A lot of things cross my desk, and this comes in from Ruth Weddle of California. Many of you know Ruth as the dedicated publisher of Our Afghans, but not many realize her incredible personal story. If you are ever lucky enough to find a copy of her novel Zeig Hell, take the time to read it and you’ll get quite a surprise.
Ruth, a member of the dog show community, is “one of us.” She loves her dogs and she loves the people who own them. Yes, I said “own.” In my opinion, controversy over the word “owner” is designed to fool animal lovers and make them feel bad about themselves. Actually, “ownership” is part of growing up. Part of being a mature adult and taking your place in the world. Ownership means you’re responsible for something in your life, not just drifting through it by the seat of your pants.
When it comes to dogs, ownership makes you responsibe for whatever your dog does – good, bad and all the mischief in between. It’s not the same thing as owning slaves, like some people want you to think. Slavery is the entrapment of one’s own kind. There’s a big difference between owning a dog and owning people. It’s an emotional difference and a legal difference as Ruth Weddle and others like her know, since Ruth works in the legal field. But, it wasn’t always that way. Many years ago, in her native Germany, Ruth saw for herself the crumbling of a democracy into the nightmare of Hitler’s master plan. You don’t want to hear about that? Sorry. Turn the page if it bothers you. Pretend all you want, there is some writing on the wall these days and dog lovers are right in the mix.
There aren’t many people like Ruth still living. This means we don’t have many people left who can spot the flawed logic that brought about one of the cruelest and most destructive political experiments the world has ever known. So we must treasure them, and respect their wisdom – because they can see the warning signs that we don’t understand.
Dog lovers know – because it’s built into the whole fabric of dog shows – that age and experience are good things. Ours is a community based on teaching and learning. The whole remise of dog shows is centered around the pursuit of excellence – improving the breeds we love. Allowing mediocrity to set in is anathema to us. It’s not what dog shows are about.
Dog shows, and those of us who understand them, are about setting high standards, setting your sights on a goal and carrying it through. They’re not about just “being yourself.” They’re about evolving into something greater – becoming a champion right along with your dog – and being your best self.
How does this apply to Ruth Weddle? I’ll tell you: She and a growing number of dog lovers are watching out for us like it’s the most important thing in the world. They’re not letting “politically correct” opinions, or personal differences or sneaky laws take away our freedom to love dogs and create the breeds we adore. Like Ruth, they know how governments can erode families and moral values to shape people into compliance with whatever policies they desire – and how far into the future such governments can plan.
I was embarrrassed by what Ruth sent me from California about Los Angeles County officials going on a door-to-door search for dogs that aren’t neutered, spayed or micro-chipped under threat of $1,000 fines and imprisonment. What a mockery of the dog lovers who founded this country!
A door-to-door search in the Land of the Free? How did this happen?
How did we allow people like this to get through public school, go to college, watch TV, get jobs and take authority to make such laws? Why would the smart people of California empower authorities to go on house-to-house searches for anything – let alone searching for their own dogs!
Most experts agree that how we grow up treating animals is how we end up treating people. If that’s true, then what kind of shallow-minded bullies are we raising – who think they have a right to enter somebody’s home, seize their dog, inspect its body, fine people, imprison them and shame us into doing things their way?
Where are the big animal rights corporations now? (That’s what they’ve become: corporations). Don’t they care if we get thrown in jail and can’t feed our dogs? Don’t they care if we get big fines? Why aren’t they sticking up for us – didn’t we donate money to them along the way?
They are nowhere to be found.
What can we do? What can we do now that we’ve created such a monster and it’s turning on us now, destroying the very dog lovers who joined them, supported them, gave them money and helped them get started years ago?
We can pull the plug. We can see them for what they are, turn the tide and take back the power we gave them. How do I know? I know, because we still have dog lovers like Ruth Weddle, Patti Strand and a growing army of others who are looking out for us. Check them out on the internet. Ask your friends about them. Find out what they’re doing and pay attention to the laws sneaking up on you.
Dog lovers are smart, brave and resourceful – just like the breeds we love. Back when we joined the groups supporting these laws it’s because we thought they were good organizations. It’s because we believed animal “rights” meant “taking good care of animals” like you’re supposed to.
But, it doesn’t mean that. It never did. It became a mean-spirited social movement that we thought was going to get rid of puppy mills – never dreaming the day would come when the press lumped all dog kennels together. But, that day has come.
There’s an old saying that dog lovers everywhere know, and we know it well: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” Maybe it’s time for us to look at what’s happening in Los Angeles County and let them know what that old saying really means.