Dangerous Dog Conference

[SaschasPet]

FYI - received this from the CRC and thought it definitely worth passing on.

There is a Dangerous Dog Conference that will be held in Ontario Canada from November 1-4 with the venue still to be announced.Anyone can attend but it is first come first served since there will only be about 200 spaces open to the public. This group wants to identify potentially dangerous dogs (that is BSL ) before they do harm ... since breed specific legislation is not working so they say.

dangerousdogcongress.com

[MarieM]

OMG....and the slideshow of pics they have on this link are mostly shepherds, pits and rotties bearing their teeth (also doing schutzhund!). I thought they list that at the convention you will learn:

How to assess the level of danger a given dog poses to society, (not based on breed, but based upon objective risk factors), in order to identify “high-risk” dogs and by doing so, justify the need for additional controls on these animals.

Where are the pics of the poodle, chihuahua, lab, etc. bearing their teeth?? I am sooooo sick of this!

[JoJo]

Originally Posted by MarieM

OMG....and the slideshow of pics they have on this link are mostly shepherds, pits and rotties bearing their teeth (also doing schutzhund!). I thought they list that at the convention you will learn:

How to assess the level of danger a given dog poses to society, (not based on breed, but based upon objective risk factors), in order to identify “high-risk” dogs and by doing so, justify the need for additional controls on these animals.

Where are the pics of the poodle, chihuahua, lab, etc. bearing their teeth?? I am sooooo sick of this!

That's where EDUCATION is so important. Those that "see" pictures of dogs doing Schutzhund obviously don't know all the level of tracking and obedience training that is also involved!!! These dogs are safer then the ordinary "couch potato" rottie IMO.

This is one situation that ignorance is not bliss. Fighting BSL should be one of the top priorities on our lists. Setting great examples with our dogs should be another priority.

[MarieM]

Originally Posted by JoJo

That's where EDUCATION is so important. Those that "see" pictures of dogs doing Schutzhund obviously don't know all the level of tracking and obedience training that is also involved!!! These dogs are safer then the ordinary "couch potato" rottie IMO.

I totally agree JoJo - showing those types of pics just makes it worse (adding fuel to the fire at the convention which is obviously what they want) since most people will just see a 'mean, dangerous' dog not knowing what goes into the training!

[Sour Sugar]

JOJO, I agree. What they are showing is like a snake oil salesman. When you want to get something sold, you put it out there for the public to bite. People will only show what is going to promote the product. In this case D.D. I wonder how many D.D. are not on the list? For example, poms. chihuahuas, labs etc. People dont realize that these dogs will bite without cause. But because they are small they dont count. That's bull. The meanest dogs are the chihua. Just look at the Dog Whisper.The more I look at this show the more small breeds that I see. What they really need to look at are the people that dont train, social, care for the breed just what they can do for the cash. Yes there are D.D. out there but most walk on 2 legs not 4.I would love to put the 2 legs in a pit and tell them they cant come out until only 1 is standing. Or match them up with a DD and watch what happens in the pit. And we call ourselves Human?

[bliss7373]

Beyond the pictures they use - which I do take issue with - has anyone actually looked at the website mentioned?

I agree with their theory that dog bite prevention starts with the owner. Negligent and irresponsible owners are the cause of the great majority of bites. They also seem to be against BSL, which is great.

But their idea is to have a place for people to report "potential dangerous dog sightings" online. They have a form to input information, at which point this group will alert local authorities. They will "assess the level of risk" and, in situations they have decided are serious, they plan to urge local utilities to refuse service, etc.

I have two big problems with this:

1. If it even "takes hold" with the public, I think they're likely to get many unwarranted reports. In other words, someone WILL report a rottweiler just because they are scared of it, no matter how mannerly it is. There is a section for reporting "menacing" behavior - to some individuals, having a dog look at you is menacing. Some people will see any barking as menacing. You get my drift.

2. If their so-called "objective determination" about the potential risk posed by a dog is based on these reports, it is completely worthless. Is there any actual assessment of the dog? I doubt it. And if so, who is assessing the dog? To me, this is no more useful than the typical, uneducated law enforcement/animal control officer making a determination about whether a dog is dangerous.

[Robenk]

Jaime, I totally agree with your post 1000%!!! For example here in my little world--had a VERY aggressive chi that no one could find where it lived, except that whoever owned it lets it out every day to roam! I called AC--they came out in TWO CARS! The AC officers explained they send 2 sep units out because chi's are the hardest to catch & contain and are the #1 dog bite & PTS in my COUNTY!! NOT pits, not rotties, not GSD's etc!!! They also said their #1 CALL was for pits & rotties and when they went out to check the call most of the time AC usually ended up doing NOTHING because the dog was simply in it's OWN YARD MINDING ITS OWN BUSINESS!!! People call because they're AFRAID OF THE BREED!!! He was as PO'd telling me as I was hearing it!!!

[SaschasPet]

Originally Posted by bliss7373

I have two big problems with this:

1. If it even "takes hold" with the public, I think they're likely to get many unwarranted reports. In other words, someone WILL report a rottweiler just because they are scared of it, no matter how mannerly it is. There is a section for reporting "menacing" behavior - to some individuals, having a dog look at you is menacing. Some people will see any barking as menacing. You get my drift.

2. If their so-called "objective determination" about the potential risk posed by a dog is based on these reports, it is completely worthless. Is there any actual assessment of the dog? I doubt it. And if so, who is assessing the dog? To me, this is no more useful than the typical, uneducated law enforcement/animal control officer making a determination about whether a dog is dangerous.

Jaime - I am with you 100% on this. Just from experience of walking Sascha in the park lately. It is amazing how many people get jumpy when we pass and pull their hands up close to them like she's going to "attack". Meanwhile she's looking at them like - oh hey, how ya doin. It's frustrating.

I also have a VERY big problem with the pictures they flash. Come on, GSDs are the #1 dog used by Police - why try to make them look like killers now?!

Public needs to be educated that it's not the breed - it's the irresponsible owners who don't train their dog properly or get the dog for ALL the wrong reasons. I was on the ATTS site yesterday and 83% of Rotties tested Passed (only 869 out of 5,097 tested failed)! Now doesn't that say something for the breed. And, out of all the breeds listed on the Breed Statistics, they had the most dogs tested. Unfortunately in our society fear sets the tone - we must fight BSL and try to educate those who don't understand.

[Kev]

if you go to the website (http://www.preventdogbites.ca) and download the dangerous dog e-book. the assessment work sheet is on page 82 with the explanations on each category on pages 73-81.

If you have a male dog that is not altered you get 5 points. Unless you have multi-level containment (whatever that is) you get 1 point. If you dog is 75-100 lbs then you get 4 points. If you dog is an alert barker then you get 1 point. If your dog chases "pray objects, ie and thrown ball, you can get from 0-3 points depending on the dogs intensity. Anything over ten point and the dog is tag.


0 - 10 Category 1 – Benign Dog
11 - 20 Category 2 – Menacing Dog
21 - 30 Category 3 – Aggressive Dog
31 - 40 Category 4 – Potentially-Dangerous Dog
41 - 50 Category 5 – Dangerous Dog
51+ Category 6 – Lethal or Potentially-Lethal Dog

so if you have a male unaltered, who is an "alarm barker" and 100 lbs + and you have elderly and children in your neighborhood then your dogs score would be

unaltered 5 points
100+ lbs 5 points
Containment appears adequate to prevent both
egress of dog and ingress of stranger 1 point
if you rescue and have had the dog less than 2 years 1 point if less than 6 months or a foster dog 2 points.

These factors can add up the points very quickly. According to this I have 2 Menacing Dogs simply because they are unaltered, soon to be, and their size and because we have children or elderly in our neighborhood. This is stupid.

[Cdn1050]

Originally Posted by SaschasPet

FYI - received this from the CRC and thought it definitely worth passing on.

There is a Dangerous Dog Conference that will be held in Ontario Canada from November 1-4 with the venue still to be announced.Anyone can attend but it is first come first served since there will only be about 200 spaces open to the public. This group wants to identify potentially dangerous dogs (that is BSL ) before they do harm ... since breed specific legislation is not working so they say.

dangerousdogcongress.com

Did the email to you say where in Ontario, what city?

[SaschasPet]

Originally Posted by Cdn1050

Did the email to you say where in Ontario, what city?

Unfortunately no, I posted what I received in the email. Website says Toronto.

[freakygoldfish]

Apparently my boy is menacing too. Their rating system is a joke! He's probably the best behaved Rottie in my small rural town.

Originally Posted by Kev

if you go to the website (http://www.preventdogbites.ca) and download the dangerous dog e-book. the assessment work sheet is on page 82 with the explanations on each category on pages 73-81.

If you have a male dog that is not altered you get 5 points. Unless you have multi-level containment (whatever that is) you get 1 point. If you dog is 75-100 lbs then you get 4 points. If you dog is an alert barker then you get 1 point. If your dog chases "pray objects, ie and thrown ball, you can get from 0-3 points depending on the dogs intensity. Anything over ten point and the dog is tag.


0 - 10 Category 1 – Benign Dog
11 - 20 Category 2 – Menacing Dog
21 - 30 Category 3 – Aggressive Dog
31 - 40 Category 4 – Potentially-Dangerous Dog
41 - 50 Category 5 – Dangerous Dog
51+ Category 6 – Lethal or Potentially-Lethal Dog

so if you have a male unaltered, who is an "alarm barker" and 100 lbs + and you have elderly and children in your neighborhood then your dogs score would be

unaltered 5 points
100+ lbs 5 points
Containment appears adequate to prevent both
egress of dog and ingress of stranger 1 point
if you rescue and have had the dog less than 2 years 1 point if less than 6 months or a foster dog 2 points.

These factors can add up the points very quickly. According to this I have 2 Menacing Dogs simply because they are unaltered, soon to be, and their size and because we have children or elderly in our neighborhood. This is stupid.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by freakygoldfish

Apparently my boy is menacing too. Their rating system is a joke! He's probably the best behaved Rottie in my small rural town.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with "menacing Dogs" lol