Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Trillium Hollow Pet Policy - Thanks For All The Input

[Nancy Baumeister (nancybee]

I hesitated to bring the topic up at this time because I know that you 
at Trillium Hollow are at the end of the policy-writing process and not 
at the gathering-information  time in the process. So, understand that 
my comments are _*not *_aimed at suggesting that you (Trillium Hollow) 
change your policy.

But, for those communities which maybe considering a pet policy, I 
wanted to echo the comment that banning specific dog breeds is not an 
effective way to create safety around dogs.

For lots more information check out this book
> *Dogs Bite: But Balloons and Slippers Are More Dangerous (Paperback) *
> by Janis Bradley 
> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Janis%20Bradley&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank/103-8580576-4851867>

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1888047186/103-8580576-4851867?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

There is more to the book than I can excerpt here, but the part that 
really made me sit up and begin thinking about action for our community 
is her discussion about educating children about appropriate behavior 
around dogs. She notes that we take extensive action to protect children 
around swimming pools. We teach them not to swim unless adults are 
present, we watch them while they swim, we put fences around pools and 
yet 1000 children drown each year. In contrast, we do very little to 
teach kids about how to behave appropriately around dogs and we do not 
always supervise very small children around dogs and still only 10 
children are killed by dog bites in a year. This number could readily be 
reduced to zero. For our community, I intend to suggest that we do 
explicit teaching for kids around how to treat dogs. I think that this 
will make them safer in our community and throughout their lives out 
there in the world.

Signed, a dog lover
Nancy Baumeister
CoHo Ecovillage
Corvallis Oregon
PS (moving into emotional territory here) My Jennifur is possibly part 
rottie- would she be banned?

Charles Maclean wrote:
> Fellow Cohousers -
>
> After many years of indecision we've adopted a new pet policy.  It appears
> below. 
> <snip>  7.	The types of pets you may keep at Trillium Hollow are not regulated
> except for the following dog breeds.  These breeds are banned: Rottweilers,
> Pitbulls (American Staffordshire Terrier, Pitbull Terrier, Staffordshire
> Bull Terrier, English Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier), Fighting Dog Breeds (such
> as Dogo Argentino, Tosa Inu, Filo Brasileiro/ Brazilian Mastiff and Perro de
> Presa Canario) and Akita.  All other breeds must be covered under their
> owner's or caregiver's homeowner's or renter's insurance policy or other
> liability insurance.