Should a City Limit Households to Owning Only Three Dogs?

Meridian, Mississippi, did, and people who own more are being told to get rid of some.

The stereotype of the "crazy cat lady" who keeps scores of cats is so well-worn that it's now little more than an offensive punchline. But in the city of Meridian, Mississippi, the authorities are more worried about people who own too many dogs. The City Council just passed an ordinance limiting residents to no more than three dogs apiece.

Although the council in the city of about 41,000 insists that the ordinance is for the benefit of  dogs and humans, it's being vigorously attacked by owners and shelters alike. The penalty for violating the ordinance is a fine from $50 to $1,000, with as long as 90 days in jail. Every day that a household exceeds the limit, it will be prosecuted as a separate misdemeanor, just as if every day someone were caught burgling a different house.

The ordinance doesn't make allowances for owners who already have more than three dogs, which means that some people are going to have to start making some hard choices if the ordinance remains. Councilman Randy Hammon says that those people will just have to cope with it.

"They are going to have to grow up, get fewer pets," Hammon told the Meridian Star. "We are not in a city where people need to be raising dogs."

Whoa, Mr. Hammon. Just, whoa.

Ashley Owen Hill of Lucky Dog Rescue offered a different perspective: "For a lot of people, dogs are their children, and this is basically asking them to get rid of some of their children, pick and choose between which children they can keep, and without any warning or real reason."

But to Hammon and other supporters of the ordinance, they're protecting the community from pet owners who have no consideration for either their pets or their neighbors. In one recent case, a single person was keeping 38 dogs on one piece of property; when animal control came in, officers took away only six of the dogs. 

"You need to have your neighbors' best interests at heart as well as your own," Hammon says. "If you want to raise them or sell them, go out in the county, get a pen and set yourself up."

Cats aren't included in the law. Meridian residents can continue to have as many cats -- or any other domestic animal -- as they want because the city doesn't see them causing as many problems in terms of noise and crowding. The ordinance was inspired by residents who complained about their neighbors keeping large numbers of dogs, such as the one that Hammon mentioned.

Councilwoman Kim Houston made a similar argument: "To have 10 or 20 dogs in one tight spot in a fence without the ability to really move around is really not good for the animal, the owner, or the neighbors."

No doubt, and we advocate against this type of hoarding. But a limit of three? Even if the dogs are happy and healthy with all the space they need? And did we mention that people who'll have to get rid of animals they love?

The extra dogs will eventually have to go somewhere, and that means that a lot of them will probably wind up in shelters, perhaps being killed before they can find a family. It's hard to argue that someone should be keeping 38 dogs in an urban area, but the strict limit might be going after the problem with an awfully big stick, especially when you consider how much people love their dogs.

Hill acknowledges the problem of overcrowding in homes and shelters, but she believes that the ordinance is the wrong solution. She favors promoting spaying and neutering of dogs.

"That cuts down on the overpopulation," she says. "That cuts down on the issues with overcrowding as well, so I think that's where the focus should be instead of on limiting the number of pets people can have."

Via Meridian Star and WTOK

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Sad News: Leaf the Rescue Greyhound Is Gone

The dog who spent her life breeding puppies at a dog-racing track crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

Today is a sad day for us at Dogster. A rescue Greyhound named Leaf, who bred puppies at an Oklahoma dog-racing track for years and whose dog mom, Teresa King, we talked with just last week, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Teresa lives in California, and she fell in love with Leaf,who had spent her entire life in the racetrack kennel. For Teresa it was love at first sight when she saw a picture of Leaf online. She spent the next three years adopting three of Leaf's puppies, but never forgot that mama dog whose picture she had fallen in love with. Finally just this summer Tereasa was able to bring Leaf home to California.

As Leaf was settling into her much deserved retirement, and for the first time had a home of her own complete with walks, squishy dog beds, and peanut butter, she was diagnosed with cancer. This morning Dogster got the sad news that Leaf had peacefully passed away. It seems impossibly cruel that this story of faith and love could end so soon. But maybe it hasn't. Although Leaf didn't live long after rescue to enjoy her newfound freedom, she made the most out of every moment she was given, and her story and legacy continues to live on.

All of us here at Dogster want to express our condolences to Leaf's mom, Teresa, the rest of her canine pack, and the dedicated folks of Golden State Greyhound Adoption, who worked tirelessly to save Leaf, her puppies and countless other Greyhounds.

About the author: Sassafras Lowrey is a dog-obsessed author based in Brooklyn. She is the winner of the 2013 Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation, and the editor of two anthologies and one novel. Sassafras is a Certified Trick Dog Instructor, and she assists with dog agility classes. She lives with her partner, two dogs of dramatically different sizes, and two bossy cats. She is always on the lookout for adventures with her canine pack. Learn more at her website.

Read more by Sassafras Lowrey:

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Monument for Military Dogs Is Set to Open in San Antonio

The Lackland Air Force Base structure honors the four breeds used most often in the military.

The United States government has no shortage of military monuments, but until now, there have been no national monuments commemorating dogs who have served alongside the soldiers. On Monday (Oct. 28) at an Air Force base in San Antonio, that changes.

A dedication ceremony for the U.S. Working Dog Teams National Monument, whose backers we interviewed earlier this year, will be held at Lackland Air Force Base, which has been home to the Military Work Dogs program since 1958. The program trains dogs for a variety of jobs including patrolling and detection of drugs or explosives. Right now, the U.S. armed forces have about 2,300 active working dogs in their ranks.

The monument is the passion of 65-year-old John Burnam, who served as a scout dog handler in Vietnam.

"I experienced firsthand how valuable these dogs are at saving soldiers' lives," Burnam said in a press statement. "Yet, despite their value, when we pulled out of Vietnam the dogs were left behind. They were fellow soldiers and they were our best friends. They were heroes and they were left to die. So I was determined to get the dogs, of all wars, recognized at the highest level of our nation's government and then build them a magnificent national monument to ensure they would never be forgotten again."

The monument that is the culmination of Burnam's effort depicts a modern military dog handler, surrounded by four dogs, representing the breeds that have been most commonly used in the military: a Doberman Pinscher, a German Shepherd, a Labrador Retriever, and a Belgian Malinois. Today, the majority of dogs serving with the armed forces are Shepherds.

Dogs have been used in the U.S. military in various capacities for more than a century: During World War I, they were used to clear rats and other vermin from the trenches. It was during World War II that the military started training them in mass quantities. More than 10,000 dogs were trained and deployed in World War II, mostly as sentries.

The training that dogs go through today is far more sophisticated than it was in the 1940s, and dogs go almost everywhere that humans do. Training for military dogs can include learning to jump out of helicopters, or even remaining calm in free fall while parachuting with a human handler.

While so much is becoming virtualized and remote-controlled, dogs are becoming more a part of the military than ever. Most of them might not be able to appreciate the big bronze monument that Burnam worked to get them, but hopefully it will make humans appreciate them a little more.

Via Huffington Post

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Friends and Family Use Social Media to Fight for Phineas the Dog's Life

The death-row Labrador, accused of biting a girl, went missing days before an appeal hearing.

Amber and Patrick Sanders have been fighting for 16 months to save their yellow Labrador, Phineas, from being euthanized. Mayor Gary Brown of Salem, Missouri, declared Phineas to be "vicious" after the dog was accused of biting 7-year-old Kendall Woolman in June 2012 while she was visiting for a play date. On Thursday, Oct. 17, the Sanders had a hearing before the Missouri Court of Appeals, and brought a dog-bite expert to testify that the teeth marks on the girl's skin couldn't have been made by a dog. The judge is expected to bring a verdict within a week, but the decision might be moot at this point: the Saturday before the long-awaited hearing, Phineas disappeared from the veterinary office where he was being held.

The question of whether Phineas lives or dies has brought up a lot of bad blood in the town of 5,000. There have been allegations of threats and abuse on both sides, and one woman was charged with third-degree assault and harassment for allegedly threatening Wayna Woolman, the mother of the girl who was bitten. Woolman told a local reporter, "My life and my family's life have been turned upside down because of threats from Phineas supporters." The mayor, who made the original decision to have Phineas put down as "vicious," also says he's been threatened. Patrick Sanders says that although his family hasn't been threatened, friends of theirs have.

Phineas has become a cause célebrè with dog lovers far beyond Missouri. He has his own website, Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a Change.org petition that has garnered 75,000 signatures. There is virtually no part of the social web that the Sanders family has not used to spread the word about their dog.

Jim Crosby, an expert on dog bites and canine aggression, testified that the bite marks left on the Woolman girl's skin were the wrong size and shape to have been made by Phineas. Crosby used a canine skull and jawbone to show how the long canines would have punctured the skin before the front teeth even made a mark.

The immediate assumption after Phineas disappeared was that his abductors killed him. Even the family's own lawyer, Joe Simon, told the press that "there's a 95 percent chance the dog is dead." However, on Saturday, Sanders family members announced on the Save Phineas Facebook page that they'd received a letter signed "Friend of Phineas," from someone claiming to have taken the dog. The letter is in part a manifesto about animal rights and vegetarianism. It concludes:

Help one friend like Phineas every chance you get.

Thanks for all you do for our fellow earthlings. And shame to the selfish.

If I were on death row I wouldn't want my fate in the hands of a judge. So Phineas is now safe and happy playing with friends.

More to come -- Friend of Phineas

Now on their second attempt to have the mayor's kill order overturned, the Sanders family is obviously hoping that the letter is genuine. However, there aren't any photos or other evidence of its authenticity, or at least none that have been made public. For now, all anyone can do is wait: not only for the court's decision, but also to find out whether someone has made that decision irrelevant.

Via: Fox2Now

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Do Dog Owners Really Look Like Their Pets? Judge for Yourself

See photos of people and dogs who appeared on "Today" to test the doggie doppelganger theory.

When you and your dog start to look like each other, is that the sign of a close, healthy relationship? Or does it just mean that the two of you are spending way too much time together?

Whichever way you lean on the issue, it's clear that it happens. According to The Atlantic Magazine, there's even science behind it. In an article covering the phenomenon, Sarah Yager wrote this week that "Researchers around the world have repeatedly found that strangers can match photos of dogs with photos of their owners at a rate well above chance."

The Today show took the idea and turned science into something cute and charming by bringing five owners and their pets to New York to model their similarities for the nation. David Frei, who co-hosts the USA Network's broadcast of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, did the judging of which owner and pet looked most alike. You have to admire their moxie; while most people think that other people start to look like their pets, very few are willing to admit that they have started to share physical characteristics with their beloved Labradoodle. Even in dog-loving circles, telling someone that they look like their dog may very well be a faux pas.

So how true is the Doggie Doppleganger theory? The Today broadcast at least gives us a chance to do some casual testing. The website includes pictures of all five owner-dog pairings and gives you the chance to vote for the one that you think looks the most alike.

And then, there's the important questions: Do you think that you and your dog look alike? Do you think that you will, given time? And if so, is it something you'd admit in public?

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Twitter Exec Insults Dobermans and BART Workers in One Tweet

Ben Grossman suggests turning dogs on striking workers -- and lots of people turn on him.

There's a lot of tension and frustration in the San Francisco Bay Area this week as hundreds of thousands of commuters are finding their transportation disrupted by striking workers on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, known to locals as BART. That means that a lot of people are either telecommuting or commuting very, very slowly -- sitting in a car or bus on a highway choked with traffic.

And while everyone in the Bay Area can identify with the frustrations caused by the strike, some people handle those frustrations with grace and patience, while some just allow it to show what jerks they are at heart. Twitter Head of Global Operations Ben Grossman (@grossman) flaunted his worse nature via his company's own product on Friday when he tweeted:

"What's brown and black and looks great on someone involved in causing the #bartstrike?

"A Doberman."

The tweet is long-since deleted, but it hasn't stopped circulating: search his Twitter handle, and even now you find people passing the words back and forth. Grossman was careful to say "someone involved" in the BART strike, so he wasn't aiming his words only at workers, but it didn't matter. One of the chief sources of outrage is that the BART unions have many African-American members, and for many, Grossman's suggestion evoked Bull Connor unleashing dogs on marchers during the 1960s civil rights movement. Here are some examples:

    What's white & rich & suggests setting dogs on workers? Twitter's Head of Global Ops (@grossman) #racism #UniteBlue
    — Theophilus Punoval (@Samosata) October 20, 2013

    .@grossman is pretty gross, man. Setting Dobermans on strikers? What is this, 1886?
    — Samuel Sukaton (@spsook) October 20, 2013

    Also, @grossman, pls learn how attack dogs were used against ppl of color who were advocating for their rights. http://t.co/WY7mHrK60T #BART
    — Melissa Green (@ProfCritic) October 20, 2013

For dog lovers, Grossman's tweet managed to be doubly insulting: in Grossman's eyes, Dobermans have about the same worth and purpose as a 9mm handgun. It's a reputation that Dobermans have had to live down for years: The first time I ever heard of Dobermans as a kid, the breed was cast as bank robbers in a third-rate movie called The Doberman Gang that (along with its two sequels) seemed to be constantly running on our local cable channels. For years, they've been the breed of choice for film directors who want their Nazi mastermind, psychotic maniac, or other villain to have a pet. (The exception, as all Bond fans will know, is Ernst Stavros Blofeld, who keeps a stock of white cats nearby to stroke while springing his deathtraps.)

While it's true that you can't please everyone, it does seem that if you work at it, you can make everyone very angry, using only 140 characters or less.

(Via: Valleywag)

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Worst Owner Ever Attempts to Euthanize His "Gay" Dog

Really? Yes, really. And his stupidity went viral. The dog is safe and sound in a new home, thank Dog.

Have you seen the news? It's a tale beyond belief: A Tennessee dog owner surrendered his dog -- a Pit Bull-Bulldog mix -- to the Jackson Rabies Control Animal Shelter, to be killed. What was the dog's crime? The owner saw the dog mounting another male dog. To the owner, this meant his dog is gay, and in that small, broken brain of his, that meant the dog had to be killed.

What a world.

Luckily, word of this travesty erupted into the Internet, because it had to. Someone who keeps tabs on the dogs being euthanized at the Jackson Rabies Control Animal Shelter -- a high-kill shelter -- made it so, when he wrote up the circumstances on his Facebook page, Jackson TN Euthanasia:

This guy [the dog] was signed over to [Rabies Control], not [because] he's mean or [because] he tears things up, but because ... his owner says he's gay! He hunched another male dog so his owner threw him away [because] he refuses to have a "gay" dog! Even if that weren't the most asinine thing I've ever heard, it's still discrimination! Don't let this gorgeous dog die [because] his owner is ignorant of normal dog behavior! He's in kennel 10L and he WILL be put down tomorrow [because] there is no room at the inn!

Naturally, this thing took off. Adoption offers poured in. According to a shelter worker who prefers to be unnamed, “I have had about 10 million calls this morning. It has been adopted already. It is gone. He’s in good hands.”

Whose hands? Stephanie Fryns, a veterinary tech from Jackson, who adopted the dog and named him Elton John. Elton John is going to a good home; Fryns already has four happy dogs.

She told ABC News that the dog “was pretty friendly so far. He’s pretty scared of everything, which is understandable. But he loved the car ride.”

As for the stupidity of the former owner, let's return to that for a sec. Animal expert Stanley Coren told the Daily News, “A male mounting another male is thus not displaying homosexual tendencies, but is simply saying, ‘I'm boss around here.’” 

Or, as that unnamed shelter worker put it, “You know, those dogs get on top of each other sometimes.”

You don't say. 

As for all those people who wanted to adopt the poor dog, well, there's no shortage of dogs facing death at the Jackson Rabies Control Animal Shelter. Just check the Facebook page of the guy who broke the story. He calls himself Jackson Madison Rabies Control Stalker, and his page is full of photos of dogs who are to be put to death within days. They deserve as much attention as Elton John.

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