Dogs are treasured here

Message 234 of 5208

There is a city in North America where no stray dogs are ever killed because "there are too many dogs and not enough homes." This city has a dog licensing rate over 90%, and the residents of this city LIKE their animal control officers.

This is one of those good news stories of how getting rid of animal rights rhetoric and eliminating anti-pet laws has the wonderful effect of creating an environment where the animals are valued.

This city has reduced dog bites and dog chases by more than 50% even though the population of this large city has doubled (both canine and human).

How did they accomplish this? By embracing dogs as valued members of the community. The reason that there is such high compliance with licensing laws is because the license tag guarantees a free ride home. If a stray dog is picked up by animal control and it is wearing its license tag, it is not brought to the shelter, it is returned immediately to its owners. By returning the dog to the owner, the city saves the expense of housing the dog and waiting for an owner to show up. The short amount of time spent in returning a dog home is much less costly to the city than housing, feeding, cleaning up after and maintaining records for the dog if it is housed in the shelter.

This city has NO mandatory spay/neuter laws.
There are NO breed limits or bans.
There are NO limits on the number of dogs you can have.

In other words, this city does not force people to spay or neuter their pets, does not confiscate dogs and incarcerate them if they are intact or if they are pit bulls or Rottweilers. There are no dogs killed by the shelters in this city unless they are hopelessly ill or critically injured or irredeemably vicious.

Where is this city? How do they manage to have a No-Kill community without doing any of the things that the animal rights groups lobby for?

See for yourself: view link

posted by collieflower

Wow, good thinking they are ! :)

posted by vulcan96
4 months ago

What a fantastic story! Thanks, collieflower, and thank you for the link. If only more places were like this!

posted by Seadreamer54
4 months ago

Wow! Too bad other cities can't get the same type of programs going.

posted by muffet01
4 months ago

The problem is overcoming the myth that there are more dogs than homes. That myth has led to restricting the size, number and breed of dog people can have and leads well meaning but uninformed politicians into passing laws mandating spaying and neutering. Not so long ago, such laws did not exist. In every municipality that enacts these anti-pet laws, people's beloved pets get confiscated, incarcerated and frequently killed.

If politicians would enact laws that made the animal control officer a friend rather than someone to be feared and hated, people in those places would see the value in licensing their dogs, thus providing the revenue stream to maintain this very smart solution to animal control. I believe this is a very realistic goal, since it clearly is working in Calgary, a sizable city.

I know some people here in Pet Lovers think that all I want to do is criticize the organizations that I know are responsible for the current anti-pet climate in this country. For that reason, I have been working to find and showcase people, places and programs that are positive and helpful and provide solutions to the problems faced by communities with kill shelters.

Even though I am a collie fancier, I believe every dog deserves a home with a loving family. I just plain love dogs.

posted by collieflower
4 months ago

I don't agree with the no anti-tethering laws. Dogs tied to dog houses, trees etc is not a good thing and I don't see where the anti neutering really has anything to do with it, I personally think it's healthier for the dog to be spayed/neutered if they are not going to be bred, plus it keeps the populations down. There are a health problems that can be lessened if the pet is spay/neutered. There are some good ideas in there though.

posted by holly04
4 months ago

Holly04, my very first dog was a German Shepherd. We did not have a fenced yard, but knew better than to let him run lose. I walked him several times a day, but he was tied out in front of the house during the day. He was "tethered" and never suffered for it. He was also never neutered and was never bred.

While spaying a female will prevent some health issues that can shorten a dog's life, neutering does not have that advantage. In fact, neutered males have a higher incidence of prostate cancer.

Tethering in and of itself does no harm to a dog. Neglecting a dog, whether it is tied out or kept in a pen or lives in a home is wrong.

When you make laws that force people to have expensive major surgery to a dog or you will punish that owner by taking the pet and sending it to a shelter, where it will most likely be killed, you create a situation where people will hide their dogs from the law, in order to keep them safe. Not every one can afford the surgery needed to spay a dog, and there is no justification for requiring every dog be spayed. Because this town has refused to criminalize owning dogs, the dog owners happily comply with the laws, creating an environment that is beneficial for dogs and owners alike.

I know that it is difficult to switch gears after having been fed the fallacy that passing mandatory spay/neuter laws or dog limit laws or breed specific legislation will somehow magically improve the lives of dogs. Nothing could be further from the truth, as has been shown very eloquently by the city of Calgary. There is no shelter killing to control population, the license fees cover all the costs of the animal control services and the citizenry cooperates with the very reasonable laws of the city.

posted by collieflower
4 months ago

It's nice to know that there are places like this. I wish it was all over.