Something I Will Never Get Over

This Humane Society video has been coming on every day at the gym during Ellen's slot for the last few weeks...and without fail, I have cried every single time I have seen it. Can we picture that for a second, please? Me, working my cute little butt off on the elliptical, headphones plugged in, tears streaming down my face while staring at the TV?

As a lot of you already know, I am a huge proponent of animal rights. If I really think about it, all I want to do with my life is say, forget grad school and the publishing industry-- if there's one thing I would be happiest doing in the world, it's running an animal adoption agency that would take in unwanted or uncared for animals and working to re-situate them in loving homes.

Granted, it's not that hard to get me to cry, but I don't know if many of you could watch this without doing so, so just prepare yourself for it.



If anyone has rescued a shelter pet, GREAT for you! The world needs more people like you. I'd love to know what kind of animal you rescued and what your experience has been! If you haven't, it's never too late--and can anyone really object to having another animal around? They are the most constant companion imaginable--which is why it breaks my heart that they have to suffer in silence.

Guest Post: Adopt-a-Pet (Help Work to Save a Life!)

Recently, I was contacted by Jeff Howard, from Adopt-a-Pet, a non-profit website that works to find homes for over 125,000 needy animals from over 8,000 animal shelters and human societies in the United States. He works on their blog, (you should check it out! It's great) and asked if I'd be interested in working together to promote the work they do.

Obvi!

I love dogs. I love them more than people, most of the time. They always want to be wherever you are and think that whatever you're doing is the coolest possible thing anyone has ever done. Since I've now resolved to have no children and only have lots and lots of dogs (think Robin from How I Met Your Mother,) I'm going to need a shelter that can provide me with a ton of dogs.

(PS they also have lots of cats and hamsters and rabbits, too, if that's your thing)

To get started, here's some info from Adopt a Pet about pet adoption, itself:


Commonly Asked Questions About Pet Adoption

Q: Although there are literally millions of pets in shelters, pounds, and other 'temporary housing,' many pet owners-to-be don't think about adoption when they're looking for their new four-legged friend. Why do you think that is, and what can be done to turn that around?

A: Many people who want to get a pet just are not aware of how many pets are available at shelters. They might also have the misconception that pets are shelters might be there because there was a problem with the animal. In fact, most pets end up in shelters not because of any problem pet behavior, but because an owner died, moved, or simply didn't have the time or money to care for the animal. In some cases animals are lost and never found by their owners. These animals are healthy and very eager to please. Rescues pets are wonderful- just ask anyone who has one.

Some people are seeking purebred animals or puppies and think these are not available in shelters. In fact, nearly a quarter of all animals in shelters are purebred. Often someone buys an expensive purebred animal and then attempts to breed that animal to recoup their money. Often these puppies or kittens are not placed in homes, and end up in the shelter. Puppies and kittens often up in shelters as well, but it is important to note that your animals, especially puppies, require a lot of work and training and can be quite destructive (peeing on the carpet or chewing shoes). Puppies are great but often people are much happier getting a dog who is older, and whose size and temperament is a known quantity.

With Adopt-a-Pet.com and without even leaving their home, people can search all their local pets and see pictures and descriptions of the animals. This way, they can find the exact pet they want, call the animal shelter or rescue group, and get information on how to adopt that specific animal.

Q: What are the 5 most important things a potential adopter should consider when choosing their new pet?

A: We actually have a blog post on this highlighting the top 10 things we believe are important when adopting. Here are five, the rest can be located by visiting this page.

1. You need to make a real commitment to care for your pet for its entire life.

2. Verify in advance that you’re allowed to keep a pet where you live.

3. Never adopt a pet on a whim or because you feel it’s love-at-first-sight

4. Provide sufficient exercise and stimulation during the first few weeks, this will help the pet adjust.

5. Make any necessary modifications to your yard and fence to provide for your pet’s safety.

Q: What are 5 positive aspects of pet adoption, and why is it a good option?

A: 1. When you adopt an adult animal, you can see his/her size and temperament. This helps ensure that the pet is right for you and your family.

2. It feels great to know you have saved an animals' life and everyone you meet will give you kudos for that for years to come.

3. Adopted pets are very loyal and know they have been given a new home.

4. Adopting a pet can be an important lesson to teach your children-- both about the value of life, and also about civic responsibility and even recycling- in this case recycling a living and loving animal into a new home.

5. Choosing a mixed breed animal can help avoid many of the genetic health problems that have developed in purebred animal due overbreeding and inbreeding.

Q: If someone reading this isn't in a position to adopt a pet right at this time, but still wants to help homeless pets, what are 5 things he or she can do to get involved?

A: 1. People can do Social PETworking! They can run a search on Adopt-a-Pet.com, find a pet they want to help get exposure for, and use the share tools on our site to post the pet link on their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other social network page. Or, they can email the link of a pet in need form our site to their friends.

2. They can place a link/graphic or even a search widget for Adopt-a-Pet.com on their personal website to encourage they users to see pets in need at local shelters.

3. People can add their info to our volunteer database so shelters who need volunteers can find them.

4. People can search Adopt-a-Pet.com to find a local shelter, and make a cash donation to that shelter to help them with the costs of housing, feeding and medical care of shelter animals.

5. People can encourage other pet owners to spay or neuter their pet to help prevent unwanted births.

Stay tuned for the next post with some information on what Adopt-a-Pet does to help and some highlights of their organization!

Save a Dog

I don't know how I didn't hear about this when it happened, but recently I read about Guillermo Vargas's art exhibit in Nicaragua. For those of you who managed also to miss it, the exhibit apparently featured a stray, malnourished dog tied to one wall of the gallery, with a bowl of food just out of his reach. Spectators were instructed not to feed or otherwise assist the dog, and it has never really been confirmed whether the dog was shown as being malnourished during gallery hours but then fed and properly cared for at night, or if the whole thing was as extreme as some news outlets have made it out to be.

It has also never been confirmed if the dog actually died or ran away from the gallery. Vargas has been quoted as saying that the purpose of the exhibit was to expose the hypocrisy of people focusing the center of their attention on a starving dog in a gallery as part of an exhibit, but merely walking by or ignoring starving dogs on the streets.

Either way, whether you agree with the exhibit or not, there's no denying that animal overpopulation is a horrible problem that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. Of course not everyone wants to adopt a dog from a shelter, when it may not be a purebred or when they can't instill their own training in its upbrining, but buying dogs from pet stores is unacceptable and people should either buy directly from breeders or adopt stray dogs. Pet stores get most of their dogs from puppy mills which essentially stack cages one on top of the other, allowing the animals to defecate all over one another, interbreed their animals with members of their own litters, and are sometimes even killed when their fertility wanes. [Sources]

That's why I wanted to encourage everyone to visit Save a Dog, Inc. It's a Massachusetts-based humane society that focuses on abandoned dogs. On their website, you can sign a petition in support of the MA state bill (H.344) to end devocalization, a terrible process by which dogs' vocal chords are cut or otherwise altered to decrease barking.

Or, if you're thinking of adopting a dog...you can do that too ;).

If I had somewhere to keep him, I personally would bring home Jeff...he melts my heart: