"The park is an artificial space necessary to the urban setting, with raked gravel instead of soil, piped water, and escape-proof gates, but that does not prevent the dogs from returning, for the span of our visit, to a state of nature that soothes even those of us who are mere observers."
James Carroll's beautiful and moving column today makes me feel really good about my advocacy for off-leash recreational areas in public open space.
Socializing and exercising our dogs off-leash fulfills an evolutionary promise that we made made generations ago when we allowed wolves to scavenge food and shelter from our dwellings in return for services rendered.
"[T]his bond is what we contemplate in beholding dogs as wonders, recognizing creatures who would lead humans back into the natural awareness on which Earth’s survival now depends."
Franken wrote in an editorial in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune,
Service dogs raise their masters' sense of well-being. There is evidence to suggest that increasing their numbers would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care." ("Al Franken: A wounded veteran's best friend")
In an editorial that ran on July 20, "Where dogs run free," the Boston Globe supports off-leash recreational areas. Citing "friction" in the relationship between dogs and people, the Globe proposes that "the solution to the problem is more controlled freedom for dogs, not less."
It can only help to promote a change for the better that the Globe has taken a stand in support of open space that serves the many and diverse needs of all residents. In the community of dog owners in Boston and environs, it is much bemoaned that, among comparable metropolitan areas in the country, Boston lags in providing safe and legal areas where people may enjoy the benefits of socializing and exercising our dogs off-leash.
I am surprised, however, that the Globe puts the onus on the public "to come up with sites for several more off-leash areas, and make a commitment to put up signage and self-police the sites."
It is the case that local cities and towns and the DCR have historically failed to provide both sites for off-leash recreation as well as rules that accommodate off-leash recreation. Across the Commonwealth, local dog owner groups have formed to work with together with government at the local and state level to correct these failures. I appreciate that the Globe acknowledges the voluntary efforts on the part of the citizens that make up these groups; at the same time, I wish Globe had taken a stronger position in favor of cities and towns and the DCR working together with dog-owner groups and supporting our efforts.
Does the Globe demand that the public come up with sites for basketball courts, softball fields and playgrounds? People who enjoy off-leash recreation are citizens and tax-payers just as people who enjoy basketball. It is the responsibility of cities and towns, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to work together with park users to ensure that the many and diverse recreational needs of the the metro area are met.
Must softball players make a commitment to put up signage on public fields? The same as playing fields, when off-leash recreational areas are sited on public property, it is the responsibility of the local government to post appropriate signage to inform park users of rules that have been established to ensure the safety and enjoyment of all park users.
Somerville leads the pack when it comes to municipal off-leash recreational areas. The Board of Aldermen, together with the Administration, convened a Dog Owners Task Force to involve citizens in the process of siting off-leash recreational areas (OLRAs) and in determining the rules that safeguard public health and public safety. Somerville plans to construct third OLRA this fall to open in Spring 2010.
It's great to see the dogs practicing safe surfing. Most of them are wearing life-jackets and using their surfboard leashes. Who knew that surfing was on-leash recreation?
The event raised $15,000 for the Modest Needs foundation, a non-profit that works to prevent poverty.
Viewers of City Tails on City Cable are familiar with a regular segment in which host Rob Auffrey asks people around the city to guess a local mutt's breed background.
Max had two DNA tests: The Canine Heritage XL Breed Test, which which detects 108 breeds and is conducted by a painless cheek swab, and the Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed Analysis test, which detects 134 breeds and requires a simple blood test by a participating vet.
What breeds are in Max?
a) Samoyed, Alaskan Malamute, Greyhound
b) Pomeranian, Keeshond, Poodle
c) Dachshund, Miniature Schnauzer
d) English Bulldog, German Pinscher, Harrier
Best Friends Pet Care, a national chain offering boarding, grooming, training and day camp, is improving the chance of survival of family pets in emergencies with their 'Cause for Paws' program, which provides pet resuscitation masks for community firefighters.
According to an article in the Wayland Town Crier ("Helping pet rescue"), an anonymous Wayland pet owner donated to Best Friends Pet Care’s "Cause for Paws" program, which matches donated funds, then purchases the lifesaving masks for distribution to the fire departments targeted by the donor.
Susan Adam, manager of Best Friends Sudbury Pet Care Center, and Shirley Moore, president of Save a Dog and Wayland’s Emergency Animal Response team leader, presented the donation to the Wayland firefighter Alexiss Wheeler and her dog, Tiller, on behalf of the Wayland Fire Department.
In Londonderry, NH, Winston, a miniature pinscher/chihuahua pulled his owner out of danger from a falling branch in an ice storm. ("Rescued pooch hailed a hero during ice storm" by Julie Huss, Derry News Online) Winston was adopted less than a month ago from All Dog Rescue. He was fostered here in Somerville, MA!
Check out the fine raincoat Winston is wearing: it was made by the owner of Fonzie, a Chinese Crested and Somerville dog!
Irresponsible and Responsible Celebrity Dog Owners
Britney Spears tops the charts of The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog as worst celebrity dog owner because she abandoned her three dogs. Am I the only one who recognized that Spears was a bad dog owner when she kept dogs as fashion accessories?
A follow up story in the Somerville Journal today, about Sister Stephen Marie and her dog, Lori, is the impetus for some catch-up blogging on Somerville dogs who have made the news recently.
Sister Stephen Marie is moving to a a nun's retirement home in Framingham after living at St. Benedict's convent in East Somerville since 1968. Last week, Journal readers learned that Lori, her six-year-old adopted dog and constant companion, is not welcome at the retirement home. According to the article, Sister Stephen Marie has no living family members. She has made arrangements for Lori to live with her groomer.
Another Somerville dog that has been featured in the Journal is Jake, the house mascot of the Somerville Home, a residential care facility that has served the community for more than 100 years. Recently, the Somerville Home celebrated Jake's fifteenth birthday—that's 105 in dog years! The golden retriever has been the resident pet therapist at the Somerville Home since an administrator rescued him from the pound 2-1/2 years ago.
Pet-assisted therapy is not the only way that Somerville dogs contribute in society: Molly walked in the AIDS Walk with her companion, Tom Santaniello: The team has raised $3,050 to help the AIDS Action Committee stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic through prevention, education and direct services to people living with HIV.
Once the dogs located [the suspect], he was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, failure to stop for police, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop at a stop sign, operating a vehicle with a revoked license and walking on railroad tracks.
...not Mr. Murphy (or Ms. Murphy for that matter), but Murphy, a golden retriever who was walking with his owner in Newton Centre. Murphy did not have a leash.
Seems you don't have to be human to be subject to the laws of Newton, MA.
Somerville is now safe from one aggressive dog. David Renna, Somerville's one-man Animal Control Department, confirmed this morning that Diamond, the unlicensed dog that mauled three people in an apartment in Homer Square (near Union Square) on the Columbus Day holiday, has been humanely euthanized at the North Shore Animal Hospital in Lynn. The Somerville Journal is running the story about Diamond, who "viciously attacked two kids and their mother" on Monday, October 11. The mother "was dog-sitting . . . for her downstairs neighbor . . . , who went out of town on business."
Renna said that when he arrived at the scene last week, he was able to calm the dog down so that he could transport her to the North Shore Animal Hospital, the facility that kenneled the dog for the ten days that the City is required to hold a dog that has not been claimed by its owner. But he said that, in his opinion, the dog was mentally instable, "crazy," due to inbreeding. He said that staff that worked in the kennel where Diamond was quarantined also reported that the dog was confrontational. A female, Diamond was fine with men, but she challenged women, almost as if she didn't distinguish between people and dogs. Although Animal Control had received no previous complaints about Diamond, Renna said that neighbors at the scene of the attack told him that they have had many problems with the dog, including the report that was printed in the Journal, that Diamond had bitten one of the children before.
Human-directed aggression in dogs is never acceptable. Diamond was a menace to society. Now that the problem of the aggressive dog has been taken care of, however, what concerns me is that the Journal article, rather than addressing the problem of an aggressive dog, insinuates that aggression was only to be expected because of the dog's breed. A San Francisco based organization of pit bull owners, rescuers, and supporters, Bad Rap--Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls--agrees with me on how to deal with aggressive dogs: "Pit bulls that do show aggressive behavior towards humans are not typical of the breed and should be humanely euthanized." A dog that is aggressive toward humans is not a typical dog. Dogs and humans have co-evolved over thousands of years to live together to our mutual benefit.
Rather than demonizing pit bulls, our community will be more safe from dog attacks when we understand aggression in dogs and prevent it from ever being directed toward humans. According to Jean Donaldson, in her book The Culture Clash, "the usual reason dogs bite 'without provocation' or 'for no reason' when they had never behaved aggressively before" is that "some novel combination of elements [specifically, 'risk factors'] pushes the dog higher than the elements on their own have ever pushed him previously." "Risk factors," are what Donaldson calls things that "bug" a specific dog. "Typical risk factors include: categories of people to which the dog is not socialized, hands and/or being touched, approach, presence of food bowl or other guarded resources and any discriminative stimulus for positive punishment (such as a choke collar or a strap used to beat the dog)." Donaldson gives the following example:
Hypothetical dog Zaphod has always been uncomfortable around strange men. His other major risk factor is that he freezes up on approaches to his food bowl. The owner has also noticed that he seems just a little bit more sensitive at night than during the day and not perfectly relaxed with hands or when approached. These last two, by the way, are in the profiles, to some extent, of most dogs. One day, Zaphod bites a man who approaches to pat him. The owner is completely floored as Zaphod has never bitten or even growled at anyone before, and there was no provocation on this occasion, from the owner's perspective. As you can see from his profile, however, Zaphod was a time-bomb which, unfortunately, went off (91-92).
Donaldson includes a graphic representation of Zaphod's profile, which shows how Zaphod's risk factors--"strange men," "hands" and "approach"--separately do not bug him enough to reach even his thresholds for growling or snapping. But Zaphod's growl, snap and bite thresholds are all at more or less the same level of provocation: the combination of elements--when a strange man approaches with his hand to pat the dog--bugs Zaphod beyond his growling and snapping thresholds and pushes him past his bite threshold.
Diamond's owner failed to understand his dog's risk factors and thus failed to prevent her from attacking and injuring people. Given that Diamond allegedly bit the ten-year-old girl last year, it was irresponsible of Diamond's owner to leave her in the custody of that child's family.
UPDATE January 23, 2005: Check out Jean Donaldson's new book about dog-dog aggression!
Pet-assisted therapy is not the only way that Somerville dogs contribute in society: 