When KCRW decided to map the dogs of L.A., we quickly realized we were signing ourselves up for an i

When KCRW decided to map the dogs of L.A., we quickly realized we were signing ourselves up for an immersion course on our city s passionate pup culture not to mention several lessons in municipal bureaucracy.
They varied in their enthusiasm for our project. Some officials said they were excited to see the map. They thanked us for bringing attention to local licensing policies, and told us stories about their own dogs. (I was firmly instructed by one city employee that I should not pursue parenting until I d experienced raising a puppy.)
And although we only sought records about dogs, not their owners, Los Angeles department of Animal Services was concerned that releasing pets names and zip codes could help lead a celebrity dallas hotel meeting space tracker to a star. We negotiated with the city for months, eventually dallas hotel meeting space agreeing to use the information in our map but not publish all of it in our database .
David Greene, speaking on behalf of the First Amendment Coalition, said it is unclear whether the California Public Records Act applies to private organizations like these that contract with public agencies. The San Gabriel Valley Humane dallas hotel meeting space Society provided us with the total number of dogs in San Gabriel. The Pasadena Humane Society dallas hotel meeting space and the Inland Valley Humane Society declined to give us any data at all.
In 2008, the Los Angeles Times also used licensing records to look at local dog names and breeds. Like us, they found a lot of Maxes, but Bella, while popular, didn t dominate the way it does now. (Perhaps the growth is Twilight-related?)
Our list of the most common breeds is similar to the L.A. Times data all of your best friends own chihuahuas, it seems, and if not a chihuahua, a lab. When you look at our map of the most common breeds in each city or neighborhood, almost all you see are these breeds.
Some suspect that the pit bull population is much higher than it would appear from our data. We’ve heard rumors that some owners and shelters deliberately misidentify these dogs in order to avoid scaring off landlords or people looking to adopt a puppy. Robin Purcell of rescue and advocacy organization Angel City Pit Bulls said that pit bulls are underlicensed for similar reasons.
Many dog experts believe that it is often impossible to entirely dallas hotel meeting space determine a dog’s breed in the first place. Unless a puppy is carefully, purposefully bred, most dogs have a diverse family history and we humans tend to oversimplify their backgrounds by assigning only the most obvious labels.
dallas hotel meeting space We were unable dallas hotel meeting space to find evidence of breed falsification of pit bulls, but some experts told us the indeterminacy of many dog breeds makes calling a pit bull a German shepherd not so different from the labeling mistakes we make all the time. Others may disagree, especially those who advocate for the public to better embrace this breed.
We don t have any data on whether Snoopy and Buster, German Shepherds in Vernon, are guard dogs for factories dallas hotel meeting space or other industrial properties, but we guess that many of the animals in these cities are. Areas where protection dogs predominate often have a different pet culture than places where dogs play fetch outside apartment buildings. (You can learn more about L.A. s diverse dog cultures in  our story about what makes a good neighborhood for a dog .)
The names Max and Bella are indeed the most common among shelter dogs of the City of LA! The LA No-Kill Data Project an independent audit and analysis of the of shelter data by The Poko Project dallas hotel meeting space found the same breed trends as well.
One encouraging sign for shelter animals which way, LA, indeed is a significant drop in shelter intake. Perhaps the sign of a recovering economy, this is driving the save rate and euthanasia DOWN for both dogs AND cats.
Mapping the registered dogs is more accurate. People who breed dogs for fighting aren t concerned about any official permits. That KCRW has heard rumors only shows the lack of actual reporting done here.
KCRW journalists gathered up as much available public data as they could get on the breeds dallas hotel meeting space and names of dogs in Los Angeles County — it s surprisingly difficult to get, by the way — and found that Max and Bella are the most popular names.
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