Animals and Rights

Been kind of obsessed with the politics of Animal Rights lately. I find myself thinking about it much more often than I’d like…but given the places and people I "hang out" with and listen to…. it’s inevitable.

The basis for much of my thinking about it is Vicki Hearne’s essay, “What’s Wrong with Animal Rights.” In it she posits that rights are about pursuits of happiness and that AR activists don’t have the slightest idea about what makes animals happy…. esp. dogs, she says, for whom happiness means meaningful work…not freedom from pain.

The primary fault I find in the AR movement is that there is scant understanding or recognition of the BOND between us and domestic animals and they would be fast to do away with the whole enterprise, claiming it equivalent to slavery. Purebred dogs are high on the list of things to do away with…. selective breeding seen as a kind of crime against nature. I shudder to think of a world without collies or Airedales or papillons.

On the other hand, the ANTI-AR movement has become just as strident…part of their agenda is to protect the rights of breeders, and more and more I see it as a Pro-Breeder movement…There are vast amounts of breeding practices and husbandry that I cannot get behind….

I grew up steeped in the idea that good breeders were hobby breeders who not only did NOT make a profit, but lost money on the venture because every cent was reabsorbed into the care and showing of their dogs…all of whom lived IN the house, had call names and relationships with people.

I see the Anti AR movement squaring up behind commercial breeders, even certain factory farming practices. Now whenever there is a raid on a substandard breeding facility –backyard breeding that often occurs exclusively in the basement---they rush in and “bet” that the AR movement is behind having sent in an activist posing as a buyer who saw toe nails too long and screamed neglect.

Really, I don’t feel comfortable in either position. I would fight for the rights of responsible breeders and caretakers, but not all breeders and caretakers are ethical. The question of whether animals have rights or not is a philosophical one that I’m not ready to give up yet. Just because the loudest proponents seem entirely off the mark, doesn’t mean that animals DON”T have rights…but what those are is hardly ever discussed in any interesting context….

Do they have a right to good care? For instance. And what is that?
What is our responsibility towards the animals in our care? Do we have the “right” to do whatever we SAY is good for them because we own them? What criteria are used in the formulations of these arguments?

Probably my hero in this realm is Temple Grandin (who I saw last weekend at the Dove Lewis conference). Her great achievement is the redesign of cattle yards and slaughterhouses so that the animals are not spooked or stressed, calm and cooperative with the understanding that calm cooperative animals are treated well and their last moments on earth are free from terror.

She is not advocating an end to meat eating, but humane practice in the getting of that resource.

Dog Poems

eh..publication issues!

The Other Work

forthcoming collection of poems

Sheltie National

( photo: Am Ch OTCH Merrily's Steely Dan UD ) photo by Chris ? 1980s

The National. 2010. Tuscon, AZ.

There is so much to think about, so much to say. I got to see a lot of people who were instrumental in the creation of Emma's pedigree, others who sparked my interest in Shelties many years ago. Names I've heard are now attached to faces and lines I've seen bits of here and there were in full force in the ring.
I was even a little surprised at how many hours I could spend watching the dogs move around the ring, stack and re stack. i think what I was most keen on was watching movement and figuring out angles. The good movers became fairly quickly obvious and especially inspiring were the ones who had soundness and attitude. The sheltie smile, the ground swallowing trot. I wish I had a catalog...there were a small stack of them sitting on the bench near me that I used when needed so only miss having one now.

I do so wish I had been there for the performance events though....herding. obedience....particularly. I would've liked the balance. As it was, the conformation sparkled, but I feel at loose ends in that world without my dog.... A world of clear hierarchy...it is obvious who is important there and in what order. This is not to say that people weren't nice ...many were...and that there are not conformation people I count as friends, some of them treasured, but I had the distinct feeling that sometimes it took something of an effort and a moral code to be nice----although a thing not to be underestimated---and the real goods belong to the breeders and the professional handlers.

The stakes are high, the competition fierce. And to be utterly honest, there's a part of me that wants to throw her hat in. After all that keen sense of hierarchy comes from my own sense of competition. BUT. Always always always...the dogs have to come first, and one ought to treat your friends with respect, and your competition with grace.

And then.... I kept thinking that here were these sound dogs with fabulous structure, attitude and willingness...and for what? For moving around the ring well and throwing puppies who do too. Seems logical to me that these are the dogs who should be herding and doing agility and search and rescue and racking up OTCH points...

And yet I wonder, as a person with a well tuned sense of aesthetics, why shouldn't the beauty of the beast not be enough? Well....because I believe in a dog's mind and heart and soul and that a challenge and a purpose is what gives life joy. But then again, isn't just being enough...don't dogs themselves teach us that? That trotting around the ring in your body is a joy itself?

I have no conclusions...only questions and a desire to find my place ...after many years here I still think there is more to do and more niches to poke my nose into...as long as the dogs are there.

Which brings me to my bottom line....and that is that I'm not sure I want to go to a National again without my own dog. For the company, the solace.

Jan 03 2010

I’m writing a poem a day again with a small group of writers. It’s my 4th month, which means I have about 120 rough drafts to work from.
When I started the 4thDog, back in 06, I wrote for the blog every day…

I have an idea to sift out all the dog training/showing poems and put them in a collection. I mean how many books of poems about dog shows are there!?! And I don’t think these are sentimental or overwrought…but about precision, moments. about seeing things, about miracles, joy and disappointment.

I can honestly say that there aren’t too many places in the world I’d rather be than a dog show; for me it is such an intense experience, a pastry shop for the eye, the best shopping I can imagine, a day spent with my dog, and the always complicated and strange interactions with people.

They are remarkable phenomenon. My friend said it was like every weekend all over America these odd, often large, tent cities would be erected…like well equipped refugee camps…and then by Monday they would gone without a trace…until next weekend…when the world would make itself anew.

For most people there, what is at stake is huge…passion, power, a livelihood, community dynamics, a sense of personal value.

The poems indulge what is at stake for me there…hard to define…but I have a long and diverse experience with them. I think I am now enjoying them more than ever…people don’t hold as much power over me as they once did, I have accomplished a lot with my dogs, and the people I am involved with I find to be---for the most part---kind, humane, funny and interesting.

Maybe I’ll try some of them out here.