Reptile & Amphibian Forums

January 24, 2011

The Saginaw City Council will likely consider a proposal in February that would declare ten dog breeds as “dangerous” and limiting all dog ownership to three dogs per household. Local clubs and dog owners are strongly encouraged to contact the mayor and city council and ask them to oppose these proposals.

While a draft is not yet available, it is believed that the following breeds will be declared “dangerous”:

Rottweilers German Shepherds

“Huskies” Alaskan Malamutes

Great Danes St. Bernards

Doberman Pinschers Chow Chows

“Pit Bulls” Presa Canarios

Owners of these breeds would be required to pay a $50 registration fee a place a warning sign on their property. Owners would also be required to muzzle the dog when in public places.

In another proposal, all dog owners (regardless of breed) would be limited to owning three dogs.

The AKC strongly believes that dog owners should be responsible for their dogs and promote public education programs designed to teach responsible dog ownership. We oppose, however, legislation that seeks to single out specific dog breeds as dangerous and seeks to arbitrarily limit dog ownership.

How You Can Help:

· Contact the Mayor and Saginaw City Council and ask them to oppose these proposals.
Click here for a sample letter to personalize. The contact information is as follows:

Mailing Address:

City Hall

1315 S. Washington Avenue

Saginaw, Michigan 48601

Mayor Greg Branch - anngreg@chartermi.net

Councilmembers:

Amos O’Neal - amossam@charter.net

Dennis Browning - dbrowning125@charter.net

Larry Coulouris - lcoulouris@yahoo.com

Dan Fitzpatrick -dlfitz@ameritech.net

Amanda Kitterman-Miller - akitterman@spsd.net

Dr. William “Bill” Scharffe - drbills@charter.net

The AKC Government Relations Department (AKC GR) will continue to closely monitor these proposals. Contact AKC GR at (919) 816-3720 or doglaw@akc.org for the latest information.
-----
Robert

www.TheAnimalLawyer.com

We have enough youth...let's search for a fountain of smart.

It seems there are more and more of these coming through.
-----
Carmen Davis, owned by Serra, Glory and Rooney
Naha Pharaoh Hounds - Washington State
www.NahaPharaohs.com

Carmen,

I know what you mean. I think it's hard too tell whether there are more cases or whether we're just hearing about all cases much sooner. Before pro-dog folks organized, before this board, before the sighthound list and other dog lists (list servers and usenet were among the earliest ways like minded groups came together via the net), we were at the whims of local and national news services.

An issue local to my county or my state would only be broadcast on a wider basis if it was "picked up" by a news service or national newspaper. News service stories about dogs would make it into other newspapers if they had space and no other local stories. So coverage was hit and miss.

Compare that to what we have now--great people like Robert working with AKC to make sure every pro-dog person is informed.

Before we just didn't know what we didn't know. Now we know about so many ill-advised and ill-informed initiatives that we must always be ambassadors for dogs in general as well as for
our breed.

Overwhelming? Yes. Depressing? Yes. But isn't it better to know?

BTW, I do not intend to rant. I've been thinking along these lines in terms of another issue I'm involved with. I've just been making these same points with myself in connection with that (sigh).
-----
Ruth
Sharing a home with
Gracie the Greyhound,
Bo, Galadrial's Cuervo Gold,
Harvey, CH. Lileo's Wild Rabbit Pooka, JC, CGC,

At the bridge--
HRH Chantze, Chart Polski, CGC (the most Polish Princess),
Rufous T. Firefly, CGC (my first PH--he knew how and when to beam a grin)