LA Weekly

I'm not terribly comfortable with a really bad law that will be used if I come to the attention of my local government. Does that mean if I am convicted? If someone complains? If someone doesn't like that I lobbied against AB 1634 and decides to file an unjustified complaint? Yikes. The potential for misuse of this is just incredible.

Judith, you rock for adopting pit bulls. 41% of the dogs euthed in L.A. in fiscal 06/07 were pits or pit mixes, according to Ed Boks. I have two pit bulls, both adopted from the local pound.

This bill sucked hugely from the start, and only got worse. The "one litter for all" provision would have mandated breeding dogs before they're old enough [24 months] to get OFA certification on hips and elbows. AB 1634: the Hip Dysplasia Promotion Act. [My oldest pibble has elbow dysplasia --- not fun.]

And there was so much else wrong with the bill. Go to PubMed and type hormone exposure + bone sarcoma in the Search For box. 1 in 4 risk. Type neutered + cancer and see what comes up. When [and whether] to neuter a dog isn't a decision for politicians.

The stockdog "exemption" would have cut the heart out of the state's finest working breeds. (Vegan Mancuso was said to be "hard to influence in this area due to her east coast urban outlook." Translation: screw farmers and ranchers.)

I'm not a breeder... no, wait! I am. One litter of working border collies [that is, bred to work stock], all neutered. A pup developed hip dysplasia [it's polygenic, damn --- three generations were clear] and I bought that pup back, paid for her to have surgery and placed her in the best home ever. One litter, thirteen years ago. I'll breed another if a world-class working dog comes my way. Evil me --- I obviously deserve to be lumped in with Midwestern puppy millers and the cretin who breeds his human-aggressive pit bull bitch on every heat. We're all "one in the same"!

What works? Look at Maddie's Fund results for Lodi and the entire state of Utah. Look at the SFSPCA. The most successful approaches to lowering euth rates are all voluntary. Mandatory programs have a brief, spotty record at best, and I can't find proof they save a cent.

OK, enough ranting ;~) Thanks again for your coverage of the Hip Dysplasia... er, Healthy Pets Act. I hope Molly's arthritis gets better --- have you tried Adequan? Acupuncture really helped my big pibble, but the treatments freaked him out so we had to stop that. He gets Chinese herbs that seem to help. Give your dogs a pat for me --

Sally: I'm personally fine with a law that says if a dog gets out and terrorizes the neighborhood, it gets its cajones chopped off (or a hysterectomy, depending on the case). But you're right -- a law like that would need some clear and careful definition, which is exactly what AB 1634 was lacking.

LUISA! I love Lassie Get Help! Thanks for your super-smart comment and your pit bull love! I got Molly straight out of the shelter the day before she was scheduled to be ushered off the planet. She took some adjusting to humans (she was scared of men), but now she's a big boy-crazy love bomb.

That's interesting about your pibble acupuncture experience. I was thinking about that for Molly, but she'd probably freak, too. Instead, I've been pounding her with glucosamine, taking her to the Marina Dog Spa (recommended by Jody of excellent dogwalkerextra.com pet sitting service) and feeding her doggie aspirin. Today she's bounded back pretty well,.

I talked to Judie M. on the phone and found her likable and reasonable. She does have an East Coast urban sensibility about animals, though. I forgive her, but I think it influenced the bill, and not in a good way.

To me, it would be a dream world if we could do what my family did when I was a kid in Minnesota: Go to a nice show breeder and buy the runt of the litter for our family pet, and raise a little puppy we'd picked out just for us.

To a lot of AB 1634 camp, the dream world is one in which we didn't have pets at all if there weren't any to rescue.