Does your dog love water from the garden hose? Be careful, there may be dangers lurking there.

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Fixing our nation’s shelters: Yes, there ought to be a law

May 25, 2011

It’s true: I was against legislating shelter reform before I was for it.

But a string of particularly horrific stories of abuse and neglect in our nation’s shelters, as well as watching our economy crash and burn because we’d gotten to the point where we were basically letting Wall Street “regulate” itself, have combined to turn me into a shelter reform flip-flopper.

That’s why I’m now strongly supporting passage of laws based on the model “Companion Animal Protection Act” (CAPA) in every state in the U.S. From my column today on SFGate.com:

It’s more than a little disturbing to consider how little actual “shelter” homeless pets receive in some agencies bearing that name. Take Tennessee’s Memphis Animal Shelter, for example.

Conditions there were so bad that they prompted a high-profile sheriff’s raid on the facility in 2009. Investigators found animals starving to death and going without water; there were even allegations of dog-fighting going on at the agency

After the raid, the city installed webcams inside the facility so citizens could see what was going on behind the scenes, but even then, conditions didn’t improve all that much.

Blogger Shirley Thistlewaite, who has been covering the situation in the Memphis shelter for more than a year, posts webcam images from MAS several times a month.

Some of the images show dogs being dragged, terrified, to the kill room. Others show cats being poked with sticks by staff members. There are examples of workers violating city policies, of pets escaping from kennels and cages, even of a puppy being hauled to his death, dangling from a worker’s hand that was holding a fistful of the loose skin on the puppy’s back.

If you’re tempted to dismiss the situation at MAS as an aberration, think again. Other animal control facilities may not have webcams in their backrooms, but volunteers and animal rescuers frequently report abuse and neglect in shelters all over the country.

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I don’t normally get on board the legislative express when it comes to reform. I think that education and advocacy are the best approaches to take when trying to change things. In fact, when (CAPA author Nathan) Winograd proposed that San Francisco adopt its own version of CAPA at a meeting of the city’s Animal Welfare Commission two years ago, I didn’t agree. I thought it was micromanagement. I thought it was government run amuck.

I’ve changed my mind. There are simply too many abuses going on in too many shelters, and too many of them are going unpunished or even uninvestigated. The provisions of CAPA are not outrageous, and most of them are being used already by the best shelters in the country, including animal control agencies in Reno, Nev., Charlottesville, N.C., and Ithaca, N.Y.

Read the complete article, including about the launch of Rescue-50, a joint project of Winograd’s No Kill Advocacy Center and the Florida organization No Kill Nation, to pass CAPA nationwide, here.

Photo: Puppies in a feces-smeared cage in a “shelter,” courtesy of Nathan Winograd.

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Oh those teenage months: Sisko is there!

Sisko, at eight months of age, has hit adolescence. And boy has he!

He’s challenging and pushy, loving and affectionate, bold and brassy, and fearful and cautious. He’s long-legged and gangly, and his adult coat is just coming in so he looks slightly moth-eaten. If he weren’t so tragic I’d laugh at him.

I have to admit, Bashir and Archer spoiled me. Bashir never really had an adolescence; I think he sprang from his mother’s womb mentally an adult. All he had to do was grow up physically. And Archer had an adolescence but he hit it a little later –  he was slow to mature –  and so it was short and not at all a problem. Riker, who is going on twelve, was our last dog who had a challenging teenage stage. So it has been a few years.

But that’s not to say I don’t deal with canine adolescence. I talk to dog owners about it on a daily basis. So many people have a wonderful puppy who’s doing so well and then the puppy hits 8, 9, or 10 months of age and changes! They call me or come to class and wonder what on earth happened to their sweet puppy. But when I explain, “Well, think about yourself at 14, 15 or 16 years of age … “  they understand.

I always remind them that when a puppy hits adolescence his behavior hasn’t changed just to torment them; it’s a natural part of the growing up process. Dogs, horses, people –  we all go through this. But now that my puppy has hit this stage, it is hard to remember that he isn’t doing this to me. When I ask him to sit and he stands, or lays down, or turns away; or when he carries twenty rocks into the house; or chases the cat who already wants to kill him; I have to tell myself, “His brain is growing and changing; it’s not his fault.”

I will admit, though, that watching Sisko with the other dogs has been interesting. It’s a constant lesson in this stage of life, as well as body language, canine communication, and canine social order.

Bashir and Sisko play often. They run, chase toys, chase the wild rabbits at the training yard, and even wrestle. They’re good friends and Bashir is a good role model. When they’re napping, Sisko is usually close to Bashir, if not touching him.

At the same time, though, Bashir doesn’t let Sisko get away with anything. Bashir knows deep in his soul how dogs are supposed to behave with and around each other and he doesn’t tolerate rudeness. He’s patient, calm, and steady as a rock. But, don’t body-slam him unless he’s playing, and don’t try to take his toy or bone. He makes an ugly face and if Sisko doesn’t back down, there’s a growl, a quick lunge and Sisko is on his back. Where he generally stays for a few seconds, and if he could I’m sure he’d ask if anyone saw the truck that hit him.

Archer was sick for two months of Sisko’s puppyhood and I have to admit, Sisko was awesome with him. He was gentle and didn’t pick on Archer, or push him. But apparently now that Archer is all better now the gloves are off. These two are closest in age and Sisko apparently thinks Archer would make a great playmate. Archer’s getting back to normal and the two are playing more. However, when Archer — who is very patient — loses his patience, he’ll tell Sisko off with an impressive growl. Since Archer rarely ever growls, everyone — including me! — pays attention.

The biggest change has been in Riker. When Sisko joined our family Riker made it plain he’d already raised Bashir and Archer and he hadn’t asked for another puppy. He wasn’t rude to the puppy; instead, he ignored him. Even at five and six months of age, Sisko had figured out he could pick on the old man and Riker would just turn his head away. I don’t allow any bullies in the house so I stepped in and interfered; Sisko was not to bully Riker.

However, in the last month or so Riker must have realized that Sisko was turning into a teenager because he’s started letting Sisko know that he won’t allow rude behavior either. The other day when Riker was chewing on a bully stick, Sisko had finished his and went over to Riker and stood over him. And I mean, stood over him with his nose an inch from Riker’s ear. In the past, Riker has just gotten up and walked away, leaving his bully stick behind so Sisko can have it.

But this time apparently Riker had enough. I heard this deep growl that must have originated in Riker’s belly. I think Sisko was as surprised as I was because he didn’t look at Riker, he looked around the room, “Who was that?” But then looked down at Riker again. This time Riker pinned his bully stick down with a front paw and stood up, growling again. Keeping his paw on his bully stick, he looked the puppy in the eyes and growled a third time. Sisko backed up as fast as he could, tripping over his back feet as he did.

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. As Sisko pouted on the other side of the room, Riker laid down to finish his bully stick. I don’t think Sisko moved for twenty minutes. I think I giggled for that entire twenty minutes.

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