Dogged Blog

Which do you hate more: HSUS, or puppy mills?

Would it shock you to know that there are good, dog-loving people out there defending puppy mills?



It's some kind of misguided fear of the slippery slope, that if anyone ever suggests we should advocate against people cranking out puppies like they were washing machine parts then all of us who keep, breed, or simply value dog breeds will instantly and utterly lose our rights to continue doing so.



That was the subject of a long conversation I had a few months ago with Stephanie Shain, who heads up the HSUS' campaign to stop puppy mills. Among other things, we discussed that almost no one in the dog fancy will speak to her, even though she has repeatedly and publicly stated that she supports and believes in good dog breeding and breeders, and that good breeders are "the first line of defense against puppy mills." From our conversation:

When I came to HSUS almost nine years ago, puppy mills were at the top of my list to work on. And about five years ago we said, “You know, something is wrong here, because we have people who want to do the right thing. They don’t want to get a dog who came out of a puppy mill. They’re coming to us saying, 'Please help me find a breeder,' and we’re not helping them."



And to continue to have that “don’t breed or buy while shelter animals die” mindset felt wrong in a lot of ways. Number one, it felt wrong for those of us who had personal relationships with dog breeders that we had known over the years, and we knew they took amazing care of their dogs, and adored their dogs, and all of those great things that we all do, and it felt silly.



I mean, we’re trying to help people, they want to get a dog of a certain kind, and whether we think the greatest dog in the world is sitting in a shelter or not doesn’t really matter, because for this family, this is the kind of dog that they want. So let’s start talking about where to get that dog and helping them identify a good, wonderful, compassionate responsible place to get that dog.



So it was about five years ago that we decided this is crazy, and started talking about responsible breeders. And we’ve taken some heat for that, certainly, from people in the animal welfare community, who say, “There’s no such thing as a responsible breeder.”



We expected that that would happen, but we really felt like there is a very big difference between someone who is taking care of their dogs, and that dog is living in the home, and is part of the family, and they’re breeding, and having puppies, and selling puppies. That is like night and day when you look at a puppy mill.



But what’s been the most frustrating, having worked on it for so many years, is that I expected flack from the animal welfare community but I expected a different kind of a response from the dog breeding community, and that for the most part just hasn’t happened.

Look, I don't approve of everything HSUS does. Hell, I don't approve of everything my own family does, or the other bloggers here.



But when it comes to puppy mills, yes, I absolutely agree with HSUS in opposing them. And, as I tell Stephanie in our conversation, this is why:

I don’t have a puppy mill breed myself, but I was at a friend’s house once who breeds and rescues Italian Greyhounds, and she put a little puppy mill rescued breeding dog in my lap, who had lived her whole life in a mill, and I looked into that dog’s eyes, and there was nothing there. She was dead inside. And that’s why it doesn’t matter to me how sanitary or well-lit or well-ventilated a high volume puppy farm is, or how many vets or vet techs work there, it will never be acceptable to me. It can never be okay.

Now, maybe your antipathy to HSUS goes so deep that even reading that doesn't change your view. Fine.



So if you still think HSUS sucks so badly you can't even get behind them raising and spending money to support things you believe in, then get off your asses and form your own group to stop the mass production of family pets in barns and warehouses.



Stop hiding in the shadows and letting your enemies define what dog breeders and fanicers are.



Stop hoping no one will notice your little breeding program and wall of trophies and ribbons and just letting the big puppy brokers and retailers do the lobbying for you.



Because their interests are not your interests. Not only don't they care about your dogs (or their own), they don't care about you, either. When California twice tried to pass mandatory spay/neuter laws, the power of the puppy mill lobby got them exempted from the legislation, but they didn't do anything to help you; the fancy and the working dog folks fought that back on their own.



And if you're not going to do any of those things, then get over this "all or nothing" attitude about the things HSUS does that you don't believe in, and utilize the massive resources and infrastructure of the nation's largest and wealthiest animal organization to help stop the soul-deadening cruelty of puppy milling.



At least check out my conversation with Stephanie Shain. Open your mind for a few minutes that there's the possibility we could really get something done if we worked together on this one issue.

The impact of a fresh coat of paint on grief

I'm not the world's most mystical person, but there's something to be said for moving everything in a space around and getting the energy flowing differently.

I've been stagnating and paralyzed with grief and depression for a long time. Getting my puppy thawed some emotional paralysis, but I was still overwhelmed with the physical reality of going through my mother's things and making decisions about this house we shared.

I've decided to move down into her garden apartment and rent out the upstairs as a furnished short term/vacation rental. It's a lovely gem of a house, on a beautiful park, and I think a lot of people would find this a really nice place to rent. We'll see if I'm right.

But moving down into my mom's space is psychologically... weird. I've been spending quite a bit of time there with Rawley, as it opens on the garden and is on the ground floor, both easier to get him to the park, to potty, and to hang out in the sunshine than if we were upstairs. I'd set up my big laptop with an external keyboard and mouse and was working down there all day.

But today, painters came in and painted the place. They moved all the furniture into the center of the room, tarped it all, and painted out the dark paneling and unfinished wood of some changes we made as she became ill. They took off the handicapped pull bars, primed and painted shelves and doors and door jambs, and repaired a lot of holes from where she'd hung pictures and curtain rods.

It's... amazing. It feels fresh and different and bright. And this evening, for the first time since my mom died, I've been able to cope with sending some of her things to the thrift store and dealing with her car, which has sat untouched in the driveway for months. My brother came over and put a charger on the battery, and we made plans to sell it next week, after I get a missing hubcap replaced and have it detailed.

Maybe it's just the passing of time, I don't know. I wish I could say I'm less unhappy about how horrible her last months were, or how much I miss her in my life, but I can't. But I do feel that some things are moving and shifting, and I'm going to choose, just for tonight, to be hopeful about the future.

Rawley Deerhound meets the Kong Wobbler

Hah! Finally, a treat toy that hits that sweet spot between "handing him some food without any challenge" and "so frustrating he gives up."



I was inspired by Ericka's success in getting her blind dog and her cat to play with the Kong Wobbler, so I went out and bought one for Rawley this afternoon. Check it out (and catch a glimpse of Kyrie, too!):

No, I ' m not starving my puppy

I realize that Deerhounds are rare and many people have not seen them before. I understand that my puppy has a body type most dog owners aren't used to, given the preponderance of walking footstools I see around the city.



I can even understand that someone might feel, seeing Rawley's ribs and tuck up and long, lean lines, that he could use a few square meals more than he's getting (which would be, trust me, impossible), or that he's a recently rescued victim of abuse.



But when I tell them, no, he's a sighthound, a dog like a Greyhound, and I've had these dogs for decades and this is just how they're built, you'd think they'd, you know, accept that.



But you'd be wrong.



/rant

Fighting the inevitable: The propaganda war against no-kill

I recently wrote a feature story for Bark Magazine on the no-kill movement. I interviewed a large number of animal welfare leaders, from no-kill godfather Rich Avanzino to HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle.



I spoke to shelter medicine expert Dr. Kate Hurley of UC-Davis, along with "Redemption" author Nathan Winograd, Nevada Humane Society director Bonney Brown, and Best Friends Animal Society co-founder Gregory Castle.



All agreed: A no-kill nation is inevitable.



I knew there'd be some flame thrown my way; even though the article was moderate in tone compared to things I've written here, and fact- and quote-checked by my editor more than anything I've ever written in my entire career; saying anything even slightly favorable about no-kill is like chum in the water for the movement's more knee-jerk opponents.



So, what did they get upset about in my article?



First, a straw man. Even though I went to great lengths to explain that the no-kill movement is not about no-kill shelters but no-kill communities, the same old same old about "no-kill is really just someone else kill" or "you can't have an open door admissions shelter that is no-kill" or that no-kill is just about shelters or rescue groups cherry-picking adoptable pets, comprised most of the yawningly familiar opposition to the piece.



Next up was another perennial favorite: No one should use the phrase "no-kill" because people will be confused and believe that means that if a cat is hit by a car and brought into animal control and is a bleeding suffering mess of inoperable organ damage and broken bones, a no-kill community would insist that pet be allowed to linger in agony because euthanizing that pet would mean they weren't no-kill.



In other words, they think you're so stupid that you can't distinguish between what loving pet owners do -- ending the suffering of a pet who can't be helped -- and the killing of healthy or treatable pets because the community's animal control or shelter organizations can't (or won't) find them a new home.



And then there's the final piece of the trifecta of anti-no-kill propaganda, the one where we'll never ever get to no-kill until people stop being irresponsible and dumping their pets. Which is kind of weird since last I looked, those communities that have already become no-kill, which I detail in the article so it's not like these folks didn't have the chance to take this into consideration, are not, last I noticed, comprised of perfect people.



All those communities have done is decreased the number of pets coming into their shelters with free or low-cost spay/neuter, TNR for feral cats,  and programs designed to help pet owners facing hard times or behavior problems to keep their pets, and increased their community's ability to help homeless pets with foster care programs, creative adoption and fundraising campaigns, and tapping the enormous good will and compassion that exists in their communities and far outweighs the number of irresponsible deadbeats who,  hello, will be with us always.



Or to put it more succinctly: You can't say no-kill because people are stupid, and you can't have no-kill because people are bad. And it actually makes twisted sense that, thinking so ill of people, they're incapable of believing in no-kill, relying as it does on the exclusive efforts of just that much-maligned species.



So to those who have almost made a cottage industry out of being no-kill naysayers, I have only one message:



You're wrong.



People are not stupid; they understand the difference between "killing" and "euthanasia." And the no-kill movement is not about what individual shelters do, but about a community-based effort to develop non-lethal animal population management practices nationwide. And it's not a Utopian fantasy, it's the reality right now in many communities, and that number is growing every year, because of the very love and commitment of people that you don't believe in.



I know it. Everyone I interviewed for the article knows it, including those who have in the past been skeptical of, or even opposed to, no-kill.



And deep inside, you know it too. Because we may not be there yet, but in the battle for the hearts and minds of America's pet owners, no-kill has already won.



How do I know that? I know it by how hard you're fighting to tarnish the term. You understand its power, and the hold it has on the imaginations of the millions of animal lovers who recommend thousands of times a day, at vet's offices, in dog parks, and on the Internet: Have a stray animal or a pet you can't keep? Take him to a no-kill shelter.



Because those people you think are so stupid, or so irresponsible and bad that no-kill will only be a reality when we've all reached levels of maturity and saintliness that an actual saint couldn't achieve?



It seems they want America's homeless pets to live a lot more than you do.

Is Rawley the puppy planning to build a barbecue?

I think I've been watching too much "Holmes on Homes," because my Scottish Deerhound puppy, Rawley, appears to think he's a contractor.



[caption id="attachment_14432" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="I say this because, despite the virtually limitless number of toys he has at his disposal 24/7, his favorite chewing object is a brick."]

[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14437" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Yesterday, he trotted in from the yard with a half-brick in his mouth. I took it away from him and went outside to see where he'd found such a thing in my ostensibly puppy-proofed yard. I found a little pile of bricks deep under the deck, where not only can I not squeeze in, I'm surprised Mr. Long Legs Rawley can! He keeps going out for more, and I keep taking them away. Soon I'll have them all."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14430" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Or will I? Who can take something away from that darling puppy face?"][/caption]

Why are so many veterinarians still giving annual vaccinations?

My column this week for the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com is on the subject of annual vaccinations for dogs and cats -- and just why it is we're still debating the issue, nearly 20 years after it should have been laid to rest.

Today, not one veterinary college in the United States recommends annual re-vaccination for all cats and dogs. Neither do the American Animal Hospital Association, the Vaccination Guidelines Group (VGG) of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA), the American Association of Feline Practitioners nor the Academy of Feline Medicine.



In fact, it's safe to say that the routine administration of yearly shots has pretty much gone the way of the eight-track tape, at least as far as the science goes.



Unfortunately, change has been slow inside the offices, clinics and hospitals where America's pet owners get health care for their dogs and cats.



[....]So, what's behind veteranarians' resistance to adopting new vaccine protocols? Why are so many of them ignoring, rejecting or simply unaware of the changed guidelines?



First, it's important to realize that many veterinarians have changed their approach to canine and feline vaccinations. But last year's JAVMA report suggests such changes are far from universal.



Those veterinarians who have made no changes, or minimal ones, in their approach to dog and cat vaccination typically fall into one of three camps:



The first group includes those who stubbornly insist, contrary to overwhelming scientific evidence, that reducing the frequency of re-vaccination may lead to the resurgence of now-rare diseases like canine distemper. As Schultz has pointed out, re-vaccinating already-immune dogs and cats does nothing to protect the unvaccinated pets who are actually at risk.



The second group consists of vets who simply don't know or don't care what the science says; they're just going to do what they've always done, and have no interest in changing. I know this because I've had the unfortunate, although thankfully rare experience of meeting veterinarians who had no idea there was an almost-20-year controversy over re-vaccination.



The third camp is comprised of veterinarians worried about the bottom line.



For years, pet owners were encouraged to bring their pets in for annual shots, in part as a means to schedule an annual health exam. The shots themselves didn't bring in much money, but the annual visit was an important source of base revenue for many practices.



Losing that annual exam income would devastate some practices -- or, as one vaccine manufacturer diplomatically put it in a 2005 booklet meant to educate veterinarians about the new guidelines, "Some veterinarians have delayed incorporation of extended vaccination protocols based on economic concerns."



Schultz agrees that economics are a major factor in veterinarians' resistance to change. In a speech at the 2007 National Parent Club Canine Health Conference, he said many veterinarians have told him, "I believe the duration of immunity for some vaccines like distemper, parvovirus and hepatitis is many years, but until I find another way to get the client into my office on a regular basis I'm going to keep recommending vaccines annually."

Get the full story here.

Bored puppy is bored

So, I love my puppy. This is not news.



What's news is that he picked up what I'd characterize as a minor sniffle and cough at one of the apparently pestilential doggy assembly areas he frequents, and is thus banished to only dog-free zones until it resolves, on order of his veterinarian.



Who apparently cares more about the health and well-being of San Francisco's dogs than my sanity, furniture and laundry.



Yes, I'm shut up in a house and tiny urban backyard with the Wild Thing from Michigan, formerly  known as my perfect Scottish Deerhound puppy Rawley.



It used to be I could run him to the dog park for an hour and get a four-hour nap out of it -- helpful when one needs to work. Instead, I'm leaping up from creating a new page on the PetHobbyist.com web site to house web cam feeds, shouting, "Rawley! No!" every four point two seconds.



It's not that I can't walk him. I can and I do. I walked him last night until both Kyrie and I were semi-comatose, and he still fussed and whined for half an hour before settling down and going to sleep. I just got back from walking him up and down my neighborhood streets, and he's standing outside chewing the deck furniture as I type this.



Plz send help kthnxbai.



Photo: Rawley is bored.

The sun comes out... and so do the puppies!

Sunday was a very, very rainy day in San Francisco. The water came down in sheets, buckets and every proverbial and metaphorical rain-like descriptive term you can think of.



It was wet, yo. And I was stuck indoors with a puppy who believes water is some kind of scalding acid that will dissolve the skin from his bones and basically kill him dead.



So when the sun came out in the late afternoon, I had his leash on and was out the door before the first bird gave a tentative little cheep from the trees in the yard.



We live right across from the park, so when we first got there, we were alone, but before too long, that changed.



[caption id="attachment_14169" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="It seems all the dogs in San Francisco were just waiting for the rain to stop, including this land shark Golden Retriever about to ambush an innocent little Scottish Deerhound puppy in the distance."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14170" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Then one of Rawley's very very best friends showed up, Buster the Vizsla. He's just a puppy himself, and his owners and I were delighted at the thought that maybe they could wear each other out."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14171" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Then a new friend came, Mags the 6 month old Shepherd!"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14172" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="It turns out that not just puppies have to get out when the rain stops, but little boys, too. Rawley's two-legged cousin Ronan showed up next!"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14173" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Along, of course, with my brother McKenzie, Ronan's papa. That's just how Ronan rolls. Fortunately, Rawley loves him some Uncle McKenzie."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14174" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rawley went back to playing, under Ronan's careful supervision."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_14176" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="That's a good puppy!"][/caption]



This meteorological reflection on the magic of puppies and children was brought to you by a deliriously puppy-smitten Christie. One day, soon, she'll return to her hard-bitten journalistic ways.



Maybe.



Photos: All from the iPhone of Christie Keith, taken at San Francisco's Sigmund Stern Grove.

Rawley's first restaurant

My tire blew out, and while it was being fixed, Rawley and I walked to Park Chow, which has a dog-friendly patio. I ate a late lunch, he napped. Too bad he's such a stressed-out hound.

Sent from my iPhone