Posts tagged "dangerous dogs"

Authorities in Broward County have good news for the Lipsky family and even better news for an 11-year-old Husky named Brandie. The famous dog that's spent the last six months on death row is coming home in time for the holidays, according to the Sun Sentinel.

As it turns out, Brandie didn't need the help of Gov. Charlie Crist or even St. Nick. In the wake of the November elections, a shift in Broward County politics has given the Lipsky family something to celebrate. Even as Mayor Chip LaMarca is working to change the county's zero-tolerance dangerous dog laws, the Lipsky family has been offered a legal settlement that will send Brandie home.

"It's a very happy story," Beth Lipsky tells Paw Nation, "It's funny, my husband and I are Jewish, and on the last night of Hanukkah, we found out that Brandie would be coming home." Although the wheels of justice are still turning, Lipsky expects Brandie to be back at home by 5 p.m. Friday.

Save Brandie
The dog's owners Lon and Beth Lipsky, along with a number of other Broward County residents, have been campaigning for the release of several dogs sentenced to death for violating the county's strict one-strike-and-you're-out law. They've filed appeals, organized a 1,913 member organization called Save Brandie, helped vote an incumbent commissioners out of office, and even appealed to Florida's clemency board.

Brandie, the 11-year-old husky, is hoping for a last-minute reprieve from Gov. Charlie Crist's office. This one-time rescue pup has been awaiting her final punishment on death row for six months, per the unusually tough dangerous dog laws of Broward County, Fla.

According to the Sun Sentinel, Brandie was charged under the county's zero-tolerance law after a deadly run-in with an off-leash teacup poodle named Jack. State law allows a dog two attacks before declaring it dangerous. Broward County, however, allows only one and has put at least 56 dogs to sleep since the law's passage in May 2008.

Broward County's law states that any dog that seriously injures or kills a person or domesticated animal outside its owner's property receives an automatic death sentence, according to the Sun Sentinel. Brandie's owner, Lon Lipsky, thinks the county's one-strike-and-you're-out policy is unreasonable -- and he's not alone.

Brandie's Case
Brandie's deadly encounter occurred when she was being walked through her neighborhood by Lipsky's mother-in-law on a retractable leash, reports the Sun Sentinel. The poodle's owners say they were busy taking family pictures when Jack slipped out the front door. What happened next is the subject of debate.

Jack's owners claim that Brandie lunged onto their driveway "in a seamless motion, with no barking, no fighting and no sound, in an attack that finished in seconds," reports the Sun Sentinel. Brandie's owners, on the other hand, say the attack occurred on the public sidewalk. What's not up for debate, however, is that Jack didn't survive the encounter.

Do you love your big lug of a pit bull? Adore your sweetheart of a mastiff? If you lived in Vienna, Austria, you'd be facing major hassles. Last week, the city passed a controversial new law that will require the owners of so-called "fight dogs" to carry a license proving they can keep their pets in check. Alexander Willer, a spokesman for Vienna's main animal shelter, told the Associated Press that the list of affected dogs -- including rottweilers, pit bull terriers, mastiffs, and others -- was compiled "at random." He added that this kind of discrimination makes it harder for abandoned dogs of these breeds to find new homes.

Austria isn't the only country cracking down. Denmark recently added 12 more dog breeds to an outright ban on dangerous dogs. That list of the country's banned breeds includes pit bulls, Tosa Inus, American Staffordshire terriers, Brazilian mastiffs, Argentine dogos, American bulldogs, boerboels, Kangals, Central Asian ovtcharkas, Caucasian ovtcharkas, Southern Russian ovtcharkas, tornjaks and Sarplaninacs, according to the (Denmark) "Politiken." While Vienna city councilor Sandra Frauenberger says that "this is not about the criminalization of any types of dogs," the owners of these breeds have expressed concern that their pets will be discriminated against because of their breeds' bad reputations.

Some states in the U.S. have similar regulations or bans. Last year, Paw Nation reported on a pit-bull ban in New York City housing projects. Just last week, a Miami, Fla. veterinarian wrote in USA Today about how she couldn't keep a stray dog she'd rescued because the pooch is a pit bull, a breed that her county has banned despite statistics that breed bans don't curb violence.

With more and more reports of pit bull attacks in public housing, New York City will soon ban "dangerous" dogs within the buildings.

The strict ban, which goes in effect next May, prohibits residents from keeping any dog (with the exception of service dogs), that weigh over 25 lbs. New York's city-run Animal Care and Control reports at least 113 dogs have been given up because of the ban, and 49 of those have been euthanized. The ban is one of the strictest in the country.

According to a recent New York Times article, "A spokesman for the Housing Authority, Howard Marder, said the new rules were a response to complaints and reports of dangerous and threatening dogs from tenants, tenant leaders and the police. The three breeds on the forbidden list [pit bulls, Rottweillers, and Doberman Pinschers] had been identified as 'the most frequent problem breeds,' Mr. Marder said." Apparently public housing buildings have seen several pit bull attacks -- more than 17 since 2007.

Some think the ban creates its own problems, though, since the kinds of dogs prohibited are the hardest for shelters to adopt out. Residents have had to abandon their pets, while others simply hide theirs from authorities.

Bill Smith, founder and CEO of Main Line Animal Rescue, commenting on another story, told Paw Nation, "Over a million pit bulls and pit mixes are euthanized every year. Pit bulls are incredibly sweet dogs. There's a saying, 'Judge the deed, not the breed.'" We agree -- any dog, regardless of breed, who is poorly trained and/or mistreated could be dangerous. Assuming that certain breeds corner the market on bad behavior is bad behavior on our part.

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