The Hounds of Myrtle Run

When my husband and I moved to our property in Louisa,VA (we are both natives of Virginia) we wanted to find ways to help animals in the community. Of course, one of those ways is through rescue.  When we received a call from the shelter staff asking if we could please take a frightened, heavily pregnant, stray hound, we looked at our, then empty, pen and said OK. Knowing nothing of puppy birthing, we learned all we could, provided a safe environment and good food and hoped that nature would be kind with us. Nature was, and within a few days, this skinny, frightened hound gave birth to 8 hound puppies. We fed mama well, mama fed the pups well, and all thrived.

As soon as the pups were old enough and vaccinated we began taking them to adoption events to find homes.  They were so cute and people adored them! But few wanted to adopt a hound. Hubby and I were out every weekend showing off our pups and seeking good homes.  We eventually found homes for four of the pups. But the others were growing large quickly and needed to find homes soon. So with the kind help of others, we managed to ship the last four to a deluxe shelter in New Jersey.  We were able to see their profiles online and watch with amazement at how rapidly each remaining pup was adopted for sums of money we could scarcely imagine.

Fast forwarding to the present, we have now received back two of the four pups adopted locally when the families decided they could no longer keep a hound. Now, having accumulated 11 dogs in our short tenure in rescue, we no longer foster dogs for adoption. For those who came into our home and failed to be adopted (or were returned), we provide a home full of love, patience, room to run, and responsible ownership. We adore our three hounds, our two beagles - one so shy and sweet and the other a remarkably resilient survivor, our two wonderful pit bulls, our once feral shepherd mix who was expected to be returned to the shelter for euthanasia after her pups were weaned and adopted, and our elderly dachshunds and spunky min-chow mix. Having dipped a finger randomly into the rescue pot for a very brief moment in time, this is what we accumulated - a snapshot of rescue in rural Central Virginia - hounds, beagles and pits.

We adore our pack and would not now trade them for any other. We have learned, first hand, the overwhelming challenge of rural animals in need of homes. And we are committed to working to support the education and cultural shifts that are essential if we are ever to reduce the numbers of animals in desperate need.

No relief for tethered dogs...

As a relative newcomer in the realm of serious animal advocacy, I am still in the period of learning the depth and details of the issues.  Part of my learning involves coming to understand the political and legislative issues of animal welfare.

I recently attended a meeting of the House Agriculture sub-committee at which HB 888 was discussed.  This bill had sought to grant permission (in accordance with the Dillon Rule) to localities to enact tethering ordinances.  Numerous people spoke convincingly about why localities need the freedom to manage the tethering of companion animals to promote the wellbeing of the community.  Only one person spoke in opposition citing that there were too many laws already.

Animal management is administered at the local level and thus if localities are to do their job effectively, they need the tools and freedom to do so – unless we prefer state or federal management.

Despite wide support, the bill was killed. Committee members noted that since tethering has not been defined as a “cruel practice”, they cannot then grant permission to address it.  

For those who don’t know, unrestricted tethering is a horribly common and cruel practice exemplified by attaching a dog to a heavy chain for the duration of that dog’s entire life, and leaving the dog with such minimal attention that it lives in its own fetid waste, suffers endlessly from want of food, water, shelter from cold, relief from heat, worms and parasites, lack of exercise, lack of socialization, and lack of medical attention until it finally dies a slow, lonely, tragic death.

Female dogs tethered in this way are often un-spayed and susceptible to breeding from whatever wandering male gets lucky – leaving the pups to the same desperate life or worse.  All tethered dogs are susceptible to attack from wandering dogs –a notable recent national case involved a tethered dog that was eaten by wolves.

Data on the safety hazards with tethered dogs is extensive and readily available.   And yet, as our delegates on the sub-committee pointed out so well, we - citizens, caretakers of “our” animals, children of God, humans – have not defined this as a “cruel practice” and thus must be denied the freedom to govern this in our own communities.

Your legislative representatives have spoken.  However if, like me, you feel that our humanity has not been well-represented and you believe communities should be allowed to effectively manage their dog populations, then please talk to your state and local representatives.
 
Don’t wait for the next legislative session.   Speak to your representatives now and regularly.  Otherwise they will continue to take the easy path and disregard our humanity.  Virginia’s General Assembly site is an excellent resource (http://legis.state.va.us/) and you’ll be surprised at how easily you can make your voice count.  Your voice is what defines our humanity.   The wellbeing of our communities and the animals therein depend upon it.

Managing Companion Animals: PART II – Animal Control

Above and beyond our personal efforts to promote responsible animal care, we need to look to our Animal Control Officers (ACOs) for the critical role they play in community education and law enforcement.

As ACOs engage with the individuals that either don’t know or choose to violate the laws of animal management, our ACOs  are in the unique position to teach people about the reasons for the laws, the importance of following the laws, and beyond the law, the importance of properly caring for and assuming responsibility of one’s animals.

We should be highlighting the value of our Animal Control Officers, inviting them to share their knowledge in our community activities: classrooms, civic meetings, public events, ….  How well do you know your ACO?  If you find that your ACO is not available for such events, consider encouraging your community’s administration to ensure time and availability for your ACOs to provide community education.  Make sure they know just how important this education is in the community’s role of promoting effective animal management.

The added strength we have in our ACOs is their ability and responsibility to enforce animal management laws.  Education isn’t always enough to change old habits and dissuade some people from abusive and neglectful behaviors.  Where education fails, we must rely on law enforcement. 

Throughout Virginia, licensing compliance rates are frequently low or unknown despite a state law requiring licensing for dogs and giving localities the right to require licensing for cats.  Many rural communities simply fail to prosecute cases of serious abuse and neglect as they have become accustomed to perceiving such cases as insignificant and remain sadly unaware of the strong associations between animal abuse and the development of violent behavior against humans. In order to overcome the customary inattention to animal laws, community residents will have to speak up and make known to our community administrations that we need and expect strong enforcement of laws pertaining to animal management and that the Animal Control agencies must receive the support they need to carry out their responsibilities effectively.

Animal Control Officers are under-paid and under-educated for the demanding and complex responsibilities they hold in today’s culture.  Too many localities still embrace antiquated notions of the “dog catcher” – someone who simply rounds up stray animals.  Education requirements for Animal Control Officers are minimal – 84 hours.  Even this can be delayed for two years – thus allowing individuals to work as an Animal Control Officer for 2 years with no training at all.  Sadly, state regulations continue to lag behind the needs of the profession.  Fortunately, the Animal Control profession is changing greatly in those localities that have come to understand and value the uniquely critical role of Animal Control Officers.

Virginia is fortunate to have a well-established and highly regarded statewide association – the Virginia Animal Control Association (VACA) – that is working hard and making headway in bringing about positive change – such as strengthening educational requirements and pursuing stronger law enforcement status for ACOs.  But change is hard and VACA needs support for these changes to come from the residents of the communities that will benefit from stronger, better educated, and better supported Animal Control professionals.

Here again, we, individuals and animal guardians, can play a role to help improve the responsible management of animals in our communities.  We can support and encourage the professional development of our community Animal Control Officers.  This is the agency that ultimately holds the promise of providing a solid foundation for our communities to evolve into truly humane communities with the ability to both communicate and enforce the guidelines for responsible pet ownership and thus promote the overall safety and well-being of the community and its animals.  I urge you to take the opportunity to get to know your Animal Control professionals and to urge your community leadership to fully support its Animal Control department.  This is what we can do to promote humane communities.

Managing Companion Animals: PART I - Personal Responsibility

Earlier this summer a letter to the editor from the president of our local humane society spoke out on the importance of individual personal responsibility in caring for companion animals, “Dog owners must become more responsible.”

It’s true that so many problems in the world would disappear if people would just be more responsible.  But getting this to happen isn’t easy!  We wrestle with issues of personal responsibility on many fronts of human behavior:  driving vehicles, consuming alcohol, managing finances, managing anger & violence – just to name a few.  People just are not naturally responsible –whether due to a lack of understanding, disagreement, financial

barriers, or just plain apathy.

In order for us to live together in relative harmony we have to build and enforce responsibility in those areas where behaviors of individuals can negatively impact others in the community.  This task falls to individuals as well as to our local governing agencies.  We rely on education to instill an awareness of responsible behavior.   We look to our community leaders, as well as to our family, friends, and neighbors, to set examples for responsible behavior. And we develop laws to articulate responsible behavior that our law enforcement agencies carry out into the community. 

If we ever hope to build responsibility among animal owners, we must begin building and enforcing responsible pet ownership to the same degree that we do so for other areas of human behavior.   What can we, as individuals, do to bring this about?

First, and most simply, we can be an example for responsible pet ownership.  We can be sure to have our own pets licensed, tagged, spayed or neutered, properly cared for and provided with appropriate veterinary care.  We can make sure to have plans in place for our pets in the event that we are unable to care for them so that they do not wind up by default at a local shelter or as an unexpected burden on someone.  And we should learn how to manage appropriate behavior in our pets so that they don't bother others and so that they don't become an unwelcomed burden to ourselves.  In addition, we should become acquainted with and follow the laws that pertain to responsible animal ownership at the state level as well as our community level.

Next, we can encourage our community leaders to set proper examples of responsible behavior. Many community leaders continue to turn a blind eye to concerns and laws regarding animal management.  Sometimes, they are guilty of the very behaviors we seek to correct. Not long ago one of our community’s leaders was a well-known dog fighter.   Some community members, upstanding in other respects, may still engage in backyard breeding and inattention to their own tied-out or roaming dogs and breeding cats.  Through our everyday engagement with our community leaders, we can help them understand the importance of responsible animal care and their role in promoting it in the community.

Thirdly, we can encourage and support the education of other community members, most importantly our children, about responsible pet ownership and compassion for animals.   Educators can find a wealth of resources available to support humane education.  It’s easy to incorporate humane education into the classroom.  Kids have a natural affinity for animals.  Teachers who develop programs and techniques for humane education can also inspire and help others to do the same.  

Assuming our personal roles in promoting responsible pet ownership is an important first step towards building a more humane community.  In combination with effective community support services, our personal commitment to advocating for responsible animal care is a winning hand.

The key to animal welfare...

... is human education.

Thinking, planning, moving towards humane communities ...

What is a humane community? A simple term that's been around for a long time, I'm always surprised that we hear so little talk about the value and process of developing humane communities. Talk abounds around shelter adoptions and spay/neuter options.  But relatively little talk comes around to considering the full picture of effective, humane pet management in communities.

While I'm not aware of a given definition for a humane community, I'd suggest that a humane community is one which values life, both human and animal, and chooses to promote that value by building and supporting responsible animal management practices that benefit both the animals in a community as well as the safety and well-being of the humans that interact with those animals.  These practices include, at the minimum, education for animal guardians about humane and responsible animal care, enactment and enforcement of laws that promote humane and responsible animal care, and the inclusion of animals in a community’s emergency services plan and operation.  In partnership with responsible community administrations, charitable agencies can provide significant support in conceiving, developing, and sustaining programs to promote humane communities. It is this partnership that is often found lacking. 

Often misunderstood, “SPCA” is merely a term commonly applied to non-profit animal shelters.  An “SPCA” organization has no connection to other SPCA organizations and has no meaning other than that given by the organization applying the term.  Increasingly, the term SPCA has been applied to organizations whose primary and perhaps sole purpose is the management and re-homing of homeless animals.  The original intent of the name – Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – has lost much of its meaning given that so many SPCA’s currently do little to significantly address social issues of cruelty or neglect to animals.   By law cruelty and neglect issues are handled by a community’s Animal Control service.  It’s not uncommon that significant discrepancies exist between the attitudes and beliefs of Animal Control officers and those managing an SPCA shelter.  However, little public attention comes to these issues and the shelters typically have their hands full with the job of managing a shelter and re-homing countless animals.  They understandably have little time or ability to address larger issues of animal cruelty and neglect.

Pet management, and the problems of ineffective management - neglect and abuse, backyard breeding, bite cases, animal aggression, owner-surrendered pets, and disease transmission – are issues of community and individual responsibility and education.  Pet rescue/adoption and low-cost spay/neuter address pieces of the solution, but, as evidenced in the ongoing pet management problems in communities, they don't provide effective solutions in isolation.  While some may espouse a vague notion of responsible pet ownership, few people seem to understand that "responsible pet ownership/guardianship" is a process that is as dependent upon the active involvement and support of a community's administration as it is upon the actions of pet guardians.  This concept is slowly beginning to materialize in forward thinking communities and is embraced by the National Canine Research Council.  It's my hope that we can begin to weave some of these practices together for the benefit of communities and their animals in Central Virginia. 

The No-Kill debate … an Introduction

With the annual conference of the No-Kill Advocacy Center just over and with dire forecasts for the American economy ahead of us, the question over the potential reality of a no-kill society takes on new fervor and heightened attention – and nowhere more so than here in Virginia.

For the uninitiated, “no-kill” refers to the practice of finding adoptive homes for all shelter pets that are of sufficient health and temperament to be adoptable. (There are specific guidelines on this which I will not go into here.)  The basic premise is that, since there are estimated 23 million people adopting a new pet in the U.S. each year, and there are now only about 3-4 million dogs and cats being euthanized in shelters each year, there should be an ample supply of good homes for these pets if only the effort is made to get them matched up.  Those seeking a good look at the no-kill topic are often referred to the book “Redemption” by Nathan Winograd, founder of the No-Kill Advocacy Center.

Representing the flip side of this debate is PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – an organization often known for its radical animal welfare activities.  According to PETA, the notion of “no-kill” shelters is misleading when the reality is that such shelters, when full,  must decline the intake of homeless animals and, when unable to adopt animals in a reasonable time frame, are forced to warehouse animals in confined situations that may result in fates worse than death.

This question is no more alive than right here in Virginia where the Virginia Alliance for Animal Shelters (VAAS) has arisen as an alternate voice to the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies (VFHS) , the long-time central voice for animal welfare in Virginia.  While not embraced as part of its official mission, VFHS is generally seen as promoting the no-kill goals of the private shelters that dominate its membership.  In contrast, the focus of VAAS is upon the “open-access” shelters “which cannot or do not ‘pick and choose’ the animals they receive. “  Often, these are municipal shelters but they may also include privately run shelters that practice “open-access” admission.  In its case statement VAAS provides an informative account of the nature and history of this division. 

The “no-kill” debate is an important and often misunderstood issue.  Some people question the availability of truly “good” homes and worry about the fate of animals not adopted or adopted into hoarding, abusive, and neglectful situations.  Others counter that achieving a truly no-kill society is simply a matter of a willingness on the part of those managing shelters to be committed to it. 

While I cannot address the issue in depth here, I'll occasionally return to this issue bringing different facets into discussion.   And I invite readers to consider and explore the issue:  how it plays out in your own localities and what you can offer to help promote understanding and collaboration among shelters and individuals who strive to find the most effective balance for the well-being of animals in your community.