Breed-Specific Legislation
New Edition of “Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions”
Second edition of “Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions” Released.
July 14, 2014
Second edition of “Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions” Released.
Breed-Specific Legislation on the Decline : 5 more states no longer allow BSL & more than 7x as many U.S. Municipalities repealed or rejected proposed BSL, than enacted it between: January 2012 – May 2014. The national trend is moving steadily away from breed-specific legislation (BSL) and toward breed neutral laws that hold all owners equally accountable for the humane care, custody and control of their dogs. The list of states that are considering and passing legislation to preempt municipalities from
The Telly Awards has named the National Canine Research Council and Safe Humane as a winner in the 35th Annual Telly Awards, Employee Communications and Training categories, for their piece titled “Police & Dog Encounters Video Training Series.” With nearly 12,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this is truly an honor. The video training series, produced by Karl Productions, provides officers with hands-on skills and information to protect themselves, the public and the dogs they encounter in
The heartbreak of a family dog’s death in a police shooting can be avoided while keeping officers safe according to a recent Associated Press story [1] and video [2]. Police and Dog Encounters: Tactical Strategies and Effective Tools to Keep our Communities Safe and Humane is a new five-video series prepares law enforcement officers for interactions with dogs in the line of duty. Police and Dog Encounters is about staying safe. It gives officers hands-on skills and information to protect themselves, the
National Canine Research Council (NCRC) is growing. Janis Bradley, who joined NCRC last year, has been named Director of Communications and Publications. The current Director, Donald Cleary, will continue working with NCRC as a policy and research consultant. Donald co-authored both The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters, a handbook for police responders, published by the U.S. Department of Justice, and of “Co-occurrence of potentially preventable factors in 256 dog bite-related fatalities in the United States (2000 – 2009),” a comprehensive
This week is Dog Bite Prevention Week, and here’s something that most press releases, websites, and lists of do’s and don’ts may not mention: Dogs will do their part to prevent dog bites. All they need is a little help from us. That dog in front of you doesn’t want to bite you. Even if the situation pushes him beyond the remarkable scope of his species’ tolerance for human behavior and makes him feel he needs to defend himself, he
The City of Monash has spent almost $100,000 defending itself in court cases involving dogs targeted by the breed-specific provisions of Australia’s Domestic Animals Act. Cardinia, a suburb of Melbourne, spent $80,000 on a single case involving a dog that the court later determined should not have been taken. The dog was returned to its owner.[1] Whatever their views of dogs and policies that improve community safety, Monash, Cardinia, and other communities have seen their tax dollars wasted on court
Most animal shelters continue to assign breed descriptors to dogs whose origin they do not know[1], even though current university research has shown that breed identification based on visual inspection correlates poorly with DNA breed signature, and that observers will disagree with each other when examining the same dog. These difficulties are only compounded when the descriptor itself is subject to different interpretations. A study by researchers in the US and UK examines the question of whether animal shelter workers
Dr. Rachel Casey from Bristol University in the UK, and colleagues, recently attempted to estimate the number of dogs barking, lunging, growling or biting – the behaviors they grouped together under the term, aggression[1] — and to see if they could identify decisive causes of such behavior. Of more than 14,000 UK dog owners surveyed, 3,897 replied, answering questions about their dogs’ responses to family members, to unfamiliar persons away from the house where the dog lived, and to unfamiliar
On April 3, 2014, the Maryland House of Delegates gave final approval to breed neutral dog bite liability legislation that would abrogate the 2012 Court of Appeals ruling in Tracey v. Solesky, which imposed “breed”-specific liability on dog owners, custodians, and landlords. From the beginning, Maryland residents and lawmakers have been in agreement that the Tracey v. Solesky ruling was not acceptable, but the House and the Senate disagreed on the appropriate standard for dog owner liability. This legislation, SB 247
