Dogs in 2010
Put Your Doggie Doggie Dollars to Good Use in 2010
The Sun Chronicle, December 28, 2009
Looking back, 2009 was the year of the dogfight. Unfortunately, the introduction of dog legislature across the nation relating to animal rights forced dog lovers to choose sides and to battle tooth and nail in the public forum over proposed laws that seriously threatened our lives with dogs.
On several occasions during this past year, I was asked to support various positions and to make official statements about dog legislature. Sometimes, I was of great help to a particular group. On other occasions, however, I ended up in the doghouse for my refusal to support views that I did not advocate. You see, in my dog’s eye view, doing what is best for our canine companions sometimes means having to place trust in people to make the right choices for their dogs. I firmly believe that each time we bite at the rights of owners to make decisions about their dogs, we nibble away at everyone’s rights.
What’s more, I believe that the best hope for the betterment of the conditions of dogs in this country truly rests in education and not in passing laws. People need to be taught how to properly relate to dogs. People need to be taught how to properly care for dogs. And, people need to be taught how to act properly and responsibly when their imagined life with dogs doesn’t quite turn out as planned.
Quite frankly, I find it abhorrent that humane groups are being lazy by spending money like dog kibble for backing extremist legislation instead of investing the dollars and hours where they are really needed: in the providing for shelter animals. I can only imagine how wisely these same dollars could also have been spent in trying to prevent more dogs from ending up at shelters. When was the last time that you heard of a humane organization offering free obedience classes or sponsoring a program for the public on dog behavior?
To be sure, I would say that the greatest champions for the plight of dogs are the people around us. I was quite enthused to recently learn that my mom, who has an on-line pet boutique, instructed a customer to donate a wrong sized dog jacket that she purchased to a local shelter with a small donation instead of shipping the item back. Apparently, the woman did donate the jacket to the shelter. This angel also added two large bags of pet food, a bunch of toys and a cash donation as well. Before leaving, she placed an ornament on the shelter’s holiday tree for “Munch,” the name of the dog my mom asked be placed on the jacket donation.
I hope the dog fighting stops in the upcoming year. In my big dog heart, I can dream that extremist humane groups make a resolution to start acting like house-dogs instead of alpha dogs and prescribe to spending their biscuits in ways not unlike the “Munch Project.” Wags, Tracie
