pet connection

I’ll put up our syndicated newspaper page with the story of these two in the next day or so, since we have to wait for our client newspapers to run them first.

But I’ve made “live” the transcripts of the interviews behind the story: Christie’s QandA sessions with Richard Avanzino of Maddie’s Fund and Nathan Winograd, author of “Redemption.”

You can find both interviews here.

There has never been a better time to read what these two activists have to say. That’s because while nanny-state mandatory pet extinctionneutering legislation advances, city by city, state by state, there’s no evidence that punishing responsible owners and reputable, ethical breeders with laws the irresponsible will simply ignore helps at all.

Taking a system that doesn’t work and working harder at it doesn’t make it work any better. Blaming a broken system on “bad people” and “greedy breeders” isn’t going to change a sheltering paradigm that has long accepted that killing is the only way to deal with what appears to be a pet overpopulation problem — but is really a lack of vision and leadership by the shelter system. (Read our past posts on mandatory spay-neuter laws here. Past posts on no-kill are here. )

Animal-lovers have a hard time believing there’s another way, in part because they have been misled by the disingenuous leadership of animal-rights extremists who believe that the only eventual end to the exploitation of domestic animals is through extinction. Beaten-down shelter workers who are understandably tired of the killing have a hard time believing there’s another way, and it’s natural for them to blame the people who put the animals in their care to be killed because that’s the way it has always been.

But there is another way. And as the saying goes, you can either lead, follow or get out of the way.

For those who criticize us here at Pet Connection — or in the other places our writing appears, such as Christie’s Your Whole Pet column on the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site, SFGate.com — as “greedy breeders” (as California breeding-ban proponent Lloyd Levine does in dismissing all who dare criticize the draconian plan of a man isn’t even a pet-owner — and who give puppy mills a free pass!), here are the facts:

– I have never bred a litter, and I have run a breed rescue. My pets are both purchased and rescued, purebred and not, and I compete in dog sports with my retrievers. I may well breed a litter one day, but if you count me as a “greedy breeder” for doing so, you ought to consider I have cared for my own pets and rescued, fostered and placed dozens of others for 30 years, spending thousands of dollars a year to do so. If I’m in it for the money, I’m sure doing things wrong.

The “profit” on a properly-bred litter rarely exceeds the costs that go into to it, and never does if you consider the costs not just of screening parents for congenital defects, but also showing and competing or otherwise proving the worthiness of your dogs to be bred, as well as the countless hours spent properly socializing puppies in your home to be good family companions. And like all responsible, ethical breeders, I will be responsible for those puppies for life, no matter when, no matter what.

If I breed a litter, which I may never.

I absolutely and unequivocally support those who do breed ethically and responsibly, include the breeder who co-owns all my flat-coated retrievers, a rare heritage breed I love and believe in preserving.

– Christie is a well-respected member and two-term director of the Scottish Deerhound Club of America, and has shown and bred this elegant, rare heritage breed. She hasn’t bred a litter in years, and may never again. Like me, she has owned mixed-breeds and purebreds, and loved neither any less for their paperwork or lack thereof. If you want to find out how reputable and ethical a breeder Christie is, ask anyone who has been lucky enough to get one of her Deerhounds. They are mostly all lifelong friends now, united in the care of these great hounds and in the fight for the breed’s survival.

We are proud to count reputable, ethical breeders among our friends, and we support their efforts to maintain both our heritage breeds and physically and temperamentally sound representatives of the less-rare breeds, as well as working dogs such as stock dogs and police dogs.

We despair of the multitudes of clueless, careless and ignorant quick-buck backyard breeders, and we actively loathe the evil slime known as puppy-millers. Both are responsible for millions of sick and neurotic dogs that live miserable lives even in the most caring of homes. (As well as lives of unspeakable cruelty for “breeding stock” in hideous mass-production facilities.) I can’t speak for Christie, but I firmly believe hell cannot be hot enough for puppy-millers, and I also wish the backyard folks could catch a clue.

Unlike what animal-rights extremists tell you, it is NOT true that a breeder is a breeder is a breeder. Learn the difference, and shun the bad ones. (You can read my “No Christmas Puppies” posts from a couple years ago to find out more.)

Christie and I believe in the vision of the no-kill nation not because we make a living selling animals — the very idea of us “profiting” from our animals made me laugh as I typed it. Rather, it’s because we love and respect pets, and we believe that others are the same as we are and will open their hearts if respected and encouraged — not dismissed by the shelter industry.

We believe that a no-kill nation is not some fuzzy, can’t-work, pie-in-the sky idea, but is truly the only true way home for millions of pets who die because of entrenched thinking that cannot get out of the “we must kill them to save them” rut.

Lead, follow or get out of the way.

Update: More reading. Christopher on Border Wars appears to have spent the entire holiday weekend writing. “Sheeple” beware. … I write about a French proposal to replace greenhouse gas with horse poop (complete with own of my own pictures of French draft horses!) on one of my other blogs. Black Beauty alert. … BAD RAP reminds us that any dog can bite, even Snoopy. … Terrierman plays with a new camera. … LassieGetHelp plays with numbers . … and Willie Nelson reminds us all that it’s better to smoke dope than fight dogs, or something like that. Luv ya, Willie.

Finally, a milestone reached: My 500th anti-pet hate-mailer programmed into the “auto-delete” e-mail filter! Keep writing, you anal-retentive freaks (why are they so obsessed with pet poop?), because I never seen your e-mails, not at all. I’m really sorry your mommies never loved so you have to hate people who love pets and imagine they don’t love people, too, but honestly, get a therapist. Have a nice d-d-d-a-a-a-a-y-y-y.