NEWSDOGS

Amanda Kearney didn’t set out to be an activist. But when, like many other people, she unknowingly moved to a city — Wentzville, Missouri — where her dogs, Harley and Belle, faced harsh restrictions simply because of their appearance, she learned that you can take on city hall.

“I called aldermen, reporters and news stations out of panic," Kearney said. "I don't look at my dogs just as pets; they are members of our family. It broke my heart to see them in muzzles and always on a leash in our fenced in backyard, I had to do something. It wasn't fair for them."

Luckily the majority of her neighborhood was extremely supportive. They wrote letters and made phone calls, too, giving character references for Kearney and her dogs. When Tyanna Flynn heard about Kearney's plight, she started a petition on Change.org. The petition was shared by community members on Facebook and gained more than 2,500 signatures.

If you're a football fan, you're gearing up to root for the Giants or Patriots this weekend. But if you're one of the 119,000 people who have signed GREY2K USA's petition on Change.org, then you're rooting for the greyhounds. Not the ones that will be "racing" against Mr. Quiggly, the French bulldog in the Skechers commercial, but the ones behind-the-scenes of the ad. The ones who suffer in cramped cages at the track and who face serious injury during races where the ad was filmed .

From Boston to Los Angeles, Skechers stores were confronted this past weekend by dog lovers asking consumers to boycott the company unless it drops its Super Bowl ad filmed at the notorious Tucson Greyhound Park. The controversy has dominated the pre-game advertising buzz.

Now, with only 5 days left, GREY2K USA is asking its supporters to keep up the momentum. From GREY2K USA, here are 5 things you can do:

Jamie Buehrle is married to All-Star pitcher Mark Buehrle. Mark recently signed with the Miami Marlins.

Mark and I have always been avid animal lovers. When Mark was playing for the White Sox, we hosted “Sox for Strays,” a public-service announcement campaign that featured adoptable animals once a month during the baseball season. Before our 18-month-old American Staffordshire terrier, Slater, came into our lives we already had three Viszlas: Diesel, Drake, and Duke.

When it became a reality for us that Mark was no longer going to be playing for the White Sox, so many things started going through our minds. Instead of worrying about what team he would be playing for, what schools our kids would go to, and how to transition our lives to a new city, our biggest concern was ensuring our new city would allow Slater. Doesn’t that seem ridiculous?

The Cumberland County Animal Control Board in North Carolina recently weighed a proposal to ban adoptions of purebred, mixed-breed, or look-alikes of any American Staffordshire Terrier, Rottweiler, Chows, Presa Canario, or Pit Bull.

Hundreds of miles away in Iowa, Christine Salek heard about this proposal and knew she had to take action to put a sensible policy in place. She created her own petition at Change.org on a Friday and, by the following Monday, more than 60,000 animal advocates from around the world contacted officials in Cumberland County to demand that this proposal be dropped. Moreover, 100 dog defenders also filled the room at the Board's meeting to speak out against the  proposal, creating quite some buzz.

In photos, the Kearneys' dogs look like Great Danes, big and gangly, but  they haven't had DNA testing done to prove their heritage, so who knows what breeds they really are? But Amanda Kearney made a mistake on Facebook that has cost her pets their freedom. She referred to her dogs as "pit bull mixes" and a nosy neighbor reported them to the Wentzville police. So much for being neighborly. Now the pets can't be outside a kennel unless they are leashed and muzzled. The Kearneys can't even open their windows if the dogs are inside the house. Unbelievable.

Paul Emmerich and his fiance, Tyanna Flynn, heard about what happened to the Kearneys and decided to start a petition on Change.org to end the Wentzville witch hunt against dogs.

Paul says he has seen how the town's breed discriminatory law can be manipulated and used against good owners and good dogs. He and Tyanna believe that breed specific legislation, like the Wentzville ordinance that restricts dogs who look like pit bulls, is a form of discrimination against dogs and their owners.

This week, the Ohio Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee will start hearing testimony on a bill that would change the status of pit bulls in the state and end discrimination against the dogs. Ohio is the only state in the U.S. that singles out a breed of dog at the state level.

More than 10,000 people have joined the campaign on Change.org, led by Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates president Jean Keating, to pass H.B. 14, which would remove pit bulls from the state’s definition of vicious dogs. The campaign has also gained the attention of actor Ian Somerhalder of Lost and The Vampire Diaries, who recently announced his support for H.B. 14.

“The Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, along with Ian Somerhalder, is thrilled that the Ohio Senate is ready to hear testimony from dog lovers across the state in support of House Bill 14,” said Keating, who launched the campaign. “Over 10,000 people have already signed our petition on Change.org, and people will keep calling on their Senators asking them to improve safety in their community and end breed discrimination by voting yes on HB 14.”

It's a pet owner's worst nightmare: their senior, arthritic dog gets out of the yard, but instead of finding his way home or to the safety of a friendly neighbor, he's shot and killed by police. That's what happened to Boomer, the 12-year-old golden retriever of Lauren and Roy Glass of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Boomer was less than a block from his home when he died. According to Roy Glass, not only did the police fail to call him, they never even called Animal Services as they should have done per Pinellas County Ordinance. Instead, Boomer became the seventh dog shot by St. Petersburg Police this year.

When Nancy Smith heard Boomer's story, she started a petition on Change.org, with the help of the internet-based volunteer group Hand4Paws, asking St. Petersburg officials to establish new training protocols and policies for police dealing with dogs. Even though she doesn’t live in St. Petersburg, Ms. Smith felt compelled to act because she too owns a senior golden retriever who now growls when you try to lift him on the bed or into the SUV. But that shouldn’t be a death sentence.

The sad reality is that, although there is roughly one dog for every four people in the United States, most police officers receive little or no training in canine behavior.

Fran Coughlin, a real estate broker turned activist, believes all good dogs deserve a home, regardless of their appearance. She and her twin sister, Liz Sullivan, have always had dogs in their lives and they're furious that a pit bull ban was ever passed in Ontario. Now, they're organizing the drive to get the breed discriminatory law repealed.

"Our government needs to know we are not going away, giving up, letting up or shutting up until all Ontarians are equal again under law as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter," said Coughlin. "Warrant-less entry into private homes and removal and destruction of non-offending family pets, based on when they were born or what they look like is both unjust and draconian."

The knee-jerk measure was passed by the provincial government in 2005. Since that time, according to Coughlin, "Canine profiling in Ontario has crossed over races, cultures, ages, sexes and professions."

To achieve their goal, the sisters have started a website and petition drive. They are also taking to the streets with a rally on October 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. in downtown Toronto, in support of Hershey's Bill, a proposal introduced to repeal the ban.

You've got to hand it to tenacious, articulate advocates like Jean Keating, who is committed to volunteering her time to help our best friends. Keating and her nascent group, the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, have been relentless — and quite successful — in repealing antiquated city canine profiling laws in Ohio that rip friendly pets from their homes. They now have their eyes on the prize: targeting the state-level breed discriminatory law.

According to Keating, "There will never be a better time than now to join together, across the State, and put an end to discrimination once and for all. From farm to suburb to city, pit bulls live in every neighborhood, with people of every race, age, religion, and occupation. As Ohioans, we share a passion for dogs. As Ohioans, we can no longer stand by and watch families torn apart by breed discrimination."

HB 14, a comprehensive dangerous dog/reckless owner bill that does not target dogs based on their appearance, has passed the State House of Representatives and, now that the legislature is back in session, has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice Committee. Keating's petition on Change.org is asking the committee, and eventually the full Senate, to pass the bill.