Woman Faces Fine For Pink Poodle Dyed To Help Raise Awareness For Breast Cancer

[pitc9]

IMO... there are other ways she raise awareness besides dyeing her dog PINK

http://www.newsnet5.com/family/15562174/detail.html


Woman Faces $1,000 Fine For Pink Poodle
Dog Dyed To Help Raise Awareness For Breast Cancer
Thomas Hendrick, News Editor

BOULDER, Colo. -- A Boulder woman said she will fight a $1,000 fine she was given for dyeing her miniature poodle pink.

Joy Douglas she dyed Cici pink to help raise awareness for breast cancer. The salon owner said she has used beet juice -- and occasionally Kool-Aid -- for four years now to "stain" her dog.

Officials at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley told the Daily Camera Douglas was warned several times before she was issued the ticket on March 1.

Douglas is accused of violating the city's code, which says, "No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits, or any other animals." It is meant to keep people from dyeing rabbits and chicks at Easter.

"I can understand something done in large vats and it's not done with a lot of animal care by people who don't know their animals," Douglas told Denver television station KMGH. "But I have a personal connection to my animal. I would never hurt my animal. I have a business full of little beautiful animals that are treasures for not only myself, but the community."

Douglas is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. She said she plans to fight the ticket, claiming her dog is helping to raise awareness for an important issue.

"Cici is being stripped of her civic duty," Douglas said. "And I don't plan to take it sitting down."

Cici is actually the second dog Douglas has dyed pink.

Douglas first dyed her white poodle Lulu four years ago when the dog accompanied her to a haircutting fundraiser for breast cancer research.

The hairstylist said people would bring "fistfuls of cash" just to pet the dog, so she kept up the dye job. She only used organic products, and said she has even worked with an organic pet company on developing safe dyes for pets.

When Lulu died just over a year ago, Douglas found Cici and immediately began coloring the new poodle's hair as well.

The night before her court hearing, Douglas told the station she plans to put the attention she has received from getting the ticket to good use by raising money for breast cancer research.

"With every big gathering of people, there's a lot of ears and one voice that can be heard at a time," she said. "So I'm going to use my voice to raise as much funds and make as much good come out of this unfortunate incident."

[moosmom]

She's made her point, I guess. The whole thing got alot of attention and I hope it raised alot of money for Breast Cancer Awareness. Poor dog. She HAS been warned before so, she deserves what she gets.

[Ginger's Mom]

Hmm, I have mixed feelings here. There is nothing wrong with dyeing her poodle pink for a cause, especially since she is using dyes that are safe for the pup. I don't really have anything against it. And I understand the city's reason for the ordinance is to protect animals from people who don't know what they are doing or are doing it for the wrong reasons. I do think that their time and energy can probably be put to better use pursuing people who are actually causing harm to others. But, on the other hand, she has been told on previous occasions to stop, and she has made an informed decision to continue to dye and place her dog on display. So I guess I can't get too worked up about the fine. She had a chance to avoid it and decided that doing things her way were more important. That is the price she pays for making that decision. That is $1,000.00 that could have gone to cancer research, but now will go to the city.

[lizbud]

I have mixed feelings too. She probably should pick a lawful way of
decorating for her cause.She could come up with a costume for her dog
that would draw attention without breaking the law.

[jackie]

Great that she raised money for a good cause, but she still violated an animal protection law.

The laws are put there to protect animals, and they have to be regulated. IMO she should have to pay the fine.

I hope that she raised a lot of money for breast cancer!

[elizabethann]

Did the woman dye her hair pink too? Or just the dog?

Why doesn't she dye her hair pink?

[buttercup132]

There is nothing wrong with dyeing her poodle pink for a cause, especially since she is using dyes that are safe for the pup. I don't really have anything against it. And I understand the city's reason for the ordinance is to protect animals from people who don't know what they are doing or are doing it for the wrong reasons. Ditto, I know alot of people on my Crested forum dye their dogs pink,blue,green and their dogs are perfectly fine. They use safe dye so no harm. I know there are dangerous ways to dye chicks and bunnies and people do that at easter so I can kind of understand the law.

[luckies4me]

People dye their dogs different colors all the time, ask any big show groomer. There are contests all over the states for groomers who have dyed their dogs and cut their coats into all sorts of shapes etc. This is an everyday occurance. It's not going to hurt the dog. Most people use food coloring. We have people brings poodles in all the time with their coats dyed, even cats will come in with mohawks. I can understand if you were using something unsafe, but food coloring isn't going to do anything. I have no problem with a person dying the coat of their pet. IMO, they should go fine people who are really breaking the laws. Like people starving or beating their pets!

See here~ http://www.groomertogroomer.com/gtg_back_issues.html

http://www.justinesdoggystyles.com/gpage3.html

[Pam]

I don't see anything wrong with dying her dog's hair (heck, I do mine :p ..... I mean MY hair not Bella's...LOL! ) and this woman is using safe products. I do believe, though, if she broke the law she should be made to pay. Like Joyce said, it's a shame that the city got that $1,000. It certainly could have gone to something more meaningful like cancer research. I imagine the woman has learned her lesson.

[Karen]

It is sad that, instead of working to get the law changed or amended, she just kept breaking that law. Maybe she wanted to get arrested for the publicity?

[IRescue452]

This is one of those laws that needs to be more specific and discriminate between humane and inhumane cases. I color Autumn for the Bark in the Park fund raiser walk. Wallace had a mohawk this summer we were thinking of coloring blue (just temporary color). Since the lady was warned, she shouldn't have dyed the dog, but honestly I think they shouldn't be using so many resources preventing a dye job on a dog who's probably never been ill-treated in its life. They should be concentrating on real cruelty cases.

[KYS]

I have mixed feelings also. If the products are safe and she is not harming
her pup? I agree she needs to work on changing the law.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

This happened pretty close to where I live so it's been on the local news a lot. I'm surprised it made national news. Considering it is Boulder (it's a great city, but there are quite a few nuts there), I wouldn't be surprised it the lady did it repeatedly just FOR the publicity.

I think the law is a sound one- they probably enacted it to protect animals, so I think she should have just obeyed the law and did something else to "raise awareness."

[Twisterdog]

That is one of the most ridiculous laws I have heard about.

[jackie]

That is one of the most ridiculous laws I have heard about.

Why? Lots of people dye chickens and rabbits for Easter using toxic colours which can harm the animals health. It is put into place to protect animals, it is an excellent law.

Who should be the one who decides which dye job is acceptable? Justice is supposed to be blind right?

[Catty1]

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/128338344357968750whatyouneve.jpg

[IRescue452]

She should work on changing the law so that animals are not allowed to be SOLD dyed.

[sparks19]

She should work on changing the law so that animals are not allowed to be SOLD dyed.

exactly...many places have a law prohibiting coloring animals to sell them (chicks and bunnies at easter)

Yes she should have fought to change the law instead of just breaking it repeatedly... but it is a poorly worded law I think. It would save a lot of resources and a lot of frustration for the city and the townspeople who dye their pets using safe practices.

I mean... she uses Beet juice to dye her dog... big deal. What if I was canning Beets and I knocked it over and fluffy was underneath and got an instant dye job. should I be fined? lol

I know it's not the same as this story but it's kind of silly none the less.

[jennielynn1970]

The one stylist at the salon I had gone to had dyed his standard poodle pink. It matched his pink corvette. It was a bit over the top, but he always swore it was animal friendly dye, and he had a thing about his "accessories" matching. They even had his picture in the paper and a story about him, his dog and all that.

Not sure what happened to him or his dog... that salon was super expensive, and the stylists drank more wine while cutting hair than the patrons. I'll take my stylist sober, thank you!

[finn's mom]

As long as it's a law, she should obey it. If she wants to get the law changed or reworded, I'm all for that. But, until then, she should expect to pay a fine if she continues to do it. I honestly wouldn't think "breast cancer awareness" if I saw a pink dog. She would probably increase awareness if she put her dog in a tee shirt that had the logo on it, or the pink ribbon or something to that effect.

[Twisterdog]

Why? Lots of people dye chickens and rabbits for Easter using toxic colours which can harm the animals health. It is put into place to protect animals, it is an excellent law.

Who should be the one who decides which dye job is acceptable? Justice is supposed to be blind right?

Then the law should state that it is illegal to dye an animal using toxic dye. It needs to be more specific.

There is absolutely nothing cruel or wrong about dying a dog's coat with a non-toxic dye. What is the difference is saying you will be fined for putting some green Kool Aid on your dog for St. Patrick's day, and saying you will be fined for shaving your dog's tail to look like a lion's tail, or giving a dog a mohawk? How about dressing your dog up in clothes or painting it's toenails? It's simply silly.

IMO, the resources of the animal control agencies and the legal system would be put to FAR better use by spending their time and money investigating and prosecuting people who torture, neglect, beat, fight and starve their pets, than someone who is dyed a poodle pink to raise money for a charity. Common sense is severly lacking here.