Thirteen months have passed since I visited Albuquerque, met with the Shelter people and toured. What I saw and heard impressed me. Why? Well, for one thing, Albuquerque is smart enough to put a Registered Nurse in charge of the shelters. This is someone who understands the need for sanitation. She upgraded the shelters, as I said last year, with the goal of keeping animals healthy and preventing disease. She brought in the shelter medicine specialist from U.C. Davis. After learning what had been implemented, here is what Dr Sandra Newbury wrote on Dec 30, 2007, following the Dec 23, 2007 ABQ Journal article entitled, City’s Toasting Animal Welfare Revamp This Year:
“Thanks for doing such a great job and setting such a great example for other shelters to follow. You all are clearly one of the best two day long investments I have ever made. Thanks for including me. You really are a great team. Congratulations!”
There is no doubt that this is one of the few shelter systems where the animals are less likely to break with illnesses after leaving the shelter.
I’ve done some investigation. This past fiscal year the city of Albuquerque’s Animal Welfare Department had the greatest number of Live Exits in the history of that city. Read that sentence again. It’s meaningful. Albuquerque is up 17% for the last two years under the direction of Jeanine Patterson, MS RN and they are up 24% overall for the past four years.
There are always euthanasias at shelters. That’s a fact of life. Every animal cannot be saved despite the best of intentions. In Albuquerque, they are at an all-time low in euthanasias with a 20% decrease over the last two years and 26% over the past 4 years. This is a wonderful record. Patterson’s determination and dedication will only serve to move this forward and improve the already impressive record.
Can more be done? More can always be done but this is a rousing start in only two short years. I expect an outreach project involving the dog and cat community as well as more of an outreach to volunteers whose work is very much appreciated by Patterson.
What would I wish for Albuquerque? I wish that someone would have sense enough to rid the City of the Draconian spay/neuter laws that were instituted before Patterson arrived on the scene. There are always well-meaning but horribly misinformed politicians who want to force this Animal Rights issue on citizens. (http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/06/15/case-study-in-failure-los-angeles-mandatory-spayneuter-program-under-fire/) Not only have these laws been proven not to work in other cities but all they serve to do is punish responsible breeders. Lawbreakers will simply continue to break the law. These spay/neuter laws are the result of the animal rights agenda that is determined to see that no one will ever own a dog or cat. (Ingrid Newkirk – PETA – quotes: http://www.activistcash.com/biography_quotes.cfm/bid/456) That means not only an end to responsible breeding but, ultimately, an end to service dogs, therapy dogs and cats, police dogs, drug and bomb sniffing dogs, therapeutic riding programs and more. This is no exaggeration. This is what has been stated but those who put forth these laws don’t do their homework. They simply have a knee-jerk reaction to overpopulation.
It’s important to note that despite budget cuts of $1.5 million, Patterson has achieved so much yet has received no attention for it. It’s about time someone stood up and applauded her work to date.
Patterson doesn’t work in a vacuum. The head of Shelter Medicine, Dr. John Romero is a wonderfully dedicated veterinarian with a background that includes time spent at Boston’s world-renowned Angell Memorial Animal Hospital. In-house surgeries and outstanding medical care are his purview.
Getting the word out and getting so much organized is more than capably handled by Rick DeReyes. This is a formidable team and Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez should be applauded for his ability to bring the best people into these positions. His trust in them is obviously paying off in solid numbers. The attention has been placed where it should be in animal welfare: on health and adoption while impressively decreasing the number of euthanasias.
I’m looking forward to more advances from this forward-thinking group of hard working people. The rest of the country should be taking a good look at what Albuquerque has accomplished in such a short span of time and what they will no doubt continue to do to improve the lives of animals in Albuquerque. Mayor Martin Chavez, Jeanine Patterson and Dr. John Romero can stand up and take a bow.
And, yes, I will continue to report on what they are doing.
Showing posts with label Animal Shelters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animal Shelters. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Breed Rescue and Shelters
I love a really good animal shelter. A really good one is clean, safe, and linked into a network of caring people. Volunteers who are adept at handling dogs and cats work with them to make life less frightening for them in the shelter environment and try to make them more adoptable.
Karen Pryor's shelter pets program is a particularly good one that I'd like to see in use in shelters around the world. Volunteers are taught to clicker train the dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. They not only find life more interesting but are more adoptable when they can go to their new homes having learned a thing or two.
The one area in which shelters fall down, in my opinion, is in their misunderstanding and underuse of dog and cat Breed Rescue volunteers. The problem seems to be endemic in U.S. shelters. I don't understand why so many either don't know or are unwilling to learn how to use these people most effectively, to take advantage of their expertise in their breed.
For the purpose of brevity and I hope, clarity, I will talk about dogs but this also applies to cats.
When a purebred dog or cat is turned into a shelter, they go into the system. In a kill shelter there are only a few precious days in which to get them out before they're put down. (The euphemism for killing, "put down," doesn't please me since I prefer to be crystal clear about the act.) Most shelters put the animals up for adoption by the public once they have been deemed adoptable. This includes health exam, possibly spay or neuter and some sort of temperament test that, frankly, isn't consistently good or useful. Before shelter people start screaming at me, I know that you're doing the best that you can and listening to a bunch of "experts" who are often just people who are exceptionally good at self-promotion and earning money through these "lectures." The public has the first crack at adopting these purebreds. Throughout this process of intake, evaluation and adoption is where I think the shelters are not on track with breed rescue and are not properly utilizing this invaluable resource.
Each breed has its own characteristics, health and temperament issues, etc. These are best known to people who have been in the breed for awhile and are experienced in evaluating, training and placing members of their breed. The ideal situation is for the shelter workers to learn to identify the breed, refer to their list of breed rescue contacts (and every shelter should have a such a list clearly available in their office) and call the appropriate person.
The breed rescue person will have a volunteer go to the shelter, "pull" the dog (take him out of the shelter) and will take the dog home for evaluation, medical care, training, and if the dog is a good candidate, placement in a "forever home" that has been carefully screened by someone who knows that breed and is uniquely qualified to make that decision.
Small dogs in shelters, for example, do quite poorly since they're frightened, cold (they lose body heat more quickly than larger dogs), and deprived of the human interaction that is essential for them to do well. They can exhibit fear biting in a shelter setting that would never otherwise happen in a home. It's their only defense when they're terrified. All dogs and cats lose heart and begin to withdraw when placed in a cage with no real love and human contact, without a home of their own. Even a temporary home with a breed rescue foster volunteer is a home where the companion animal will do far better than in the shelter setting.
By getting these dogs into Breed Rescue, the shelter will then have room for more of the mixed breed dogs who also need a home. There will be more space for them when the purebreds are in Foster Care.
Why don't most shelter people understand this and see the value in it? I honestly don't know. Years ago, the head of a large shelter asked, plaintively, why I couldn't get the Toy Dog Rescue people to take the larger purebred dogs since she could place the small dogs. Wow! I was stunned by her lack of understanding of the concept of Breed Rescue. It still makes me shake my head in wonder, even today.
Shelters should not be a cheap pet shop for the public who want a Purebred. Those people who want to adopt a purebred can go to Breed Rescue. The Purebred Rescue groups can be found at the American Kennel Club's website: www.akc.org.
I would love to see the day when there is no further need for shelters, when every dog and cat will be in his or her "forever home." But until resources are properly used that day keeps getting pushed further and further away.
Karen Pryor's shelter pets program is a particularly good one that I'd like to see in use in shelters around the world. Volunteers are taught to clicker train the dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. They not only find life more interesting but are more adoptable when they can go to their new homes having learned a thing or two.
The one area in which shelters fall down, in my opinion, is in their misunderstanding and underuse of dog and cat Breed Rescue volunteers. The problem seems to be endemic in U.S. shelters. I don't understand why so many either don't know or are unwilling to learn how to use these people most effectively, to take advantage of their expertise in their breed.
For the purpose of brevity and I hope, clarity, I will talk about dogs but this also applies to cats.
When a purebred dog or cat is turned into a shelter, they go into the system. In a kill shelter there are only a few precious days in which to get them out before they're put down. (The euphemism for killing, "put down," doesn't please me since I prefer to be crystal clear about the act.) Most shelters put the animals up for adoption by the public once they have been deemed adoptable. This includes health exam, possibly spay or neuter and some sort of temperament test that, frankly, isn't consistently good or useful. Before shelter people start screaming at me, I know that you're doing the best that you can and listening to a bunch of "experts" who are often just people who are exceptionally good at self-promotion and earning money through these "lectures." The public has the first crack at adopting these purebreds. Throughout this process of intake, evaluation and adoption is where I think the shelters are not on track with breed rescue and are not properly utilizing this invaluable resource.
Each breed has its own characteristics, health and temperament issues, etc. These are best known to people who have been in the breed for awhile and are experienced in evaluating, training and placing members of their breed. The ideal situation is for the shelter workers to learn to identify the breed, refer to their list of breed rescue contacts (and every shelter should have a such a list clearly available in their office) and call the appropriate person.
The breed rescue person will have a volunteer go to the shelter, "pull" the dog (take him out of the shelter) and will take the dog home for evaluation, medical care, training, and if the dog is a good candidate, placement in a "forever home" that has been carefully screened by someone who knows that breed and is uniquely qualified to make that decision.
Small dogs in shelters, for example, do quite poorly since they're frightened, cold (they lose body heat more quickly than larger dogs), and deprived of the human interaction that is essential for them to do well. They can exhibit fear biting in a shelter setting that would never otherwise happen in a home. It's their only defense when they're terrified. All dogs and cats lose heart and begin to withdraw when placed in a cage with no real love and human contact, without a home of their own. Even a temporary home with a breed rescue foster volunteer is a home where the companion animal will do far better than in the shelter setting.
By getting these dogs into Breed Rescue, the shelter will then have room for more of the mixed breed dogs who also need a home. There will be more space for them when the purebreds are in Foster Care.
Why don't most shelter people understand this and see the value in it? I honestly don't know. Years ago, the head of a large shelter asked, plaintively, why I couldn't get the Toy Dog Rescue people to take the larger purebred dogs since she could place the small dogs. Wow! I was stunned by her lack of understanding of the concept of Breed Rescue. It still makes me shake my head in wonder, even today.
Shelters should not be a cheap pet shop for the public who want a Purebred. Those people who want to adopt a purebred can go to Breed Rescue. The Purebred Rescue groups can be found at the American Kennel Club's website: www.akc.org.
I would love to see the day when there is no further need for shelters, when every dog and cat will be in his or her "forever home." But until resources are properly used that day keeps getting pushed further and further away.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Albuquerque Does it Right!
I arrived in New Mexico on Friday. Animal person that I am, I was at the Albuquerque Shelter on Saturday. This is a City that had one of the worst possible systems that was called Animal Services. An average of 28,000 animals was brought into the two shelters every year and far too many were euthanized. That is no longer true and within months it began to be turned around in a big way. Impossible, you say? Hardly. All you need is someone who cares and who is determined to do something.
In Albuquerque's case it was their Mayor, Martin Chavez, who saw the problem and set to work fixing it. In a stroke of absolute brilliance, he put Jeanine Patterson, a Registered Nurse by training, in the position of Director and she set to work turning the entire system around. For the first time in 20 years the euthanasia numbers dropped into double digits. The shelter was cleaned up and a new facility appeared in a mall where people can shop and stop by and visit cats and dogs who might just be great additions to their family. Patterson is no ordinary nurse. She opened medical clinics around the world for Intel. She knows how to make things happen. She even invited Dr. Sandra Newbury from the University of California-Davis visit because she specializes in Shelter Medicine and could make recommendations of everything from the most effective cleaning and deodorizing as well as disinfecting agents to better protocols to limit stress while cleaning cages.
Patterson is one of the nicest women I've had the pleasure of meeting and those who work with her and those who volunteer would appear to agree since there is such a warmth that passes among those at the shelter. The Albuquerque Animal Care Center is something to be seen. And something the residents of Albuquerque can take great pride in having in their City.
The shelter is clean, bright, well-maintained and there is a veterinary staff. The associate director is, in fact, John Romero who is on the New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine. The method of adopting is fair.
The fact is that Mayor Chavez has his own dog who goes everywhere with him, including his office every day. One of the most popular annual fund-raising events is the Mayor's Dog Ball.
In concert with this effort, is a group called Kennel Kompadres. The Friends of Kennel Kompadres are those who donate money to help augment the money the City has set aside for the Shelters. In other words, in many other places it's common for donations to a shelter to go into one fund and the money might end up being used for road repair instead of going to the shelter. Kennel Kompadres raises funds to help augment the shelter needs including humane traps for feral cats, etc., puppy and kitten formulas, kitten beds, toys, pet food to help those who foster animals for the shelter. They also do a wonderful job of humane education for children. They bring dogs and cats into school classrooms to educate the children about caring for pets and how to stay safe. They also pay for and distribute coloring books filled with animal care information and they have the equivilent of pet baseball cards for the children to collect. On the back are pet care facts, including spaying and neutering.
There is an Eastside Shelter as well as a Westside Shelter and people who truly care about animals in each.
Thanks to Mayor Chavez, Jeanine Patterson and people who augment the staff like Rick DeReyes, as well as those involved in Kennel Kompadres, many dogs and cats as well as puppies and kittens have found loving homes, life instead of death. The numbers keep coming down for euthanasia and up for adoption. Who could ask for more.
If you know me, you know that I don't impress easily. Albuquerque's Department of Animal Welfare has certainly impressed me. Their motto: Spay, Neuter, Adopt, Love serves as a shining beacon for every community in the United States. And Mayor Martin Chavez should be honored for his foresightedness, compassion, caring, and his determination to take action for the animals of Albuquerque. Bravo!
Visit the Animal Care Centers and Kennel Kompadres online:
http://www.cabq.gov/pets
www.kennelkompadres.org
In Albuquerque's case it was their Mayor, Martin Chavez, who saw the problem and set to work fixing it. In a stroke of absolute brilliance, he put Jeanine Patterson, a Registered Nurse by training, in the position of Director and she set to work turning the entire system around. For the first time in 20 years the euthanasia numbers dropped into double digits. The shelter was cleaned up and a new facility appeared in a mall where people can shop and stop by and visit cats and dogs who might just be great additions to their family. Patterson is no ordinary nurse. She opened medical clinics around the world for Intel. She knows how to make things happen. She even invited Dr. Sandra Newbury from the University of California-Davis visit because she specializes in Shelter Medicine and could make recommendations of everything from the most effective cleaning and deodorizing as well as disinfecting agents to better protocols to limit stress while cleaning cages.
Patterson is one of the nicest women I've had the pleasure of meeting and those who work with her and those who volunteer would appear to agree since there is such a warmth that passes among those at the shelter. The Albuquerque Animal Care Center is something to be seen. And something the residents of Albuquerque can take great pride in having in their City.
The shelter is clean, bright, well-maintained and there is a veterinary staff. The associate director is, in fact, John Romero who is on the New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine. The method of adopting is fair.
The fact is that Mayor Chavez has his own dog who goes everywhere with him, including his office every day. One of the most popular annual fund-raising events is the Mayor's Dog Ball.
In concert with this effort, is a group called Kennel Kompadres. The Friends of Kennel Kompadres are those who donate money to help augment the money the City has set aside for the Shelters. In other words, in many other places it's common for donations to a shelter to go into one fund and the money might end up being used for road repair instead of going to the shelter. Kennel Kompadres raises funds to help augment the shelter needs including humane traps for feral cats, etc., puppy and kitten formulas, kitten beds, toys, pet food to help those who foster animals for the shelter. They also do a wonderful job of humane education for children. They bring dogs and cats into school classrooms to educate the children about caring for pets and how to stay safe. They also pay for and distribute coloring books filled with animal care information and they have the equivilent of pet baseball cards for the children to collect. On the back are pet care facts, including spaying and neutering.
There is an Eastside Shelter as well as a Westside Shelter and people who truly care about animals in each.
Thanks to Mayor Chavez, Jeanine Patterson and people who augment the staff like Rick DeReyes, as well as those involved in Kennel Kompadres, many dogs and cats as well as puppies and kittens have found loving homes, life instead of death. The numbers keep coming down for euthanasia and up for adoption. Who could ask for more.
If you know me, you know that I don't impress easily. Albuquerque's Department of Animal Welfare has certainly impressed me. Their motto: Spay, Neuter, Adopt, Love serves as a shining beacon for every community in the United States. And Mayor Martin Chavez should be honored for his foresightedness, compassion, caring, and his determination to take action for the animals of Albuquerque. Bravo!
Visit the Animal Care Centers and Kennel Kompadres online:
http://www.cabq.gov/pets
www.kennelkompadres.org
Saturday, June 14, 2008
It's the Economy
Sadly, one of the seldom discussed factors impacted by the economy is the family pet. With houses in foreclosure, or about to be foreclosed, soaring gas and food prices, something's gotta give. Unfortunately, that "something" is all too often the family pet. Dog or cat, they are landing in shelters and rescue groups at an alarming pace. When it comes to deciding between food and shelter, or medication and gas for the car, the family pet doesn't even begin to factor into the equation. Much loved companions are finding themselves homeless and with a limited number of days for which they'll be held at a shelter, without signs of a new home, the pet has nothing to look forward to beyond dead.
My friend, Marilyn Krieger, a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area is also in charge of Bengal Cat Rescue for the State of California. She has noticed a definite increase in the number of surrendered cats by people who simply can no longer afford to keep them. They need foster homes until permanent homes can be found. This is a pattern that repeats itself with every cat and dog breed rescue around the country.
Another close friend, Sue Janson of Wichita, Kansas points to her rescue group seeing an increase in the number of animals being relinquished by their owners because of their inability to pay for their care. They are having to make a choice: do I buy gasoline so I can get to my job? do I buy food for my kids or do I relinquish my pet because I can no longer afford him?
This is a difficult decision for everyone involved. There are no real solutions.
Perhaps you can foster a pet until a home is found. Or, perhaps, you have that home for a pet in need. Maybe you can donate food to your local rescue group or shelter. Or maybe you can help a friend who needs it so that pet can stay in his home. We must find ways to work together to resolve these issues while we wait for the economy to turn around. To paraphase: No Pet Left Behind!
My friend, Marilyn Krieger, a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area is also in charge of Bengal Cat Rescue for the State of California. She has noticed a definite increase in the number of surrendered cats by people who simply can no longer afford to keep them. They need foster homes until permanent homes can be found. This is a pattern that repeats itself with every cat and dog breed rescue around the country.
Another close friend, Sue Janson of Wichita, Kansas points to her rescue group seeing an increase in the number of animals being relinquished by their owners because of their inability to pay for their care. They are having to make a choice: do I buy gasoline so I can get to my job? do I buy food for my kids or do I relinquish my pet because I can no longer afford him?
This is a difficult decision for everyone involved. There are no real solutions.
Perhaps you can foster a pet until a home is found. Or, perhaps, you have that home for a pet in need. Maybe you can donate food to your local rescue group or shelter. Or maybe you can help a friend who needs it so that pet can stay in his home. We must find ways to work together to resolve these issues while we wait for the economy to turn around. To paraphase: No Pet Left Behind!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Re: The Next Generation...
Last night, at their invitation, I drove to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to speak to their new Behavior Group.
I wondered, on the long drive through New England roads, what I would find. UMass doesn't have a veterinary school but undergrads could certainly go on to that if they could get in. Getting into Medical School is easier these days than getting into Veterinary School. Did they want to be Applied Animal Behaviorists? Animal Behavior Consultants? What did they know and what did they want to know?
After getting lost on the campus despite a tiny map that is barely legible to anyone over the age of 25, and with help from the kindness of strangers, I found my way to the correct building.
The students, mainly women which is not unusual, were wonderful. Warm and welcoming and certainly curious about the field of Animal Behavior and the related dog training field. They want to do the right thing. They've been trying to encourage their friends and parents to make proper choices and are so determined to help animals that they want to know more. They are hungry for knowledge with the open minds and bright enthusiasm embodied by the young and young-at-heart.
One young woman had volunteered at a zoo and would do so again this year. Her immediate goal is to bring environmental enrichment to the facility to provide a better quality of life for the animals. Another had been a shelter volunteer and expressed a strong desire to help animals, to make life better for those in shelters and help them live better lives in their homes. That was a common theme: making life better for animals and their owners, help people choose the right pets and train them properly so that they wouldn't end up in shelters, or to rehabilitate those who could be rehabilitated.
I gave them the obligatory explanation of why some can't be saved even when it breaks our hearts to have to admit it. I told them that they would be training owners, not just dogs, that learning what is normal for animals, both physically and mentally, is important. You don't walk in assuming that it's truly a behavior problem without a full work-up being done by a veterinarian.
And on and on it went.
I walked out, tired but uplifted, knowing that the next generation is producing people who care about those who cannot speak for themselves and they want to help in a kinder, gentler way. They know that choke and prong collars get the exact opposite result that they seek, they know that animals are intelligent and can learn more easily when properly trained, or retrained. Among the self-centered, rude, they've-been-handed-everything generation of kids there are some who have learned to care about others.
The world may not be so bleak after all.
I wondered, on the long drive through New England roads, what I would find. UMass doesn't have a veterinary school but undergrads could certainly go on to that if they could get in. Getting into Medical School is easier these days than getting into Veterinary School. Did they want to be Applied Animal Behaviorists? Animal Behavior Consultants? What did they know and what did they want to know?
After getting lost on the campus despite a tiny map that is barely legible to anyone over the age of 25, and with help from the kindness of strangers, I found my way to the correct building.
The students, mainly women which is not unusual, were wonderful. Warm and welcoming and certainly curious about the field of Animal Behavior and the related dog training field. They want to do the right thing. They've been trying to encourage their friends and parents to make proper choices and are so determined to help animals that they want to know more. They are hungry for knowledge with the open minds and bright enthusiasm embodied by the young and young-at-heart.
One young woman had volunteered at a zoo and would do so again this year. Her immediate goal is to bring environmental enrichment to the facility to provide a better quality of life for the animals. Another had been a shelter volunteer and expressed a strong desire to help animals, to make life better for those in shelters and help them live better lives in their homes. That was a common theme: making life better for animals and their owners, help people choose the right pets and train them properly so that they wouldn't end up in shelters, or to rehabilitate those who could be rehabilitated.
I gave them the obligatory explanation of why some can't be saved even when it breaks our hearts to have to admit it. I told them that they would be training owners, not just dogs, that learning what is normal for animals, both physically and mentally, is important. You don't walk in assuming that it's truly a behavior problem without a full work-up being done by a veterinarian.
And on and on it went.
I walked out, tired but uplifted, knowing that the next generation is producing people who care about those who cannot speak for themselves and they want to help in a kinder, gentler way. They know that choke and prong collars get the exact opposite result that they seek, they know that animals are intelligent and can learn more easily when properly trained, or retrained. Among the self-centered, rude, they've-been-handed-everything generation of kids there are some who have learned to care about others.
The world may not be so bleak after all.
Friday, April 4, 2008
OPRAH and The Puppy Mill Show
The way rumors were flying around the internet when it was first announced that Oprah Winfrey was going to do a show on puppy mills, you'd think the sky was about to fall! Responsible breeders in the dog fancy were afraid they were going to be vilified when they are not at fault. One post from some man who claimed to represent an organization of Sporting dog people went so far as to advise boycotting Oprah's sponsors. How can anyone call for a boycott or get upset before they've seen the program? People were leaping to so many conclusions that it was like watching grand jetes at the ballet!
Like every other dog lover, dog writer, behavior consultant, etc., I simply had to stop my day and watch the show. It was, at this point, mandatory viewing. What did I come away with after the fact? Lisa Ling did an admirable job going undercover at a puppy mill and showing the public (if they care to pay attention) the disgusting, inhumane conditions of the origins of most pet shop pups. There was a visit to a kill shelter where dogs must be chosen to be euthanized because they haven't been adopted and their time is literally up. It's gut-wrenching.
There were stats (in my mind, over the top) about how many purebreds are in shelters. Most are taken by breed rescue, rehabbed and rehomed so that wasn't quite on target but a small point to quibble about. Oprah's veterinarian, Dr. Sheldon Rubin, not only showed how easy it is to neuter a pet and told of the importance of spay/neuter as a health issue but Oprah pointed out that there are lost cost spay/neuter clinics so there's no excuse for not having your pet spayed and neutered instead of adding to the population.
Viewers were advised to get their dogs from a shelter or breed rescue and even the man from the rescue group said that the problem doesn't come from responsible breeders because they take their dogs back, even after several years so their dogs aren't landing in the shelter. Buying from a reputable breeder is quite different from buying from a backyard breeder or a puppy mill dog.
All in all, it was an excellent program and Oprah Winfrey did a great service today in helping to educating the public.
Those of us who specialize in writing about dogs and cats usually end up preaching to the choir, seldom being able to break through to the mainstream media. This time, the mainstream media picked up the ball and ran with it. And scored!
Brava, Oprah! I hope others follow your lead and I hope that you will revisit this topic in the future.
Like every other dog lover, dog writer, behavior consultant, etc., I simply had to stop my day and watch the show. It was, at this point, mandatory viewing. What did I come away with after the fact? Lisa Ling did an admirable job going undercover at a puppy mill and showing the public (if they care to pay attention) the disgusting, inhumane conditions of the origins of most pet shop pups. There was a visit to a kill shelter where dogs must be chosen to be euthanized because they haven't been adopted and their time is literally up. It's gut-wrenching.
There were stats (in my mind, over the top) about how many purebreds are in shelters. Most are taken by breed rescue, rehabbed and rehomed so that wasn't quite on target but a small point to quibble about. Oprah's veterinarian, Dr. Sheldon Rubin, not only showed how easy it is to neuter a pet and told of the importance of spay/neuter as a health issue but Oprah pointed out that there are lost cost spay/neuter clinics so there's no excuse for not having your pet spayed and neutered instead of adding to the population.
Viewers were advised to get their dogs from a shelter or breed rescue and even the man from the rescue group said that the problem doesn't come from responsible breeders because they take their dogs back, even after several years so their dogs aren't landing in the shelter. Buying from a reputable breeder is quite different from buying from a backyard breeder or a puppy mill dog.
All in all, it was an excellent program and Oprah Winfrey did a great service today in helping to educating the public.
Those of us who specialize in writing about dogs and cats usually end up preaching to the choir, seldom being able to break through to the mainstream media. This time, the mainstream media picked up the ball and ran with it. And scored!
Brava, Oprah! I hope others follow your lead and I hope that you will revisit this topic in the future.
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