August 2011

Guest Blog by Michelle Villagomez, ASPCA NYC Legislative Director.

We have some exciting news! After months of talking with representatives from the New York City government, the City has agreed to support legislation to improve conditions in our city’s shelters. A bill has been introduced in the City Council that would not only restore programs and services to our animal shelters, but increase funding for our animal care and control programs. The City has already agreed to raise funding so that by July 2014 the annual budget for Animal Care & Control will exceed $12 million—a 77 percent increase over the current budget!

Intro. 655, sponsored by Councilmember Jessica Lappin, would improve New York City’s animal shelter system by:

• Requiring animal receiving centers in the Bronx and Queens, as well as field services, to operate seven days a week, 12 hours per day. (Currently the receiving centers are only open one and two days, and the field services program has been cut);
• Ensuring the maintenance of full-service animal shelters in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island;
• Requiring owners to spay or neuter any cats they own who are free-roaming outdoors;
• Implementing trap-neuter-return (TNR) rules; and
• Requiring the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to provide a report providing key data on trends on the progress and quality of care at each full-service animal shelter and animal receiving center.

Take Action!

This legislation, in conjunction with the increase in funding over the next few years, will allow the shelters hire as many as 100 additional staffers. If you’re a New Yorker, visit aspca.org/NYC_ACC to see how you can help make this happen!

I wish I could personally thank each of you for everything you have done so far to help animals affected by Hurricane Irene. To each of you who has welcomed an animal evacuee into your home, who has dropped off pet supplies at an evacuation center, who has spread the word directly or through Facebook or Twitter about protecting pets during the storm, who has volunteered, or who has simply kept the East Coast in your thoughts and prayers during this scary time, I thank you.

While the ASPCA is a national organization, we are headquartered in New York City. Many of our employees have had to evacuate their own homes, but still insist on working on our disaster response efforts. We have staff, volunteers and disaster relief experts from around the country working all night in several locations in New York and ready to deploy to the hardest hit areas as soon as Irene arrives.

Throughout Saturday, ASPCA responders visited evacuation centers across New York City to ensure those centers were equipped to care for pets accompanying their human evacuees.
We are coordinating the disaster response efforts for animals with federal, state, and local officials as well as with other animal interest organizations.

The ASPCA’s Field Investigations & Response Team is called on to assist the animal victims of disasters and cruelty around the country. For example, in 2010, this group engaged in 27 full-scale deployments and more than 120 investigations and consultations to help animals in danger. Despite this breadth of experience, a historic hurricane in New York City will present challenges not seen in other disasters.

Rest assured that the ASPCA is prepared to act fast to aid the animals affected by Irene the best we can. We have a rescue boat and several massive tractor trailers full of supplies ready and waiting to go to the hardest hit areas. None of us knows what Irene’s aftermath will bring, but I can assure you that we will do everything we can to save the lives of animals endangered by this storm.

As Hurricane Irene continues its projected course towards New York City, the ASPCA is helping pet parents prepare for the worst-case scenario.

• All evacuation centers in New York and New Jersey are required to accept animals. Please don’t leave your pets behind!
• Not sure if you’re in an evacuation zone? Visit this map to see if your home falls in a location currently required to evacuate.
• All New York City taxis are required to transport pets. The city’s public transit system shut down at noon on Saturday, and the mayor reports that it is unlikely to resume service for several days.
• If you haven’t already, please stock up on food, water, batteries, first aid kits and other emergency supplies to keep yourself and your pets safe during a storm or prolonged power outage.
• Stay indoors! Irene is a slow-moving storm and will likely result in unpredictable surges and high-speed winds. Keep your pets with you at all times.

ASPCA responders are currently on site at emergency facilities across the five boroughs, and are ready to offer support and relief to the city’s pets and their families. For all the latest on Hurricane Irene and the ASPCA’s response, please stay tuned to ASPCA.org.

Barking is a natural form of communication for dogs. But sometimes your garden-variety doggie conversation can become excessive, and result in headaches for pet parents (and neighbors!). The key to reducing a dog’s problem barking is to determine why he’s barking.

ASPCA behaviorists have identified the following types of barking:

- Territorial Barking in response to those approaching a dog’s turf
- Alarm Barking in response to unusual sights and sounds
- Attention-Seeking Barking to gain attention or rewards
- Greeting Barking to say hello to people and pets
- Compulsive Barking in an extremely repetitive way
- Socially Facilitated Barking in response to other dogs barking
- Frustration-Induced Barking when prevented from doing something

Although these are the most common types of barking, excessive vocalization can also be caused by illness, injury or separation anxiety. Before tackling your pooch’s propensity for chatter, please check with his veterinarian to rule out any medical causes.

So once he checks out medically, how do you figure out which type of barking your dog reverts to? Ask yourself these questions: When and where does the barking occur? Who or what is the target of the barking? What things (objects, sounds, animals or people) trigger the barking?

For treatment of territorial and alarm barking, it’s important to block your dog’s ability to see and hear external triggers. For greeting barking, try to keep your homecomings low key, and stash your pet’s favorite toy near the front door to encourage him to pick up the toy before he greets you or guests. If your pooch seeks attention with his vocal stylings, work on consistently not rewarding him for barking. For example, when your dog starts to bark for attention, you can stare at the ceiling, turn away from your dog or walk out of the room. The instant your dog stops barking, ask him to sit and then give him what he wants, whether that’s attention, play, treats, to go outside or to come in.

Whatever the cause of your dog’s barking, please remember not to punish your dog for barking at certain sounds, like car doors slamming and kids playing in the street, but then encourage him to bark at other sounds, like people at the door. Consistency is key!

For many more tips on how to address your dog’s excessive barking, please visit our Virtual Pet Behaviorist.

Hold on to your hats, folks—we’re on the move! For more than 15 years, our Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinics have been on the ground in New York City bringing low-cost surgeries to all five boroughs. Now we may be headed for a town near you!

Earlier this summer, we hit the road with our National Spay/Neuter Project. What’s the gist? We’re taking our state-of-the-art mobile veterinary clinic and spay/neuter team to communities across the country, and helping them implement their own low-cost spay/neuter programs.

“This is an amazing opportunity for pet parents in underserved areas to receive life-changing surgeries for their companions,” says ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres.

Dealing with pet overpopulation is what the National Spay/Neuter Project is all about. Learn how you can support our life-saving efforts today!

Michael Vick is still making headlines. In fact, the once-upon-a-time dog fighter has appeared on the cover of several magazines and spilled all in exclusive interviews. Is he a changed man? Has he truly redeemed himself? Those still seem to be the burning questions of the hour. Truth is…the only thing we know for sure is that for the 51 pit bulls rescued from his property in April 2007, life has never been the same. Never.

Where are Vick’s dogs now? Find out in this exclusive photo essay.

This past weekend, thousands of you joined us on Twitter to watch as shelters from across the nation held special adoption events to kick-off the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge. Well, folks, the numbers are in…and we can’t wait to share them. In total, more than 3,000 shelter pets went home!

“It was such an incredible start,” says Bert Troughton, ASPCA Vice President of Community Outreach. “Many of these shelters shattered their own adoption records, and in so doing they shattered the perception of what’s possible.”

Shelters rallied, communities rallied, volunteers rallied…and thousands of animals’ lives were saved. A special thanks to all who joined us on Twitter—they couldn’t have done it without you!

For more information about the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge, please visit challenge.aspcapro.org.

ASPCA lobbyists have done it again! Last night, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that will make attending a dog fight or cockfight in New York State a misdemeanor offense. The law goes into effect in 30 days.

“Animal fighting is an extremely cruel, but lucrative, underground business," says Debora Bresch, an attorney and Senior Director of ASPCA Government Relations. “This new law will allow law enforcement to pursue and punish the spectators who drive the market for animal fighting, keeping it alive."

Animal fighting is a felony in all 50 states, and most activities relating to it—including training animals to fight and allowing one's property to be used for an animal fight—are also felonies in New York. But up until today, attending a fight was merely a violation punishable only by a small fine.

“Spectators who patronize these barbaric events in New York, cheering and placing bets while two animals fight to the death, deserve to be charged with a crime," adds Bresch.

Congratulations for seeing this bill through to the end, New York animal advocates!

For more information on the ASPCA’s efforts to tackle animal fighting, please visit our Blood Sports Section.