In Today's News...

Very sad article about finding 50 dogs in squalid conditions in a Long Island, NY home, discovered by a couple who found their Shih Tzu for sale on a pet adoption web site. This is the kind of article that sends chills through all of us who adore our pets. And it makes me wonder what we can do to band together as a community so that we or anyone in our community find themselves in the same terrifying situation.

Happy Monday

In today's online comics

Porcupine 1, Dog 0

This story is almost two years old, but is extraordinary and of interest if you haven't seen it before.

Inca, the poor doggie pictured here, decided to take on a porcupine, and didn't do so well. The article has what looks like to be an email from her owner, saying she was doing better after surgery. Good for her.

And I hope she's learned to stay away from porcupines since this unfortunate encounter. It had to be torture for her as well as her guardian, and neither one should have to go through this again!

Summer Fun

Click here to see an awesome picture of one way a dog enjoys summer...

Be Sure to Read the Comments in Saturday's Blog Entry...

...they are very informative and show the complexity of the Healthy Pets Act. The whole reason I started this blog is to bring up the key issues that many of us miss because we're busy and don't catch everything. Thank you to the posters who have commented so far, and feel free to share your thoughts as you read through and consider how this law will affect you and your family of pets.

Let's Make this Work for Them

In California, the news of the passage of AB 1634 in the State Assembly this week has animal lovers of all persuasions talking and sharing their thoughts. The bill is named the California Healthy Pets Act and requires pets to be sterilized with only a few exceptions.

The motivation for the legislation is to reduce the number of pets that need to be euthanized because there are more pets coming into shelters than being placed into homes.

In early April, there was a chilling article published by the New York Times that went into great detail of the triage that takes place in shelters across the country. The numbers are staggering. Here are just a few statistics:

• About four million dogs enter shelters nationwide each year, with half of them being euthanized. That's 5,000 dogs each day, which is one every 16 seconds.
• In the same article, it's estimated that it's even worse for cats.
• California estimates they are putting down a half a million animals each year, at a cost of $250M to taxpayers.
  

Shelters have long been dealing with this problem. And they realize it's a multi-faceted problem that's a combination of animal and human behavioral dysfunction that results in an animal being surrendered. Programs have been put into place that screen, educate, train, and counsel pets and their adopters. But it is still not enough.

Is it any wonder a law like this wouldn't come along?

The bill is very controversial. For some, it's a political issue that threatens privacy rights. The law sees our pets as property, and many folks don't want the government meddling in this part of our lives. For others, it impinges on the work animals can perform.

The San Francisco Chronicle gave a brief overview of this for search and rescue dogs. I have some very good friends who are avid sportsmen and have dogs who are not only members of their families but also join them in hunting, and they feel equally threatened. In both instances, the vast majority (up to 95%) of breeding is done from home and hobby breeders who will have trouble getting an exemption. The California Veterinary Medical Association supports the bill, but understands that there are additional amendments needed to make the bill successful. They made a decision to be at the table to help shape the bill so that it will ultimately generate the most positive effect for animal overpopulation.

One ray of hope came in this morning's San Francisco Chronicle, which outlines the law passed in Santa Cruz in 1995 to require spay and neutering of the city's pets, and has been used as a model when discussing the statewide bill. The statistics are encouraging:

• Before 1995, 14,000 animals came through Santa Cruz's shelters each year. Today it's around 5,500, less than half.
• Euthanasia for sheltered dogs has dropped from 30% to 17%
• Euthanasia for sheltered cats has dropped from 60% to 50%
• There are still 7,000 dog licenses being issued each year, so "no one is having to share pets due to a shortage."

I'd like to see the various interest groups pull together and find the right amendments that will make this bill work. I don't want to have to read another article about the enormous numbers of animals being put down because we aren't taking the simple steps to circumvent the problem. We need to do this for our community and our animals.

In Today's Comics...

...this one brought a smile to me, hope you enjoy...

Dog Philosophy

A whole bunch of lovely quotes on dogs arrived in my mailbox yesterday - here are my favorites...

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
-Will Rogers

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
-Ben Williams

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
-Josh Billings

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
-Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare.
And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.
-M. Acklam

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise
-Unknown

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
-Roger Caras