CENTRAL REGIONAL NEWS WELCOME TO THE CE$NTRAL REGION AREA OF THE WEB SITE Letter From Belinda Ogitis - Northern Region Director Hello to all from your friendly Central Regional Director Belinda Ogitis from Hopewell Township. Thanks to all for voting me in, once again, as your director. I look forward to helping move this association to the next level. My first order of business it to encourage more officers, who are not currently members, to join the association.  I charge each and every one of our members to actively recruit a new member.  The more members that we get involved the more we can contribute to each other and to our communities.  Currently our jobs are under attack by NJ Legislators, who know not what we do and the serious nature of our task.  We need a strong, united voice to protect and preserve our jobs and to break the common misconception of us as the “lowly dog catcher.”  I am working on several programs and hope to bring in quality speakers to further our knowledge and foster new relationships.  I am planning an attack dog training class to be held sometime in the spring. I also plan to hold a meeting with a guest speaker Diane Nickerson from Mercer County Wildlife Center to talk to us about proper procedures handling wildlife.  Finally, if we are lucky, later in the year Mr. James Crosby from Jacksonville Florida is willing to educate Officers on severe dog attacks, focusing on the behavioral and physiological aspects behind the attacks. To all the Officers in Central NJ be prepared for a phone call from me to encourage you to be apart of the association.  If each of us does a little more aggressive association activity than last year; we will continue to grow into a larger, more concrete organization striving to change legislation, educate our officers and further getting our communities involved in the importance of Animal Control Officers to protect the health and safety of animals around us.   God Bless Belinda Ogitis, ACO, ACI Hopewell Twp. 609-737-0120x678 Open Our Eyes               Here in Hopewell Township, we had a horrifying incident on January 27, 2007.  A 2 year old girl was severely attacked by the family dog.  The child was walking down the hallway of the family residence with her grandmother.  She was helping her grandmother carry a pillow, when the family dog ran around the corner and attacked.  The attack was completely unprovoked. The dog, a rescue pit mix named Bailey, had been a member of their family for approx. 8 years.  There had never been any previous signs of aggression or temperament issues from the dog until it suddenly snapped.  In the aftermath of this incident; I am happy to report the child is doing ok and beginning her recovery in the capable hands of the doctors of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  She has a long road ahead to recover from the 500+ stitches to her face and numerous broken facial bones, but she is still here and for that we are all grateful.             As you may know if you have ever had incidents of this nature occur, there was a resulting flurry of calls from press that can be difficult to manage.  Among the numerous calls came an unsuspected and very positive contact I want you all to know about. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. James Crosby, a Researcher from The University of Florida.  Mr. Crosby is a professional dog trainer, behavior consultant and retired police officer from Jacksonville Florida.  He investigates severe or fatal dog attacks on people. Mr. Crosby is willing to speak to Animal Control Officers about investigating these attacks with particular focus on the behavioral and physiological aspects behind the attacks. It’s always horrendous when severe attacks occur and particularly those involving a child and dog; but hopefully with the studies that are ongoing at the University of Florida with Mr. Crosby; we can all learn from these attacks, what sets the dogs off and how to minimize the injuries that occur.               In closing if anyone has a severe or fatal attack in their area, I highly recommend contacting Mr. Jamess Crosby by email or visit his website.  He is trying to find out why attacks occur and how to stop them BEFORE they strike.  This certainly beats our approach of picking up the pieces and we should strive to assist this research.  Mr. Crosby’s information is as follows: jimcrosby@canineaggression.org         www.canineaggression.org Respectfully Submitted Belinda Ogitis, ACO,ACI Hopewell Township © 2002-2007 NJCACOA. All Rights Reserved.