Fascinating story in the news this morning
…
“An animal shelter located on Long Island is looking for donations of viagra to save the life of a sick pit bull dog.
Ingrid is a 6-year-old pit bull, diagnosed with a heart condition that is currently being treated with two daily 50-mg. doses of the popular impidence drug, but supply is running out. (more…)
April 17, 2010
BLIND WOMAN’S GUIDE DOG ATTACKED: CITY OF OTTAWA RESPONSE LACKS TEETH
By Helen McFadyen (Halifax)
Erie is a well-mannered yellow Lab and a superbly trained guide dog. You’d think she’d have enough to watch out for in her job as Christine Duport’s eyes. But Erie has been attacked four times in the past 18 months by off-leash dogs as she and Christine walked along a residential West-end Ottawa street; same street, same unleashed dogs, same owner, to whom the City of Ottawa continues to turn its same blind eye.
Erie’s calm disposition and intense training paid off in 2008 when the first swarming occurred. A pair of yappy, aggressive, un-leashed dogs swarmed the guide dog on Seymour Street. Christine and Erie were left shaken, but unhurt. Chris even had a civil conversation with the dogs’ owner who claimed he always allowed his dogs off leash and was unaware of any dog bylaws. A second similar incident occurred soon after, with the owner of the dogs becoming less ‘friendly’. This winter, the same off-leash dogs interfered for a third time as they passed by, approaching an intersection. Chris describes her dog, Erie’s response: “She did her job…didn’t bark, tried to move away from them… focused on crossing the street with one dog jumping by her left hip and one at her front. She veered left, then right as we tried to cross Charkay and Seymour. We got stuck in the middle of the street with those crazy dogs jumping around us. I was lucky that a woman stopped her car to help”. The Good Samaritan also gave Chris the dog owner’s address.
Chris phoned the City of Ottawa, eventually speaking with a bylaw officer. Records showed that since 2003, over twenty complaints have been called in about the same dogs and owner, yet no fines have been levied or any action taken. The obvious question is, ‘Why’? How can so many complaints about a potentially dangerous threat go without action being taken? Chris’ voice shudders as she recollects a fourth attack. “I heard the teeth as they snapped at Erie, not biting… but still… I fussed, in hopes of scaring them off…then the guy came out and screamed at me, called me a pain in the ass. I called the City again.” This time, Chris made a formal, written complaint. She was asked by city officials if she would agree to going to court if challenged by the resident being charged (Bylaw 2003- 77-9 Dogs Running at Large). The maximum fine a ‘dogs at large’ first offense is $120.00. It seems that most complaints don’t stick, if indeed there is follow up.
When Chris spoke to city staff, all expressed their shock over the situation and agreed that “something must be done”. There is no reasonable explanation why this issue persists. Christine’s frustration and disbelief is evident, “In this case… with 20 complaints, going back years….someone should have investigated…there’s lack of diligence on their part”, she said. Jane Thornton, Director of Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, the local center which trained Erie and Chris, said, “It is unfortunate that irresponsible pet owners enable dog attacks to occur. Most pet owners are responsible, but for those of whom aren’t, we hope that the City of Ottawa will strongly enforce existing bylaws and consider the harshest penalties possible in cases where bylaws are ignored. Strong enforcement, especially of keeping dogs on leash at all times in public places, is imperative to protect all dogs, whether they are pet dogs or Assistance Dogs.” Attempts to get an official statement from the City of Ottawa have been unsuccessful. Officials promised to “get to the bottom of it” and many added sympathetically, “That’s horrible”. Horrible indeed.
London, England takes this kind of thing seriously; a woman’s guide dog was viciously attacked in a North London subway station in February by an unleashed dog. The guide dog received severe injuries, but recovered. Both dog and its blind handler were traumatized. The attack dog’s owner probably wishes he lived in Ottawa, with its unenforced dog at large bylaw and small potato fines: He was banned from owning dogs for 10 years, jailed for three months (suspended two years), ordered to perform 150 hours of community work, to compensate the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association 1200.00 pounds and to pay the guide dog’s owner 500 pounds.
The issue of dogs at large is annoying for many, but has very serious implications for service dogs and their handlers. For Christine Duport, a 48- year old former high school teacher, life changed significantly when she lost her vision in 2005. She rose to the challenge, learning new orientation and mobility skills, Braille and how to use adaptive technology. She got back into life instead of , as Christine says, “sitting back, doing nothing.”
Christine’s busy life now includes volunteer work with various organizations, making presentations and preparing art description guides for the National Gallery of Canada. Erie has become a major piece of Christine’s life. I asked Chris about the close calls with dog attacks; attacks which in which Erie could have been injured and forced to retire. “I would be absolutely devastated if I lost Erie….she is with me all the time… like an extra limb…I share my life with her…I’m as devoted to her as she is to me. I have no desire to go back to the white cane…If I lost Erie, I’d face a long period on a waiting list (for a new guide dog) and then the period to retrain… not to mention the difficult first months adapting to a new guide dog… I’d be forced into changing my life style for up to a year. No, I’ll deal with that when I have to part with Erie for natural causes….not over dogs at large.”
Guide Dog Users of Canada president, Melanie Moore commented, “We will continue to advocate for Ms. Duport, and for more stringent regulations to protect guide dogs and the general public from off leash dog attacks. The type of incident that Christine and Erie experienced should not have occurred. Ottawa must get serious with legislation, enforce it and issue severe punitive consequences for people whose off –leash pets attack a service dog For example,. Manitoba’s Service Animal Protection Act allows for penalties of 5000.00 against people whose animals touch, impede or interfere with a service animal. Second offenses fines rise to 10,000. Other jurisdictions, like Vermont, are passing legislation which would send people whose unrestrained pets attack guide dogs to prison for up to a year. Ottawa residents must be afforded the same level of response and protection by the City of Ottawa.”
Life can be a bitch sometimes no doubt about it, and just when you think that you’re having a bad day you hear of somebody else whose day seems just that little bit worse.
I recently had to let go of my own Luther and just the other day, heard that a friend of my brothers’ had to make the same tough decision I recently made.
If you can believe it, this is the second time that this woman has had to make the decision to end the life of an active service dog, and making this situation even more weird is the fact that both dogs were of a similar age.
Her dog just lost to her, developed lymphoma at the age of 7 and despite opting for chemotherapy, his health deteriorated very quickly.
He was still in full service to her, a fact that differs from my own situation a little bit.
Luther was retired, and I had already retrained with my current guide Lars, a beautiful svelt black lab.
Oh what to do?
A friend of mine just purchased a new boxer puppy to go along with the 9-year-old lad he already owns.
Tie is a brindle male, and can be seen in this YouTube Clip.
Enter Newman into the fray, born December 29 2009.
Newman was 1 of 4 puppies from the litter, comprised of 2 boys and 2 ladies.
Ron gets to take him home in March, stay tuned for some interesting videos of Tie boxing the little guy.
Unfortunately Jessica Simpson’s beloved puppy has been snatched by a coyote.
I read the news today on a web site in Google News, and by all accounts Simpson is torn up about the theft of her 5 year old Daisy.
She says that she actually saw the coyote grab her pup and dash off with it, pretty scary stuff.
She is launching a massive Twitter appeal, reaching out to people asking for their help in tracking down her dog.
On her Twitter.com page she writes, “My heart is broken because a coyote took my precious Daisy right in front of our eyes.
“HORROR! We are searching. Hoping. Please help!”
Hopefully there is a good ending to this story.
So Luther, my retired guide is a little under the weather today, fitting as it has been a rather gloomy day weather wise.
He goes through a phase every so often where he’ll find something outside to munch on, only to spend the next day or so “losing weight” on my lawn, lol poor lubu.
Anyway, now that I’ve grossed you all out, back to my reason for posting - when Luther is having belly issues, he does not eat, a rule that is by no means favorable with him.
Now before, this was not an issue as I would simply not feed him, but with Lars now in the mix, Luther has to watch Lars eat, a fact that makes me oh so glad I can not see Luther’s puppy eyes begging me for salvation, lol.
I should not laugh at this sinario because I’m sure if Luther knew I was, he’d take a bite out of me to satisfy his rumbling tummy!
New research indicates that dogs maybe smarter than we give them credit for.
New research from the US by a leading canine researcher actually indicates that dogs can actually perform basic math.
Dogs are very intelligent animals, and are a huge part of our society, playing roles from house pet to bomb sniffer.
Researcher Stanley Coren spoke yesterday at the American Psychological Association’s convention in Toronto, where he shedd light on the research he has been doing to lead him to his conclusion.
“There are a whole lot of people who think of dogs as being just people in fur coats and others who think they are biological robots with no consciousness at all,” he said.
He says that dogs are very smart, more in fact than we think and that they have the ability to learn up to 165 different words if trained properly.
How many words does your dog know?
Hi again, and sorry for the long delay between posts, things have been pretty busy around here.
Great news to report from the health world as far as our beloved 4-legged friends are concerned!
The FDA have just given approval to a drug developed by a division of Pfizer Health Sciences to treat dogs with a type of skin cancer.
The drug is called Palladia and is the first ever drug specifically designed to treat dogs with cancer.
Previous to the approval of this drug, all drugs given to dogs to treat their cancers were initially developed to treat humans with the disease.
Is this cool or what?
So last August, I retired my guide dog Luther, and on November 1st, I set out for Portland where I trained for 2 weeks with a new dog.
Lars is his name, a little black lab with a lot of spunk and character, a good match for me I think.
Upon bringing him home, the next few months were spent introducing him to routes I take on a daily basis, and observing the interaction between Luther and Lars.
For a few months when I returned home with Lars, Luther was not as playful as he is these days, due to a sudden weight gain that occured thanks to the people who were looking after him when I was away getting Lars.
Anyway, the point of this post is to talk about my retired guide, and the fact that I do still work him now and again.
Luther loved his work, always willing to please and always attentive when on the job.
Even today when I bring his harness down from the wall where it hangs, he goes dog crazy, jumping around wagging his big tail and just being silly.
Somebody, who has remained, somebody because they do not have the nerve to confront me themselves, went to the trouble of calling the guide dog school where Luther and Lars are from, and reported me for working my retired guide.
The school then followed up with me, at which time I explained what I was doing and why I was doing it.
For those people who have working dogs, no matter what their job is, very rarely will that dog exhibit behavior that would indicate that they do not love what they do. Luther is no exception.
If my dog did not like working, would I actually make him do it? Honestly, I am not a slave driver.
The day Luther lacks excitement when I bring his harness off the wall, is the day he no longer “goes to work” but until that day, if it makes him happy, then it will continue to be a part of his life, and mine.
