Sad Day For California Dogs

essmom — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:55:51 +0000

Sad Day For California Dogs

AB 1634 – The More Than $100 Million Mistake

June 2007 Update: Our assemblymen did not get the message as they passed (barely, by ONE vote after HOURS of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting) this measure. It now goes to the Senate as its next step. It could then be modified and, if so, it would have to come back to the assembly for vote. It may ultimately go to the Governor for signature; so, contacts to his office would be appreciated. For now, I urge everyone now to contact your California Senator to express your disapproval for AB1634, asking that they vote “no” when it might come for a Senate vote. Don’t be afraid to do this multiple times, like every other day, so they get the message. Share with other dog lovers. Here is a link to find your Senator: Find Your Senator.

In another development, because the California Veterinary Medical Association’s Board of Directors initially sponsored AB1634, there has been surprise expressed & discontent among California’s veterinarians who do not agree with the bill’s premise. In an upcoming CVMA meeting, it has been scheduled for discussion & reconsideration. Watch to see what happens after the Anaheim meeting which concludes June 24. I am working on sharing PDF files of letters from prominent veterinarians to the CVMA asking they remove their name from sponsorship. I ask you print out & share with your vet, urging them to take a stand on this very important issue.
=========================================
After passing the Assembly Business and Professions committee, California Assembly Bill 1634 has been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This is a new step in the legislative process requiring that all breeders and concerned dog owners write this new committee to express your opposition to AB 1634, as your previous letters to the Assembly Business and Professions committee are no longer valid. It is imperative that when writing your letters of opposition, please state that you “oppose AB 1634, as amended by the Business and Professions Committee on April 24th.”

See either AKC.org for links to obtain names of Appropriations committee members, and the name of your own assemblyperson, and sample letters.

I am going to refer you also to Save Our Dogs as this is a well-organized site. They do a better job of laying out why this bill should NOT pass. I’m going to share here what I also found posted on a veterinary medical email list concerning early or so-called pediatric (4-month-old) spay/neuter:

From VetMed List
Date:    Sat, 21 Apr 2007 11:31:41 -0700
From:    Bridget Curry
Subject: Re: early spay/neuter

Permission to cross post
From: Laura Sanborn
To: CARDA@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 1:49 PM
Subject: [CARDA] Spay/Neuter Impacts, etc.

Yesterday I made the rounds at the state capital to visit the
offices of the Assembly Business & Professions Committee members to discuss AB1634.
I was accompanied by two police officers who discussed the harmful impacts AB 1634
would have on law enforcement. Also with us was the person in charge of the breeding
and training program at Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), who discussed how
AB 1634 would harm programs that assist blind and disabled Californians. He also
represented Assistance Dogs International, Inc., an umbrella organization over many
guide/service/hearing dog organizations.  Similar to guide dog programs, CCI breeds
and trains dogs to assist disabled people. They use Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden/Labrador mixes. CCI breeds over 600 dogs a year.  My jaw nearly hit the floor when the CCI representative started describing
research that CCI did in the early 1990s to understand spay/neuter impacts.
CCI wanted to know if early s/n (less than 6 months of age) would yield results at
least as good as their traditional spay/neuter age, which is usually over 12 months
of age (typical is 17 months of age). So CCI did a controlled prospective research study... the gold standard of
research. They assigned half the pups in a number of litters to be s/n early, while
the remaining pups in these litters were s/n at their traditional age. The results
were very unexpected. The early age spayed females were significantly more dog
aggressive than the traditional age spayed females. Urinary incontinence was a
much bigger problem in the early spayed females compared to the traditional age
spayed females. The early age neutered males were more fearful than the traditional
age neutered males. The bottom line is that the early age spay/neuter
dogs had a significantly higher failure rate in CCI's program... a
smaller percentage of them grew up to be working dogs. CCI will not spay/neuter
dogs before 6 months of age, and usually wait until dogs are more than
12 months old to spay/neuter. The CCI rep said this research has been
repeated by others. I believe one of them may be Guide Dogs for the
Blind, as I was told by one of their trainers that they recently stopped
doing early spay/neuter owing to results they were seeing that they
don't like.

I spent 6 years poring over the veterinary medical research literature
trying without success to find research of this type, and here I was
sitting in the office of a state Assembly member, listening to a
scientist describe the work that his group did. It has not been published
anywhere. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day bugging him
to get this published. This has implications far beyond AB 1634 and
guide/assistance dogs. It has implications for the health and well being
of most dogs. There are very few controlled prospective research studies
of dogs in veterinary medicine examining spay/neuter impacts. They are
too costly for almost all researchers to do. Guide & assistance dog
programs may be in a unique position to do these kind of studies, as
they breed many dogs and they maintain a degree of control over their dogs that is
beyond what other breeders can do. CCI's work is summarized in their
letter to the California state  Assembly opposing AB 1634. Quoting from CCI's letter:

Calling AB 1634 the 'California Healthy Pets Act' is a misnomer
Surgical sterilization of preadult dogs has been shown to increase the risk
for several significant behavioral and health problems. CCI did a study
on the effects of prepubertal gonadectomy (i.e., sterilization) in 1990,
and found significant increases in failure rates due to both medical
and behavioral reasons in those dogs that had been sterilized early.
This research has been repeated elsewhere with the same results.
Increased incidence of health problems such as urinary incontinence,
osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, obesity and orthopedic problems as well as
behavioral problems such as environmental fear and interdog aggression are
strong arguments against prepubertal sterilization for any dog, but
especially those destined for a working role.

http://saveourdogs.net/documents/CCIPosition.jpg>

I am also going to share that the ONE litter of three pups I’ve bred in my 30 years in the breed: One was spayed earlier than planned due to necessary other surgery, and she is now exhibiting dog aggression, has significantly longer and thinner legs than her littermates, one of whom was spayed at or later than the “normal” time of 6-7 months, and the other whom is intact. This first pup has also incurred a FRACTURE in one of those longer, thinner, perhaps weaker bones. This might not have occurred had there been warnings or knowledge about these risks. Now we find California lawmakers want to FORCE all of us to spay/neuter all of our dogs at 4 months of age! Beyond the age factor, do we need someone TELLING us what to do with our dogs? I read an article recently saying these so-called “nanny” laws are becoming more and more common. At what point, do we say “enough!” ??

Now for my observations from my rescue work, reducing the numbers of breeding animals will very nicely drive up puppy prices, which for my breed are already between $700-1000 per puppy. This will put puppies out of range for “normal” blue-collar people; they will just find intact animals, not license them and breed their own puppies, selling off what they don’t want for themselves for a tidy profit. The for-profit breeders will just have to find cladestine ways to advertise and sell their puppies: Perhaps via internet ads.

This is another possible scenario: As quoted in the Sacramento Bee article Pet Neutering Bill Clears Committee: (AB1634) could “backfire because some pet owners would abandon their animals rather than pay to sterilize them.” Now that’s not a pretty picture, eh?

Now, don’t think I’ve gone to the Dark Side. I am SO FOR responsible dog ownership, FOR responsible dog breeding that it hurts. And I think some of this action pushing this bill comes from a positive motivation to make animals’ lives better. But I am also leery that PETA and HSUS are driving forces (and probable $$ contributors to AssemblyMan Lloyd Levine). PETA is vehemently anti-pet, is working towards eliminating pet ownership entirely. Don’t you suppose a good way to begin might be to limit dog/cat breeding as a first step? In fact Save Our Dogs has an excellent introduction to PETA and animal rights organizations HERE.
I like that they back up their opnions with references and other webpages for in-depth info.

If you come this far, I’m going to refer you to Save Our Dogs for action but I’ll just say you must as a loving responsible dog owner CALL or FAX a LETTER to your Assembly Person and the Governor ASAP registering, as AKC said, your “vehement opposition to AB 1634″ and demand they vote NO on AB1634.

PS: My link to the SacBee article won’t work; so, I’m going to append that article below as I believe it was the most balanced news article I’ve seen so far.

Pet neutering bill clears committee

By Jim Sanders – Bee Capitol Bureau

Published 11:23 am PDT Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Legislation to require sterilization of nearly every dog and cat statewide in hopes of reducing the burden on animal shelters cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday. The measure, Assembly Bill 1634, is meant to curb the impact of irresponsible animal owners by making fewer dogs and cats capable of reproducing. The Assembly Business and Professions Committee passed AB 1634 on a party-line vote, 7-2, with Republicans opposed. Public testimony on the bill, taken two weeks ago, attracted hundreds of animal enthusiasts on both sides of the issue.
Tuesday’s session was limited to a statement by the author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, and to questions or comments by committee members. Levine said a statewide spay and neutering standard is needed because cities and counties have limited control over feral or unwanted pets. “Dogs and cats don’t know where one city ends and the other begins,” he said. Levine contends AB 1634 would crack down on irresponsible breeding that leads to about a million unwanted pets being born each year, costing shelters an estimated $250 million.
Levine’s bill would require that dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by four months old. Violators could be subject to a $500 fine.
Exceptions are provided for service animals – such as police, guide or signal dogs – and for animals excused by a letter from a veterinarian because of illness, age or poor health.

The bill faces massive opposition, with critics claiming it would interfere with the rights of pet owners, pose a financial hardship on hobbyist breeders, be ignored by the worst offenders, and be largely unenforceable. Opponents note that animal shelter populations have fallen during the past 10 years, and that AB 1634 could backfire because some pet owners would abandon their animals rather than pay to sterilize them.

After Tuesday’s committee vote, critics claimed the bill’s exemption for service dogs does not go far enough to ensure that an adequate supply of puppies will enter such programs in years to come. Assemblywoman Shirley Horton, a San Diego Republican who voted against AB 1634, said she does not think the Legislature should mandate spaying and neutering. “I really do think this is a local issue,” she said.

Labels: AB 1634, AB1634, Assembly Bill 1634, California, California Senate, dog spay, Governor, HSUS, mandatory spay/neuter, neuter proposed legislation, PETA

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Springer Fun Day 2006

This was possibly our 7th or 8th year for this annual get-together: Golden Gate Springer Rescue’s Fun Day and Rescue Reunion. This year we were again at Pine Lake near Stern Grove in SanFrancisco. This is next to a wonderful off-leash dog park. And it has water so the dogs were in “heaven!” For those of you who have read about Sophie below, she attended with her new “dad.” In fact, many of the attendees were adopters of our rescue Springers but it is not a requirement; anyone is welcome. Rosie, also below, was unable to attend, having gone into heat and is now awaiting spay surgery.

We BBQ’ed hamburgers & hotdogs, had a wonderful potluck, some fun games (LOVE the Springers dunking for hotdogs!), and this year we ran out of time for our grooming demo. Anyone who would like to be added to the email list for next year’s event, email me (goldengaterescue [at] sbcglobal.net) and I’ll add you.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

AKC Honors English Springer Spaniel “Morgan”

AKC Honors Outstanding Dogs with
2006 AKC Awards for Canine Excellence

Search and Rescue Dog: “Morgan” from Lebanon, N.J.

Morgan, an English Springer Spaniel, is a certified wilderness air scent, water and cadaver search dog. She and her owner, Katrene Johnson, have participated in over 50 searches nationwide. In September 2001, Morgan and Katrene were called upon to search for DNA material in the debris from Ground Zero. Morgan faithfully searched the quarter square mile of debris that had been deposited at Staten Island’s Fresh Kills Land Fill. Her contribution helped to give numerous families the answers they sought about their loved ones.

In 2005, Morgan was instrumental in the relief efforts of another catastrophe. Hancock County, Mississippi called upon search and rescue teams to help track down their missing citizens after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Morgan and a few other teams were responsible for clearing neighborhoods before residents returned to survey the damage to their homes. With Morgan’s help, Hancock County completed its mission of locating all missing citizens.

Katrene Johnson and ‘Morgan (Above) & Maia (below)
from West New Jersey K9 Search+Rescue website:

Katrene is the President of West Jersey K-9 and has training skills, which served many wonderful K-9’s. Currently Katrene is working with two English Springer Spaniels who have tough shoes to fill since the passing of Katrene’s old rescue dog ‘Dan.’ Dan was famous for his many wilderness, cadaver and water search and rescues.
Morgan is a 4-year-old English Springer Spaniel who is up to any challenge she me come across. The hundreds of hours logged in her training is apparent when you watch her methodically work out a difficult HRD problem. Morgan is a seasoned veteran, certified in HRD and water search work. As you can see in this picture, her happy smile (above) and intent gaze on Katrene shows you just how much fun she has doing the job.

========================================
Over and over, I’ve seen examples of Springers put to use working to make our lives safer, as exemplified by Katrene’s Morgan and Maia in pictures above. Once Springer rescue placed a dog with the USDA where they trained him to sniff out contraband plants & products.

Give a Springer a job and you’ve made his/her life better and happier. Not all Springers can hunt, but many could be trained to do so many other things. If nothing else, consider training YOUR Springer to get a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) certificate from the AKC. Your Springer will thank you!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Update on Rosie in Fremont

From the post “Things Heating Up,” the last dog on that post was the bald Springer, Rosie. I just snapped an “after” adoption picture 2 months since Cheryl decided to adopt Rosie. The vet put Rosie on thyroid replacement, Cheryl is feeding her nutritious food and of course the secret ingredient is love, and our bald girl is growing her coat slowly back but surely.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

New Link: SF Dogs Blog

I am adding a new link to a site SF Bay Area dog lovers might enjoy: SF Dogs Blog. Jon has found a niche and does it well: Photographing dogs he encounters on the sidewalks of San Francisco. If you live there and shop while walking your dog, your dog might end up being immortalized! And it turns out Jon has some fame also. He was interviewed for Current TV, I an internet & satellite TV channel. You can view the short VIDEO HERE. And this just in: I saved you all the trouble and ferreted out the only English Springer (as of 8/6/06). Click here to see the ENGLISH SPRINGER on DOG BLOG

Sunday, July 23, 2006

About to Make Me Leave Home

Temperature here in Oakland is 82 degrees at 11 p.m. I just want to know what about global warming do some conservatives not understand? I have all the windows open, and the attic fan is getting worn out going for 24 hours a day.

Bonnie Raitt & John Prine going full blast (Sure my neighbors don’t appreciate this……hahaha). The dogs and me got a break today swimming in my parents’ pool. Jackie, my current foster, didn’t need too much encouragement to jump in after the tennis ball. Spent some time teaching her how to get out of the pool safely. She picked it up pretty quickly. Her swimming style is a bit awkward still but with practice she’ll learn to relax and do the dog-paddle.

Jackie came from her owner, who is moving. They love her but just don’t have enough time to spend with her. She is sweet and smart but has a busy style, many times puttering around, chasing squirrels in the yard. Her most adorable trait is she goes NUTS when water coming out of a hose: Tries biting it furiously. She ends up getting drenched and I laughed until I couldn’t breathe.

Tomorrow thankfully I have the day off work as I desperately needed to do a transport for a young Springer from the Los Banos shelter. Laurel notified me that this poor Springer boy needed rescue. Sara Ann is meeting another person at the dog park near the Shoreline Ampitheater, and she can bring the Springer with her. Thank god for all these shelter volunteers, mostly women (men are too busy earning the big $$ and acting like big-shots). The Los Banos shelter is apparently run mostly on volunteer steam, having no fixed public hours*, no dedicated/full-time paid employees on staff. It’s hard to believe that the city couldn’t afford to properly staff. I guess it’s cheaper to kill all the unwanted animals rather than help them find new homes. Something’s rotten in Los Banos.

* Check out the city’s website if you don’t believe me: www.losbanos.org/departments_police_animal.php

City population is 34,223. Perhaps they are too busy trying to pay their “Planning Manager” $50,000 to $99,000 /yr to fund something as mundane and unimportant as an animal shelter.

Sadly because of the rotten situation at their shelter and because he was a return from the previously adopting family, this dog would have certainly met death. I wonder if life only gave us one chance to live, if we would feel this were fair? I don’t know if this dog made a mistake, or if the family made the mistake when they adopted him. But I do know that 99% of all shelters aren’t able to do basic adoption screening and, as a result, many animals get returned. The advantage of the rescue work we do is that we have the luxury of time to screen homes and wait for that perfect, or nearly perfect match. In the 18 years I’ve rescued Springers, I have met few I considered unadoptable. Some are more difficult placements than others certainly but so many dogs are simply acting out or not understood. Dogs are dogs, not people. Learn about a dog before sharing a home with one.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Things Heating Up; Here’s Summer

Since I last wrote, rescue has started to “heat” up. The need to rescue seems to come and go in waves: Sometimes there are no dogs to rescue, and other times the need is overwhelming, beyond our capacity. If there is a dog which is not urgent, I try to work with the owner or shelter and just simply refer people directly to them via our website and also email to our registered homes. This week that worked very well and resulted in getting TWO SENIOR Springers adopted! This was a great week as things doesn’t always come together as beautifully as this.

One Springer was with her owner: Harley in Tracy, but we weren’t sure how long the owner could keep her. She now lives in Wilton, just East of Elk Grove. Her new owners write:

“We have had her groomed with a field cut which is suitable for our area and of course makes standing the heat a bit more tolerable. I am awaiting all the paperwork on our girl and when it comes, will take her to our vet for a good check up and have a chip installed. She is darling and so active it is hard to believe she is 9!!!! She is a wiggler and tail wagger. Smiles all the time. Certainly she is head honch here as we have no other dog. She appears to love our 3 cats and believe it is reciprocal. They are not afraid of her at all. Goes to work, riding in a truck with Jim every day, and keeps to his side constantly. Would be a lap sitter if we let her. She is adjusting nicely to her new home with new rules and being an intergral part of this

and believe it is reciprocal. They are not afraid of her at all. Goes to work, riding in a truck with Jim every day, and keeps to his side constantly. Would be a lap sitter if we let her. She is adjusting nicely to her new home with new rules and being an intergral part of this family. She will be greatly loved for the rest of her days. Can’t wait for the grandkids to meet and play with her. I can see it now.”

The other wonderful thing this week was the adoption of a 10-year-old female, “Molly.” She was adopted by Jane’s home in 650 area code (San Mateo etc) who left me a phone message that:

“Molly is fat, old with tooth tartar, but our other dog likes her. “

The Silicone Valley shelter described her as “sweet, calm, gentle and housebroken.”

Last week, I also placed “Shelby,” my foster dog to a Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz Mtns) family. She unfortunately was suffering from a bad case of flea allergy in which she had lost most of her fur on her rear half. I was amazed that the family could see beyond that to see the wonderful dog inside. They wrote that her coat is already growing back (after treatment for fleas) and:

“She’s doing great and is enjoying running up the hill with our other dog. Thank you.”

I also had another really special dog in rescue: “Sophie” She now lives in San Francisco with a wonderful home who plans to teach her obedience and agility along with his other dog. Most fosters are nice dogs but since many are a handful to care for and I am glad to see them go to their new homes. Sophie was different. She adored both my dogs, and they reciprocated. She also was absolutely NO trouble to care for. I will miss her because she truly was a special girl. I haven’t lost touch with her as I see her owner, Bob, on a regular basis, and I will look forward to seeing in the future.

The last special placement we made in last couple of weeks was “Rosie,” a dog from the Fremont shelter. From this picture, you can clearly see why finding her a home might have been a difficult thing. When the shelter notified us she was due to be put to sleep, I prevailed on my dear rescue partner, Cheryl, who had just lost her beloved Phoebe, another rescue Springer, to cancer, to foster Rosie to save her. After a few days, Cheryl said she was getting attached. A week later, Cheryl said “Take Rosie off the list for adoption. She’s home for good!” Cheryl has not gotten thru mourning for her Phoebe and told me she believes Phoebe might have sent Rosie to her to help heal her broken heart. Rosie is getting therapeutic baths, getting proper care and medication, and her skin condition is improving and her coat is returning. All in all, not a bad couple of weeks.

Regarding special placement, I firmly believe in the afterlife, and that those who have passed on to the afterlife, including our beloved animals, direct and interact with their loved ones from beyond the grave, including “sending” or connecting up rescue adoptions at just the right time and to the right person/home. I have seen this over and over in my 15 years in rescuing Springers here. One time, the adopter thanked me later for “saving my life” as that dog provided her with lifesaving love at just the right time in her life. That isn’t always the case but I do hope that each family takes something special from their time with these adopted rescue Springers.

Just want to say our rescue depends to a very high degree on the kindness of other Springer lovers to help us foster, evaluate, transport, adopt and get the word out about Springers in jeopardy. Thanks goes out to all of you who have helped and will help in the future. We are here to help our wonderful Springers!