Castaway

The castaway dog who swam SIX miles through shark-infested waters, then survived FOUR months on a desert island

All boats should now be required to have life jackets and an Australian Cattle Dog on board.

Update on Maggie

From Maggie's new owners:

Hello all,

Its been a while since we adopted Maggie, so in an effort to be true to my word, I wanted to give an update and send some pictures. Maggie is doing very well and has adapted to home life quite easily. Since the first day, she has not had a single episode of submissive urinating!

Maggie has brought our other dog Sam's personality back out after he lost his best friend late last year (Doonarie, our 12 year old Greyhound). They play, tug and wrestle all the time. The cats are adapting to her presence, and she is slowly learning not to chase them. Her exuberance on walks when she sees other dogs still needs some work, but hey - puppies will be puppies, right? With no official birthday, we decided to make her birthday April first to match her goofy personality (as she truly is an April fool)!

She's grown about 1 inch at the shoulders (which are now higher than her behind) and she's put on about 10 lbs (all in the neck and chest) and I have a feeling there's still a bit more to go. Every Saturday, my wife Amanda, Maggie, Sam and I sit and watch The Dog Whisperer and Dogtown on the National Geographic channel together to start our weekend just right!

And now - the pictures :-)

Adoption day - right when we got home



With her new best bud Sam



Naptime interrupted by Gonzo the cat



Who could resist something this Adorable?

Can I get a half dozen of those, please?

These Cocker Spaniels just arrived today at Toronto Animal Services and while I don't know if they're siblings, their happy personalities certainly came from the same stock. Okay, the black one isn't sporting a big goofy smile but you need someone to play the straight guy, right? No worries, though. He's laughing on the inside.

addendum (09-04-06): These guys are actually from a Cocker Spaniel rescue that needed some help due to health issues with the owners. One has already been taken in by a local rescue and the rest will be up for adoption at TAS.







Update here and here.

Just another Pit Bull story

If this happy girl looked like any other dog, she would've been adopted already. I can't remember the details exactly, not sure how she arrived at Toronto Animal Services but later her owner was contacted and he said he didn't want her anymore. He didn't have any paperwork for her either or wasn't interested in looking for it and so now she's considered a prohibited dog and can't be allowed to stay in Ontario.

Bullies in Need rescue will be coming by to pick her up and transport her out of province where she'll make someone a wonderful pet. It's too bad that someone isn't going to be here in the city. It's too bad she can't just go out onto the TAS adoption floor and wiggle her butt into someone's life.

As I leave Toronto Animal Services, a couple come up to me with a midsized, black, muscular dog. The couple are young, well-dressed, happy. I'm thinking maybe they're going to pick up a lost pet or do a meet and greet. I crouch down to pet their dog.

"We just found this Pit Bull and we're bringing it in," they say. "Is this the right place?"

"Yeah, it's the right place," I say but really I'm thinking, No, it's the wrong place.

Toronto Animal Services Friday review, April 3

Sandy

Sometimes it doesn't make sense why a dog hasn't already been adopted and Sandy is an example of that. First of all, he's a Lab - alright a Lab mix but close enough - and Labs always seem to fly out the door. Sandy's gentle, affectionate and not too bad on a leash for a dog that's never been properly leash trained. As far as I know, he's housebroken as well.

He had a bit of an issue with one of the other male dogs that was at Toronto Animal Services South but it's hard to say what caused that. Now when I walk him by the other dogs, he seems fine.

So it's been weeks and he's still at TAS. Here's to hoping this is his weekend.

Peggy

The reason why Peggy has been with Toronto Animal Services for so long is obvious. She hasn't been put out into general adoption. She came in with a bad case of cherry eye and since TAS doesn't put obviously unhealthy dogs into general adoption, she had to wait until it got fixed.

Cherry eye occurs when the gland in the eye pops out. This is often due to hereditary weaknesses. The usual fix is surgery to place the gland back and that's what was done on Peggy. Poor girl had a cone around her neck for weeks as everyone waited to see if the surgery was successful and then the gland popped out again.

Now she's going to need another surgery but the money budgeted for her health care has run out so she's going to Lab Rescue where they'll look after her medical needs.

Did I mention she's a very sweet girl?

Toronto Animal Services euthanasia numbers

A recent Sun article initiated by the Toronto Humane Society's request for euthanasia numbers from Toronto Animal Services blasts TAS for its high kill rate.

I can only speak for the dog side of things but that number is 837 dogs euthanized for 2007. I wrote about the last time THS made this announcement a little while ago in which I compared the rate of euthanasia in Toronto to the rate in Calgary. Calgary animal services is much trumpeted by the animal welfare community, and deservedly so, as a model of how city shelters should be run. As it turns out, the percentage numbers of dog euthanasias per dog population between Toronto and Calgary aren't that different.

Now Toronto Humane Society once again trots out the same number, just presented differently, to try to show their moral superiority over Toronto Animal Services. Specifically, THS compares their own euth rates to TAS' much higher euth rates.

Before I go into the numbers, I think it's important to remember that the mandate for TAS and THS are two different things even though THS may like to imply otherwise when they publicly compare euth rates. THS ostensibly is there for the animals. TAS, on the other hand, is a city run facility which is there to serve and protect the public, ie. people.

From THS' own website:

The difference between the Society and animal control agencies lies in the focus of each organization's protection arm. Your local animal control agency is generally charged with the duty of controlling animals. They are the ones you call when a dog is running at large or barking too much. The license your pet wears comes from your local animal control agency. Most animal control agencies are also the ones you contact if there is a dead animal in your yard, road, or neighbourhood.

The Toronto Humane Society works to ensure quality lives for all animals. Our main concern is for the well being of the animal.

So, comparing euth numbers between these two agencies is, right from the outset, somewhat akin to comparing apples and oranges.

Here are some other differences between THS and TAS.

THS claims to have an open admissions policy but they reserve the right to refuse admission to dogs they don't want. Let's take a look at the THS website again:

Q: How do I surrender an animal to you for adoption?

A: At present our Shelter has no extra room. If you need to surrender your pet, as space becomes available, you will need to make an appointment with a Feline or Canine coordinator.

How does this make THS an open admissions shelter? I'm not sure.

And guess where the owners end up going instead to dump their unwanted animals? Well, to TAS of course, because TAS has an open admissions policy that is actually an open admissions policy meaning they are obligated to accept every animal that is brought to them including the "unadoptable" ones rejected by THS - many of which will end up getting euthanized.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me THS gets to keep its hands clean because TAS ends up having to do the dirty work.

Another major difference at TAS is that TAS offers low cost euthanasia to the public for those who can't, or won't, pay the much higher vet fees. While this service, like any service, is open to abuse, it means that people don't have to just watch their old or sick animals endure long deaths simply because they can't afford vet euthanasias. This service bumps up TAS euth numbers significantly. (And FYI, I've never known any TAS staffer to euthanize a healthy, behaviorally sound dog just because the owner brought it in and asked for it to be done.)

And finally, there is court ordered and DOLA enforcement. It's a mighty unfortunate aspect of TAS' mandate but they are required to carry it out. Again, another bump up in euth numbers.

So here are the 2007 dog euth numbers for TAS as presented by THS:

1834 adopted/returned to owner
227 euthanized due to significant behavioural problems
162 euthanized due to health issues
112 euthanized due to court orders and DOLA (anti-Pit Bull laws)
336 owner requested euthanasias

If we take away the euthanasias due to health reasons, legal reasons and owner requested that leaves 227 euths. Even if we ignore the fact that THS can turn away unadoptable dogs which in all likelihood end up at TAS and make up a portion of that number, 227 euths out of 2707 admitted, while still too many, is not nearly as bad as THS would like people to think.

Is everything perfectly hunkydory at TAS? No, of course not. It does have its share of bureaucrats but at the same time there are many dedicated staffers whose main goal is looking after the welfare of the animals in their care while also honouring the public trust.

Rolling out the euthanasia numbers with no context in an attempt to pursuade people that Toronto Animal Services is up to no good is at best misleading and at worst - and this is of course what's important - a great disservice to the abandoned animals of Toronto. Instead of making peace and working together to help further the cause of animal welfare in this city, THS continues at playing negative ad campaign politics.

Not half the story

From Toronto City TV news, Six-Month-Old Puppy Found Shivering Under Car:



"The pup is a lab mix and about 6 months old."

A lab mix? Judging from the accuracy of that statement, you may be tempted to think this particular news story could be missing some pertinent facts. And you'd be right.

It doesn't mention that this young dog is one of a pair of likely siblings which came into TAS. The other sibling was also found at large. The report also doesn't mention that the two dogs are pretty much feral, afraid of everything and everyone.

Take a careful look at the beginning of the video with the dog underneath the red car. The dog isn't lying calmly under the car. It's terrified. Look at the chain. It's stretched to its limit. There's a very short segment of the video at around the 17 second mark where if you follow the chain away from the dog, you'll see something a little surprising. The other end of the chain is actually lying under the wheel of the police car. This is because the police had to drive over the chain so the young dog wouldn't run away.

Watch the fear in the dog's eyes when the policeman hands it a bowl of food.

And here's the worst part. The dogs bite. They're terrified. They bite fast and hard. They've been ruined by their previous owner and now they're human fearing, untrained, big, young powerful biting dogs.

So what's going to happen to them? I don't know. No one knows yet. Assessments will have to be made, liabilities considered, politics will have to be played out, the media will have to be addressed.

Is there a place in our world for these two ruined dogs and can it be found soon enough?


Continued here.