National Canine Research Council

Dutch Study Finds BSL Not Effective In Reducing Dog Bites

A recent article by Cornelissen and Hopster, currently in press at The Veterinary Journal, presents the first part of a study commissioned by the Dutch government, the results of which led to the repeal of breed-specific legislation in the Netherlands.♦ The study is significant in that it is the only known scientific evaluation initiated by a government on a national level to evaluate the effectiveness of breed-specific legislation. The study concluded that breed-specific legislation is not an effective dog bite mitigation strategy. The authors recommend that efforts to reduce dog bites should focus on educating both children and adults on how to better interact with dogs. Based in part on the recommendations in the study, the Dutch government repealed its 15-year-old ban on pit bulls in 2008.

An accompanying Guest Editorial by Dr. Karen L. Overall reinforces the notion that legislating breeds is not an effective strategy for reducing dog bites. Dr. Overall makes the following observations based on the study: focusing on responsible dog ownership practices and human behavior are key to preventing dog bites, and using existing educational programs will teach us how to interact safely with dogs. “The best references,” Dr. Overall writes, “address the point of view most often neglected, namely, the dog’s”.

♦ Cornelissen, J.M.R., Hopster, H. Dog bites in The Netherlands: A study of victims, injuries, circumstances and aggressors to support evaluation of breed specific legislation. The Veterinary Journal (2009), doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.10.001.

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Dogs Automatically Imitate People
Some dogs may look like their owners, but all dogs imitate their human companions.

By Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, dogs often shower us with praise. New research has just determined dogs automatically imitate us, even when it is not in their best interest to do so.

The study, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B, provides the first evidence that dogs copy at least some of our body movements and behaviors in ways that are spontaneous and voluntary.

In other words, they can’t really help themselves when it comes to copying people.

“This suggests that, like humans, dogs are subject to ‘automatic imitation;’ they cannot inhibit online, the tendency to imitate head use and/or paw use,” lead author Friederike Range and her colleagues conclude.

It’s long been known that humans do this, even when the tendency to copy interferes with efficiency.

“For example,” according to the researchers, “if people are instructed to open their mouths as soon as they see the letters ‘OM’ appear on a screen, responses are slower when the letters are accompanied by an image of an opening hand than when they are accompanied by an image of an opening mouth.”

In a scientific first, Range — a University of Vienna researcher in the Department of Cognitive Biology — and her team tested this phenomenon on dogs. Ten adult dogs of various breeds and their owners, from Austria, participated in the experiments.

All of the dogs received preliminary training to open a sliding door using their head or a paw. The dogs then watched their owners open the door by hand or by head. For the latter, the owner would get down on the floor and use his or her head to push up or down on the sliding door.

The dogs were next divided into two groups. Dogs in the first group received a food reward whenever they copied what the owner did. Dogs in the second group received a food reward when they did the opposite.

All of the dogs were inclined to copy what the owner did, even if it meant receiving no food reward.

“This finding suggests that the dogs brought with them to the experiment a tendency automatically to imitate hand use and/or paw use by their owner; to imitate these actions even when it was costly to do so,” the authors report.

The scientists suggest owners would do well to match their own body movements, whenever possible, to tasks at hand during training sessions.

For example, if an owner is trying to teach a dog to shake “hands,” the person might have more success if he stretched out his own hand to demonstrate. The observing dog would then be inclined to stretch out a paw, mirroring what the human did. At that point, a food reward could be offered to the dog, reinforcing the behavior.

The owner is reinforcing bonding and cooperation with the dog, too.

“Researchers have known that human beings prefer the behavior of other people who subtly imitate their gestures and other affects,” said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development.

Alexander worked on another study showing that non-human primates automatically imitate each other. Certain birds do this, too, but it may be very rare in the animal kingdom for one species to almost subconsciously imitate the behavior of a completely different species.

The dog-human bond may therefore have few, if any, parallels.

“Dogs are special animals, both in terms of their evolutionary history of domestication and the range and intensity of their developmental training by humans,” Range and her team explain.

“Both of these factors may enhance the extent to which dogs attend to human activity,” they added, “but the results of the present experiment suggest it is the latter — training in the course of development — which plays the more powerful and specific role in shaping their imitative behavior.”

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Canine CODIS Announced

On June 15, the ASPCA, Humane Society of Missouri, Louisiana SPCA and the University of California, Davis announced the creation of the nation’s first criminal dog-fighting DNA database, the Canine CODIS. According to Tim Rickey, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Field Investigation and Response “This database is an unprecedented and vital component in the fight against animal cruelty and will allow us to strengthen cases against animal abusers and seek justice for their victims.” Ed Sayres, President of the ASPCA, followed up the announcement with a statement to The Huffington Post, in which he said the Canine CODIS “will allow us to tell the victims’ stories – to be the voice of those animals that cannot speak for themselves.”

Every crime has a victim, and the victim of dog fighting is the dog.

Prior to the Michael Vick dog fighting case, the victims in dog fighting cases were often collected as evidence, held until the final outcome, and then summarily destroyed. In the Michel Vick case, the dogs were treated as victims should be — each dog was evaluated individually.

In July 2009, law enforcement, together with the ASPCA, The Humane Society of Missouri and other animal welfare groups, executed the largest fight bust in our nation’s history, seizing over 400 dogs. In this case, as well, The Humane Society of Missouri reported that each dog who suffered the horrible abuse of dog fighting, was evaluated as an individual.

In January 2010, the National Animal Control Association (NACA) adopted guidelines that recommend that animal control agencies “[p]rovide or allow for a behavioral evaluation of each animal to determine appropriate disposition.” This guidance from NACA will continue to ensure that the victims of dog fighting are treated with respect and compassion, and as individuals.

As we embark on new technology, we hope the Canine CODIS will be used for the sole purpose of helping to apprehend people who fight dogs, and will fulfill the promise of liberating the victims, the dogs, from inhumane circumstances. We must continue the progress we have made in treating the dogs as victims.

 

Ohio House strikes down “inherently vicious” designation of pit bulls

May 27, 2010:   The Ohio House of Representatives this afternoon struck down the long-held designation of pit bulls as inherently vicious under Ohio law. The modification to the law was made as an amendment to House Bill 55, which proposes to modify Ohio’s animal cruelty statutes and allows for animals to be included in domestic dispute protection orders.

Currently, pit bulls are designated as “vicious” under Ohio law, triggering various requirements for their owners, including special insurance. The amendment to eliminate the breed discriminatory provision in Ohio law passed by a vote of 86-10, and HB 55 as amended was approved 93 to 3.

Ohio is the only state in the country to designate pit bulls as inherently vicious under state law.

Both the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association and AVMA have long opposed breed discrimination language in law.

The legislation now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration.

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National Canine Research Council takes the occasion of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, May 16 – 22, to focus on some good news about dog bites and to reflect on responsible pet ownership practices that could make the good news even better.

2010 Press release: Good News About Dog Bites

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If it’s ok to discriminate against dogs on the basis of breed, it is ok to regulate any dogs on the basis of breed, as owners of German shepherds, Boxers and Dobermans in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana have now discovered.

Ban would apply to certain breeds
By KORAN ADDO
Advocate Westside bureau
May 12, 2010 -
NEW ROADS — Pointe Coupee Police Juror Russell Young drew a second line in the sand in as many weeks Tuesday, pressing hard for adoption of a parishwide ban on large and potentially dangerous dogs.

Young’s move came as Animal Control Committee Chairwoman Carol Vincent proposed changes to the parish’s animal ordinance calling for tighter restrictions on owners of certain breeds of dogs. The panel is composed of citizen volunteers appointed by the Police Jury.

Under the committee’s proposal, German shepherds, Doberman pinschers, Rottweilers, boxers, Akitas, chow chows and any of the four breeds that fall under the pit bull umbrella would be subject to the new ordinance.

During the discussion, Vincent said that some insurance companies won’t extend homeowner’s insurance to people who own some of the breeds cited by the committee.

That’s when Young stood up and loudly called for a public hearing to set in motion a ban on those breeds.

During the April 27 Police Jury meeting, Young vigorously argued in favor of a ban on pit bull ownership, asserting he would not support any animal control ordinance that didn’t include the ban.

Members of Tuesday’s audience murmured in agreement with Young in calling for a breed-specific ban. However, none of Young’s colleagues on the Police Jury followed suit and the discussion continued.

The committee’s proposal states that owners of the breeds in question must be 18 years old, never have been convicted of a felony, must provide proof that canine vaccinations are up to date and must pay a one-time, $50 licensing fee to own the dog in the parish.

Owners would also be required to place muzzles on their dogs when the dogs are not on the owner’s property and have an identification microchip implanted in the animal, allowing animal control officers to identify a loose dog’s owner.

The proposal further requires the specified breeds be kept in their owner’s home or behind a chain link, wooden, or electronic fence.

When jurors suggested the parish would have trouble paying to enforce such a new ordinance, committee member Steve Juge pointed to fines the ordinance would impose.

“Once you start putting these regulations in place, this body will have the money to hire people to enforce the ordinance,” Juge told the Police Jury.

The fines would range up to $500 for a first violation of the ordinance, not less than $300 for a second violation and $500 for a third violation.

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Pit bull ban fails to reduce dog bites in Ontario
By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun

April 28, 2010 — The provincial government is barking up the wrong tree by dooming pit bulls in a bid to collar dog attacks, says the embattled Toronto Humane Society.

A survey of municipalities conducted by the society revealed no significant drop in dog bite cases since the government passed breed specific legislation in 2005 that resulted in “countless” pit bulls and related Staffordshire Terriers being destroyed.

In a statement, the THS called on the provincial government to amend its breed specific legislation and “stop the punishment of innocent animals.”

According to the society, there was a 10% drop in dog bite cases from 2004 to 2005, to just over 5,000. The survey showed a slight drop again in 2006, then the number of cases increased to about to about the 2005 level by last year.

“Banning the entire breed is not a solution,” THS spokesman Ian McConachie told the Sun.

The province should look at alternatives like licensing animal owners and better public education, he said.

“Dogs are not born violent,” McConachie said. Instead, they are “made that way by irresponsible owners who train them to be that way or neglect them and they develop behavioural problems.

Attorney General Chris Bentley was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the ministry of the attorney general, said the government heard clearly from Ontarians that they wanted protection from pit bulls.

“This legislation ensures that there are fewer opportunities for vicious attacks by a pit bull,” Crawley said. “As time continues, we will be able to see the full effects of the legislative amendments and municipal enforcement efforts.”

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo said she plans to table a private member’s bill next week aimed at repealing the “absurd” breed-specific aspects of the Dog Owners’ Liability Act.

She noted that Scotland’s parliament just repealed its breed ban and England seemed poised to make a similar move.

“We’re just behind the curve on this one,” she said. “It has not effected dog bites or fatal dog bites one iota, “It has nothing to do with the breed, it has to do with the deed and the owner.”

DiNovo said she expects the bill will be a hot topic when the legislature resumes in the fall.

“(The legislation) simply makes no sense,” she said.

NCRC Comment:   Breed specific legislation  targets dogs according to their appearance while blithely ignoring the behavior of owners. The province of Ontario is yet another  jurisdiction where a long-standing ban against  any dog that appears to be a pit bull has resulted in no decrease in dog-related incidents.

Has Denver’s strict breed ban reduced the frequency or severity of dog attacks in the city?

Has BSL been effective in  Miami-Dade ?

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In response to Supreme Court’s  Stevens decision, Congress moves to outlaw crush videos

April 22, 2010 — With commendable promptness, more than 50 members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have signed on to H.R. 5092, a bill that would outlaw “crush” videos within the guidelines established by the Supreme Court in its decision in U.S. v. Stevens.

H.R. 5092 defines an animal crush video as “any visual depiction, including any photograph, motion-picture film, video recording, or electronic image, which depicts animals being intentionally crushed, burned, drowned, or impaled, that–

`(A) depicts actual conduct in which a living animal is tortured, maimed, or mutilated that violates any criminal prohibition on intentional cruelty under Federal law or the law of the State in which the depiction is sold; and

`(B) taken as a whole, does not have religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical, or artistic value.”

Defenders of the original law, the Depiction of Animal Cruelty Act, which President Bill Clinton signed in 1999, expressed alarm that crush videos, which had disappeared from the Internet in the years following enactment of the law, would make a quick comeback in the wake of the Stevens decision.

Bob Stevens, a well-known figure in the dog fighting world, was convicted in 2005 of selling videotapes graphically depicting dog fights. It is not clear whether or not whether the new law would touch Stevens’ videos.

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Brampton Frees Brittany and Rambo.

April 20, 2010 — Accepting the opinion of an independent veterinarian that Brittany and Rambo are not pit bulls, the City of Brampton, Ontario has released the two dogs to their owners, after 97 days in captivity.

As heartening as this outcome is, it is but a fragment of silver lining to the continuing cloud of Ontario’s medieval Dog Owner’s Liability Act. For Rambo, Brittany, and their families, that cloud takes the form of an agreement with the City that both dogs be deemed “potentially dangerous,” and wear muzzles in public. Think of it as throwing embarrassed officialdom a bone.

The City issued a statement today regarding the terms of the agreement, over the names of the City’s and the families’ attorneys.

There has been never been a complaint against either dog for running at large, aggression or biting.  

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ANOTHER Horrible Case of Animal Abuse

ANOTHER dog that endured the worst from humans

ANOTHER reason why “dog bite statistics” are meaningless

NCRC Comment:   Here is another of the untold cases of animal abuse that happen daily throughout this country.   No one keeps track, nor is there any way to know, how many dogs suffer at the hands of man and DO NOT bite.

Unless there is a way to keep track or acknowledge the thousands or tens of thousands of dogs that suffer abuse and still do not bite humans, “dog bite statistics” are useless in evaluating the behavior or “dangerousness” of dogs.

April 7, 2010:   It was a vicious attack: a puppy tied to a pole and then pummeled with rocks and even bricks.

The good news is “Christie” survived.  But workers at BARCS, Baltimore’s animal shelter, don’t know who’s responsible.  And they’re asking for your help.

The one-year old pit bull mix found battered and bruised over the weekend.  BARCS Program Manager Debra Rahl says Christie was tied to a pole Easter Sunday morning in the 3700 block of Greenspring Avenue near Martin Luther King Elementary School.  She says some children, believed to be as young as 12 years old, were throwing rocks and bricks at her.

Rahl says a good samaritan who tried to intervene also was threatened and he says the children started throwing rocks at him.

Christie eventually was taken to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter with severe injuries.  According to Rahl, “At that time, her face was swollen, her eyes were swollen shut, you can see she still has wounds on top of her head.”

While animal rescue workers expect Christie to make a full recovery, Debra Rahl says it’s hard to believe what she endured, “It breaks my heart to think anyone could be this cruel to an animal, but on the other hand, how resilient this dog is, and trusting.  How can you be cruel to an animal like this?”

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Rest in Peace Gucci

March 26, 2010:   MOBILE, Alabama - Gucci, the dog Florence native Doug James rescued from torture who went on to become the namesake of a state law that makes animal abuse a felony, died March 24th.

James caught some youths torturing the chow-husky mix one night in 1994. The youths hanged the dog by his neck and set him on fire.

Word about the cruelty spread and started a campaign for animal rights that resulted in the Pet Protection Act, better known as the “Gucci Law,” in Alabama.

The act was made official May 19, 2000 – the sixth anniversary of the attack – with Gucci present when then-Gov. Don Siegelman signed it. It makes intentional animal cruelty a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Gucci became a celebrity, making countless appearances at schools and pet organizations. He also was on “The Maury Povich Show” and “Inside Edition” and played “Sandy” in Mobile theatrical productions of “Little Orphan Annie.”

“We’d go places – this is no lie – and people would yell, ‘Hey, there’s Gucci’ and they wouldn’t have any idea who I was,” James said.

Gucci left a legacy for his fellow animals in this state.

“Because of Gucci, animals do have rights in Alabama, thanks to the Gucci Law,” James said. “That’s his legacy. It’s a felony, and abusers can go to prison for it.”

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Neville the pit bull to retire from job as bomb sniffer for WSP

By Meg Coyle,  King 5 News

March 25, 2010: SEATTLE – He’s got a reputation, but he’s not living up to it. And that’s a good thing. Neville the pit bull is working the ferry lines at Seattle’s Coleman Dock.

He isn’t supposed to be here. Neville was on death row in Canada until an escape worthy of a spy novel got him across the border and into the K-9 work force. Today he protects the people who almost failed him.

“He’s the kind of dog who would take a bullet for you,” said Neville’s handler, Trooper David Dixon. “And there are people like me who had a bad idea of pit bulls in the past that may change their mind and love them because they’re great.”

“He’s so sweet. I love it when you pet him and he just smashes up against you. You feel the love,” said Diana Cameron, who works at the espresso stand on the dock.

And after five years and 21 actual finds of weapons or explosives, Neville prepares to hang up his badge for good. He is scheduled to retire in September.

Neville was the first pit bull on explosives patrol for the Washington State Patrol. And he’s helped pave the way for four others to follow in his footsteps.

WSP currently has five pit bulls working narcotics or explosives. But Trooper Dixon says it’s not so much about the breed as it is the sniffer and the disposition. Neville has a nose that knows and the temperament of a dedicated officer. Not to mention his success has helped booster the reputation of a breed known more to be fighters than crime fighters.

Trooper Dixon estimates that Neville does detection work on 150,000 vehicles a year. One dog’s life was spared to benefit the lives of countless others.

Neville will remain with Trooper Dixon after his retirement.

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Cash-strapped Denver settles one breed-ban case for cash. Other plaintiffs prepare to file?

Denver, Colorado’s legal woes and expenses are mounting.  No sooner has the City settled one of the two cases filed in federal court in 2007, than two other challenges to the Denver pit bull ban (Section 855) are said to be in preparation. A short-handed City Attorney, despite a municipal budget deficit estimated at between $120 million and $200 million, has been forced to engage outside counsel to take charge of the litigations.

Plaintiffs in Arnold et. al. v Denver have agreed to a financial settlement.   In addition to the payment of cash, Denver has agreed to procedural changes in the enforcement of Section 855.   The details of those changes, which Denver will implement this spring, have not yet been made public.

The settlement follows a ruling last fall in an unrelated matter regarding a dog named Dexter. That case has revealed that the city was relying upon inadequately trained personnel and faulty evidence to identify breeds banned under Section 855.

The Arnold settlement does not affect the well-publicized challenge to the constitutionality of the Denver statute, Dias et al v Denver, which proceeds. As well, one of the plaintiff’s has dropped out of Arnold, and will now file a separate constitutional challenge. A third constitutional challenge, from yet another plaintiff, may be in preparation.

Denver has engaged the firm of Wells, Anderson and Race to take over Dias.  The firm began to assume the defense late last year. So far, cash-strapped Denver has made payments to Wells of $4768.68 in December, and $10,336.75 in January.  The records of these taxpayer expenses may be obtained under the terms of the Colorado Open Records Act.  The fees are in addition to the cash settlement to the Arnold plaintiffs.

It is not known whether Denver will respond through the City Attorney or add to the caseload of Well, Anderson and Race, in the event the rumored new challenges are filed.

Last summer, Denver asked its public safety unions to give up previously negotiated raises, in light of the City’s deteriorating financial situation.

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Where do breed identifications come from?

March 8, 2010: In the morning, on Iowa Tribe lands near  Perkins, Oklahoma, an infant was killed in his parents’ home by a dog or dogs. Neither the family nor the investigating authorities released any details concerning the incident.  The first news accounts appear that afternoon.

March 9, 2010: Neither the victim’s family nor the authorities provide any further information to reporters.

However, television station KFOR in Oklahoma City, goes with a story about the incident, describing the dog as a family dog, while in the same paragraph mentioning that the family had only acquired the dog the day before. While KFOR has no official or eyewitness accounts to rely on, the station has been contacted by Stephen Wood, who identified himself as a cousin of the victim.  He told the reporter that his mother, presumably the child’s aunt, had called him with the news of the infant’s death. While acknowledging that he has no specifics – he does not even know the age of the “girl”– he speculates about what happened and identifies the dog as a Rottweiler.  He then launches into a narrative on the nature of Rottweilers.

KTLA in Los Angeles picks up the KFOR story, including the comments of Stephen Wood. KTLA goes with the printed headline, “Family Dog Kills 8-month old child.” The story is posted on the KTLA website by 6 p.m. that night.

In New Jersey, examiner.com also picks up the KFOR report, adding its own comments and adding a picture of a Rottweiler.  It is not, of course, a picture of the dog believed to have been involved.  Remember that neither the family nor the authorities have, to this point, released any statements regarding the incident. It is actually the photo of a dog named Maynard, whose tragic story can be found on the NCRC website. The picture of Maynard has been posted on the NCRC site since last year.  Maynard had been shot and left for dead on a Forest Service Road near North Bend, Washington. Due to the severity of his wounds, veterinarians were forced to euthanize the dog four days after he was found. http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/in-your-state/washington/abuseneglect/

March 10, 2010: At 7:00 a.m. local time, Tribal Administrator Stephanie Ramsey releases a statement to reporters. She says that the victim was Justin Lopez, an 8-month-old boy (and not a “girl” as identified by Stephen Wood in the initial reports). She says two adult dogs attacked the infant after the animals were brought inside for shelter from the rain.  Ramsey says the dogs had been given to the family the day before. She declines to say what breed the animals are. http://www.kfsm.com/lifestyle/sns-ap-ok–dogattack,0,3065518,print.story

KFOR in Oklahoma City, relied on information obtained from Stephen Wood on both the victim and the breed of dog.  It has now been revealed that the victim was not a girl, but a boy.  If KFOR’s source (Stephen Wood) was not able to accurately identify the family member who was attacked, how are we to believe that any information provided about the dogs will be any more reliable?

Dog bite investigators anxious to tally incidents by breed will rely on the published reports of KFOR and examiner.com.  The fact that no one of authority or with knowledge of the incident had identified the breed/type of dog prior to the publication of these articles seems less important to some than assigning a “breed” to this incident. 

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A Brampton “Pit bull”

The latest from Brampton, Ontario:  The City lawyers up!

As of March 4, 2010:  According to the Brampton Guardian, the City will stand by the seizure of Brittany and Rambo last January 13th, even going to the expense of hiring additional outside counsel to represent them in the as-yet unscheduled legal proceeding.

Rui Branco, whose family owns Brittany, has also retained counsel, since the matter before the bar is the life or death of the family’s pet.   Supporters have set up a defense fund to help with the expense, that they have named saveontariodogs.

The City of Brampton  has a much larger fund for the defense of its actions.  Their fund is named  taxes.

Meanwhile, Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell has tried to navigate the heavy seas between the rock of the breed  bans and and the hard place of public outrage.   She told reporters that she is not in favor of the provincial law.

Apparently, the Mayor has a different attitude toward breed bans at the local level. In August of 2005, two weeks before the provincial ban was enacted, Mayor Fennell signed into law the Brampton municipal dog by-law banning pit bulls.

While the Mayor expressed her opposition — to what, exactly? —  in one venue, city officials continued their sterile defense of the seizure of Rambo and Brittany as a non-discretionary legal obligation under both provincial and local law. They have not attempted to assert a defense on the substantial merits.

On Saturday, February 20th, supporters of Brittany and Rambo held a three-hour rally outside of Brampton City Hall.  It is not expected that there will be a similar rally in support of the government.

* * *

Ontario Dogs on Death Row

February 5, 2010 – Brittany and Rambo, two dogs that haven’t bothered anyone, languish in the Brampton Animal Shelter, awaiting judicial proceedings for the capital crime of being labeled “pit bulls” in Ontario.

The two were born in separate litters of the same parents.   The dam is a purebred boxer.   The sire was classified at one time as a pit bull, though the only veterinarian who has seen him says that he is an American bulldog/Boxer cross. The city, whose animal control seized the dogs in separate actions January 13, contends the original classification of the sire is enough to mark his offspring for destruction.

However, confronted now by a storm of outrage and unwanted publicity, Brampton authorities postponed the execution originally set for February 5th.  A city spokesperson says that the city will proceed “with an abundance of caution” in determining whether or not the dogs meet the definition of pit bull under the Ontario’s Dog Owners’ Liability Act. Brampton has not, as of this writing, set a new date for issuing its determination.

Are the men, women and children of Brampton safer today than they were on the day before Brittany and Rambo were seized, whatever the breed labels the city places on them? Has the government of Brampton set an example that any other municipality should even consider following?

The answer to both questions, of course, is no.

Brittany’s owner, Rui Branco, told Global News that six squad cars pulled up to his home, and intimidated the family into surrendering their pet.

Rambo, owned by 75-year-old Maria Gaspar, had been spotted in his yard.  Though licensed as an American bull dog/Boxer cross, and properly vaccinated, Animal Control declared Rambo a pit bull, and removed him from his home.

What we are witnessing in the story of Rambo and Brittany in Brampton is not a community securing its citizens from harm, but, rather, a full flowering of the abusiveness which results from laws such as Ontario’s DOLA. Trapped by its own reactive officiousness, the Brampton government has committed itself to defending the actions of Animal Control and hiding behind the letter of the DOLA, never mind the documentation presented by the dogs’ owners and veterinarians, and never mind that the dogs were at home bothering no one when animal control invaded private property and spirited them away.

Some have hastened to the dogs’ defense – and blessed be all who have —  contending that Brittany and Rambo are not pit bulls.  We don’t argue with that. They don’t look like pit bulls to us either. But it’s not enough that the dogs do not look like pit bulls. It won’t be enough if the City of Brampton beats a bureaucratically comfortable retreat from the ill-considered ground it has staked out, and reunites Brittany with the Brancos, and Rambo with Maria Gaspar.

It is only enough when all the dogs of Ontario are secure in their lives with the people who love them.

“This is what happens when you unleash badly written, abusive legislation onto a public, and then put it into the hands of bureaucrats who make it their own and use it to terrorize people,” MPP Cheri Di Novo told Global News.  DiNovo has previously introduced a bill to repeal the breed specific provisions of the Dog Owner’s Liability Act.

Not that far to the west, Calgary’s breed-neutral Animal and By-Law Services has set an example of service and cooperation with its citizens that Brampton, and all Ontario, would do well to emulate.

Ontario’s Parliament passed this vicious law. The story of Brittany and Rambo in Brampton is an excellent reason to unpass it.

 

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What has remained the same from that day to this?

It is the purpose of the NCRC to honor the contribution that dogs make to our lives.  Nevertheless, because of  the volume and scope of sensationalized misinformation about fatal dog attacks that saturates the internet, we are prompted  to address the statistically insignificant number of dogs that inflict fatal injuries.

An examination of the fatal dog attacks that we have been able to identify that occurred 25 years ago demonstrates the point that we have been trying to make for years, and that earlier researchers into fatal dog attacks made:  that the breeds of dogs involved in fatal attacks change over time.

What does not change is the circumstances surrounding the majority of these incidents: chained dogs, unsupervised children with unfamiliar dogs, and reckless behavior on the part of some adult victims.

See list of fatal dog attacks from 1974:

NCRC FDA 1974

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NCRC Comment:  We all like to believe we can visually identify different breeds of dogs, but new research by animal experts is proving otherwise.   Denver Post Columnist, Bill Johnson, admits he too, has been “educated” on the unreliability of visual breed identifications.

If experts cannot ID dog breeds, how can cities?

 
By Bill Johnson,  Denver Post Columnist
December 16, 2009

So you think you know about dogs?

Sorry, you do not.

I break this news to you only because I got put to such a test Tuesday, along with about two dozen animal-shelter directors, volunteers, dog trainers and others who make a dog-related living.

The task was simple: View 20 dogs on a videotape and identify each one. Is it purebred or mixed? If believed a mix, what is the mixture of each?

How hard could it be?

All I know about dogs, I quickly learned, is that one lives with me. Of the 20 dogs shown, I got the breed correct one time, but only because it looked like Lupe, my mutt.

I did only slightly worse than the professionals.

“I was completely wrong. I probably got three to four out of the 20,” claimed Laurie Buffington, a Berthoud dog trainer, as we left a classroom at the Longmont Humane Society.

“Think you can tell just by looking?” was the teaser for the breed identification study we participated in. It was run by Victoria L. Voith, a professor of animal behavior in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University in Pomona, Calif.

What I and the others ultimately learned is you cannot simply look at a dog and know what it is.

Shelter workers, she explained, are generally 75 percent wrong when they list or tell you the breed of a dog. The only sure-fire way of knowing, she said, is DNA testing.

“I started this study,” Voith said, “because I am a lover of German shepherds and was appalled that every short-haired breed with brown hair was called a German shepherd. It simply isn’t so.”

Outside of the Lupe-looking Chihuahua-mix, I thought every dog looked like a pit bull or a shepherd-mix.

“So what in the hell is Lupe?” I jotted in frustration in my notebook about halfway through the session. I was not getting even remotely close.

My favorite of all was the 20th dog, a three-legged cutie that had been thrown from a car. She was not the English sheepdog I suspected, but a shih-tzu. Everyone else misidentified her too.

Through her work, Voith hopes to put to the lie two things: studies on which dogs bite the most, and the wisdom of municipal breed-specific bans, such as Denver’s, where hundreds of suspected pit bulls have been put to death.

“Visual identification simply is not in high agreement with DNA analysis,” she said when I protested that a dog I had falsely, dead-to-rights identified as a pit bull turned out through DNA testing to be mostly Dalmatian. “Dogs in Denver may be dying needlessly,” she said.

She hopes that her work, which she expects to be published in a year, will better inform cities and statistics gatherers on breeds most likely to bite.

“We really don’t know yet. I don’t think we have ever really known,” she said.

The professionals all walked out scratching their heads, each mumbling something akin to “that was very informative!”

“I always thought I was really good at identifying breeds,” a chastened Shantel Southwick, another Berthoud trainer, moaned. “And cities are killing dogs based on uninformed visual identification? That’s pretty scary. It’s heartbreaking, really.”

[Victoria Lea Voith, PhD, DVM, DACVB, is a Professor of Animal Behavior at Western University.]

* * *

Do You Know a Pit Bull Mix when You See One?

Animal controls and shelters assign a breed label to every dog they admit into their facility.  How accurate is a label given a mixed breed dog whose parentage is unknown?  And what does the label signify? Does it strengthen or weaken the human-canine bond? In a climate of breed discrimination, the label “pit bull” or “pit bull mix” can signify a great deal, even life or death for the dog.  If the label “pit bull mix” meant the dog would never leave the shelter, how would you label these sixteen dogs?

Most people think these dogs are pit bull mixes

How about a Labrador Retriever mix?

Most people think these dogs are lab mixes

***

The dog pictured above is  a sad and terrible reminder of the untold number of abused dogs that suffer at the hands of human beings.  How many dogs tolerate unimaginable cruelty, yet live and die quietly, unrecognized and unnoticed?

There is a great deal to be learned from the overwhelming and silent majority of dogs that don’t bite. Among other things, we might have more compassion, as a society, for dogs that seem to have every reason to bite, but don’t.  We might be more aware that a great many dogs do not live in familial, companionable circumstances with the human beings upon whom they are dependent for their very survival.

We might even turn our attention away from the dogs long enough to look at the owners who do them wrong.

If there is any wisdom to be gleaned from epidemiological and behavioral research into dogs that have bitten, would it not be even more illuminating to study the dogs in distress that haven’t bitten, even in the face of extreme neglect and/or cruelty?

***

The real meaning in dog bite statistics is that dogs are incredibly tolerant of human behavior.

Tallies  of severe or fatal dog attacks reveal  no useful information on general canine behavior because they are only a tally of  an infinitesimal number of dogs  that reacted to a situation with extreme aggression.

The dog below is one of the thousands or perhaps millions of dogs  that despite suffering tremendous provocation and abuse, still attack no one.

What about a study of that dog?

* * *

Man assaults police by throwing pit bull at them.  Dog does not bite the officers.

August 20, 2009:  St. Petersburg, Florida — An assailant who attacked police officers used a dog, police said, throwing a pit bull at officers not once, but twice.

The dog did not attack the officers either time he was thrown at them.

“That’s a new one,” St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said of the incident involving the dog.

The assault took place at 4114 Fairfield Ave. S.   A woman recovering from surgery told police her troubled son refused to leave their home.

The son, Renaldo L. Gary, wouldn’t budge from the doorway, police said. Then he struck Officer Michael Romano, ran outside and grabbed a family pet.

Gary threw the dog at Officer Romano, police said, yanked on the dog’s chain, pulled the animal back to him and then thew it at the officer again.

In stark contrast to the dog, Gary hit Officer Norma Alanis, police said, and shook off two Taser blasts and a dose of pepper gas before the two officers handcuffed him.

***

Find out by trying to identify Zeus (pictured below) and by taking our test

Hi, I’m Zeus.    Can you guess what kind of dog I am?

DNA is now proving that visual identifications are NOT reliable in determining a dog’s genetic make-up.

Answer to Zeus’s Breed:   Zeus’s ancestry contains significant amount (over 50%) Labrador Retriever.  Zeus also has faint signals from other breeds which are not strong enough to identify. *

Wisdom Panel™ MX Tested: February 2009

***

National Canine Research Council