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Rant/Rave of the Moment
Whenever you gather a group of dedicated, driven, and determined people there's always a heated topic of discussion. Sometimes it's something wonderful that we've discovered, other times it's something that just pisses us off. This is the page where you'll find out what that topic is at the moment...
Pet Friendly Vacations! (Well, except for Pit Bulls and Rottweilers of course) - July, 2007
There is nothing like looking online for a fun summer vacation spot.one that will also accept your dog.and then coming across something like this:
Kate Pettit, who owns Delton Oaks Resort and Vacation Homes, supposed 'pet friendly' policy is anything but friendly! Kate believes in breed discrimination, and also in treating potential clients poorly.
Delton Oaks Resort
Here are a few things Kate had to say:
Letter from possible guest:
Hello,
Please allow me to introduce myself as the proud mom of a dog named Durga. She is certified with the American Kennel Club as a Canine Good Citizen. This is a strict certification that tests training and behavior. She is also about to take her test with Therapy Dogs International so she can work at national disasters for FEMA. My husband works for the Department of Homeland Security and I work with animals. The three of us travel and stay in resorts and hotels like yours 6-8 months out of the year. Unfortunately we will never stay, or recommend your resort as long as your business supports Breed Specific Discrimination. You see Durga is a beautiful loving Rottweiler. I strongly urge you to rethink your policies and judge all dogs that walk through your doors. I would fully support a businessperson who did not wish to have aggressive dogs of any breed at their resort be it pit bull or Chihuahua.
Sincerely,
Rose
Response from Kate:
Since I can't possibly personally know all dogs who walk through my door in order to judge them myself, I must rely on their owners to give me a honest opinion. Unfortunately, I don't trust owners to be honest about their dogs. I am constantly amazed at dogs who display aggressive behavior while their owners stand by and do absolutely nothing to stop them. I will stand by the statistics that say that pit bulls and Rottweilers are responsible for the most dog attacks in the country.
You'll just have to stay somewhere else, and we'll all be happy that you aren't at our resort.
Thanks for your input about my business.
Kate Pettit,
owner
Letter from possible guest:
I am planning a much-needed family vacation to the Dells.
My dog is a Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog and accompanies me
to schools and daycares teaching young children about dog safety.
She has is a stunt dog and after a performance, it would not be
uncommon for her to be petted by 500 people, mostly children.
She stays in hotels with us frequently and is cleaner and quieter
than the average child.
But, since she is a "pit bull" your resort won't allow her to
stay with us.
So we will not be staying at your resort, and I'll be telling my
friends, neighbors and friends exactly why they should not bring
their business your way.
Kate's response:
I believe your assessment of your dog in particular. However, your
unwillingness to acknowledge the problems with Rotts and pits in
general puts you in the same boat as the other owners I speak with.
In denial.
Good luck with your dog and your vacation plans.
Kate
Letter from possible guest:
I just wanted to let you know how disappointed I am in your 'dog friendly' policy.
My family and I are planning on going to the Dells this summer to celebrate my husband finishing Chiropractic school, our dogs are a part of our family and we intend on bringing them along.
We have two American Staffordshire Terriers.also known as pit bulls. One is a confirmation champion and the other has an obedience title from the AKC. We also use them in dog safety education programs with children in elementary schools.
This policy is discriminatory and wrong.
Many people think that these breeds have the highest bite incident, but people are forgetting to look at the ratio of these dogs in society compared to the bite incident. Here is some research done by Best Friend Animal Humane Society, a non-biased, non-profit organization, this puts the REAL numbers in prospective:
Numbers Registered No. of Fatal Attacks Breed Percentage
240,000 12 Chow Chow .705%
800,000 67 German Shepards .008375%
960,000 70 Rottweiler .00729%
128,000 18 Great Dane .01416%
114,000 14 Doberman .0139%
72,000 10 St. Bernard .0139%
5,000,000 60 American Pit Bull .0012%
Also in case you are interested you can go to www.atts.org which is a non-profit, neutral organization who travels around the US doing testing. The average score was 81.5%....both pit bulls and Rottweilers scored above average.in fact.the pit bull scored higher than the golden retriever!
I would love to see there be a change in your policy towards these breeds.
Kate's response:
Percentages of the total number mean nothing, and using that kind of statistic is simply misleading. The fact is that Rotts and pits are at the top of the list for serious dog attacks. Your dog may well be the best in the world, but if you're not willing to acknowledge the aggressiveness of these breeds in general, then you are in denial about how dangerous they can be without serious training. We are not willing to take the chance with our guests, their children or their pets.
Sincerely,
Kate Pettit
owner
Letter from possible guest:
Hi,
It looks like you have a very lovely resort; I commend your efforts in making it so appealing to the eye. As a consumer I am sorry to say that my family and I will be staying at a Wisconsin State Park instead. While I do not own a Rottweiler or Pit bull, I refuse to support any business or operation that openly discriminates against anyone or thing.
I find it very funny that on your website you have a link for the "human rights campaign" Which after following my curiosity supports the open mindedness and non discrimination of gays and lesbians and their rights to be an equal part of society. The reason I find this funny is that your support the non-discrimination of Gays and Lesbians but fully support the discrimination of Rottweilers and Pit bulls.
I also find it funny that your site says "pets welcome" when in all reality it should read "all but two breeds welcome." In researching your pet policy I can only assume that since #9 reads "Owners will be held responsible for any damage to property done by their animal and for any injury their animal might cause to another guest or an employee or owner of Delton Oaks Resort or Alpine Lodge." that your biased views are that of your own and not your insurance policy...as you are not assuming any liability in the event that one of the dogs you assume to be safe...does what all dogs are able to do..bite.
I thank you for providing me with a little bit of humor and helping me narrow down my choices in places to stay. While I am sure that my letter will not change your views I feel as a consumer it proper to notify a business of any kind if they are not meeting your needs. Thank you for allowing me to share my opinions.
Kate's Reply:
My guests, the people who actually come to our resort, totally agree with our rule about Rotts and pits. They don't want them here with their animals. Since you're not one of my guests, and are not likely to be one in the future, your opinion means diddly to me. Although I did get a kick out of your contention that dog owners should not be expected to be responsible for damage their dog might do. Who, exactly, do you think should be responsible?? And who said anything to you about my insurance company? Could it be that the several emails I have gotten lately are all from the same person, just pretending to be different people? Oops, guess I wasn't supposed to figure that out. lol. My advice---get a life.
Oh, any by the way to answer your question as to if it was the same person sending different e-mails. Nope, it WAS actually 4 separate people.
We would request that people do not support this resort as not only is their policy NOT PET FRIENLY.it's also NOT PEOPLE FRIENDLY!
Here is Kate's contact information in case you would like to tell her what you think about her pet friendly policy.
Kate Pettit, owner/mgr
www.deltonoaks.com
888-374-6257
Delton Oaks Resort & Vacation Homes
730 E Hiawatha Drive
Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965
deltonoaks@charter.net
What is an "Outdoor Dog"? - December, 2006
By Dennis Fetko, PhD - Reprinted from August 1995 issue of Whiskers & Wags
I'm familiar with hundreds of dog breeds, but what's an outside dog?????
Unless you're medically intolerant of the dog (and therefore can't take care of him in a medical emergency, so you shouldn't have the dog anyway), making a dog stay outside is a costly waste. If he's for protection, what do you think they want to steal - your lawn?
When you leave, do you put your valuables and your kids out in your yard? Just what is the dog protecting out there? Most dogs kept outside cause far more nuisance complaints from barking and escaping than any deterrent to intrusion. Such complaints cause teasing, antagonism, release and poisoning. With your dog a helpless victim, it's no laughing matter.
If I'm a crook and your dog is out, your fence protects ME, not your possessions or your dog. If I just open the gate, 9 out of 10 dogs will run off! I can safely shoot, stab, spear, poison, snare, strangle them, or dart through the fence and you just lost your dog AND everything I steal! If he's tied up and I keep out of reach, he's useless. He'll bark, but outside dogs bark so much, they're usually ignored. But let a dog hit the other side of a door or window I'm breaking into, and I'm GONE! I can't hurt the dog until he can hurt me, nothing you own is worth my arm.
Deterrence is effective protection.
Protection and aggression are not the same. Protection is defensive, reactive, often passive, and threatens or injures no one. Aggression is active, harmful and offensive, threatens all and benefits none. Yard dogs often develop far more aggression than productivity because everyone who passes by or enters has already violated the territory that dog has marked dozens of times a day for years. That's not protection, it's not desirable and it overlooks two facts of life today:
First, property owners have implied social contracts with others in the community. Letter carriers, paper boys, delivery people, law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, meter readers and others are allowed near and at times on your property without your specific permission. And sure that ten-year-old was not supposed to jump your fence after his Frisbee; but neither you nor your dog are allowed to cause him injury if he does. Imagine this: A neighbor looks into your yard or window and sees you, your wife or child laying on the floor in a pool of blood. They call 9-1-1 and your dog prevents paramedics from assisting! Should they shoot your dog or just let you die?
Great choice.
Second, even if the intruder is a criminal, few places allow you or your dog to cause physical injury to prevent property loss. Convicted felons have sued the dog's owner from jail and won more in the suit than they ever could have stolen!
Appalling? True.
And don't be foolish enough to believe your homeowner's insurance will cover the loss. Now you see why many feel that an outside dog is a no-brainer.
The more a dog is outdoors, the less behavioral control you have. It's easier to solve four or five indoor problems than one outdoor problem. The reason is valid and simple: The more you control the stimuli that reaches your dog, the more you control the responses. You've got a lot more control over your living room than you do over your entire county! When your dog is bored, but teased by every dog, cat, bird, squirrel, motorcycle, paperboy, airplane, firecracker and backfiring truck in the county, OF COURSE he'll dig, chew, and bark.
Would you sit still all day everyday? Do you want unnecessary medical and parasite fees, especially as the dog ages?
When a dog is alone indoors, you are still 30% there because your scent and things he associates with you, constantly remind the dog of you and your training. When he's out, your dog is alone whether you're home or not. Do you really expect him to keep YOU in mind while the entire world teases, distracts and stimulates him?
The media is full of stories about the family dog saving everyone's life during a fire. How many people, including children, would be dead today if those dogs were kept outside? SURE - you ALWAYS get up to investigate every time your yard dog barks. And I've got this bridge.
An outdoor dog has an address, not a home. Dogs offer real value as companion animals. Stop behavior problems and start enjoying real protection and companionship. Bring your dogs inside.
Media Bias and Bashing - June 12, 2006
Last week one of our volunteers was listening to the Dave Ryan in the Morning show on KDWB...he was relating a story about finding a snapping turtle on the road and made a statement saying that they were the "Pit Bulls" of the reptile world. The same volunteer later wrote him an email informing him that he was perpetuating a sterotype with these types of comments and that as a public figure it was irresponsible. She provided him with some further information and invited him to attend one of our Dog/Child Safety classes. His reply was this...
I'm sorry but I disagree. I think that some animals can never truly
be domesticated, like the white tiger that attacked Roy. And
everyone knows that some animals are far more aggressive than
others. I stand by my opinion that Pit Bulls are far more likely to
attack and when they do attack, their attack is much more vicious
than other breeds. I would never own a pitbull nor allow my kids to
be around one.
Respectfully,
Dave
We mentioned this interaction on another forum and received what we consider one of the best written responses to media bias that we've read in awhile. We urge the media to use its position responsibly. While everone is certainly allowed their own opinion, public figures also have an added responsiblity to make sure what they speak about is not JUST opinion, but based in truth and fact.
Reprinted with permission...please do not repost without permission from the author.
"Hello, my name is ..... Recently I heard you talking about "pit bulls" and thought it might be a good idea to write you about this. As much as I love listening to your show, I must admit that hearing you talk about these dogs as if they were monsters made me extremely unhappy.
Let me explain. There are many people out there just like you, who have an opinion about the breed based on what you have heard on the radio or seen on the news. Although I am glad we live in a place that allows us to freely form our own opinions and express them openly, I do feel that you are doing a great disservice to the breed and their owners by talking about them in such a way. For one, you are not an expert on dogs, let alone "pit bulls", and therefore are not qualified give information about them. I understand your opinion is yours, but you must understand that telling thousands of people what you think of a dog you have personally never studied is wrong.
As sad as it is, people seem to think that if something is published, on the news, or read over the radio, no matter who said it, automatically it must be true. They think this because they can't fathom why "they", (the government, the radio/news gods, etc.) would let false information run rampant in a place where facts are supposed to be given. People are trusting YOU to give them the truth, no matter what. They don't care that you didn't spend the last twenty years studying dog behavior and biology, but they do expect you to give them information that is true, so that when they tell others about what they heard, they don't get shot down and looked at as fools.
So here's my point: Your opinion, though entirely yours, is wrong. I personally have researched the "pit bull" breeds for many years now, not only through books written by dog behaviorists, veterinarians, experienced trainers and animal control officers, but through real-life experience, by working in Veterinary clinics, animal shelters, and through handling and training my own dogs. I am nowhere near an expert, despite my years of experience on this subject, but I do know quite a bit about these dogs, and I know that what you are telling the public is very much the opposite of what I, my colleagues, and every respectable animal welfare organization find to be true.
You may not ever want to meet a pit bull, handle one, or have them around your children, and that is your right. However, for you to bash the breed on a show that has so many listeners is not your right. No one is asking you to like them, be around them, or even help them, but we ARE asking you to do a little research before you say things about them that could potentially hurt them and their owners.
There is much talk around the United States of Breed Specific Legislation, and responsible dog owners everywhere are up-in-arms about it. The reason? Pit bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, and other large, powerful breeds CAN, and occasionally do, cause damage. News reporters love when this happens, because they know it's an easy story that will get people's attention and make them money. Labradors biting faces off and Pomeranians killing newborns just don't have the same "pizazz" as these dogs. Politicians looking for another few years see these tragedies as a way to profit by quickly trying to pass laws that ban specific breeds of dog. This may look like a good solution, until you take a step back and look at other places that have done it, and have had the same amount, if not MORE, dog attacks. The reason is that the irresponsible people just move on to another breed if their dog of choice is taken away. They rarely just give up.
The real fact is that of all the news stories you hear about these dogs, only a small percentage are checked out well enough for the "facts" to be trusted. I know a few people who would look at pretty much any snarling dog and call it a pit bull simply because they have never seen one, and seem to think the only dog that could do that would have to be a pit. You cannot imagine how many times I have read news articles or seen on the evening news, a dog that is CLEARLY not a pit bull, being called one after it attacked someone. Later on, someone may just let them know it wasn't one, but by then the damage has been done, and most news reporters don't bother to go back and correct their stories.
I have even witnessed someone being turned down after going to the news about a vicious dog attack because it WASN'T a pit bull, and therefore somehow not worth reporting.
As for all of that, it's really just the tip of the iceberg as far as this subject goes. There are literally thousands of different reasons I could give you for why these things happen, but I will stick to the most important facts, so that you don't have to feel burdened into wasting your time. I understand that not everyone wants to know that much about this, and my goal is to simply give you enough to make an informed opinion from now on, instead of relying on the printed and spoken misinformation so readily available to you.
For one, the Center for Disease Control used to publish death statistics from dogs according to breed, but they stopped. Their reasons were that too many dogs were misidentified, and through their studies they realized there was no real benefit from the study due to the fact that the information was obtained through the media reports, and not through other, more reliable sources.
However, just for the sake of informational purposes, I will quote some of their statistics. For a thirty year period, there were about 238 deaths from dogs, and there were 36 breeds responsible. Pit bull type dogs and rottweilers represented over half that number, with german shepherds coming in third. There were even small dogs on the list, such as daschunds, pomeranians, and west highland white terriers, some of which had more than one listed death.
The percentage of pits and rotts responsible for deaths might seem high, but when you look at all the dog breeds capable of killing someone outside of freak accidents, there are only a few that can accomplish that, and considering that over half the population of dogs are small breeds, that only leaves a few breeds that even COULD contribute. Of course they will represent a high percentage compared to other dogs because of their strength alone. It is common sense that if you had 200 unstable chihuahuas and one unstable doberman that the doberman may very well end up responsible for 100% of the serious attacks, if not close to 100, even if the chi's and doberman attack the same amount of times.
When looking at the top three dog registries' numbers along with information from animal welfare organizations, you find that "pit bull" type dogs are one of the most popular, representing close to ten percent of the entire dog population (about four to six million out of the sixty to seventy five million dogs alive). They are right behind labs and goldens. It would stand to reason that if they are so high in number, and if it was really a breed problem, that there would be a large number of human fatalities due to them. However, since their rise in popularity, the average number of human deaths each year has not risen.
For the last thirty years, it has stayed between 15 and 26, although the breeds responsible for the most change almost annually. For the last few years, rottweilers have killed more people than pit bulls, but it doesn't mean they are somehow worse dogs than they were a few years ago. It may mean that they are more popular, or that a certain amount of people have them for the wrong reasons due to their strength and reputation.
If there really are four to six million "pit bulls" in this country, why is it that only 0.000002 percent of them are giving the entire breed a bad name? After all, 99.999998 percent of them, literally millions of them, never did anything wrong. Shouldn't it be more like four to six million deaths or maulings? It would be, if it was a breed problem. No, unfortunately it isn't that simple.
Another interesting tidbit is that of all the attacks (approximately 4.7 million a year), 80 to 90 percent of them, no matter the breed, are done by un-neutered males. That says a lot about what is really driving the "bad" dogs. If these dogs had owners that cared enough about them to give them the snip, perhaps four million, two hundred thirty thousand people would never have been attacked, and anywhere from 11 to 25 people may still be alive every year.
There, I hope I haven't bored you with my information. Any of this can be found on the CDC's website, goodpooch.com, and the websites for the AKC, UKC, and ADBA. I hope that you have actually read through this, as it is a lot of information, but well worth it when you think of the thousands, if not millions of responsible dog owners out there listening to your show. Hopefully from now on you can take a step away from the others that regularly cause unneeded fear amongst the public, and spread the word that these dogs are not the monsters the media would have you believe they are.
Thank you for your time!
Backyard Breeders - June, 2005
So you've decided you want a dog. Where do you start? Of course our first suggestion is a reputable rescue organization. There is a breed-specific rescue for virtually every breed you can think of. These can be usually be found on the internet. You can also try the humane society or the local pound. There are an endless number of homeless animals that are just waiting for a loving home.
The other alternative is a breeder. Done right, this a great way to get a high-quality, healthy dog. The trick is to find the RIGHT breeder. A reputable breeder cares about the betterment of the breed and the future of the puppies they sell. They will be available to answer any question and offer support for the lifetime of your dog. On the other hand there are the backyard breeders. These are the dogs you will commonly find in the Sunday paper. Sometimes these people are well meaning, but uniformed. Usually they're just in it to make a buck. They don't do any of the common health and background checks that are required to breed healthy, well adjusted dogs. They don't care about what happens once the puppies are paid for.
Please, take a moment to visit the sites below to help inform your decision BEFORE you bring home your next bundle of joy!
Traits of Responsible Breeders vs. Backyard Breeders
Dog Play
Choosing the right dog, from the right place - This site offers a wealth of information from choosing the right breed to deciding where to choose it from
CanisMajor.com
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