The righteousness of rescue

At this year's Westminster Kennel Club dog show in Madison Square Garden, right in the middle of Best in Show, a pair PETA activists ran into the show ring and proudly waived signs stating "Mutts Rule" and "Breeders Kill Shelter Dogs Chances". They were quickly and quietly escorted from the ring. There was applause from the audience as they were taken out.

Two years ago Oprah Winfrey devoted an entire show to "Puppy Mills" and rescue, featuring Main Line Rescue in PA. The lurid "undercover" footage by Oprah's team, along with Bill Smith of MLAR, shows several substandard breeding facilities. Virtually everything reported and filmed on that show depicting cruel and inhumane application was already illegal. And yet, Lucy Ling and Bill Smith never called the authorities. Huh? They secretly filmed several locations. During the actual airing of the show, Mr. Smith stated that he had made "deals" with several of the puppy farmers and he doesn't turn them in if they hand over breeding dogs they don't want to use anymore. Of course, MLAR "rescues them, "rehabs" them and in turn sells them. I know, very cynical of me - he sells them, plain and simple. We use the more acceptable term of adopt. Children are adopted, the fee given to a shelter, rescue or breeder is a sale price.

Over the years Oprah has purchased several dogs. Not anymore. The shame and guilt of actually purchasing a dog has become too much, only adoption of rescues for the grand dame herself. Shortly thereafter Oprah adopted two Cocker Spaniels who had come into a local "rescue". One died from parvo, the other survived. We all know what would have transpired if a breeder had sold two pups to Oprah and one had died of a preventable disease.

Over the last few weeks I've been trying to research the origins of dog "rescue". The term "rescue" for dogs is a relatively new use of the word. Of course we all remember the shocking 1/2 hour show Animal Rescue, but that show featured things like kitties stuck in sewer pipes, horses that had fallen into wells, it wasn't about going to a shelter or an organized group and getting a dog. When growing up we had a purebred dachshund, but we had other dogs, all of them from the "pound". That's the same as a shelter. Shelter is so much nicer isn't it? Pound, from impounded dogs.

I've asked members of the "fancy" for information regarding their first "rescue" dogs. I got some interesting answers. Some are on FB others were emails. I won't use names. The information I gathered supported what I've long contended - modern "rescue" as we understand it now, with few exceptions, is a result of the purebred fancy starting to pull their breed and mixes thereof out of shelters and offering to take dogs not of their breeding and re-homing them.

We were still in So Cal when we received a call from a club member to see if we could take a dog that was being pulled from a local shelter. She was a purebred Pembroke. We only had Harold and Maude at the time so were glad to do so. Gracie brought us a lovely round of kennel cough. We were able to place her. That was in 1990. In my searches over the internet I've not found anything other than SHELTERS or purebred rescue groups older than 16+ years. There is a lovely place in Rancho Sante Fe, CA - the Helen Woodward Memorial Foundation that has been in existence for 30 years. Bruce and I actually got a dog from there. They do not take strays though, and are and always have been a facility for surrendered dogs and cats. They have one of the nicest set ups I've ever seen, lovely indoor/outdoor runs, exercise areas, etc. However, other than animal shelters (municipal, county, privately run, the earliest I can find of non purebred fanciers "rescuing" dogs is about 12 years old.

Now we are seeing the hijacking of rescue by AR supporters who instead of acknowledging the ground breaking work done by the purebred fancy are stigmatizing AKC/UKC and other breeders. They've decided their's is the moral high ground - that same fanaticism surrounding some more radical religious sects - the only path to Heaven is MY way. The only path to moral and ethical superiority in pet ownership is to "rescue". Regardless of where someone gets a dog anymore, the majority want to proudly proclaim they've RESCUED a dog. If they go to the shelter - even a no-kill shelter - they've saved it from death.

Recently Ellen deGeneres was awarded Person of the Year type awards from both PETA and HSUS and she's now a proud vegan. She's recently published a comic book - excuse me, graphic novel - and the proceeds are going to HSUS. Yes, this is the same Ellen who has purchased at least three dogs from "rescue" organizations and has run afoul of at least one of them for giving the dog to her hairdresser instead of sending it back to the rescue. The rescue group took the dog back and sold it again.

HSUS and their supporters are now on a rampage of facilitating seizures (usually within a month or two of starting to lobby and initiate for stricter regulation in the same geographic area) based on "complaints". One such seizure has already been declared illegal, but of course the dogs are already gone! SOLD by rescues some within a week of seizure, while there is no conviction of a crime. The same dogs that are being declared unfit and horrible examples of their breed, unhealthy, genetic nightmares are now being SOLD by the seizing agencies. Ahhhh - I see, it's okay to buy a poorly bred dog is you are paying the rescue group, but not the breeder.

It's now a badge of honor to own a "rescue" dog, whether or not the dog was truly rescued from anything! By supporting the misuse of the term, we diminish the true meaning of rescue. I have a friend who saw a young dog on the side of the road, looking thin and frightened. She actually stopped her car, and crawled into a drainage ditch to pick up the dog. Now that's RESCUE. Pepper is now approximately 13 years old. The PETAphiles and the HSUS supporters are waging a war against pet ownership in general, but we are the ones taking the first salvo. We are the front line. It's time we fight back! We need to continue to put out videos like the splendid one by the Missourians for Animal Care Coalition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ettJtlmr4wM

We need to do more, however. There is room in this world for purebred and mixed breed dogs. There is room for purposefully bred, healthy dogs and random bred dogs. Let's take back the high ground for our chosen breeds. Don't let the self righteous rescue haters drive us out of our beloved breeds. Work with your local shelters, but whenever possible let people know, RESCUE STARTED WITH US, it wasn't until it became PC that others got involved. Rescues and shelters are truly the new pound - dogs that have been impounded, legally or not.