It has been said that if we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. It has also been said that in order to learn from history, it must be factually accurate. When we modify the sequence of events which transpired to get from Point A to Point B, we more often than not will learn the wrong lessons. These statements are universally true regardless of the subject to which we apply them. They take on particular importance in the animal welfare movement and more specifically, in the No Kill movement. The reality is that advocating to save the lives of healthy and treatable animals can be incredibly difficult even if it should not be. The concept seems pretty simple, right? We want to keep healthy and treatable shelter pets alive and do not want our tax dollars or donations used to destroy them. On the surface this may seem like a universally accepted position. The vast majority of Americans think it should be illegal for animal shelters to destroy animals who are not suffering or who are not genuinely dangerous. I have never met a person who has said, "I want my money used to kill animals in need instead of keeping them alive." The concept itself may seem simple on the surface, but putting it into practice is something else entirely. Americans have been housing animals in places we call "shelters" for over 100 years and have been destroying healthy and treatable animals for as long as anyone can remember. Although the number of animals destroyed in our nation’s shelters has declined greatly in the last 40 years, we still kill healthy and treatable animals by the millions. This Orwellian practice is not at all in keeping with our cultural values about companion animals even though many people have come to accept it as some unfortunate reality. We are told that animals die in shelters because we just have too many of them, a statement which is completely untrue. We are also told that animals die in shelters due to the "irresponsible public" who treat animals as if they are disposable and who refuse to spay and neuter pets to keep them from reproducing. There are people who are irresponsible and should never have pets at all, but it is completely illogical to blame the public for the fact that animals die in shelters while at the same time expecting that very same pubic to make better personal choices, adopt animals and foster animals. This whole calcified mind set of "oh well, we just can’t save them all," has led to a culture in which the destruction of perfectly healthy and treatable animals is somehow tolerable and that shelters are given a free pass for performing some bizarre public service which is unavoidable. When those shelters are operated by municipalities, or on behalf of municipalities, the amount of time and energy expended to defend the killing can be quite mind boggling. I first introduced Huntsville city officials to No Kill philosophies in late 2008 at a time when three out of every four animals entering the shelter were destroyed. My personal efforts failed. The shelter director is a veterinarian. The mayor never said as much, but my impression is that he had complete confidence in his department head and was sure that she would not destroy animals needlessly. The mayor’s chief of staff once told me in an email that there was no greater champion for animals in our community than the shelter director. She may have taken an oath to use her "scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare," but she was still killing healthy and treatable animals by the thousands. In early 2012, I decided to form an animal welfare advocacy group (which is essentially a political advocacy group) called No Kill Huntsville. The members of our coalition had spent years working independently of each other to bring about change in the region and had failed. The time had come to join forces and work together to speak with one voice. We spent most of our first year as a coalition conducting research and interacting with successful No Kill shelters and communities across the country. We knew we would have one first chance as an organization to convince city officials that Huntsville could become a No Kill community and the destruction of healthy and treatable animals could end. In early 2013, the city was offered help from subject matter experts in order to do better and learn more about how proven No Kill programs could be implemented by the shelter. Although we would have paid for the help and it would have cost the city nothing but time, the help was refused. The city's position at that time was that the shelter was doing a beautiful job and doing all it could to save lives - even when the live release rate was just over 40 percent. We first took this issue to the public in the summer of 2013, having reached the conclusion that city officials were satisfied with how the animal shelter was operating and feeling like we had hit a wall in terms of diplomatic efforts to get the city to change on its own. We believed it would take public pressure and demand to force the city to reconsider spending money on death rather than on life. It was after we took the subject to the public in very visible ways and on an ongoing basis that things began to change. There will always be a degree of dispute about exactly what led to the progress we now see. There have been many factors involved in this process, not the least of which is the arrival on the scene of a new City Administrator who told us in early 2014 that he supported change and that he too wanted the city to save the lives of all healthy and treatable shelter animals. He was, and still is, the key to holding the shelter director accountable for her actions and inaction. We have met with him numerous times over the years to share our research, to applaud progress and to encourage the city to fine tune programs and operations in order to fully embrace the elements of the No Kill Equation (which he once laid out as a drawing similar to the Parthenon). The path taken to get to this point, and the particular struggles faced along the way, are not directly relevant to us here in Huntsville now that we have "arrived" for the most part. But those facts are entirely relevant to communities outside of this one which may look to our progress and wish to replicate it themselves. We do a disservice to those places if we behave as if our progress here was achieved by reaching across differences, finding common ground and all working together to seek a newer and better future. Yes, this community has achieved tremendous success. But it took years longer than it would have taken had the city simply decided to act on its own many years ago and without the necessity of a group like ours to demand accountability from the city, a process which has taken a great toll on everyone involved. There were literally years when we were both advocating for reform while fending off opponents seven days a week. Some of the most hostile opposition came from shelter employees, shelter volunteers and even leadership of otherwise well-respected rescue groups. While we took painstaking efforts to keep our communications diplomatic and respectful, focusing on municipal accountability and not on individual people, those who opposed our mission did not. Opponents engaged in personal attacks, the low point of which was a hate page on social media which included juvenile and defamatory content. The page was supported by and commented on by the shelter director, a veterinarian who earns a 6-figure salary and who is a public servant. I ultimately filed a formal complaint with the city about her conduct being unbecoming a city employee and in violation of city policies. The hate page was deleted some months later with the help of the City Administrator after we deduced the identity of the shelter employee who created it. Huntsville is getting a lot of attention these days across the country as a result of the progress made at our municipal animal shelter. People who live and work here are thrilled with the progress, as they well should be. Shelter animals are now safer here than they have ever been in the history of the community as save rates have reached and then exceeded 90% of all shelter intake. Huntsville is being referred to as an example of what can happen "in the south" with a shift in focus and using the compassion which exists in an animal loving community. The city has yet to make a public declaration of intent that healthy and treatable animals are no longer at risk here moving forward, regardless of the circumstances we may face. I hope a day will come when the city does just that; there is really no good reason to avoid making the commitment to a standard which has already been achieved. We were told by the city administrator recently that no healthy and treatable animals have been destroyed for space in almost three years. For all of our applause of the city for the progress which has been made, the reality in our community is that this process has been a struggle and did not come easily. If you have been told or have heard a version of the history which led to this progress and the story begins with the City of Huntsville voluntarily making sweeping changes, you have been told a history which is devoid of facts and which has been sanitized. If you have been told that a consulting group called Target Zero was the key to change in this city, I would dispute that as well. The portion of the history which involves Target Zero is the subject of another blog and I will not recount the events there. The short version is that Target Zero came on scene for a short period of time after numerous changes had already been made and has since departed as the members of my coalition continue to work with city officials and keep the public engaged. Target Zero is now marketing itself using Huntsville as an example of what it can do in other communities. I find this deceptive as long as only part of the story is told. I think it is possible people will be misled into believing they can replicate the progress made here simply by hiring a consulting organization which is backed by influential people and organizations which support Target Zero financially. This rewriting of history has occurred related to other locations like Reno and Austin and it is not uncommon in this social movement. Perhaps it just makes a lot of people uncomfortable to think about some of the more unpleasant parts of those stories which relate to conflict and struggle. Perhaps it is easier to make it sound like there was opposition now that so many lives are being saved. That opposition is difficult to defend now and our most hostile critics have gone silent. We know we have had a role in the history here and firmly believe that but for our advocacy, little would have changed here. We didn't have the advantage of funding from outside sources or a national platform to stand upon. Although some funding would have helped, we had what we needed most: determination to bring change to an area and a commitment to see the process through, no matter the personal cost. Make no mistake - this is not about credit. We have always said that we seek to become irrelevant as a coalition not because we are being ignored, but because we are no longer needed to be boat rockers for community change. We have sat silently on the sidelines while others have taken credit for the changes which have been made here and we plan to continue to do just that. Why? Because we know what we did and we know that our efforts led to the tipping point which allowed change to happen. This is not at all about people and patting each other on the back and it is very much about saving lives. But this is also about being honest about our history here so that others can learn from it and perhaps avoid some of the conflict we endured. Much of what took place here was unproductive and led to a higher body count.
A time will come in the history of our country when all municipal shelters are No Kill shelters and all communities are No Kill communities because that is what the public wants and will demand. I encourage any community which is looking at the progress in Huntsville, Alabama, to take proactive steps to get ahead of this issue and make change voluntarily. Listen to the advocates and animal lovers who come to you with ideas, enthusiasm, research and help. They often know much more about the subject than you may imagine and it is likely they are networked with subject matter experts who can guide and help your community to achieve change not in years but in weeks or months. Invest your time and focus into doing what is right so that energy is spent not on struggle and conflict, but on saving the lives of the animals we say we love and value.
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I had three separate conversations with contacts of mine last week regarding the phrase “no kill” and the word “euthanasia” as it relates to shelter animals. In one conversation, I was told that some organizations refuse to give grant money to any organization which refers to itself as “No Kill.” I use that phrase regularly and do so without hesitation. It is on the public radar and I think people are smart enough to understand that the phrase describes a culture. In another conversation, I was told about an animal welfare coalition in Colorado which does not allow members which use the word “kill” to describe what happens to shelter animals. The exact quote I was told was this: “We refuse to use the term ‘kill’ to describe agencies and their process of thoughtful euthanasia.” In the third conversation, I was told about a shelter director in the state where I live who uses the phrase “necessary euthanasia.” She boasts a “euthanasia” rate of about 8% when, in fact, it is routinely around 30-40% and was higher than 50% in May alone. More than half the animals entering her facility that month did not make it out alive even though hers is a non-profit organization with a huge donor and support base. I have often wondered if donors know what they are paying for. Enough already. The dictionary definition of euthanasia is easily understood: the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (such as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy. I’m not sure exactly when it was in the history of animal sheltering in America that we first began to use the word “euthanasia” to describe the destruction of healthy and treatable animals for space or convenience in our tax-funded animal shelters. Regardless of when this practice began, it has continued to present day in earnest and it does not serve us well as a society. Words and phrases have common meanings which help us all communicate and do so fairly effectively. When we take those words and we distort them to excuse or condone our behavior, we are doing a disservice to our values and to how we function collectively. The fact that healthy and treatable animals are destroyed in our nation’s shelters, along with animals who are injured or irremediably ill, and we dare call it all euthanasia should be a source of public shame for us all. We consider ours a progressive society. We talk about dogs being “man’s best friend.” We hold our values about companion animals above those of other cultures, as if we are somehow more evolved. We are not. And we should be ashamed of ourselves. When we destroy perfectly savable animals in our shelters, we are doing just that. We are killing them. We are destroying them. We are not euthanizing them. The act has nothing at all to do with mercy and everything to do with complacency. Our history has shown that the destruction of these animals is not necessary. It continues to take place using our money whether we are aware of it or not. And it just doesn't have to be that way. Killing animals is a choice. Saving lives is a choice. The growing number of communities walking away from the status quo and functioning in new ways more consistent with our values in our society prove daily what can happen with some bravery and getting educated on proven programs which work anywhere and everywhere they are implemented. Yesterday was the anniversary of the date when my husband and I had our beloved dog euthanized. July 4th of 2016 was one of the worst days of our lives and the very worst day of our 16 year relationship with our dog. No one gets to stay, human or animal. It was the circumstances of his passing due to some issues with receiving adequate and timely veterinary care which haunt us now, the memories of which we hope will become less vivid in time. Our dog had cancer which had moved to his brain and which was causing grand mal seizures which we believed could not be treated or stopped. We euthanized him for reasons of mercy and to keep him from suffering. When healthy and treatable animals die in animal shelters, whether they are funded by tax dollars or donations or both, it is not euthanasia. To compare that process with the heart wrenching decision made by loving animal caregivers and families every day to prevent suffering is to devalue the lives of all of the animals in our society. If your beloved dog or cat ended up in an animal shelter due to no fault of your own and was destroyed, would you call it “euthanasia”? No. You would not. If we are ever to reform our broken animal sheltering system in America, we have to speak plainly and not sugar coat what is taking place using our tax dollars and our donations. Only then can we reach the rest of the public which does not realize what is taking place in their communities using their money and their donations and only then will we be able to reform our broken animal sheltering system to make the killing stop. If you don’t know what takes place at the animal shelter in your community using your tax dollars, ask for statistics and learn for yourself what is really happening. No matter what they are calling it. I can’t really recall when I first heard about puppy mill survivor Harley Taylor. Harley is such an iconic figure that – for me - his existence is both constant and timeless, as if I have always known about him. Harley was 10 years old and had been left in a bucket to die at a puppy mill when he was rescued. He was missing one eye (due to a power washer) and had a host of serious health problems. The fact that he was rescued and we all came to know his name is extraordinary in and of itself. The fact that he not only lived beyond all expectations (considering his health challenges), but went on to thrive and serve a Higher Purpose is simply beyond extraordinary. It is the stuff of legends. I’m sure that I first heard of Harley and his family, Rudi and Dan Taylor, related to his “Harley to the Rescue” missions. Harley and his best buddy Teddy would go on trips to save other mill dogs, decked out in their little superhero capes no less. Who could resist the concept? Although many of us only see the end result of rescue missions to save these dogs, the reality is that it is dirty, shocking and heart wrenching work. Having two little superhero dogs help save other dogs from terrible conditions not only made the rescue process immensely positive, but it also served a purpose: to help calm the newly rescued dogs. We will never know just what Harley and Teddy said to the new arrivals, but we all know that dogs have a language of their own and I'm sure it was something very reassuring. "You’re gonna be okay now. The bad stuff is over. People are gonna love you and take care of you. Really." Harley and Teddy helped save thousands of dogs over a period of years and raised an incredible amount of money to help save more mill dogs. I did my first project about Harley for the Taylors in 2014 which was called “A Dream to Call My Own” and which used a Fisher song called “Home.” I knew the song was a perfect fit for Harley the first time I heard it and the video got a lot of positive feedback. When Harley was nominated to be the 2015 American Hero Dog in the “emerging hero” category, I was so proud just to be able to say I knew his family and had helped people learn more about him in some way. When I watched the Hero Dog ceremony on television and heard his name being read as the 2015 American Hero Dog, I both gasped and cried. I knew it was coming because the ceremony had been taped months before it was shown on the Hallmark Channel, but it still took my breath away. We did a second project related to Harley's award called “Change the World” which has a similar vibe to A Dream to Call My Own. When the Taylors were later planning a trip to Washington D.C. to attend a Congressional Hearing called “Dog Day Afternoon on the Hill” and to seek an audience with the Top Dog (the President), I was thrilled to be asked to create a project specific to that visit. Harley did not get his paw-time with the POTUS (since Joe Biden chose that day to announce he would not run for office), but the Taylors learned later from an aide that the President had, in fact, seen the video called “Dear Mr. President.” Harley passed away on March 20th of 2016. I again gasped and cried when I heard the news. My reaction made no sense, of course. He was not my dog and I had never met him in person, but like so many other people, I felt the loss just the same. I had spent so many hours using his images and video clips and interacting with the Taylors that I felt like I had always known Harley. I know my empathy grief was shared by countless other people around the world as I blogged a number of times about the loss of a larger than life soul in such a small body, his extraordinary time here and his legacy. Now as we approach the first year anniversary of his passing, I wanted to touch on the subject of his legacy yet again. In the time since Harley left this Earth, so very much has happened that I just can't list it all here. Harley’s family established the Harley Puppy Mill Action and Awareness Project to take his mission and his message to the public. They have since formed a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Harley’s Dream which is currently using donated funds to quite literally take the message to the streets through a national billboard campaign. Billboards are now on display in Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Longmont, Colorado; San Diego, California; Orlando, Florida; Belton, Texas and at three locations in Minnesota. The billboards say simple yet captivating things like “Ask Harley What Happened to His Eye” and “Adopt, Don't Shop. End Puppy Mills.” A grassroots advocacy movement called Harley’s Heroes has begun and is growing with each month. It is a movement made up of ordinary people from across the country who are doing deeds both large and small to bring an end to the puppy mill industry. Some other highlights of note are: -Harley's Dream has a very active Twitter page and he has thousands of followers on his Facebook page. - There is an “Ask me about Puppy Mills” t-shirt fundraiser going on now with FLOAT (For the Love of All Things). - On online “Bidding for Change” Auction to benefit Harley’s Dream will begin in early April. Donations for Harley, Teddy and puppy mill related items are being accepted now. - Small change = BIG CHANGE donation jars are showing up in more and more businesses to collect small donations to continue Harley's legacy. - Billboards will be coming soon to Houston, Minneapolis/Saint Paul and Kansas City. - Harley’s Dream has been approved to accept Facebook fundraisers and there are already 5 in progress. - “Hops and Harley” will be held on June 24th in Berthoud, Colorado. There will also be an event which is still in the planning stages the day after Hops and Harley to celebrate Harley's life. I think all of us long in some way to be part of something much bigger than ourselves. To know that we are making a difference. Although my contributions to Harley’s efforts were very small, Harley and his family helped me to feel like I was part of something big in terms of social change and for that I will be forever grateful. The fact that I am still able to help preserve his legacy in some way is a privilege. I know that March 20th will be a very sad day for so many people. I'm sure I'll be sad too, but my plan is to just try really hard to make it a day of celebration instead. I hope you will join me. I am thankful Harley was rescued. I am grateful he was loved by a family who understood his Purpose and who are generous enough to share him with all of us. I know that I am forever changed thanks to the life of a little dog I never met but who means so very much to so very many people. And who is still changing the world each and every day. If you feel strongly about Harley's legacy and want to get involved as as way to channel your grief, please visit the Harley's Dream website. There are a number of suggestions listed there to help you. There is no donation too small. There is no act of advocacy too small. You can support a billboard. You can wear a Harley t-shirt as a conversation starter. You can write a letter to your local paper. You can join a Harley's Heroes group in your state and share ideas with people who share your values to work toward ending puppy mills. As Margaret Meade once wrote, "never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Harley changed the world. Let's keep his legacy strong. I read a lot. I think that in order to be an effective animal welfare advocate, you need to be self-educated. I read a lot of blogs and articles related to animal issues not only to stay informed on what I call animal current events, but just to expand my knowledge base. I do my best to present researched content on my website, but I do not put myself forth as a subject matter expert on any of the topics I cover. I leave that up to my contacts who are much more informed than I could ever hope to be. Some of my reading is of books written by people I consider those subject matter experts. I have a small library made up of my go-to book sources which I find myself going back to again and again, almost like consulting trusted textbooks or treatises. I learned of a new-to-me book recently as a result of a blog I wrote on the topic of animal rescuers who spend thousands (and sometimes hundreds of thousands) of dollars for puppy mill dogs at auctions, outbidding everyone in the tent, while still calling it “rescue.” I do not call it rescue. I call it brokering. In any event, my blog led to a number of comments, some of which were made by my new contact: Becky Monroe. Becky is the author of a wonderful book called “Bark Until Heard: Among the Silenced Dogs I Found My Voice.” I honesty didn't know what to expect when I began Becky's book. A lot of what I read is heavily based on research and studies and philosophies about different issues. Becky's book is nothing like that at all, but in many ways, it was even better in terms of approach. I felt like I was reading about someone just like me. A lot of what Becky wrote about her struggles and her decisions resonated with me not because we have walked the same path, but because we both became outspoken advocates as the result of a single, life changing event. And I came to realize that when others read the book, they may see themselves in Becky’s words and they may have the courage to consider what they can do as individuals. I highly encourage anyone who considers themselves an animal lover, animal advocate, dog lover or just concerned citizen to read Bark Until Heard. I don't want to spoil the book for you, so I'll sum it up in a few short sentences, with no disrespect intended. The premise is pretty simple: Becky ended up at a puppy mill auction somewhat unexpectedly while doing volunteer work for a national animal welfare organization. She was so overwhelmed by what she saw and heard, she ended up saving a small dog she named Thorp and she was forever changed by the process. The wonderful thing about this book is that it helps us understand the reality of what Becky experienced and how it changed her on a very deep level. It shook up her personal beliefs about what was important to her and about who she was as a person. Becky has not told me as much, but I would guess that if you were to ask her about phases of her life, she would probably define them as “before” and “after” the first dog auction she ever attended. As Becky wrote: I had learned so much about life, and in the process, a metamorphosis had occurred. I was braver., louder, stronger. A single event had changed everything I knew about myself and the world I lived in. I would never be the same and I didn’t want to be. It was freeing to be part of a cause - to fight for something I believed in. The simple beauty of Becky's book is the power which stands behind it and how empowering it can be to others. Not only does the book help people understand the players involved in the dog breeding and auction industries, it also helps people realize that they too can find their voice and they too have the power to help change our society and make it a better place for the dogs we say we love and value. I asked Becky to participate in a Q&A interview with me to help people understand more about her, about how things have changed since she went to her first auction and about what her future may hold. I hope you enjoy her input here and I do hope you will take the time to read her book. It is now a personal favorite of mine. One of the most compelling aspects of your book is what you wrote about how you were completely changed by your experiences. You wrote of wishing you could go back to a time when you did not know things you now know. Have you made complete peace with your new life path? I think I have. Meeting people at book signings, who are inspired to act and to help the dogs, has shown me my mission in life. Sometimes I question why MY heart has to be so fragile for animals, but as I dig deep, I realize that it takes that kind of heart to see the real need - to understand how inhumane the treatment of dogs in puppy mills is. Sure lots of people "don't like it," but they can sleep at night. People like me wake up haunted by the images we have seen and are pushed to act. I can't help but believe that although it can be a very painful, my heart and my ability to communicate with people is MY gift to change things for animals for the better. There are those who have written about auctions in sanitized terms, making it sound as though the dogs are not that bad off or are not handled that poorly. How would you respond to those who paint this more positive picture of the auction scene? Last night Alice, my mill dog from September's auction, was snuggled tight against me in my bed. Her tongue hangs out, she doesn't have many teeth, she suffered untreated chronic dry eye for 5 years and will likely go blind in at least one eye. Emotionally, after 3 months of being in our quiet home, she still runs when someone coughs or drops a pen on the floor. She shakes when new people enter our home. She has a long way to go. But, last night as she found her perfect spot next to me, she made the sigh. That sigh rescuers understand because it seems to signal a moment of peace and comfort for the dogs who have never known it. After she sighed, my mind started to spin with all the Facebook posts from the last Missouri auction. Rescuers reporting, "broken legs, split jaws, infected eyes, prolapsed rectums." One rescuer wrote how there were two pregnant sisters and one made it to rescue and one went to an Amish miller. My eyes flooded with tears picturing the broken dogs and my heart just broke knowing that the other sister didn't get her chance at freedom - she would continue to suffer in the cruel hands of more neglect. I don't know how anyone with a heart could report that there a healthy, happy dogs at an auction. I have never seen it nor have I ever heard anyone who loves dogs say it. The mere thought of auctioning dogs (man's very best friend) as products should make a normal person's stomach turn. You wrote in your book that at the second auction you attended, 50% of the dogs were bought by rescuers and that number was 70% at the third auction. Do you have an opinion on how the presence of rescuers at auction has changed the auction process itself? Aaahhh - the million dollar question, literally. I contemplate this issue A LOT. Nearly a decade ago, when I was attending Amish auctions in northest Wisconsin, we went in with really small budgets attempting to get out the most amount of dogs. We also went in "not as rescue." We tried to just fit in with the crowd. We didn't want them to know who we were. We would wear something subtle and in common, like turtlenecks or ball caps, to help recognize each other as rescues. We never felt welcomed or wanted. We felt like such a small part of the whole operation. It was "their" thing, we were just there trying to save a few dogs. Today the arena has drastically changed. While we might have saved 70% of the dogs, I still don't think we made up 50% of the money exchanged because we bought the cheap dogs - the dogs our small budgets could afford. Yes, once in awhile I can recall a few dogs being rescued for a lot of money. Maybe $700-$1000, but I also recall those dogs vividly. One was an English bulldog in such bad shape. He actually had Band-aids on his body to try and cover his open wounds. I also remember a Shar Pei whose eyes were so infected - her eyelids were inside out. There were probably a few more, but those stuck out and every rescuer in the audience understood getting them out. Even then, the controversy over rescuing was present. There were always protesters outside of the auction and many of them disagreed with us giving a single dollar to the evil people. I remember one of the protesters coming into the barn during auction to get warm (it was -20 outside) and she said to me, "My head is out there and my heart is in here." I guess that is what I would say about the current status of rescues buying at auction. My heart completely understands the desire, the absolute need to want to give the dogs freedom, but my head is starting to question the long term consequences of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. Truly, rescues are becoming the primary consumers at auctions. When I hear that rescues are spending that kind of money and saying they will spend whatever it takes, I cringe. Simple economics teaches us that this is not the answer. Back when I went to auction, we would get dogs for $25- $50 on average. Yet at that time, I heard that rescues were getting dogs for PENNIES and NICKELS in Iowa and Missouri. This last auction, I heard the prices were astronomical. I can't help but believe rescue is responsible for raising the prices. If I knew that for a million dollars or even more we could buy EVERY SINGLE mill dog and put an end to the wretched industry, I would be on the front-line raising the money. If I knew that it was the end, I wouldn't even care if the millers all retired millionaires, but the reality is buying up all the dogs at auction is NOT ending it, but perpetuating it and increasing the profitability of it. This is not the solution. You wrote in your book about being at an auction and meeting a woman from Florida who said that she decided to attend an auction after reading your book. What is your advice to others like her who feel compelled to see an auction for themselves? Do you think there is a down side to that? I do think people should go to an auction. I think seeing it first hand makes it undeniably real. And while it is unbelievably difficult to experience, I do believe it makes people act and speak out. We need that in this movement. If every person went to an auction and bought a dog, perhaps that would not be the best solution. We would only be adding to the profitability of an industry most of us despise. Yet, seeing hundreds of dogs bought and sold like a commodity, dogs who are sick and scared and unlike dogs most people can relate to, I think could be a priceless answer to the issue. If I am going to believe in the good of humanity, I have to believe that the majority of human beings in America would stand up and scream, if they saw what I have seen. You blogged recently in your Tails and Truths blog about the Amish related to puppy mills. There are those who have suggested that we should actually help Amish dog farmers financially so they can do a better job. How do you respond to that? I would be the last person to suggest helping the Amish do anything. After seeing them in action, I feel no empathy towards them. The way they treat animals is horrific. I also want to take a minute to explain my opinion because I say in that blog that I am content blaming all Amish for puppy mills. I feel this way because no one in their community is speaking out against it. If no one in the community is against it, I must assume they are all okay with it. Being okay with the mass cruelty and neglect of companion animals, is not something I could ever support. I won't buy a single thing made by Amish or Mennonites. In fact, last summer at a farmers market I was about to purchase some tomatoes. The man (who was not Amish) selling them said, "Aren't they spectacular? I get them from an Amish family down the road." I replied, "oh, I apologize, but I don't want them anymore." He looked puzzled and said, "Why?" I said, "Because the Amish have hundreds of puppy mills across the country and I cannot support a group who believes in such cruelty." He then said, "Well, to be honest, the people who grow the tomatoes are Mennonites." I said, "They do it, too." And I walked away. There are a lot of people who will read your book and feel compelled to take some action themselves to find their own voice. What do you think are the most important things individual advocates can do to help bring an end to puppy mills? Are there any things those people should specifically not do? I hope that is what people do after reading the book. I want to inspire everyday people to act on behalf of the silenced animals. I think there are numerous things people can do depending on what they are most comfortable with. I think education and awareness are at the top. Even just sharing the story with friends and family is beneficial. I think writing letters to the editor and writing to legislators is a great way to show support. If someone wants to protest a pet store who sells mass bred dogs, I say do it! I think people willing to bring forth ordinances in their towns, counties, and states to prohibit the sale of mass bred puppies and kittens is a great way to stop the supply and demand. I also believe that volunteering in some capacity with a shelter or rescue is a great way to get involved. We all know that fostering one dog saves the lives of at least 2. I think that getting involved in any part of the animal welfare movement on a local level, will educate people on the realities of not just puppy mills, but of the 2 million adoptable animals killed for space every year. We have got to get more people on board with adopting not shopping in stores or on-line. Two of your dogs came from mills through auctions, Thorp and Penelope. How are both of them doing today? Thorp and Penelope turn 13 and 12 respectively this year. They are doing well, but still bare some scars from years in the mill. Thorp is a certified Therapy Dog and we still work with kids in our community who are emotionally and behaviorally challenged. Thorp is starting to show his age and often takes naps while we visit with the kids on the reading blanket. Penelope has always been resilient. Recently, we fostered and have since failed, another mill dog, Alice. She is a 5 year old Shih Tzu who was bought at an auction in September by a rescue I know. She was one the tougher fosters and so they asked if I would take her. Alice's tongue hangs out of her mouth due to blunt trauma she sustained in the mill. She suffers from neurological deficits. Her dry eye, a common ailment in Shih Tzu, went untreated for all her life, so we are doing everything we can to save her vision now. Beyond her health issues, she, like so many, suffers from such emotional trauma. She is terrified of humans, didn't understand grass or toys or stairs or common noises. She has come far in 3 months, but we have so far to go. However, I am very hopeful that she can be a therapy dog like Thorp, one day. Kids love her and her funny tongue. :) And, most importantly, she has that unbridled kindness and quietness to her. I also think she might just be the inspiration to a follow-up book! When you have book signings or speaking engagements about Bark Until Heard, what surprises you most about the public reaction to your message? I am always blown away when people tell me they "didn't know." They didn't know about puppy mills. They didn't know how cruel the Amish were. They didn't know pet stores were lying about where the puppies come from. On the bright side, it also gives me the greatest hope because I believe the more people who know the truth, the more likely we are to end the cruelty. I know you volunteered in an animal shelter for a number of years and that has shaped how you view the commercial dog breeding industry. My personal opinion is that the commercial breeding of dogs has a direct impact on how many dogs are destroyed in our municipal animal shelters, not because mill dogs enter shelters but because of how many dogs mills produce and public perception about them being superior in some way. Do you think there is a correlation between puppy mills and how many dogs die in shelters? I do believe without a doubt that the commercial breeding industry plays a direct role in the number of dogs killed for space each year. The millions of dogs churned out in mills secure a spot in a home, while the millions of beautiful, adoptable dogs get killed in shelters- never able to get a second chance. Honestly, I don't know what the supply and demand numbers are, but I don't buy into the concept that we need to mass breed dogs in order to meet demand. We need to stop the mass breeding and market the shelter dogs better. We need to educate people on the number of purebreds at any shelter at any given time. We need to teach people about animal adoption. Not nearly enough people know about Petfinder.com or Adoptapet.com. I find that not enough people know there are breed rescues for nearly every breed in every state. Above all else, I think people need to know that AKC papers do NOT in any way guarantee the health or the demeanor of a dog. The AKC is merely a registry. They will register any dog whose breed is accepted by them as long someone is willing to pay the fee. That AKC puppy could be born in a barn with no heat, no A/C, no medical care, no human interaction. The AKC admitted to me that they do not have the resources to inspect every AKC breeder. Do you have any plans for a new book soon? If so, what do you plan to write about? Yes! I have been mulling around a sort of sequel... I never thought Bark Until Heard would remain so relevant 8 years after my initial experience at Amish auctions, but the business of puppy mills and pet stores remains extremely timely. I have grown so much since 2008 and there are so many more organizations and individuals fighting the fight. I believe I would like to re-visit it all and show our progress and our strength. In 2008, I felt so alone and today I am grateful to be surrounded by so many great people wanting to make things better for breeding dogs. (images courtesy of Becky Monroe)
National Puppy Mill Awareness Day is recognized in late September of each year. It is a date used by animal welfare advocates across the country to bring awareness to the topic of the commercial dog breeding industry and to what many people now call "puppy mills." I believe, as do many of my advocacy contacts, that once the American public is educated on the topic of mills they simply will not stand for them. I have written on the topic of mills a lot recently in advance of this annual observance and as a result of my volunteer work for nonprofit groups who focus on mill dogs and ridding our society of this insidious industry. Although there are some differences of opinion on what the phrase "puppy mill" means, it refers to two separate businesses for me. For me, a puppy mill is: 1) any dog breeding operation, large or small, where the focus is on profit and where the well-being of the dogs themselves is of little concern; or 2) any commercial dog breeding operation where large numbers of dogs are bred for profit, regardless of the conditions in which those dogs are housed. Although I am not a fan of breeding dogs, I fully recognized that there is such a thing as a responsible breeder. There are people who breed and then sell dogs while taking excellent care of the parent dogs and while doing all they can to perpetuate breed standards and have healthy puppies for people to buy as family pets or to use in some service capacity. There is a continental divide between a responsible breeder and a puppy mill, no matter the size of the mill. Most of the people I know who have companion animals are good people who mean well, regardless of how they acquire their pets. Most of them just don't think about the subject of puppy mills because they don't feel personally affected by it. Those people I know who are not "animal people" and who don't have pets at all consider themselves further separated from the topic of mills because they don't think mills have anything at all to do with them. But, you see, they do. We are all affected by puppy mills and the commercial dog breeding industry due to one factor: money. When it comes to bringing a new dog into a home, people have a lot of options. They can buy a dog at a pet store and will probably be told the dog comes from a licensed USDA kennel (which in all likelihood is still a puppy mill). They can buy a dog through the internet using a website. They can buy a dog from a local breeder who will probably let them meet the parent dogs and see the conditions in which the dogs live. They can get a dog from a friend or family member. They can get a dog from a flea market or from the parking lot of a store or strip mall. They can get a dog through a newspaper ad. Or they can get a dog from a shelter or a rescue group. Although we don't like to think of it this way, the business of marketing and selling dogs is big business. Many of us react to the marketing we see much like we do for other products and with little regard for the fact that we are actually talking about a living, breathing, sentient creature who will spent 10 to 20 years with us and have the cognitive function of a toddler. On one end of this options spectrum we have the commercial dog breeding industry. Commercial dog breeders, both large and small, produce millions of dogs every year. Some are sold at auction much like other forms of livestock, some are distributed to pet stores across the country by Choice Puppies (formerly known of as the Hunte Corporation) in industrial tractor-trailers, some are sold on-line using polished looking websites (which bear little resemblance to the conditions in which the dogs actually live), some are sold through newspaper ads and some are sold in Walmart parking lots. Regardless of how those dogs get to us - the consumer - we're talking about millions of dogs being infused into the pet industry each and every year. Those in breeding circles would argue that the dogs are bred simply to meet public demand and they are, to a degree, correct. They would tell you that there is a demand so they create the supply. The bigger story is that we have been conditioned as a society for more than a hundred years to believe that pure bred dogs are superior to mixed breed dogs. We have also been conditioned to judge dogs the way we do other mass-produced products: be equating cost with value or worth. Surely, the argument goes, the $3,300 dog from a pet store is superior to a dog from a rescue group. Surely the $2,000 dog from a breeder is superior to a dog from an animal shelter. For all of our talk and back slapping to congratulate ourselves for being such an animal friendly society, we really are in many ways just a huge society of dog snobs. We are told that pure bred dogs or certain breeds of dogs are superior (when they often have a host of health issues, many of which have been bred into them to create a certain "look"). We are told that mixed breed dogs or certain breeds of dogs are either inferior or inherently dangerous. And we just buy all of it without exercising any independent thought at all because it's easier and because it's what we've been doing as long as anyone can remember. On the opposite end of the options spectrum, we have shelter and rescue animals. At the same time that dogs are being bred by the millions, we are destroying dogs by the millions in municipally funded buildings we have the arrogance to call animal "shelters" even though most should just be called disposal facilities. Yes. Some of those animals we destroy using your and my tax dollars are truly suffering and for those animals, euthanasia is the only responsible and merciful alternative. There are also dogs entering our animal shelters who are genuinely so broken, for a host of reasons, that they are a risk to public safety and cannot be adopted out into homes in our communities. The rest of the animals we destroy in shelters in all but the most progressive communities are healthy and treatable animals whose only mistake is one of being unfortunate enough to have ended up in a building where they are treated as disposable. (It is estimated that 25 to 30 percent of shelter animals are pure bred.) In some communities, as many as 90% of shelter animals are destroyed using our tax dollars while we call it euthanasia or "putting them to sleep" or "putting them down" or some other euphemism to make ourselves feel better about the process. The vast majority of them either were, or could have been, someone's beloved pet. The consequence of this culture of killing savable animals is dire. Because we destroy them using our collective funds, we are conditioned to believe that something must be wrong with them or that they are somehow not worthy of sharing our homes and our lives with us. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this form of negative bias is incredibly difficult to overcome. When we add to the negative stereotype about shelter animals the fact that they are poorly marketed for the most part and it's no wonder that many people would never even consider adoption a dog from an animal shelter. Back to the connection and why you should care about and learn about National Puppy Mill Awareness Day. Even if you are sure you have never financially supported a puppy mill or you are sure that your dog came from a reputable breeder, the subject of puppy mills and the commercial dog breeding industry affects all of us. We produce dogs by the millions when we already have millions of great dogs already needing homes. As long as we allow dogs to be produced in this volume and we ignore our broken animal sheltering system, people will continue to get dogs from sources other than animal shelters and rescue groups. And we will continue to destroy animals by the millions using our tax dollars for no good reason at all. It is our public shame. But it is also something we can all learn about so we can make better individual choices which affect us all. I encourage you to find a Puppy Mill Awareness Day event near you and attend. Many are family friendly so you can bring your children and help educate them while you are educating yourself. Perhaps if you learn a little more about where our dogs come from, you will consider making better choices in the future which are more consistent with your individual values and with our values as a society. If you are not able to attend an event, I encourage you to learn more about this industry. You may not think you are supporting puppy mills, but in the end, we are all paying for them. ASPCA Puppy Mill Information Dog by Dog Harley, The Little Dog with the Big Dream National Mill Dog Rescue National Puppy Mill Project The Puppy Mill Project The Dog Merchants When I first decided to move my advocacy to an actual website with content, as opposed to just having a Youtube channel, my plan was to expose people who care for animals to some subjects they might not otherwise know about. I considered myself pretty informed on “animal issues” a decade ago but I just wasn’t. There are a host of serious issues related to companion animals in our country that are just not on the “public radar,” for lack of a better description. Most people who care for and spend their lives with companion animals are focused on what affects them personally and don’t spend much time thinking about issues outside of their own household or community. One of the first issues I learned about years ago was about puppy mills. Most Americans have heard the phrase puppy mill and don’t give it a whole lot of thought. I want you to think about what it means because whether you know it or not, puppy mills affect us all, even people who don’t consider themselves “animal people.” Puppy mills are commercial dog breeding operations where dogs are produced in large numbers for profit and with little or no regard for the “breeder stock.” As I have written about before, this is big business in America. Whether a mill has hundreds of dogs or a handful of dogs, they are infusing dogs into the market and into American homes by the millions each year. The products pretty much sell themselves. Puppies are cute and it is easy for us to either not think about where they came from or not care about it. At the same time that mills are producing millions of dogs a year and making big money off of our love affair with the canine species, millions of dogs are being destroyed in our “animal shelters” each year using our tax dollars. You may think those dogs are sick or damaged in some way. You may even think that they simply cannot be saved because we just have too many of them. The reality is that the vast majority of dogs destroyed in shelters every day are perfectly healthy and treatable and there are homes for those dogs. They are destroyed because that’s what we have been doing in America for about 150 years and it’s just easier to keep doing it than to stop and ask “why?” More and more no kill communities are being created across the country with each passing month and year, but most shelters in most cities are places where animals essentially go to die using our money and while we are blamed for that process. The mind set is that if we were just more responsible, if we cared more, if we spayed and neutered more, if we did not treat our pets as disposable, etc., the animals would not have to die. It is not a coincidence that millions of dogs are bred in mills and then millions of dogs die in our shelters. Millers, both large and small, put millions of products in front of us which we find incredibly hard to resist and we keep buying them. As long as we keep buying them, millers will keep producing them. And as long as millers keep producing dogs by the million, we will continue to destroy dogs in our shelters who have been overlooked or stereotyped, simply because they are unfortunate enough to have landed in our sheltering system. Yes, there are people who surrender animals to shelters and who should never have an animal in the first place. But not every animal entering a shelter is there due to someone’s callousness or irresponsibility. Pets get lost, people die, people get sick, houses burn down, people lose jobs and people often to not make the best decisions about their animals when life gets really hard and they aren’t thinking clearly. Every shelter animal deserves to be treated as an individual and to be given an opportunity for a new life. To do otherwise blames the animal for the failings of our society and of us as individuals. I got an email recently from an advocate in New Jersey named Candace Quiles about a dog auction being held in Missouri on August 6, 2016. A miller with a terrible reputation for abuse is auctioning off his “stock” through a company called Southwest Auction Service and Marketing. I was contacted to see if there was something I could do to stop the auction. I cannot. Dog auctions are perfectly legal in our society and they happen all the time. This is what millers do and this is part of the business of puppy milling. Millers breed dogs, auction them off to brokers, individuals or even to rescue groups. Some in the rescue community have been known to pay thousands of dollars for a dog while describing their behavior as “rescue," leaving millers laughing all the way to the bank. Make no mistake. People who mass produce dogs for a living think no more of those dogs than they would any other form of livestock. The USDA is to thank for the mill industry and it is high time that the USDA got out of the business of regulating that industry so we can work to bring an end to them once and for all. Just because farming dogs is easier than farming cotton or soy beans doesn’t make it right. And just because rescuers can come up with 5 grand to "rescue" a dog in an auction doesn't mean they should.* A sale is a sale is a sale. After I was contacted about the auction, I looked into a little bit even thought I knew I could not stop it. I found the sales list for the auction. If you squint just a little bit and don’t look too closely, you might think this was an auction for used farm equipment or auto parts. It is an auction of living, breathing, feeling, sentient creatures and while those hosting it and attending it may find it perfectly normal business activity, I find it sickening and horrific. Puppy mills may very well be one of the two greatest public shames in the American society regarding companion animals, the second being our broken animal sheltering system. We consider ourselves animal-friendly. We hold ourselves above other cultures where animals we keep as companions are consumed or bred for fur. But how can we possibly claim moral high ground while mills still flourish in our country and while we still kill dogs by the millions with our collective funds? Man’s Best Friend. Made in America. Shame on us. (click on the image to view a pdf copy) *Position Clarification on Auction Payment for Dogs I received a comment on this blog from a rescuer related to my position on rescuers who go to auctions. I want to clarify my position in light of her comments to me.
I fully support organizations and even rescuers who work with millers to have mill dogs relinquished to them and which then turn around and work to educate the public toward ending the mill industry. I volunteer for a national organization which does just that. I even support organizations which pay some small, nominal fee to save breeder dogs through direct contact with the miller. I do not support people who go to auctions and who pay large sums of money for dogs using the label of rescue. I have first-hand accounts from people who have been to auctions and have seen thousands of dollars paid for a single dog. They have seen rescuers buy puppies for huge sums while leaving the parent dogs behind. In some cases, this behavior has driven up the prices. Some millers use shills in order to target those in the rescue community and drive up prices. Any person or organization which pays large amounts of money for puppies or dogs under the name of rescue is enabling the entire process. You are putting money into the millers' pockets and to them you are no different than a broker or than someone who will take the dogs and sell them to a pet store to then sell to the public. For them, this is not an emotional topic at all. By making it an emotional topic yourself, you are helping them breed and sell more dogs. The plight of mill dogs is heart breaking. But if we behave emotionally about a multi-million dollar industry, we will not change it. If you really want to help mill dogs and end mills, saving dog A, B, C, or D is not having the effect you desire and may very well have the opposite effect. I do not need to go to an auction to know that buying dogs which come with a huge price tag is not helpful related to ending this industry. Many of my contacts have first hand experience about auctions and their knowledge is good enough for me. If you think that paying $5,000 for a mill dog to “rescue” that one dog is a noble effort, consider this. You could use that same money to help many more relinquished mill dogs be rehabilitated and find homes while helping to educate the public to stop the industry. And if you didn't pay big money for the sick or injured dogs you see, they may very well be relinquished to an organization which will help them. Some millers rely on rescuers to pay big money for dogs as a result of the very behavior of some in the rescue community. I tend to write my blogs with some type of introductory wording to set the stage about the topic. Not this time. Today I want to talk about an organization called Target Zero, why I will not support or promote it under any circumstances and why I think the people involved with Target Zero should be ashamed for a new campaign they are promoting. Target Zero is a shelter consulting organization which markets itself as being qualified to help guide communities to get "to zero" regarding destruction of shelter animals. In some places, it offers these services for free, making the offer almost irresistible to municipal governments. From my perspective, this is a group of people who are backed by big money - and who may very well have good intentions - but who are simply not qualified to help any community become a true no kill community. I set out my experiences with and concerns about this group not quite a year ago in my blog called "Target Zero or Doing Zero?" I won't repeat myself here simply for the sake of emphasis. You can read my original blog to understand my position on the organization as it was in September of 2015. Since the time I wrote that piece, one of the original founders has left Target Zero and Target Zero has left Huntsville, Alabama (the city where I have spent 10 years seeking shelter reform). They have declared it an “alumni city” and have moved on seek new clients, all while using Huntsville as an example of their work. They have a video they use which references Huntsville and our shelter director routinely sings the praises of Target Zero in media interviews. But let’s get real for a minute: Huntsville is not a no kill community. Although there were a period of months when the live release rate exceeded 90% (what Target Zero considers “getting to zero”) that is not the measure of a no kill community. That number proved to be unsustainable in any event. There are now issues with dogs entering the building healthy and then getting sick and we have heard that local rescue organizations have become overwhelmed in their efforts to do too much with too little in order to improve the shelter statistics. We have remained silent for the most part about the fact that Target Zero is marketing off of Huntsville to get new clients. My personal thought is that me speaking out individually against Target Zero on my own is certainly not going to slow their efforts to seek new clients with the allure of "free" help. I don’t try to warn communities to not hire Target Zero simply because that could cause me to be sued for interference with a contractual relationship. No, thanks. I'm equally sure that those who manage the organization or support it blindly will label me a malcontent and treat this blog as some attempt to seek credit for change in Huntsville. No. This is not about credit. It is about reporting history accurately and not leaving out parts that don't fit the desired narrative which makes Target Zero look like the hero here. If the city had taken action to save animals on its own and after having learned about no kill programs in late 2008, our no kill coalition would not have been necessary in the first place. As the saying goes, “we didn’t start the fire.” We were always results-oriented and we still long for the day when our advocacy is simply not necessary. I'm sure that Target Zero did do some good in Huntsville. They were able to connect with the shelter director here in ways the members of my no kill coalition could not. We had tried to help her for years, only to be dismissed as naive and uninformed. Target Zero was able to get her attention due to who they are and because they have what I presume to be almost unlimited funding. By the time they arrived on the scene, the live release rate had gone from 34% to more than 70%, all without their involvement and after we took the no kill subject to the public and to a new city administrator. Change was already taking place. There will always be disagreement about what led to that change. I am absolutely certain that but for the advocacy of No Kill Huntsville nothing would have changed at all and the city would still be destroying the majority of the animals in the shelter while being answerable to no one. But back to my issue with Target Zero standing on the backs of the members of my coalition. The problem with Target Zero using Huntsville as a marketing tool is that they only tell part of the story - the part that makes it sound like they swept in to the community and saved us from ourselves. Hardly. What Target Zero fails to tell other places is that they were able to do some good in Huntsville because other advocates had already been fighting for change for years and had created a climate where even more change was possible. They quite literally jumped on the bandwagon of change and then declared themselves the reason for that change while making no mention at all of the unique factors in Huntsville which allowed that change to happen. Huntsville is in the rear view mirror of Target Zero now that they have moved on and the members of my coalition are left to continue our efforts to make this a no kill community. I learned last week that Target Zero is promoting a new campaign called the “Lick My Face” campaign in which people are encouraged to have their dogs lick their faces. The front man for the campaign is David Duchovny, one of their donors. People have been encouraged to record a video of their dog licking their face. For each lick, Duchovny will donate one dollar to Target Zero. There is a new webpage set up just for this campaign (which I refuse to share) and there is even talk of a “Lick Off.” Really? I presume that Mr. Duchovny means well, but this is still a terrible, dangerous idea. For me, this campaign is simply further evidence that Target Zero is completely out of touch with the very shelters they claim to be qualified to advise. I guess it’s possible that some service animals are trained to lick the faces of the people they help in order to wake them. Aside from that, I can think of no circumstances under which it's a good idea to encourage a dog to lick someone's face. Dogs have teeth and dogs can get excited about food and treats. No one knows how many dogs end up in shelters due to biting incidents or due to perceived instances of aggression which were really not the fault of the dog at all and the result of something we did or failed to do. I think it is a uniquely terrible and uniformed idea to encourage people to participate in a campaign which not only promotes undesirable behavior in dogs but which could have the end result of more dogs being surrendered to shelters due to no fault of their own. There are a host of things Target Zero could have done to promote saving shelter animals and to promote the humane-canine bond. Walking. Playing. Reading. Anything but licking. Shame on Target Zero for this ill-advised campaign and shame on Target Zero for using Huntsville as a marketing tool. If anyone with Target Zero wishes to speak with me to try to convince me that the Lick My Face campaign is a stellar idea, please. Send me an email message. Tell me that you consulted with dog behaviorists and dog bite fatality experts and that you fully researched this whole idea before putting it out there for the nation to see. And if anyone with Target Zero feels I have misrepresented their role in helping Huntsville save more animals, please. Send me an email message and try to persuade me that I should see this situation differently. If I am wrong and have judged them too harshly, I will admit having done so. I work in the legal field and am also considered the resident "animal person" in my law firm. When people need help placing an animal, they ask me. When they need help adopting an animal, they call me. Every now and then our law librarian (a dog lover) passes along a legal opinion brought to his attention related to animals and we invariably have some discussion about the case. It makes my job more interesting when my animal welfare interests become related to how I spend my days. On June 6, 2016, the Georgia Supreme Court rendered an opinion in a case involving a dog who became gravely ill after having been administered medication improperly by a boarding facility. Her owners ultimately spent almost $70,000 trying to save Lola, their 8 ½ year old Dachshund mix they had adopted from a rescue center at the age of two. They were not able to save her and Lola later died. The case ended up on appeal to "the Supremes" related to issues about the value of the dog. Her family argued they were entitled to compensation for expenses paid treating her and trying to save her life. The boarding facility argued that because she was obtained from a rescue center, she had no value and the family was not entitled to compensation for her veterinary care because the amount they spent was unreasonable. I found it very interesting that the court had to go back to cases from more than a hundred years ago for legal precedent. People may not realize this happens, but it does all the time. The law is an evolving, ever changing landscape. But if the last cases factually similar to one now are from 1850, they are still legal precedent. In the end, the Supremes ruled, as they had to, in accordance with Georgia law. The case was sent back to the trial court in accordance with the ruling that the family was entitled to seek damages for the loss of the value of the dog and for reasonable veterinary expenses. The court was not in a position to allow the family to seek damages for the sentimental value of Lola just because Georgia law doesn't provide for that remedy. In spite of the limitations put on the ruling, I found some of the wording of the opinion to be quite enlightened and I see it as an indication that times are changing related to how we view the "value" of our companion animals. The court began the opinion with this sentence: "The subject matter of this case is near and dear to the heart of many a Georgian in that it involves the untimely death of a beloved family pet and concerns the proper measure of damages available to the owners of an animal injured or killed through the negligence of others." The court also stated the following near the end of the opinion, which I choose to interpret consistent with my own values: "We agree with those courts which have held that the unique human-animal bond, while cherished, is beyond legal measure." Time will tell how our laws continue to evolve related the value of our companion animals in our legal system. If you're anything like me, your dog is priceless to you and you want your laws to reflect that if anything were to ever happen to them due to the conduct of others. Lola was one dog. But she could have been my dog or yours. You can read the entire opinion in the case of Barking Hound Village, LLC v. Monyak here. (image courtesy of Peace and Paws Dog Rescue, Inc.)
It was Friday when I saw him for the first time. I backed down the driveway into the road, waved goodbye to the boys and there it was. A dog pen. On our neighbor's property. In which sat a yellow lab. In the rain.
We moved to our home only after being driven away from what we thought was our retirement parcel. Our state gives more legal rights to shooting ranges than to property owners and I just couldn't tolerate being forced to listen to automatic weapons fire while inside our home. Leaving was incredibly hard. We chose our new house because it's inside city limits (meaning we do have property owner rights), because it has a few acres and because no one near us had dogs living outside 24/7/365 on a chain or in a pen. So much for that plan. I understand that I live in a region with cultural differences related to domesticated animals. I realize that some people were raised to believe that dogs don't belong inside because they are animals. But hasn't the time come to move past the 1870s? Haven't we learned enough about the intelligence of dogs and their emotional needs to do better for them than to imprison them in pens while denying their nature as pack animals? Because of my job, I know far too well what happens when we force man's best friend to live as a resident dog, separated from our homes and more focused on a 100 square feet of dirt or the world found within the length of a chain than on anything else. I know about fatality attacks by dogs who were not properly socialized to people and who paid for our failings with their lives. The dangers of resident dogs are well documented by people much smarter than me. To me, forcing a dog to live outside chained or penned is abuse and simply abhorrent. If you put your dog in a pen outside for short periods of time in order to get fresh air and because you lack a fully fenced yard, I get that. But to put your dog inside a pen where he or she can only stand up, walk a few feet and turn around makes absolutely no sense to me. To force that dog to live in those conditions perpetually, regardless of weather conditions and with no human interaction beyond providing them food makes even less sense to me. A dog kept chained (or confined to a pen) whether for hours, days, months, or years can suffer tremendous psychological damage. Under these limited conditions, dogs are forced to eat, drink, urinate and defecate all in the same small area. Because of the dog’s minimal physical space and lack of socialization, dogs kept penned or chained can become exceedingly hyper and aggressive. A penned or chained dog is not protective of the people who live in a nearby home. They are protective of and territorial toward the area in which they are confined. Left unsocialized to people on a regular basis, they can become aggressive toward anyone who comes near them, including unsupervised children. The National Canine Research Council's investigations into dog bite-related fatalities reveals the majority of these tragic cases involved circumstances where owners failed to provide necessary care and human control of their dogs: 1) failure by dog owners to spay or neuter dogs not involved in a responsible breeding program; 2) maintaining dogs in semi-isolation on chains or in pens; 3) allowing dogs to run loose; 4) neglecting or abusing dogs; 5) maintaining dogs not as household pets, but as guard dogs, fighting dogs, intimidation dogs, breeding dogs or yard dogs; and 6) allowing children to interact with unfamiliar dogs. My dog will never live outside. We keep him safe and dry. We provide him with the veterinary care he needs, the companionship he needs and he is a member of our family. He is not our child, but we are as responsible for his needs as if he were our child. If yours is a resident dog, why do you even have a dog in the first place? I don't expect an answer to that. It just makes no sense to me at all. And it never will. Your dog deserves better than to be a prisoner in your yard. They call me “the dog lady.” That’s not my name, of course, but that’s what my contacts at the Department of Transportation call me. I contact them so frequently that I really don’t even have to use my name.
I was driving home from work in October of 2006 when I experienced a life-changing and very unexpected event. I was cruising along, decompressing from my work day, when I saw the dead dog in the middle of my lane. I had a vehicle to my left, a vehicle riding too close on my tail and I just did not process the information fast enough to get over into the right side shoulder. I drove over the body of the dog, thinking I would clear it. I did not. I’m not really sure how I managed to get home after that. I remember screaming and crying as my heart raced and I yelled at people who could not hear me in my anguish. To say I was hysterical is probably an understatement. I cried for days about that dog. It took years before I could drive home each day and not relive the event. I know that probably sounds theatrical, but it’s true. I just could not get it out of my head and when I think about it today, I get choked up. I will never know how long the dog had been there or if he was loved or if he was missed. All I know is that he should not have been there and that it is entirely possible that his family never knew what happened to him. I do. I now have the phone numbers for five DOT offices on my phone’s speed dial settings. When I see a dead dog in the roadway, right-of-way or median, I call for help and ask that the dog be removed. The DOT folks tolerate my frequent calling because removal of the bodies is a public safety issue, but they know that I call because it is an emotional issue for me. Seeing them upsets me and seeing them deteriorate upsets me even more. I cry for dogs I have never known simply because the loss is so tragic and so preventable. I know I live in a state that has a bit of wild west in the culture. People let their dogs run loose even though it is both illegal and incredibly dangerous. When you let your dog out to roam, do not presume that he doesn’t go very far. Do not presume that each person who encounters your dog has experience in dealing with dogs. My mom was deathly afraid of most dogs due to an event in her childhood and no amount of logic or immersion with dogs ever really changed that during her lifetime. Do not presume that your dog is smart enough or fast enough to win in a battle of car v. dog or truck v. dog or 18-wheeler v. dog. He will not. If you love your dog or even if you just value your dog, please. Keep him or her safe. Do not let your dog roam like this is 1870 and your dog can just trot to town on a dirt road traveled by horses and wagons with no risk. If your dog has a tendency to get loose, take steps to keep him safe by keeping him inside your home or inside your fenced yard. I saw a little dog on my way to work today. He probably weighed all of 20 lbs. and was wearing a little light blue harness. As he stood on the side of the road, confused as to where to go. It was in a 65 mile per hour zone during peak travel times. I took the next possible U-turn and went back to look for him, but did not see him. I hope he made it home. And I hope that I won’t see him this afternoon or tomorrow or the next day. Or that I am forced to call and tell Danny that I need help with a dog near mile marker 304. They call me the dog lady. Please keep your dog safe. |
AuthorI am an animal welfare advocate. My goal is to help people understand some basic issues related to companion animals in America. Awareness leads to education leads to action leads to change. Archives
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image courtesy of Terrah Johnson
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