ohmidog!

Baltimore city’s new (and under reconsideration) $1,000 fine for unleashed dogs has reinvigorated the long-running effort to establish a dog park in Patterson Park, and the group behind it has called a meeting for Thursday night to assess the situation and seek support.

The Patterson Dog Park Steering Committee has arranged a “meet-and-greet/show of support” at the restaurant Three, located at the corner of E. Baltimore and S. Linwood. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and Three has agreed to extend its Happy Hour specials for the crowd that is expected.

“Prior to and especially now in light of the $1,000 off-leash dog fine, the Patterson Dog Park Steering Committee had revitalized our efforts for an established fenced dog park within Patterson Park. We have been receiving a great amount of new support from local community members and would like to introduce ourselves and meet other advocates for a dog park within Patterson Park…” a committee member explained.

Efforts to establish a dog park at Patterson have been going on for at least four years, and serve as a testament to just how difficult the city has made the process — even though the mayor and several council members have spoken of the need for more dog parks.

In a ribbon cutting for the first city-funded dog park at Latrobe Park in Locust Point (the city will pay to build, but not maintain the park, scheduled to open this summer), Mayor Sheila Dixon promised as many as eight dog parks in Baltimore.

Currently, there is only one small and often crowded dog park in Baltimore, Canton Dog Park, which was built and is maintained by a non-profit neighborhood group. It is the only public area in the city where a dog may legally be off leash.

Part of the difficulty in Patterson Park has been the many different communities that surround it – among them Canton, Highlandtown, Patterson Park, Butchers Hill, and Upper Fells Point. While the group has now secured approval from all of them, the project is still opposed by the Friends of Patterson Park.

To learn more about the group, and their plan for a dog park, visit pattersondogpark.org.

“Vicktory To The Underdog” takes an in-depth look at tattoo artist Brandon Bond and his work with one of the rescued Michael Vick fighting dogs.

Rather than focusing exlusively on the dogfighting problem, the movie looks at the kind of solutions that can lead to “Vicktory” for all the underdogs –”tattoo people, pitbulls, parolees and all the other people in this world that society has turned their back on through ignorance and racism.”

The movie also examines the life of Brandon Bond and “his struggle with balancing fame, fortune and the Rock-N-Roll tattoo lifestyle with a more fulfilling life that focuses on the betterment of both animals and society as a whole.”

Proceeds for the film will be going to Villa Lobos Pitbull Rescue.

The movie also features a, multi-artist soundtrack — 34 tracks in all, the first of which is entitled “God’s Creatures Brutalized,” by Sen. Robert Byrd. (I’m guessing this is the only album you will ever find Toetag, Skam Dust and Sen. Robert Byrd all featured on.)

Read more »

Roaming dogs and cats could be considered “invasive species” under the wording of a bill now being considered by the Texas legislature

The bill, SB 691, is intended to control, prevent and eradicate “invasive species” that threaten the economy, the environment or human health. But the language of the bill is so vague that dogs and cats could fall under it, leading to them being impounded or killed, according to the Texas Humane Legislation Network.

While the bill makes clear that livestock are exempted, it does not exempt dogs and cats.

The bill is now before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs. THLN is urging citizens to contact committee members, requesting that dogs and cats be exempted from the law. To learn how to do that keep reading. Read more »

Animal control officers in Fort Worth will be allowed to use tranquilizer darts to subdue dangerous dogs under a proposed rewrite of the city’s animal control rules.

That would mean a return to a practice ceased in 1995, after a dog nicknamed “Island Girl” was shot with a dart while trapped on a grassy island in a freeway interchange. The dart resulted in the dog becoming paralyzed.

The proposals aren’t final, and residents will be able to comment on them at meetings in May and June, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Fort Worth officials say the changes are needed because of a growing number of aggressive dogs found on Fort Worth’s streets — particularly pit bulls. Other proposed revisions include:

– Allowing the city to impose safety restriction on dogs before an attack happens — if a dog charges a fence, or is caught at large several times.

– Requiring higher and stronger fences, based on a dog’s size.

– Prohibiting dogs that are deemed dangerous in other cities from relocating to Fort Worth.

– Requiring all animals to be spayed or neutered, unless the owner pays an extra fee.

– Increasing the fee for loose dogs from $200 to $500 and the annual fee for a dangerous dog from $50 to $500.

A state Assemblyman in California has proposed letting residents who adopt a pet from a shelter write off any adoption fees on their taxes.

“Local governments in California are spending upward of $100 million sheltering animals each year,” Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, said in a news release. “Everyday we hear about people walking away from their houses, and in many cases, they are abandoning their pets as well.”

The deductions, according to NBC News in Los Angeles, would be allowed for animals adopted from local government and nonprofit animal shelters. If passed, the plan would begin at the start of next year and be on the books through Jan. 1, 2015.

This just in: Baltimore’s City Council has scheduled a hearing on reducing the recently imposed $1,000 fine for violating the city’s leash law.

The hearing will be held Tuesday, April 28th, at 10:00 a.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.

The $1,000 fine went into effect in February, followed by a crackdown on leash law violations at several city parks. After complaints from dog owners, a proposal to lower the fine was introduced by a group of council members last night. Under the new proposal, the fine for a first offense would be $250, a second $500, and a third $1,000.

The original fine had been $100.

Trustees of real estate baroness Leona Helmsley’s estate say they’re giving $136 million to charity — and only $1 million of that is going to the dogs.

Animal rights groups rejoiced last year at reports that Helmsley, who died in 2007 at age 87, wanted her entire multibillion-dollar fortune to go to dog-related charities

But a court ruled in February that the trustees had authority to decide which charities could receive funds. Apparently dogs — and Helmsley’s wishes — rated pretty low in the decision-making process. The judge’s decision did not affect the $12 million Helmsley bequeathed to her Maltese, Trouble.

Helmsley’s estate yesterday announced its first round of charitable grants. The largest, $40 million, went to New York’s Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Most of the money went to health care systems across the country, Newsday reported today.

Helmsley’s estate distributed $1 million to 10 animal rights groups, including $100,000 to the ASPCA.

Authorities are investigating a report that six dogs were stolen from a Missouri dog shelter by thieves who demanded a ransom for their safe return.

Anna Madsen, 64, who runs the Love a Dog Rescue and Sanctuary near Farmington, says she fears for her dogs, and for her own life.

Madsen says she arrived home Saturday night to find her house in disarray, with one of her old bank statements and a ransom note stuck to a wall with a knife.

The note said six of her dogs had been taken and demanded six figures in cash or the dogs would be killed.

“I guess they thought I had money,” Madsen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Madsen said the missing dogs are Gizmo, a Chihuahua and Yorkie mix that was the sanctuary’s mascot; Moses, a Maltese and poodle mix; Lizzi, a rat terrier; Jack, a black and tan Pincher; Jenna Marie, a white Chihuahua with brown spots; and Snickers, a black Chihuahua.

The Mid-Atlantic Disc Dog Club (“MAD Dogs”) put on an amazing display at the Maryland SPCA’s March for the Animals Sunday.

Mad Dogs is a regional club that welcomes new members, both human and canine, at all competition levels.

For more information, and to see the schedule of events, visit the MAD Dogs website.

(Photos by Lori Bessenhoffer)

How bad is the economy? So bad even dogs are getting laid off.

On top of the ill effects dogs undergo when their guardians lose their jobs and homes, some dogs are getting pink slips, too.

Last week, the Mason County Commission in West Virginia voted to ask the sheriff to send two of the departments three police dogs packing, citing the need to save on labor costs.

The county says a recent settlement requiring it to pay deputies who handle the animals for expenses related to the dogs, even when the deputies are off-duty, led to the shortfall. The dogs will be removed from the department as soon as possible, the commission president said.

Dogs enjoyed a huge increase in employment opportunities after 9/11, when concerns about homeland security led to a high demand for dogs trained to sniff out explosives, cadavers, live humans and more. With today’s the sagging economy, and local governments being pinched for funds, I wouldn’t be surprised if we begin hearing more tales like this one.