It’s looking likely that the California State Assembly will vote today on SB 250, a re-worked version of last year’s failed AB 1634, mandatory spay/neuter. This bill is bad for poor people, bad for their pets, and so loaded with punitive and downright regressive provisions that it’s hard to believe Democrats are falling in line to support it.

Why they do is no doubt because it sounds like it should make sense, and even address the reasons why straight-up mandatory spay/neuter went down in flames in 2008 — it looks, on the surface, as though it provides plenty of exemptions, and that almost anyone can get an unaltered pet license and keep it, as long as they don’t abuse or neglect their pets, or let them run loose all the time.

But in reality, SB 250 is mandatory spay/neuter with lipstick on. Its punitive provisions kick in on the basis of such  minor infractions that it’s likely there are only a handful of pet owners in the entire state who haven’t violated one of them from time to time — leash laws, scooper laws, and so on. And if you do violate these laws, not only will you have to sterilize a specific animal, but you can lose your right to have an unaltered pet license for any animal, ever. Permanently.

Making this burden even worse for the poor, and presumably in response to outcry over just how much this was going to cost the state to implement, there’s brand new language designed to pass on the expenses of enforcing it to the pet owners themselves — who will have to pay a hefty load of fines and fees to get their pet out of the clutches of the state at all, plus, of course, pay for the sterilization surgery.

Which might make sense if not having your pet altered were a phenomenon of the pets of the rich who just couldn’t be bothered, but it’s not. The pets of people who make moderate to high incomes are already sterilized at near-universal rates, while only a little more than half the pets of the poor are sterilized. Of the unaltered pets, around half their owners say they want to sterilize their animals but can’t afford it and/or access it.

And while there are spay/neuter assistance programs in many urban areas, in the poorest parts of the state, and those hit hardest by the economic crisis, that’s not at all the case. (Central Valley, anyone?)

If you’re a California resident, please call your assemblyman now, and explain politely what’s wrong with this bill and ask for a NO vote on SB 250.

Why?

Approaches based on forced spay-neuter, whether as a blanket requirement or this bizarre “surgery as punishment” model,  don’t work. Never have, anywhere. Not even in Santa Cruz.  Everywhere it has been tried it has led to more dead pets and more tax-payer money spent. And yet, the misinformation continues, supported by  well-meaning people who thinking mandating spay-neuter seems like it would work, and yes, a few die-hard haters who refuse to acknowledge that there is a gulf three oceans wide between what reputable, ethical breeders do and what puppy-milling scum do.

The people pushing mandatory spay-neuter also refuse to acknowledge what I have come to understand, as a person who has bred one litter and rescued, fostered, rehabbed and rehomed dozens and dozens of animals in my life: That we are all trying to do what’s best for the animals we love.  Reputable breeders and rescuers alike (and mind you, they are often one in the same). That said, there are plenty of spittle-spewing haters on the extremes of both sides, people who seem to care more about winning than helping.

I have had my fill of them, both the “breeder is a breeder” hater and the black helicopter folks, too.   Frankly, you should all be locked in a room together and someone should lose the key.

While some are busy pushing hate on the other side, others are  trying to reduce killing for overpopulation by building on proven cooperative community-wide no-kill models. And we’re trying to get there by building on common ground. This is what works, not forcing the poor to give up their pets so animal control can kill more of them.

The idea of no-kill communities is catching on.  In just the last few months, these changes from people who know about what works and what doesn’t:

• The ASPCA does NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.
• The HSUS has NOT come out in support of the latest version of mandatory spay-neuter in California. (I don’t CARE what you’ve read elsewhere: The HSUS is NOT IN SUPPORT of SB 250.)
• The AVMA does NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.
• Advocates for feral cats and no-kill solutions do NOT support mandatory spay-neuter.

Most of these organizations supported mandatory spay-neuter wholeheartedly not long ago. What changed? They saw that it doesn’t work.

The California Department of Finance does NOT support SB 250, either. They’re arguing just on the case of expense, which the state cannot afford.

And yet, because it “seems like a good idea,” last year’s AB 1634 has been recast as this year’s SB 250, and made even worse, since now spaying and neutering is a punishment for all pets, at the whim of animal control officers.

Who will be punished most? The people who are struggling the hardest to keep their pets. Studies show that more than 90 percent of people who can afford it already spay-neuter, and that more than half of people who cannot afford or get to spay-neuter services would have this done if they could.

Instead, mandatory spay-neuter pushes them to give up their pets, to increase the shelter killing. Since people love animals, they’ll pick up another pet, wash, rinse, repeat.

Read Christie’s earlier post on why no Democrat should be voting for this punishment for the poor. And yet, most are. The GOP has given this a party-line thumbs down, mostly because of the cost to tax-payers, I’d guess.

Call now.

A cat with a needle in her tongue, a dog who ate gel bra inserts – if you thought your pet has a nose for getting into trouble, you better check out the winners of a pet-insurance company’s contest for the craziest claims.

Veterinary Pet Insurance, one of our Pet Connection sponsors, calls the contest the “Hambone Awards” in honor of a dog who helped himself to an entire Thanksgiving ham, cleaning it done to the bone – while trapped inside the refrigerator. (The dog was escaped with a mild case of hypothermia. The family, one presumes, ate dinner out that holiday.) The clever “awards” are picking up a lot of attention — we’ve heard from from ABC News and others asking for comment.

VPI, of course, is one of more than a dozen companies in the growing field of pet health insurance. The options available to pet-owners in treating their pets nearly rival those in humane medicine. Although the costs for pet care is a fraction of what the same procedures cost in human medicine, the high-tech choices and well-schooled specialists can be beyond the means of many. Veterinarians have a term for the intersection of a sick pet and a tight budget: “Economic euthanasia.”

No one likes to put down a pet who could be helped, which is why pet insurance is prospering, which a variety of companies offering a variety of plans to help cover the costs.

The Hambone Awards are, of course, a lighthearted way to bring attention to all the ways pets can end up at the veterinarian’s while reminding people that prevention is always better than treatment – whether you’re insured or not.

Check out the stories of the Hambone Awards nominees and vote for a winner. Based on the number of dogs who get themselves into trouble compared to cats, one can certainly argue that cats have an edge in the self-preservation department, and perhaps the intelligence department, too.

Dove Cresswell’s Dog Training Online is the best of the many online dog obedience training video programs. Dog obedience training videos are the best way to learn how to obedience train your dog, especially if you learn best from listening and watching, rather than by reading text. Dove Cresswell’s Dog Training Online video program is a 7 module video training series that teaches you everything you need to know about obedience training your puppy or dog. Just download each module as your dog becomes ready for the next level of training.

For those of you who have not heard about this throw caution to the wind Sheriff, he not long ago painted jail cells pink and made inmates wear pink prison attire. Sheriff Joe is seeing red again. This time, he is fed up with the way Maricopa County is spending over $18 million dollars a year on stray animals. So, instead continuing to complain…

Puppy housebreaking is easy with a routine. Dog’s are creatures of habit and will adjust quickly to a routine, use a crate when you can’t supervise your pup. The crate can help speed up the house training process, dogs don’t like to soil where they sleep.

Force fetch, or force break as it was once called, is not something to do simply when mouth problems occur. It is an invaluable tool that your gun dog must have before they can ever move on to the next level. It has been called the basis of compulsion.

Housebreaking a puppy is the first thing every new pet owner has to face. This should begin the minute you walk in the house with your new pup. Housebreaking is easy if a routine is established.

If you are worried about your dog’s safety, than a reflective dog collar can really help your dog become more visible not only at night, but in the early morning and early evening hours. If you take your dog for walks, having a reflective collar is a great safety measure to not only increase their safety but to increase your safety as well. Also, if you take your dog hunting in the early morning hours, a reflective dog collar can help you to keep track of them when they are out running around the woods.

The idea that dog obedience training is too hard and should be left to the professionals is not correct. But there are things that the dog owner needs to know and this article looks at the fact that is is not as hard as people think.

Doing dog obedience training is a lot more rewarding than just handing your dog over to a professional trainer. This article looks at things to remember when doing dog obedience training yourself.