ohmidog!

A Lancaster County dog kennel that continued to operate even when denied a license was shut down Sunday by state dog wardens, who removed 96 dogs.

Ervin Zimmerman, owner of the Ephrata kennel, had fought to keep his dog breeding operation in business since the state revoked his kennel license in 2007.

On Dec. 5, a Lancaster County judge granted an injunction request from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement and gave Zimmerman 14 days to shut down his kennel. He was to keep no more than 25 dogs, the maximum allowed without a kennel license.

Dog wardens and officers from the Humane League of Lancaster County inspected the property Sunday and removed all but five of Zimmerman’s personal farm dogs. The dogs seized during Sunday’s inspection are now with the Humane League. Read more »

There’s a media firestorm rising out of vice-president-elect Joe Biden’s purchase of a German shepherd pup from a Pennsylvania breeder, but, as with many media firestorms, this one may be more smoke than fire.

At its center is this question: Did Joe Biden by his dog from a puppy mill?

Puppy mill is a subjective term. Some use it to describe large scale breeding operations where the welfare of dogs runs a distant second to making a profit. Some use it to describe any commercial breeding operation.

Linda Brown owner of the kennel in Chester County, Pa., insists that violations found after Biden purchased his dog — during a regularly scheduled inspection — mostly pertained to record-keeping, and she says they were the first she ever received.

That hasn’t stopped either over-zealous animal rights activists, or overworked journalists, from slapping the “puppy mill” label on Brown’s operation.

“Joe Biden hooks up with bad dog breeder,” read the headline in yesterday’s Baltimore Examiner — or at least in its online version. The story beneath the headline doesn’t substantiate that at all. Read more »

For the first time in more than 40 years, the BBC will not televise Britain’s biggest dog show.

BBC officials said Friday that the network had suspended coverage of the 2009 Crufts show “pending further investigations into the health and well-being of pedigree dogs in the U.K.”

Crufts organizers accused the BBC of making “unreasonable demands” that it exclude certain breeds of dog from the show.

The Kennel Club, the show’s organizer, and the BBC have been at odds since September when the BBC aired a documentary claiming decades of inbreeding had led to serious health problems in some pedigree dogs.

The show will take place as scheduled in March, but, because Crufts organizers would not comply with the BBC’s request for particular breeds to be excluded from the show, it won’t be shown on BBC.

Read more »

The pure Australian dingo could be extinct within twenty years, and domestic and feral dogs are to blame, an Australian scientist says.

Ricky Spencer of the native and pest animal unit of the University of Western Sydney says only 15 to 20 per cent of all dingoes in southeast Australia and southeast Queensland remain “pure”, with the rest being hybrids.

Speaking at the Ecological Society of Australia’s annual conference in Sydney this week, Spencer said domestic and feral dogs were destroying the native animal, according to a report in The Australian.

“The domestic dogs are actually mixing with the dingoes. I guess you’d call it a form of genetic pollution to some degree (because) they’re originated from European settlement,” he said after the conference.

“In some parts of Australia they are either very close to gone or at least will be in the next twenty years or so,” he added.

Read more »

Dog wardens, working with the Humane League of Lancaster County, shut down an illegal dog kennel Wednesday in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and removed 20 dogs from the facility.

The owner, Aaron Lapp, will not be permitted to obtain a kennel license in the future and will be required to keep fewer than 25 dogs per year. In Pennsylvania, any kennel housing more than 25 dogs per year is required to be licensed and inspected.

Wardens first became aware of the illegal kennel from a consumer tip and cited the kennel in August for operating without a license. Lapp pleaded guilty to those charges and was told he could not own or keep more than 25 dogs in a year.

A follow-up inspection of the kennel Wednesday showed a decline in sanitary conditions and dogs in the kennel were found to have matted fur. Wardens contacted the Humane League, which removed the dogs.

“Our state dog wardens are following up on any information about illegal kennels and they are making sure that those facilities come into compliance with the law or are shut down,” said Jessie Smith, Pennsylvania’s special deputy secretary of dog law enforcement. ”

Smith said all dogs in commercial breeding kennels will be better protected under Pennsylvania’s recently signed dog law. The new law doubles the minimum floor space for dogs, eliminates wire flooring, and requires exercise that is at least as good as unfettered access to an exercise area twice the size of the primary enclosure. The previous law did not require that dogs ever be taken out of cages.

In July, the state launched a toll-free hotline, 1-877-DOG-TIP1, to help anyone wishing to offer confidential tips about unsatisfactory or illegal kennels.

After 44 years as a supporter and backer of the Crufts dog show in Britain, the Pedigree pet food company has withdrawn its sponsorship, according to a United Press International report.

A statement from Pedigree’s parent company, Mars UK, said Pedigree would no longer offer nearly $2.4 million in funding to the annual dog show, whose future is now in doubt amidst allegations of animal mistreatment.

Allegations that the prestigious dog show promotes breeding techniques that lead to disease and deformity in purebred dogs were brought to light in a BBC documentary earlier this year. Subsequently, several animal welfare groups and others have opted to to withdraw support and decline to participate in the upcoming show, which is sponsored by Britain’s Kennel Club.

“After careful consideration, Pedigree has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Crufts,” the company said. “The Pedigree brand has evolved and we are prioritizing initiatives that support the broadest possible community of dog owners such as our successful program the Pedigree Adoption Drive, and our online service for breeders, pedigreedirect.co.uk.”

    Roy Hattersley sang the praises of mutts this week, as controversy continued to simmer over purebred breeding practices and dog shows that put a higher premium on “beauty” and “conformation” than they do on canine health.
    This week saw the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals pull out of Crufts, the world’s largest dog show, due to concerns about health problems in pedigree dogs and the role Crufts plays in perpetuating those problems.
    Meanwhile, the Kennel Club filed a complaint against the BBC, calling the documentary that led in part to the RSPCA withdrawal, unfair.
    The multi-part report, “Pedigree Dogs Exposed” looked at the health problems experienced by certain breeds as a result of breeders striving to accentuate certain physical traits.

The documentary featured boxers with epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs that were unable to mate and — because of breeders striving for broader heads in the breed — unable to be born without Caesarian section.

A preview of the program can be found here. The entire series can be found on YouTube.

Here’s some of what Hattersley — politician, author, journalist and former member of Parliament — wrote:

“It is barbarous to breed a dog with a brain too big for its skull just to make it look right when it is walked around the competition ring. But the idea of breeding the perfect specimen is wrong in itself. Dogs should be loved as dogs, whatever their shape and size.

“Dogs were made to be friends not exhibits, status symbols or “positional goods” that demonstrate their owner’s aesthetic sensibilities, status, income or fastidious good taste. I am for mongrels because they proclaim the glory of just being dogs - not heads set at the right angles, legs of the proper length or ears suitably pricked. Mongrels are the essence of dog - dog as a virtue in itself … I believe that being a dog is - or ought to be - enough.

Hattersley is the author of many books, including “Buster’s Diaries,” in which his dog Buster defends  killing a goose in one of London’s royal Parks. In 1996 Hattersley was was fined in connection with the goose death.

His full essay can be found in the London Times.

Yesterday, we re-reported here that the BBC was considering stepping away from its traditional broadcast of the Crufts dog show.

Now comes news that The Kennel Club in Great Britain, which sponsors the dog show,  is lodging a complaint with TV regulator Ofcom over the BBC documentary earlier this year about health problems in pedigree dogs.

The documentary claimed the breeding process of pedigree dogs resulted in a high level of genetic illness, but unhealthy dogs were still able to compete in shows and had gone on to win “best in breed”.

The Kennel Club said it was lodging the complaint over the “unfair treatment and editing and failure to fairly and properly reflect the Kennel Club’s deep commitment to the health and and welfare of dogs and responsible dog ownership despite being made aware in detail of those efforts in advance of broadcast”.

The move comes the day after the RSPCA said it was pulling out of Crufts over concerns about the welfare of pedigree dogs.

Pennsylvania has long suffered the “Puppy Mill Capitol of the East” label, but Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff believes the state has a chance to turn that around – with the swift passage of House Bill 2525 this week.

Wolff urged Pennsylvanians to call their legislators and ask them to pass the bill quickly during the short legislative session.

(Here’s a list of Pennsylvania’s senate members. Here’s a list of house members.)

“Current Pennsylvania law allows dogs to be kept in cramped, stacked cages their entire lives with minimal care and no opportunity to exercise. It’s easy to see how the state has come to be known as the home of puppy mills. These conditions are legal, and the result is dogs that are physically and emotionally damaged,” said Wolff. “Pennsylvania owes it to every dog owner to ensure that the standards of care are raised for the sake of their dogs and families.”

By improving the minimum standards for commercial breeding kennels, the worst of which are called puppy mills, Wolff said Pennsylvania can better protect dogs in kennels and the families who welcome them into their homes.

Among other protections for dogs, H.B. 2525 doubles the minimum floor space for dogs, eliminates wire flooring, and requires access to an outdoor exercise area twice the size of the dog’s primary enclosure. Current law does not require dogs to ever be taken out of cages, much less given access to exercise areas.

The bill would require veterinary examinations for each dog at least once per year or during each pregnancy.

Current law treats all kennels the same, regardless of size or function. The proposed legislation would allow the health and welfare needs of the dogs housed in large commercial breeding kennels to be addressed

Wolff said widespread public support could help move the legislation forward. He said his office has received an outpouring of support for the bill in light of the recent shooting of 80 dogs in two Berks County kennels.

Read more »

Crufts, the UK’s most prestigious and popular dog show, is taking some heat as it prepares for its 118th annual show next spring.

Yesterday, the RSPCA, which has long operated booths at Crufts, announced it was pulling out of the show because of concerns that the show is contributing to thousands of pedigree dogs suffering from genetic defects, purposefully bred into them in the name of looks.

And the BBC, which has broadcast the show for 40 years, is also thought to be on the verge of deciding whether to halt its coverage.

The RSPCA’s decision to relinquish its stand at Crufts in March next year follows a BBC documentary, broadcast last month, that highlighted breeding practices that result in unhealthy genetic side-effects.

Chief veterinary adviser for the RSPCA, Mark Evans, called for a shift in emphasis away from looks and towards health, welfare and temperament.

“Dog shows using current breed standards as the main judging criteria actively encourage both the intentional breeding of deformed and disabled dogs and the inbreeding of closely related animals,” he said. “From a dog health and welfare perspective, such shows are fundamentally flawed and do our much-loved pedigree dogs no favors. Intentionally breeding deformed and disabled animals is morally unjustifiable and has to stop.”

The BBC program, “Pedigree Dogs Exposed,” featured boxers with epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs that were unable to mate.

Mike Flynn, chief superintendent of the SSPCA, said hundreds of Scottish owners had called the organization after the program featured a Cavalier King Charles spaniel with syringomylia – a breeding-related condition where the brain is pushed back into the spinal chord.

The program documented other unhealthy changes, brought about by inbreeding and a quest for arbitrary standards for what certain breeds should look like: Dachsund’s have been elongated, and their legs made smaller, leading to serious back problems. They have difficulty running and jumping and are prone to epilepsy and deafness. Bulldogs have seen their muzzles shortened, creating breathing problems, and their heads have become broader; most now have to be born by Caesarean section.

“The Kennel Club is dedicated to improving the health and welfare of dogs through responsible breeding,” Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club spokeswoman, said in response to the developments. “The fact that the RSPCA continues to make such unhelpful statements … is extremely regrettable but we will continue to endeavour to work with them despite their stated position, for the benefit of dogs.”