a particularly horrible week.

Today, two children were attacked and killed by dogs -- each in its own way completely preventable and each tragic.

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Update: The girl has been identified as Taylor Becker. The dog has been identified as a 5 year old, AKC registered Boxer. The girl apparently received help pretty quickly after the attack but due to the severity of the injuries died fairly quickly from blood loss.  The story has now been picked up by 79 news outlets.

In Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, a 4 year old girl was attacked and killed by a dog that is being described as a Boxer. The girl and her family went to visit some friends and the girl went outside into the yard unattended and up to the dog who was chained in the back yard. It is unclear if the girl and the dog were familiar with each other - but it is very clear that both the girl's parents, and the dog's owner were inside at the time of the attack and the girl and the dog were unsupervised together.

Authorities found the dog running free when they arrived, but authorities think the dog got free after the attack.

Neighbors have noted that they were fearful of the dog and that the dog had show signs of aggression before.

Many of the warning signs were there that could have prevented this attack -- a dog with a history of aggression, chained to a pole in the back yard and an unsupervised four year old girl left alone with that dog.

My heart goes out to the family.

This story has been picked up by 25 news outlets to this point -- and I'll update any new information that is released on the story.

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In the other attack,7 year old Jason Walker was attacked and killed early this morning by up to four free-roaming dogs. The dogs, currently being described as 3 'pit bulls' and a "mixed breed" were running at large in a rural area in central Illinois near the community of Varna. There is no leash law in the area. 

No one witnessed the attack, so it is unclear how many dogs, and which dogs participated in the attack. One of the dogs is reported to have been aggressive on previous occassions.

Dogs with a history of aggression, allowed to run as a pack at large with no supervision (legally) is a pretty bad recipe -- especially when children may be around.

The story has been picked up by 39 news sources at this time.

My heart also goes out to the Walker family as they deal with this tragedy.

It is my hope that through incidents like this people will learn the underlying causes of dog attacks. In each of these cases, the warning signs were there with previous signs of aggression. In one case, the dogs were still let to roam at-large as a pack, and in the other, the dog was left chained to a post and an unsupervised young girl was allowed to just walk up to the dog.

Both were incidents were preventable with owners taking the care to work with their dogs that have known aggression issues and with the owners properly containing their dogs.