What Makes a Great Dog Park?

Hilda came to the dog park yesterday with a handful of photos she had taken on a visit to Ashley Memorial Dog Park in Auburn, and it started me thinking. What do the really good ones have in common? What can we do to put our own dog park within their ranks?

Big Dog, Little Dog Statue at Ashley Park

http://www.ashleydogpark.com/

I googled "best dog parks" and found quite a few candidates for greatness. Here is a sample:

Pilgrim Bark Park, in Provincetown Massachusetts, is free to all licensed dogs. It is run by the Provincetown Dog Park Association, Inc., which has 4 volunteer Directors. It is entirely funded by donations and grants. Their website has a "merchandise" page on which donors can purchase park pavers with a dog's name, t-shirts, art, and other items, proceeds from which go to the park. Among their corporate sponsors are listed such companies as Petco, Purina, and Eukanuba. The park features sculptures and other works by local artists.

A Bench at Pilgrim Bark Park

http://www.provincetowndogpark.org/index.html

Thornberry Off-Leash Dog Park, Iowa City, Iowa requires a $35-per-year access fee for local users. It's run by the city Parks & Recreation Department. The park has 12 acres, including a pond and playground for the dogs, and sponsors many doggie recreation events throughout the year. It got a special mention for its bio-degradable poop bags with pipes to underground "poop tanks" where the waste is processed.

Map of Thornberry Off-Leash Park

http://www.icgov.org/?id=1047

The Millie Bush Dog Park (named for First Dog, Millie), in West Houston, Texas, is one of 20 dog parks in the Houston area that were created by the Houston Dog Parks Association, a 501c3 (non-profit) staffed entirely by volunteers.  The HDPA looks for land for new dog parks, oversees their construction, promotes them when they open, and serves as liaison and trouble-shooting organization for Houston dog park users. Amenities in the 13-acre park include swimming ponds, showers, and fountains for the dogs, shaded areas with benches, and a walking path.

Millie Bush Dog Park

http://www.houstondogpark.org/

Jackass Acres K-9 Korral, New River, Arizona is a members-only park run by Anthem Pets, a non-profit corporation whose mission is "to implement a fully rounded animal welfare program." It calls itself "the first ALL GREEN dog park in the USA." It operates a solar water pump and solar lighting. The artwork is created from recycled cars, and the artificial turf is retrieved from football fields.

Dog Playground at K-9 Korral

http://www.anthempets.com/

So what do all these very different dog parks have in common?

First of all, they all have enough money. If they are not part of a city parks department, they have corporate donors or reliable sponsors. Many of them, including the city-run parks charge an access fee to help with expenses.

Every single non-government run park is organized as a formal non-profit (501c3) organization with a federal tax identification number and a board of directors who operate under clear written rules and accounting practices. Their non-profit status allows them to attract corporate sponsors (who CANNOT donate to an entity that does not have that all-important tax i.d.) Small donors can also write off their donations on their tax return, which is not otherwise (legally) possible.

They are pro-active. They have goals, mission statements, and a vision of where they want to go and what they want to do. Because they are well-organized, they are able to mobilize volunteers and attract sponsors. They know where they want to go, and they have a road-map for getting there.

In addition, the people running these dog parks, as well as their donors and volunteers are well-protected from the liabilities that ensue if their organization is either unaware of or does not follow the laws governing charities and non-profits.*

For more information on the rules governing charities, see:
*http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Other-Non-Profits
*http://oag.ca.gov/charities/faq#r2
*http://rct.doj.ca.gov/MyLicenseVerification/SearchResults.aspx

Here are links to some lists of "best dog parks."
http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/10-amazing-dog-parks
http://www.squidoo.com/dogparks-usa#module9407885
http://www.pawnation.com/2012/03/22/countdown-top-10-dog-parks-in-the-u-s/

A War Hero for Veterans Day

Stubby joined the 102nd Infantry by accident.

Sergeant Stubby

He was just a puppy when he wandered into Camp Yale in Connecticut and began to make friends with the soldiers who were training there.

He learned to recognize the bugle calls and do all the drills.

Private Robert J. Conroy adopted him. When the division shipped out, Pvt. Conroy smuggled Stubby aboard the S.S. Minnesota by hiding him under his overcoat. Stubby stayed hidden in the coal bin until the ship was well out at sea. He was again smuggled off the ship when they arrived in France.

Although dogs were forbidden in the camp, Stubby convinced the Commanding Officer to make an exception in his case. On seeing the officer, Stubby snapped to attention and saluted, raising his right paw smartly to his forehead.

On the battlefield, Stubby quickly proved his worth.

He visited the soldiers up and down the line, lifting their morale.

After being hospitalized for nerve gas exposure, Stubby became hypersensitive to its presence. If a gas attack was underway, Stubby could be counted on to warn his men, rousing them from sleep, racing between the trenches and barking the alarm. Calm under fire, he often located wounded comrades between the trenches and the enemy lines and would either lead them to safety or bark until the paramedics arrived to help them.

Stubby's crowning achievement was the capture of a German spy who was mapping the location of the Allied trenches. The German tried to run, but Stubby caught and held him until American soldiers could arrive to secure him. For that deed, Stubby was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, the first dog ever to receive rank in the U.S. Armed Forces.

He was later injured in the leg and chest by a grenade and was hospitalized. As soon as he was well enough to walk, he made the rounds of the hospital, boosting morale among the wounded.

Stubby got quite a few medals, including the Iron Cross that had belonged to the German Spy (That medal, unfortunately, was later lost.) After the town of Chateau Thierry was liberated, the townswomen made a chamois blanket for Stubby, on which his rank and his medals could be displayed.

Sgt. Stubby Wearing His Medals

By the end of the war, Stubby had taken part in 17 battles.

Stubby Receiving a Medal From General Pershing

Stubby's celebrity outlived the war. He is probably the only dog to have met 3 different Presidents, Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge.

He was given a lifetime membership in the American Legion, attending every Legion Convention and marching in every parade until his death.

He was also a lifetime member of the Red Cross and the Y.M.C.A, from whom he received a guaranteed income of 3 bones a day and a place to sleep.

Stubby's Brick at Liberty Memorial, Nation WWI Museum

He is honored at Liberty Memorial, the National World War I museum located in Kansas City, Missouri. Stubby himself (after some work by the taxidermist) can be found at the Smithsonian Institution in an exhibition entitled "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War."

Stubby at the Smithsonian

http://www.ct.gov/mil/cwp/view.asp?a=1351&q=257892
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=15
http://www.cesarsway.com/node/1905
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Stubby
http://www.theworldwar.org/s/110/new/index_community.aspx

Does No Kill Mean No Killing?

Not necessarily.

A California shelter can legally call itself "No Kill" if it meets the requirements of Stature SB-1785 passed in 1998, which basically says that no animal that is "adoptable" or "treatable" (if it has a medical condition) should  be euthanized.

The devil is in the details of how you define those two terms. The shelters have a fairly wide latitude to decide, and the definitions cover a wide spectrum of different opinions.

In California, Monterey County Animal Control defines as "unadoptable" any animal for which it cannot find a home. Their shelters can establish their own standard for deciding when this is the case. On the other end of the spectrum, MaxFund, in Denver, Colorado, will not euthanize any animal except in cases of extreme physical suffering.

Bill Suro, co-founder and medical director of MaxFund, says the "adoptable" label is part of the problem. Shelters want to be designated as "no-kill" because a "no-kill" shelter attracts more donors.

On the other hand, there are too many abandoned animals, so many shelters give an "assess-a-pet" test. An animal that fails the test is "vicious" and "unadoptable." and the "no kill" shelter can euthanize it.

Dog Being Given Sue Sternberg's Temperament Test

This widely used test, created by Sue Sternberg, is sometimes called "The Sue Sternberg Slaughter" by its opponents.

Public opinion has been shifting toward "no-kill" for a couple of decades now. It seems possible that we may actually achieve a true "No Kill Nation" in the fairly near future.

But we aren't quite there yet.

nokillnation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=21
http://www.nokillnow.com/definition_nokill.htm
http://sdshelters.com/shelters.html
http://www.maddiesfund.org/

Are Puppy Mills on the Way Out?

Los Angeles Councilman Paul Koretz once bought a Bichon Frise from a puppy mill. The dog had extensive medical problems. Koretz blames his dog's death on the conditions in the puppy mill. For the past two years, he has been leading the charge to ban puppy mill sales in Los Angeles; and on October 31, he succeeded.

The new law bans the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits, requiring that pet stores get their animals only from shelters.

Los Angeles is now the largest city in the U.S. to pass such a law, but it is not the first. A number of other California cities, including Chula Vista, already have laws restricting the retail sale of pets, and many other cities are considering them. The Chicago city council has already said that if the law passed in Los Angeles, they would follow suit.

The Best Friends Animal Society (about which I wrote last month) estimates that California shelters take in about a million dogs and cats a year, and kill about half of them. They also believe that about half of all pets bred in puppy mills end up in shelters. Their hope is that the number of shelter animals can be reduced, and that many people who don't want to get a pet from a shelter will happily buy the same animal from a pet store.

Best Friends has been spearheading efforts all over the country to get their puppy mill initiatives passed.

http://www.khou.com/community/blogs/animal-attraction/Animal-Attraction--177237091.html
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pet-353560-puppy-stores.html
http://blogs.bestfriends.org/index.php/2012/03/22/tick-tock-time-running-out-for-california-stores-selling-puppy-mill-animals/
http://www.cesarsway.com/news/dognews/Is-an-End-to-Puppy-Mills-in-Sight

Lucky Missy

Colorado has 54 mountains over 14,000 feet high. Mt. Bierstadt, close to Denver and as easy a hike as you're likely to get at that altitude, is one of the most popular mountains in the state.

Sawtooth Ridge, A Popular Hike on Mt.Bierstadt

On August 11 of this year, Scott and Amanda Washburn found a German Shepherd cowering among the rocks at 13,500 feet. She was too heavy and too badly injured for them to carry down the mountain, so they bound her wounds as best they could, left her with water, and headed back down to get help.

Scott & Amanda Washburn

The Forest Service expressed regret, but said they could do nothing.

Frantic with worry, the Washburns called everyone they knew, started a Facebook page on behalf of the dog, and posted a plea for help on a hikers' website.

Two days later, they headed back up the mountain with 8 volunteers, only to be caught in a snowstorm on the way up.

Getting Missy off the Mountain

Miraculously, they found the dog, bloody but still alive The rescue took 9 hours.

Although weak and badly dehydrated, the dog suffered no permanent damage. The owner, who had left her there on August 5 because she had lacerated her paws too badly to walk, was charged with animal cruelty. After a month-long battle over custody of the dog, the owner agreed to relinquish custody as part of a plea deal to get the charges reduced.

The dog had spent over a week on the freezing mountain without food or water. She then spent a month in the animal shelter while her fate was being decided.

But she is lucky to be alive and no longer with an owner who would (albeit unknowingly) cause her to be injured and then abandon her for dead.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/injured-dog-rescued-from-mountain-owner-who-left-it-there-wants-it-back/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57515190/man-who-left-injured-dog-on-mountain-speaks-out/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-hiker-abandoned-injured-dog-mountain-relinquishes-custody/story?id=17253167#.UJbSf8XSJkg

The Nose Knows--But is it Probable Cause?

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments over two cases in Florida in which police justified their search because a narcotics dog gave an alert.

Case #1*: Joelis Jardines was running a profitable little business growing pot inside his house. But someone tipped off the cops. They took their dog, Franky, for a walk around Jardines's front porch. He alerted, the cops rushed in, find 25 pounds of ganja, and hauled Jardines off to jail.

Franky

Jardines's lawyer objected, saying that his client had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his own home, which the cops violated by bringing Franky onto his property without permission. The Florida Supreme Court agreed.

Case #2*: The cops pulled Clayton Harris over for driving his truck with expired tags. He acted nervous and refused to let the cops search the truck, so they called in Aldo, a German Shepherd, to do a "free air" sniff around the truck. He alerted. The cops declared that they now had probable cause to justify a search and found the ingredients for making methamphetamine. Two months later, the same thing happened again, but this time they didn't find any drugs.

Where's Aldo? This Might Just Be a Look-Alike

Harris's lawyer claimed that Aldo's nose was not sufficiently reliable to justify the searches, and the Florida Supreme Court agreed.

Dogs have been sniffing for narcotics since the 1960's, when the Israelis started using them to sniff out the narcotics that financed guns and bombs for terrorists. France followed suit in 1965, and the United States in 1970.
http://www.enjoy.org/hstech/webclass04/thinkquest04/servicedogs/nat%20dogs.html

The Supreme Court has upheld the right of law enforcement to use narcotics dogs at airports and checkpoints, and up until recently in other cases where their use has been challenged.

Early indications are that this time it might be different.

The cases hinge on two different questions:
     What are the limits on a homeowner's right to privacy and on the cops' right to snoop?
                                                 and
     What criteria must police use to decide whether the dog's alert is reliable?

Some of the questions the Justices are asking include:
     Is using a dog the same as using a thermal imager to look inside the house (which was ruled unconstitutional in 2001)?
    Does it matter that Jardines had put mothballs around his house to mask the odor of marijuana?
     Is there a "magic number" of correct alerts needed to prove that a dog is reliable?
     Might the handler's expectation of finding contraband influence the dog's likelihood of giving an alert?
     Would police prefer a dog who gave more alerts, thus justifying more searches?

The Court is expected to hand down a ruling by the end of June next year.
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-hears-arguments-over-use-of-police-dogs-in-criminal-investigations/2012/10/31/c2ad39de-2361-11e2-92f8-7f9c4daf276a_story.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/supreme-court-considers-t_1_b_2063820.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/1030/Supreme-Court-to-consider-how-and-when-police-can-use-drug-sniffing-dogs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_v._Caballes

*The cases are Florida v. Jardines, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-564; and Florida v. Harris, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-817.

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

The poem goes like this:

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Guy Fawkes Night in Lewes

It's a huge celebration in England and in many of the former British colonies. People are out celebrating on the streets long into the night. There's a huge fireworks display. Schoolchildren prepare for weeks beforehand making effigies of Guy Fawkes and of the Pope. The celebration culminates with a huge bonfire in which the Popes and Guys are burned, and England is safe from popery for another year.

Burning the Pope

It all started (as you might have guessed) on the 5th of November, 1605, when Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellar of the House of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He and his co-conspirators intended to blow up the parliament, kill the King, the Prince of Wales, and members of Parliament, and bring an end to the persecution of English Catholics.

Instead, he was tortured and executed. Bonfires were lit that very night to celebrate the King's salvation--and they have been celebrating ever since.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night#Songs.2C_Guys_and_decline
http://www.bonfirenight.net/gunpowder.php

What does Guy Fawkes Night have to do with dogs?

They are terrified by the fireworks, explosions, lights and noise. Every year a few of them get into serious trouble. And, as with our Independence Day celebrations, warnings go round to pet owners and suggestions as to how to keep their dogs safe.

Guy Fawkes Parade in Lewes

One of the worst incidents happened on November 5, 1950 in London, when 160 bonfires burned out of control. Children in the East End tried to cut the firemen's hoses to prevent them from dousing the flames, while officers from the RSPCA* tried to deal with 250 hysterical dogs running amok in the streets.

I'll be watching the news to see whether anything happens this year.

*Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/50032427