ohmidog!

A state representative from Charlotte says he’s already getting “beaten up” for a bill he filed this week that would restrict ownership of six breeds of dog the proposed legislation deems aggressive.

House Bill 956 would create a new “aggressive dog” classification for pit bulls, Rottweilers, mastiffs, chows, Presa Canarios, wolf hybrids and any dogs “that are predominantly” a mix of those, WRAL reports.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rodney Moore, D-Mecklenburg, said of those breeds, ”I don’t want to say those were the ones with the most incidents, but they were the most prevalent by the feedback that I’ve gotten.”

In other words, the proposed legislation doesn’t let facts get in the way.

Under the bill, prospective “aggressive breed” owners would have to undergo a criminal background check, apply and pay for a special state permit, notify their property insurer, and take a 4-hour education course before adopting, buying, or “otherwise taking possession of” one of the dogs.

Moore said the idea was brought to him by a concerned constituent.

“There needs to be some kind of accountability,” Moore said. “A lot of people breed them the wrong way. You have very harsh incidents of these dogs maiming children, maiming older folks, and sometimes even turning on their owner.”

The bill calls for county sheriff’s to provide the criminal background checks and report the findings to the state Department of Insurance. It would have the authority to deny a permit to anyone whose background check “is not suitable for the ownership of a dog belonging to an aggressive dog breed.”

The “aggressive dog permit” could cost as much as $25. Under the bill, the Department of Insurance could require additional insurance coverage be taken out by owners of the dogs.

“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about it, saying I’m trying to blacklist these dogs, and that’s not the intent,” Moore said. “It’s just to let people take responsibility for owning those breeds.”

The representative’s email address is Rodney.Moore@ncleg.net

Authorities in Arizona are taking a closer look at how Tucson Greyhound Park has managed to go 60 years without getting a city license for any of the dogs on the premises.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that there’s no record of any exemption being granted by South Tucson, the municipality in which the track operates, or by Pima County.

An ordinance in South Tucson requires dog owners pay a $45 licensing fee.

Under the ordinance, any unaltered dog kept within the city for 30 consecutive days each year is required to have a license.

Yet Tucson Greyhound Park, a home of sorts to more than 700 dogs, hasn’t gotten a license for any of them in six decades. At $45 per license, given all those dogs and all those years, that’s a pretty significant savings.

Kim Janes, manager of Pima County Animal Care, said he doesn’t know why the park considered itself exempt. He said his office began investigating the matter about a year ago.

His office found no state statutes that spared greyhound tracks from paying the fee.

The South Tucson’s City Attorney’s Office contacted his office last week, informing him that dogs at the park should be licensed, and Janes planned to send officers to the park this week.

“We are going to be talking to the track and say they need to have some information for us,” he said. “When we come out, we will need to see rabies vaccinations and proof of when the dog got here. If (they) don’t have proof, we are going to assume it has been here more than 30 days.”

Tucson Greyhound Park CEO and General Manager Tom Taylor said the greyhounds don’t need a license because the state requires every greyhound to receive a rabies vaccination before entering the state or being qualified to race. Since rabies vaccinations are the primary reason for licensing, he said, there’s no need for the park to register the dogs locally.

“Since 1944, we have never had to have them licensed,” he said.

Taylor said he suspects negative media coverage about the track, and animal welfare organizations seeking to ban greyhound racing, are behind the crackdown.

Dogs and cats over a year old can be adopted at Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter for free during the month of July.

The shelter – after waiving adoptions fees on cats in June — decided to expand the promotion through the end of this month.

Local shelters partnered on the promotion, aimed at finding homes for 500 cats in June.

Together, the found new homes for over 700 cats, 405 at BARCS alone.

“This campaign proved so successful in saving the lives of cats that BARCS is going to expand it, waiving all adoption fees for cats and dogs over one-year-old for the entire month of July, too,” BARCS said in a press release.

BARCS, the largest companion animal shelter in Maryland, took in 738 cats and 386 dogs in the month of June.

For more information, visit the BARCS website.

The animal shelter in Cleveland, Tenn., is under fire after euthanizing a dog days before it was to be picked up for adoption.

Austin Rhoades met Delilah, a Lab mix, Friday at the Cleveland Animal Shelter and filled out paperwork to adopt the dog.

He paid the adoption fee and agreed to come back Monday to pick up the dog after she received the necessary vaccinations.

But by Monday morning, Delilah had been euthanized.

When he arrived at the shelter, staff brought out another dog instead, Rhoades said. “We asked them had they put our dog down and they said yes.”

Animal Control Director Gene Smith told WRCB in Chattanooga that it was ”an honest mistake.”

He said Delilah was mistaken for a similar dog, and that that disciplinary action was being taken against the kennel worker responsible.

Animal rescuer Beth Foster said it wasn’t the first time that has happened: “There have been several occasions where we have said we are coming to get that animal in the morning. We went and it was dead.” Foster is part of a group called Cleveland For A No Kill City, which organized last month and is calling for a change in the shelter’s euthanization and adoption policies.

“We need to change this culture of our local animal control to one about saving lives and facilitating adoption, instead of kill and dispose, which is where we are now,” Foster said. She and others are pushing for a policy change that would increase the three-day holding period before strays could be put down.

Smith says the shelter complies with all state guidelines, and that any change in policy would have to be approved by the police department.

In other bad news for dogs, the Cleveland City Council announced this week that a special fund that has been used to reduce the cost of adoptions has run out of money, meaning the $50 fee will probably go back to as much as $100.

Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) is waiving adoption fees for dogs and cats six months and older for the entire month of December.

Included with adoptions are spaying and neutering, rabies vaccination, DHLPP vaccination, bordatella, de-wormer, flea preventative, a general examination, a food sample, a month of free veterinary care insurance, and Felv testing for cats and kittens.

Baltimore City residents are required to purchase a $10 pet license.

Puppies and kittens under six months old will be available for adoption at just $65 until December 31, 2011.

BARCS is also making gift certificates available for people who would like to give the gift of an animal to some one else. They are $65.

To adopt an animal from BARCS, stop by the shelter (behind M&T Bank Stadium), call 410-396-4695, or visit its website.

You won’t see dogs playing poker — they’re banned from the gaming room floor — but one casino in Atlantic City has  turned dog friendly, welcoming dogs into guest rooms and providing treats, food and water bowls and even a keepsake duffle bag.

Showboat has officially marked its territory as the only dog-friendly casino in Atlantic City.

The casino-hotel has set aside a collection of rooms in its New Orleans Tower to accommodate all kinds of canines.

“We’re thrilled to bring Pet Stay Atlantic City to our guests and provide the royal treatment to man’s best friend,” said Joe Domenico, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Showboat and Bally’s Atlantic City. “This initiative puts Showboat at the forefront of Atlantic City’s world-class offerings and will bring more customers to our casinos without having to leave their pets behind.”

A party to kick off the new program was held last week in Showboat’s Club Harlem.

The pet program is open to dogs only and allows a maximum of 2 dogs up to 50 pounds per room. There is a $40 fee per night for pets, but the fee will be waived during the first two weeks of the program’s launch.

Dogs are allowed in the hotel but are not permitted on the casino floor or in food and beverage areas, the spa or retail shops.

For more information, check the Showboat website.

(Photo: Courtesy of Showboat Casino)

Step aside Tiger Woods, Jesse James, even Wilt Chamberlain. You’ve got nothing on Yogi, the Hungarian vizsla who won best in show at Britain’s prestigious Crufts competition this year.

The  champion Aussie show dog has fathered 525 puppies  in the five years since he emigrated to the UK. That’s well over 100 pups a year and, records show, more than 10 percent of all vizsla puppies registered.

Yogi, you dog you.

The impressive/shameful statistics were gathered by Jemima Harrison, who prepared the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed, and who says — though we joke somewhat about Yogi”s rampant sex life  – they should raise serious concerns about his growing gene pool dominance.

“Yogi is an absolutely beautiful dog who deserved to win,”  Harrison said. “However, the concern is that this dog has been massively overused as a stud dog already … As far as the breed is concerned it’s a genetic time bomb.”

Even England’s Hungarian Vizsla Club is worried about Yogi, who is already grandfather to 340 pups and great grandfather to 10 pups, according to a report carried in The Herald Sun in Australia.

“When you lessen the gene pool you open the breed up to the possibility of auto-immune-related diseases,” said a club spokeswoman.

Yogi earns up to $1,230 per litter, and has fathered 79 registered litters in the UK up to December last year. With his Crufts victory, his stud fee and demand for his studly services can only be expected to increase.

With so many of his pups out there, it’s no surprise there is a Facebook page, called “I have a Yogi vizsla,” dedicated to his offspring.

Starting tomorrow (Dc. 15),  Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) will be waiving the adoption fees for dogs and cats seven months or older through the end of the year.

BARCS is also offering gift certificates to people who would like to give the gift of an animal. The certificate allows the recipient to pick the shelter animal of their choice.

Included with all adoptions are spaying and neutering, rabies vaccination, DHLPP vaccination, bordatella, de-wormer, flea preventative, a general examination, a food sample, a month of free veterinary care insurance, and Felv testing for cats and kittens. Baltimore City residents adopting animals will need to purchase a $10 pet license.

BARCS handles more than 11,000 animals each year — more dogs and cats than any shelter in Maryland.

BARCS is open for adoptions Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The shelter will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on December 24 and will be closed on December 25.

 
Letting your dog off leash at Patterson Park — if and when it becomes legal — will most likely carry a fee, city officials said at a Thursday night meeting to discuss proposals that range from creating off-leash hours to building a dog park.

Described by Baltimore Sun Unleashed’s Jill Rosen as heated, the meeting drew about 100 people, and resulted in some news: Park rangers will be given the authority to issue citations for off-leash violations, and enfocement will be increased, according to city Department of Recreation and Parks Director Wanda Durden.

But as for what manner dogs might be permitted to play off leash, that, after years of pushing, still seems up in the air.

One suggestion is to build a fenced-in, 20,000-square- foot dog park along Baltimore Street on the western end of the park.  That proposal, drafted by Friends of Patterson Park Dog Park, calls for, rather than full time dog parks, two zones, both northwest of the lake, for off-leash hours — one for small dogs, the other for large ones.

Otheres prefer the idea of designating certain areas to be leash-free during certain hours.

While the city hasn’t figured out the what, when and where, it did have plenty of rules ready, among them:

An annual fee of $20 for those who wanted to use the off-leash area, as well as proof of a city dog license and current vaccinations. A limit of three dogs. Professional dog walkers can’t use the area for business. No dogs in heat. No dogs under four months old. No children under 8 years old. Children 9-15 must be accompanied by an adult. Dog handlers must be 16 years old or older. Dogs must wear a collar or harness with an ID tag, a special off-leash tag and rabies tags.

The city of Baltimore’s only existing dog area is Canton Dog Park, built by private citizens. The first city-funded dog park, in Locust Point, was supposed to open this summer, but with delays, September is now looking like the earliest it might open.

As further proof that for every strange dog behavior, there are human ones 100 times odder yet, comes this from Kenya:

A man in Kenya persuaded police to arrest his pet dog after the dog ate his rent money.

The dog’s owner says he left the money on his bed as he left for work. All that was left when he returned home later that day were a few shredded remnants of cash on the floor.

The man then took the dog to police and asked them to lock his pet up, according to Bartlesvillelive.com. They initially refused, but relented after the owner agreed to pay a “fee” to one of the officers.

That police officer was then fired for taking a bribe and the dog was returned to his owner.

The dog owner, still in need of rent money, has put the dog up for sale.