Causes, shout-outs and controversies links

Dogs: my philosophical position discusses where I stand on the many hotly debated issues in the dog world.

Animal cruelty

• Animal-Cruelty Syndrome - NY Times article about psychiatric, social and legal aspects
• Be the Change for Animals: Blog with information and conversation platform for animal causes.
• Give animals a voice: Overview of latest RSPCA campaigns and how you can help
• PETA: People for the  Ethical Treatment of Animals. One of the best-organised animal rights organisation. Fantastic website with latest news and hot issues.
• RSPCA’s five most successful 2009 campaigns – All the facts behind latest RSPCA campaigns
• RSPCA’s Youtube homepage

Animals and the law

General animal-related laws

• The Animal Law Coalition: Complete resource for all animal-related legislation in the US. Also articles about worldwide developments in animal law.
• Prohond: Interest group for dogs and dog owners in The Hague. Follows planned and effective local dog-related regulations.

Dangerous breeds?

• Delta BC Looks to repeal breed-specific laws (by Kc dogblog)
• Replace Dangerous Dog Act with Dog Ownership Test UK Government discussion blog
• Report on dog bite-related fatalities by breed (from CDC)
• What is a dog bite? Discussion on statistics reporting by the National Canine Research Council

Breed and mongrel prejudice

The Dog Project: Quick personal profiles of individual dogs by their owners to help showcase each breed and lots of mongrels. Heartwarming accounts,  low key and upbeat. Why not enter your own dog? It only takes five minutes.

Shelter dogs

• Open Paw: Education project ran by superstar team Gorman/Fletcher/Dunbar promoting education to decrease frequency of pets being abandoned to shelters.
• Free Kibble: 15 year old Mimi took the web community by storm with a brilliant idea: answer a pet-related quiz question on her site and a shelter pet gets 10 pieces of of kibble. The questions are awesome, and the process really quick. Go on, go answer that question every day.
• 10 reasons to adopt an adult dog
• Lucy’s Dog House – General dog supplies. Part of the proceeds go to shelter dogs!
• Oldies Club – Shelter for people wanting to adopt older dog in the UK.
• ROAR: Blog with tons of high-quality pictures of rescued pets
• Things to consider before pet adoption, by Jacque Lynn Schultz, C.P.D.T
• the Shelter Pet Project, US campaign for the promotion of shelter adoption
• Taichung PAWS Facebook fan page: Project by expats to relieve the plight of Taiwan’s streetdogs
• Actie Zerfhonden: Dutch association helping relieve the plight of Turkish street dogs.

Dog ‘whisperer’ – why being telegenic isn’t a qualification

• Beyond Cesar Milan: THE central professional resource addressing Cesar Millan’s approaches. With contributions by today’s most respected dog trainers and behaviourists.
• Cesar Milan: His dog and his critics – well-balanced article (by Kc dog blog) reviewing the positive points of Mr Milan’s approach
• Cesar’s Way, Definitely not a whisper – book review by veterinary doctor Kathy Meyer.
• Why veterinary behaviorists can’t stand Cesar Millan
• The Dominance Controversy and Cesar Millan
• Ian Dunbar takes on Cesar Millan

Dominance: my old pet peeve (pun intended)

• Are dogs pack animals? (by Jean Donaldson)
• Is being your dog’s follower as important as being its leader? (by Dogster)
• Dominance: the facts behind the dominance myth (by Canis bonus)
• The concept formerly described as dominance (by Patricia McConnell)
• Dominant dog theory will soon be but a whisper (by APBC)

Aversive training tools

General

• Dog training tools and how to use them

Electronic fences

• Electronic fences safe and ethical? – Article by Diane Podolsky

Shock collars

• Facebook Cause against shock collars
• Bitter Wallet’s article about Electric Shock Collar ban

Tethers

Is your dog chained – ever? – Article about the harm of tethering, and how to approach ‘tetherers’

Street dogs

The Street Dog Blog does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a blog about street dogs, with videos, pictures, articles about policies issues, and polls.

Breeder-related controversy

• Pedigree dogs plagued by disease – BBC news article about the proneness of some pedigree breeds to develop specific diseases
• USDA fails to crack down on puppy mills – Article by dogblog article by Natural Pets
• RSPCA’s Documentary exposing puppy traffickers:

Last updated July 2010