Denver Woman Fined $1000 for Dying Poodle Cici With Safe Dyes
What is it with Denver? No offense to our Denver Dogsters but isn’t this the same place that practices Breed Specific Legislation against Pit Bull type dogs?
As for coloring dog coats, we’ve dealt with that issue here on the blog a while back. If the colors are safe and carefully applied, what is the problem? If the law in Denver is designed to address problems of dying chickens and rabbits, then say so. But to go after a person safely coloring their dogs coat seems pretty petty.
Thanks to Brandy’s Mom and Rosie, furmom to Dogster Snowy, for barking in this article from Thedenverchannel.com.
Hi Joy,
I just read on the news yesterday that a woman in Colorado is being fined for dying her dog pink. She was using a safe vegetable dye, and she did it to promote breast cancer research.
Would this be a topic interesting enough for you to mention on your blog?
There are several threads in dogster forum discussing the issue already.
I am also a dog dye offender since I have recently dyed my poodle pink for Valentines.
Here is the article.
Woman Faces $1,000 Fine For Pink Poodle
Dog Colored To Help Raise Breast Cancer Awareness
Thomas Hendrick, News Editor
UPDATED: March 11, 2008BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder woman has hired an attorney to fight a $1,000 fine she was given by the city for coloring her miniature poodle pink.
Joy Douglas said she colored 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 that says “No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits, or any other animals.” It’s a code 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 7News. “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 was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning, but the hearing was continued until April 7 because Douglas had hired an attorney. She was talking to a city attorney about the case afterward.
Douglas said earlier that she planned to fight the ticket, claiming she didn’t dye the dog, but stained it with natural beet juice. She also said 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 colored pink.
Douglas first colored 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 color job. She only used organic products, and says she’s even worked with an organic pet company on developing safe colors for pets.
When Lulu died just over a year ago, Douglas found Cici and immediately began coloring the new poodle’s hair as well.
Douglas told 7News on Monday night that she planned on putting 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.”
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I think you could have gotten a special dispensation to dye the dog if you had done it before hand. Because they warned you in advance and you did it anyway, they are forced to follow through. Even though you did it safely and for a good cause, they don’t want other people to think they can do it and maybe do it in a harmful way. I hope you get this settled and raise lots of awareness and funds to fight Breast Cancer.
My dog is colored blue at the moment because I bought him a new comforter for Christmas. The dyes used in the plaid were not colorfast and stained him blue. I will have to be more careful in the future as I never thought this could happen and I was afraid it could hurt him. Unfortunately the blue seems to be colorfast on him and won’t go away even after several baths. He’ll have to grow it out unless someone can tell me how to safely get his white back.
Good Luck to all of us!
Good, that dog’s a MALE for heaven’s sake! But all joking aside, I don’t really see a problem with it being done with safe dyes as long as the dog can live with it (my mother used to have a male poodle on their farm and when the groomers painted his nails he’d hide behind the couch until he chewed all of the paint off). There are way more injustices to dogs out there than dying a poodle pink.