The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Summer 2018 | Page 35

OPINION | RACHEL BRIX
 This bench was placed in memory of Puppy Doe, at the Quincy, Massachusetts, park where
she was left for dead in 2015 by the man who had brutally beaten and tortured her. It is part
of a documentary film in the works: “Puppy Doe: Free To A Good Home” and printed with
permission from their Facebook page, Puppy Doe: A Documentary, www.puppydoefilm.com.
Photo by Director of Photography, Brendan Lubin, photographed in Quincy, MA.
In the years it took this case to go to trial, Puppy Doe’s suffering
inspired the passage of the PAWS Act in 2014, which doubled
fines and increased prison time for abusers in Massachusetts. And
PAWS II (a result of the PAWS Act’s task force) passed the Senate
on March 15, 2018 and is now in the House Ways and Means
Committee. The key provisions of this bill deal with several specific
types of abuse and enforcement protocols.
During the sentencing recommendation in the Puppy Doe case,
Tracey Cusick, the Massachusetts District Attorney, claimed “this
defendant’s conduct is unprecedented. The Commonwealth could
find no case of someone having done something similar in this
commonwealth, in this nation or anywhere else where somebody
has been found guilty of 12 counts of animal cruelty [involving]
multiple incidents of abuse on one vulnerable dog.”
Calls for stricter laws for animal abusers have become widespread.
Even the FBI has taken notice of the correlation between animal
abuse and violence toward humans, and as of January 1, 2016,
it declared animal abuse a Class A felony, in the same category
as murder, arson and drug trafficking. And recent developments
include a push for animal abuse registries (like a sex offender
registry), which Tennessee has enacted, and Maryland is poised to
be next; municipalities like New York and Tampa have also already
jumped on board, as has Cook County (Chicago).
All Animals Deserve Advocacy
As positive reinforcement dog trainers, our core philosophy is
that pain, fear and intimidation don’t work. We continue to learn
more about how dogs think, feel and communicate, and believe
how we approach training—simply put, the way we treat dogs—
means happier dogs and happier dog people. So, given the choice,
why not treat all animals the same way? There is no downside to
compassion, and there’s no upside to abuse: +R was birthed, at least
in part, out of these basic concepts. To then consider becoming
vegan — a person who doesn’t consume or use any products that
come from an animal — already aligns with our beliefs, since
animals as industrial commodities do experience pain, fear and
intimidation, and often prolonged suffering and death.
Far from being the norm in dog training, positive reinforcement
has existed mainly on the fringe until recently. Its new popularity
can largely be attributed to the shift in our cultural collective
conscious as our love affair with animals increases. According to
American Pet Products Association, pet industry spending for
2016 came in at a record high $66.75 billion, up from $60.28
billion in 2015, or a 10.7 percent growth: 6 billion dollars in
growth in one year. Pet industry spending has seen a 185 percent
increase since 2001 and was even considered “recession proof”
when spending increased despite the economy slump in the late
2000s. We’ve inarguably become a society of “animal lovers.” We’re
demonstrating that we care for, spend time with, cater to and love
our dogs more than we ever have. Psychology Today reports, “81
percent of those surveyed consider their dogs to be true family
members, equal in status to children. It appears that dogs have
become such an important part of the family that 54 percent of
Americans now consider themselves to be ‘pet parents’ rather than
‘pet owners.’ ”
And parallel to the cultural development of this new badge, the
world is undergoing another monumental shift in cultural thinking
as humans’ circle of compassion grows to include all animals, not
just pets. Just as our clients are becoming increasingly aware of
different training methods and asking good questions, we should
be asking ourselves good questions as well. Simply put, as animal
lovers, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to draw the line between
which animals we parent and which animals we eat.
Trends in vegan consumerism are beginning to parallel that of
the pet industry. More and more consumers —our clients —are
demanding more humane food choices, especially as credible
studies continue to emerge about the health benefits of a plant-
based diet. For example, people are now more aware of the living
conditions of egg-laying hens in battery cages (stacked cages no
larger than a piece of typing paper where layers live their entire
lives). Consequently, we’ve seen the rise of “humanely raised” and
“cage-free” options as people become increasingly reluctant to
support such suffering. According to the Washington Post, “nearly
200 U.S. companies–including every major grocery and fast-food
chain–that together buy half of the 7 billion eggs laid monthly
have pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025.”
The term “plant-based” has all but become a household term,
and you’d be hard-pressed to watch TV, read a magazine or surf
the internet without coming across some mention of “plant-
based” or “vegan.” Even the closing ceremonies of the Winter
Olympics featured a PSA straight from the athletes themselves
on the positive effects of going dairy-free. Due to its increasing
popularity, the options for eating a plant-based diet aren’t just
restricted to specialty stores, but widely available in retail giants
such as Walmart, who also has pledged to only source cage-free
eggs by 2025. According to Forbes.com, “sales of plant-based food
in the US went up by 8.1 percent during the past year, topping
$3.1 billion, according to research carried out by Nielsen.” Forbes