While it’s easy to demonstrate a pound model that isn’t working (see yesterday’s post), I’d like to take the time to investigate a model that does work for comparison. As they say, you can’t argue with results.
Below an image that represents the City of Calgary in Canada’s intake/return/rehome rate for dogs (click to download .pdf)
Calgary has a 90-95% dog licensing compliance rate (most of the Victorian councils examined yesterday sit around 50-60%) and 94% of the cats and dogs who enter their system come out alive. They also saw in 2008, the lowest number of aggressive dog incidents they’ve had in over 25 years.
So just how do they do it? Breed bans? Pet limit laws? Compulsory desexing?
None of the above.
As live blogged by Pet Connection at the No More Homeless Pets Conference:
Calgary Animal Control Director Bill Bruce: Understand we are dealing with a community problem that will take the collaborative resources of the community to solve.
First thing we did is boil down 4 principles of responsible pet ownership:
– License and provide permanent ID. Return to owner without even going to shelter; ride home.
– Increase spay/neuter (desexing) but do not mandate it.
– Training, physical care, socialization, medical care.
– Do not allow pet to become threat or nuisance.
Our feeling was that if we could have this, we’d be by definition a responsible pet owner community.
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What’s working in Calgary:– Marketing. Educate and market.
– Partnerships; working together. Money devoted to fighting should go to animals. May need to bring in outside mediator. I found some of conflict was around things that happened 25 years ago. The people who had that fight are dead. Let’s move on.
– Remove barriers to responsible pet owners. Mandatory spay/neuter is a barrier. Does not take us down path of no more homeless animals. It’s the wrong thing to do. Pet limits the same you end up alienating your most responsible pet owners, and decrease licensing. What is the problem you’re trying to solve, and how will this solve it? What problem will pet limits solve? No one can ever tell me. 93 percent of my dog owners have their dogs licensed. MSN also turns my responsible pet owners against me, interferes with licensing. People don’t like to do what they’re told to do it’s human nature. Make it clear to them the value of doing it, why it’s a good idea.
– Education, school programs.
– Drive-home program. Great licensing program, on board computers connected to central computer, looks up dog’s tag or chip, up comes info, gets on cell phone, calls you: I’ve got Buddy in my truck before most people realize the dog is gone. Over 30 percent go straight home, never go to the shelter.
– Clear, well-understood rules. Enforcement is your last step, not your first one.
– Licensing program; $5 million a year, don’t need tax dollars, don’t have to beg for money. Own revenue source, and community knows their money goes to help animals, so high compliance. License cats. People asked, where will money go? He said, free spay neuter. Public found out every penny would go to help cats. Also, wanted their cats to come back as quickly as possible. Saw value. Audience asked if this only works because they’re Canadian? Why isn’t this working in Los Angeles? He said Canadians are obstinate, will not be pushed even if polite. People comply when they feel CONSULTED and SEE THE VALUE, like the driving home. If dog or cat is hit by car in Calgary, vet will just start working on it because he knows animal control will pay the first $500 at least, doesn’t even have to ask, vet will never get stuck with the bill. If you know you’re investing in a Cadillac program like that, that will help your dog and your cat. 82 percent of cats are saved, 94 percent of dogs.
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If I impound an animal, that animal’s picture is on our website in 15 minutes.We DO NOT charge fees to rescues to take dogs and cats.
Just amazing! Imagine having council animal services that recognise that people really do value their pets and act as a support network to help pets and their owners, rather than thinking up new ways to punish their communities.
So just how does one get a program like this off the ground?
From my ongoing favourite, KC Dog blog:
Calgary has a 90-95% dog licensing compliance rate. Calgary has done this by providing benefits to people for licensing their dogs….for animal control being a SERVICE instead of a pain in people’s butts.
Overall, they have about 95,000 licensed dogs (in a city with the population of about 1 million). Licensing fees are $31 per year ($52 for an unaltered dog).
In 1990 they raised the fines for getting caught with an unlicensed dog from $30 to $250 – -Bruce said that fines should generally run about 10x the cost of actually obeying the law in the first place in order to encourage compliance with the law. They also made it very easy to license your dog — online, via phone, at your vets office, and keosks at the animal control office, etc.
Every dollar that they raise from animal licensing (and fines for non-compliance) go back into funding animal control — not back into the city’s slush fund. So with an operating budget of $3.5-4.0 million, they are able to really do some things right with their animal control department.
They strongly encourage all people who license their dogs to also have them microchipped (which allows the dogs to be scanned and the owner determined immediately). Every animal control vehicle is equipped with a scanner — so if they find a stray dog, the animal control officer can instantly scan the dog for the chip, and deliver the dog home free of charge (although there are fines if your dog becomes a frequent flyer).
This home delivery a) is a service for people who obey the rules and b) saves money in animal control costs because stray dogs seldom even make it to their shelter. They are returned home where the dog belongs. The city then doesn’t incur the costs of putting the dog in the shelter, maintaining the dog while it’s in the shelter, food etc. Bruce’s goal for next year is to get 50% of the dogs returned directly home without ever reaching the shelter.
If a dog does end up making it to the shelter, its photo is taken immediately and placed on their webpage within 15 minutes of the dog reaching the shelter. All the dogs in the shelter are treated for the basic diseases – -and if a dog is found injured, animal control will take the dog to a vet. The vets treat the dogs because a) animal control is usually able to find the owner of the dog because they’re all licensed and b) if they don’t, animal control will cover the medical costs associated with treating that dog. Wow.
Calgary built a new shelter for their animals about 5-8 years ago that is state of the art…and has never been filled to its capacity.
Calgary also focuses a lot of its energies on education and encouraging responsible dog ownership. They have a full time staff member, that is trained in education, that puts together a public education program. They have six specific programs that are part fof their public school’s curriculum that emphasizes respect for living things.
Calgary also has 140 dedicated off-leash areas for dogs — so that’s 140 “dog parks”.
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The net results of their efforts have been impressive. Over the past 18 years, the city of Calgary has cut their number of dog bites and chases by more than 50% (all the while, the human and dog population of Calgary has doubled). Last year calgary only had to euthenize 256 animals. Almost all of the euthanizations came from dogs that had behavioral or health issues. Bruce estimates that Calgary will become a true no-kill city within the next 3-5 years.
If you go back to that first slide, you’ll see that Calgary cared for just shy of 5,000 dogs. This would be comparable to any shelter in a large city of Australia. And they’re on the path to No Kill without mandatory desexing, microchipping, the banning of pit bulls (in fact, the population of pit bulls in Calgary has been increasing) and without pet limit laws. They did it by making people see the value in the service they are providing and then, in return providing good service. In fact, Calgary’s Annual Citizen Satisfaction Survey results show that over 91% of residents rated Animal Services as “good” or “very good.”(ref)
Calgary Holds Reckless Owners, Not Dogs, Responsible
“Everything goes back to responsible pet ownership,” says Bill Bruce, Director of Animal Bylaw Services in Calgary. In 2006 his team incorporated the bylaw which holds owners responsible for their dog’s behavior.
Bruce says there are four things that are absolutely essential to lowering dog bites:
1. Licensing and permanent pet ID.
2. Easily accessible spay/neuter programs.
3. Training, socialization, grooming and food; basic needs for a dog to feel safe and comfortable.
4. Proper supervision to prevent a pet becoming a nuisance in the community.Calgary law has a provision that prohibits leaving a dog unattended. An unattended dog tied to a sign or bicycle rack can become scared and bite out of fear. Also, dogs are never allowed to be chained or tethered outside the house unless someone is home. The city doesn’t treat dog bites lightly a minor bite is a $350 fine and a serious offense is $1,500.
…The city of Calgary organizes many public speaking programs to teach owners about their pets. These programs address how to properly socialize a dog and understand dog behaviors and needs.
Bruce says they spend a lot of time trying to understand animals. If a dog bites, for example, the team goes into the house and asks questions such as: Where did the dog come from? Are there children in the house? Where are the dog’s parents? What are the dog’s triggers?
Investigators even give the dog a medical exam to make sure it isn’t suffering from an underlying health problem. In addition, investigators will visit another home in the area with the same breed that hasn’t bitten and thoroughly investigate what that owner is doing right. Again, as Bruce says, it all comes down to responsible pet ownership. Incidentally, Bruce notes that one of their top biters is border collies and not ‘bully breeds’.
This type of investigation certainly entails high costs, but Bruce says those are all taken care of through licensing. Dog owners pay licensing fees (slightly higher rates for unaltered dogs) and those fees go toward the cost for the humane education and other services.
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We take dog aggression very seriously, train postal workers, don’t let people tether dogs in city, heavy-handed on fines when owners let dangerous dogs out, fines in excess of 10K. But we don’t wait until the dog bites. It starts with lesser behavior. We have ordinance against teasing a dog. Someone calls, send officer to sit in backyard, catches kids, fines them and/or parents.
ref
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“”We want to look at everything that led up to an aggressive dog attack,” said Bruce. “We’re hoping to find four to six common things that people do that causes dogs to bite. Our goal is not to have anyone bitten by a dog.”
ref
The Calgary example goes to show what can happen when a community is serious and diligent about safety instead of reactionary like so many of the organisations driving legislation here in Australia. When the community hold dog owners accountable for the management and care for their dogs, and animal services work with the pet lovers, rather than against them, a safe, humane community is the result.
