Other Pets: Dog saves abandoned kittens!

I thought it might be nice to let our other companion animal friends get a look in on this blog, so once a week I'll be posting a tale about the furry, the feathered, the scaly and everything in between! Admittedly today's story does feature a dog but it was too heartwarmingly sweet to pass up.

A Nevada Humane Society shelter was recently handed Angel, a two-year-old boxer / pit bull mix, after his owners moved away without him. He was being walked by volunteer Frank Gomez and his animal-loving nine-year-old stepson, Joel Fontes, when he became engrossed in exploring a particular area.

Since Angel was naturally inquisitive, it took some time before Gomez and Fontes realised there was something more to his investigations. On looking closer, Gomez discovered a box full of orange tabby kittens, who had been abandoned at three weeks old.

While rescue workers were on the way, one of the six kittens escaped. Angel calmly led Gomez over to the lost kit, and she was also handed in safely.

All six kittens and Angel are now safely with the Humane Society and are looking for homes. If you're reading this in the US and are looking to adopt a clever hero dog or rescued kitten, call 856 2000 or email info@nevadahumanesociety.org.

Sadly, it wouldn't be shocking if people were initially surprised by Angel's behaviour given that he's at least partly of a breed that is illegal in the UK and receives bad press elsewhere. But if this doesn't show what good socialisation and training can do, nothing will!

[via Dogster's For the Love of Dog Blog]

The problems of identifying illegal 'pit bull types' in the UK

K9 Magazine has a very concise article about the difficulties of identifying a type of dog banned under the UK Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. Dogs Trust continues to question the terminology of the Act even after the (welcome) 1997 Amendment, as you might know. If you'd like to know more about the charities full stance on the DDA, you can read more on the main website.

The summary of the article by Alison Green highlights the central absurdity:

So there we have it. That’s what a pit bull type aka “dangerous dog” is in the UK legal system today. Its any dog that a judge believes scores enough points, mainly in conformation, on a breed standard that is no longer used in that exact form as a standard for that breed.

For most dog owners, the 'deed not breed' mantra has become the central argument against breed-specific legislation. This shows the other weak point in the kind of legislation the UK already has. In the full article, Green also points out the unfair advantage to the prosecution. In most cases we are innocent until proven guilty - when it comes to DDA cases, the impetus is on the defence to prove that the dog is not a 'pit bull type' (whatever that is!) rather than on the prosecution to prove it is.

With responsible owners and good treatment no dog of any kind need find itself the focus of this kind of investigation. We'll continue to campaign for fair legislation but also focus on educating the future dog owners of the UK.