November 1′s DOG TALK® was an especially good show. My guests were wonderful, the topics were varied, and it just worked, which is always thrilling with the unpredictability of live radio. I had a renowned trainer, Martin Deeley, who owns the International School of Dog Training down in Florida, as my guest on the show. Martin is a co-founder of the IACP, one of the two reputable organizations that trains, tests and gives accreditation to dog trainers, with the goal being to set a high standard in the field. He was also given the 2007 U.K. Gun Dog Trainer of the Year and has written three books on the subject. He is humble and adores dogs now as he did as a young boy and he has devoted his life to helping people live harmonious, healthy and fulfilling lives with their dogs. I also had a breeder of Field Spaniels, talking about the breed, which is my way week by week for listeners to hear the seriousness of truly good breeders and always seek them out when they want to buy a puppy. My last guest was Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, the Official Vet of my other radio show on Sirius/XM, CAT CHAT® who talked about her new book Not Fit for a Dog and we debunked the pseudo-science and false claims of veterinary prescription diets.
So it was with amazement and no small amount of irritation that as soon as the announcement of the podcast went out I received an email from an upcoming guest that she wanted no part of my show. She was someone I had never met nor spoken to, but had heard about through the grapevine. Apparently her neighbor had stuck his dog outside on a chain when a baby was born and this woman had slowly but surely convinced him she would find a home for him outside his own town. I had been a recipient of her email appeal for a home for this chocolate Lab and I had made some inquiries but she had 75 immediate replies from people in the rescue community and found him a home instantly. Suddenly, she wrote to decline participating in the planned interview because of her concern about my values, for lack of a better word. Here is her note:
I don’t think I’m the right person to be on your show. To be truly honest, I don’t think we have the same philosophies about dogs and I think it might end up feeling a little weird for me to be a part of the show’s community and promotions. For instance, I’m really against using dogs for entertainment — like gun dogging — and I’m a huge advocate of adopting rescue dogs vs. breeding pedigree pups. I kind of got the feeling that we might have different needs when you asked me not to talk about the issue of chaining dogs but only the rescue/placement event. I would have preferred the story could be an opportunity to enlighten people about the cruelties of chaining, but I’m guessing that might offend some of your audience. Not sure I feel comfortable just telling the story without explaining a reason for the dog’s predicament — chaining. I see too much suffering at the hands of hunters and breeders not to mention their responsibility in this cruel practice.
Hope we can agree to disagree and you can respect my sincere desire just to be doing the right thing for both of us.
So I wrote back to her and am putting this out there because I want anyone else to think twice before feeling justified in jumping to half-baked conclusions about me — or anyone else operating in the pet world. Everyone should be on the same side — we’re all trying to do our best. This is what I said:
Of course you shouldn’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I had invited you on DOG TALK® because you had been successful in convincing a neighbor into giving up his dog, which had been relegated to a chain, 24/7. I thought your courage, diplomacy and determination sounded as though they were worthy of public attention.
Unfortunately you seem to have misunderstood what I wanted you to talk about. Whatever made you think I didn’t want to discuss chaining? I have covered the topic extensively and passionately on the air and on my website. As a guest, I wanted you to explain how you put yourself out to intervene in a bad situation and come up with a solution, so that others could figure out how to do that someday themselves if they encountered cruelty to a dog.
As far as my opinion about chaining, it is one of the horrors against dogs I have given an enormous amount of time to. You offend my audience and me by suggesting that any of us would feel anything but indignation about a dog being chained. It is baffling where you would find the source of such a comment.
Maybe you should have taken a minute to inform yourself about me — and my books — and my radio shows, so you would realize I was offering you an opportunity to show a positive outcome to a seemingly hopeless topic.
I have had Tammy Grimes on my show and also had her PR person on another time, to publicize the work of her anti-chaining group, Dogs Deserve Better.
I specifically joined the Vermont Humane Federation because of my dismay that chaining is 100% legal in my new state of Vermont. There is no doubt on where I stand on any animal welfare issue, but chaining is especially disturbing to me.
I work tirelessly behind and in front of the scenes with the Humane Society of the United States against volume commercial breeding.
No one in the media has given small or large rescue groups the consistent attention than I have.
I have dedicated two entire shows to the underground transport people, encouraging their devoted efforts.
I have personally been instrumental in many shelters dogs being re-homed, including 3 in the past 2 months.
It’s really too bad you didn’t take a moment to either read The Dog Bible, look at my website or listen to any of my shows.
You clearly have no idea of what my philosophies are — you make judgments and jump to conclusions which does neither of us any credit.
Oh — and just so you know, the lovely breeder of Field Spaniels who was my guest on “Meet the Breeders” on the show you disapproved of, has exactly one litter a year — and even then, only when she has a waiting list that would guarantee every puppy has a home.
One of the social problems I am trying to solve in the “dog world” is that often people who identify themselves as being for “animal rights” dismiss all breeders as bad people doing something terrible. My intention on the air is help people with this uninformed prejudice understand the profound difference between responsible, devoted hobby breeders and mass-market, volume, commercial breeders. On the other hand, sometimes breeders defensively come to view anyone interested in animal welfare as being “anti-dog” or anti pet ownership and the hatred of the AKC for the Humane Society of the United States is deeply worrisome to me.
A letter such as yours shows me how far I have yet to go to serve as a bridge or conciliator between two factions, which really should be on the same side: the side of the dogs in our lives.
Tracie
