HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0642.043 2020-2022 801
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From: Car Ogu
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2022 11:04 AM
To: Council Testimony2 6
4 �,A �X
Subject: Bill 125, which will be introduced at Tuesday's meeting of the Parks and Recreation and
Public Safety Committee, aims to reform how the county deals with incidents involving
dangerous dogs.
Regarding Bill 125, which will be introduced at Tuesday's meeting of the Parks and Recreation
and Public Safety Committee, aims to reform how the county deals with incidents involving
dangerous dogs:
I am Carl Oguss, founder of the Hawaii Dog Psychology Center, and ten years ago my work
with our local court system in its dealings with dog problems was the subject of a Wall Street
Journal front-page article which was reprinted in over 80 publications in over 30 countries. The
essence of that article was that the courts were very enlightened in using mandatory training of
offending dogs & their owners as a replacement for what had always been used in the past:
fines for the owner and death for the dog. At that time, Mitch Roth knew that when you kill the
dog you actually create a problem that festers and not infrequently results in violence later, the
belief being that the neighbor who complained about the dog is the cause of the dog's being
killed and targeting them or their property for revenge.
I was used in a few cases but nothing was done to promote the option of training---I doubt
many judges knew about the option, In the cases I handled we had 100% success, which is not
surprising; statistically, only about 4 - 6% of all dogs have problems that therapy cannot cure
completely. I have been working with dogs since 1974 and this is consistent with my
experience in the field.
Yes, crackdown on dog offenses, but not by returning to the old ways that NEVER worked well.
Instead, mandate that the dog be retrained or rehomed if the owner will not participate in
training, all at the expense of the offending owner, but instead of paying court fees and fines;
that was the deal we used to offer and it seems reasonable.
I'm sure the County Council is doing its best to figure out our dog-related needs, but in all
honesty, you are doing an incompetent job:
You place the responsibility for the animal control contract in the hands of the police or of
poorly trained contractors such as Randow Rangers and the HIHS. Then, you decide to spend
$2,000,000 on a facility within a residential A-3 zoned subdivision where future noise
complaints will be guaranteed and make the site useless, and you plan to spend all of that
money on the physical facility---not a dime for proper training of the staff!
And now a return to killing the dogs and in fact sewing seeds of revenge and violence instead
of solving the problems directly.
You NEED professional advice from someone who actually understands dog psychology and
ethology!
Since you have not received it, you are wasting time and money and "helping" to make
problems worse.
It does not have to continue. commi"
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Please call or email me if you have questions or need help with your dog-related issues.
Can I give live testimony on Tuesday?
(Is it in Nilo?)
Carl Oguss
President
Hawaii Dog Psychology Center, a 501(c)3
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