Once upon a time-a few years from now

C’mon Honey, let’s go out.

Where are we going, Mommy?

We are going to the dog park, Honey.

What’s a dog, Mommy?

A dog was an animal that people before us kept as a pet, a companion, an alarm system or as a co-worker, Honey. They looked like those wolves in the hills, and the coyotes and foxes that we see in the streets.

Well, if dogs did all that stuff, why don’t we have any here? If they looked like those animals, why did they do all those good things for us? Those animals are wild and mean, Mommy!

 

Well, dogs were different. There was something in them that let them understand people, and made them want to be with people and help people.

 

What happened to them, Mommy?

 

Some people did not take proper care of some of them and other people said we didn’t deserve the ones we did take care of. So those people made a law that said nobody could have them, and nobody stopped it when they could.  And all the dogs got old and died, and no more could be born. So now we have no more dogs.

 

Why do we have dog parks, Mommy?

Before that law, people thought it would be good to have places where the dogs could run and play with their people. So cities and counties set aside places where they could enjoy time with their people and each other.

 

But why do we have dog parks NOW, Mommy?

 

This is where we all come to mourn, Honey. There are those people who remember, or read books and just know how good life was to have a dog who thought the world of it’s owner. We come here to remember what we never had, because when all the dogs were gone there was no way to bring them back. They are extinct.

 

This is the saddest place on Earth now, Honey.

First Things First

The governments in the United States are supposed to exist for the governed, the people. That is why we are supposed to have elected representatives, elected by the people to represent their best interest. These representatives, Assembly Members, State Senators, Governor, U.S. Representatives, U.S. Senators, President are all supposed to be deciding things according to the will of the people. All that is necessary is to make that will known. Those who make their will seem to represent the majority will have their sway. They get their wish.

What does this have to do with dogs and other pets?

Sixty-seven percent of the households across the United States of America have pets. More of those homes have dogs than have cats. However, cats being smaller and more easily managed, more cats are homed than dogs. Still, this together is a majority of households, and seemingly, a majority of voters. But, it also seems to be a very silent majority, content in the happiness of having the comfort of pets to care for and to respond positively to the care. There is hardly a strident voice in the group.

Now, pet ownership in California is severely threatened by Assembly Bill 1634, introduced by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, protege of retired Assemblymember Rosenthal who also opposed responsible pet ownership. This bill rips away the most important decisions of a pet’s life and grants them to local authorities, who may make decisions based upon erroneous data or just their own opinion.

Coincidentally, today is the historical birthday of Adolph Hitler (1889-1945), one of the greatest propaganders of all time. how about some Hitler quotes and some questions pertinent to this pet struggle today:

1. “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.” This fits the proponents of this bill perfectly. They generally are involved in rescues, and shelter operations. They see the very worst of the situation-and that is all they see. They do not have time to count, from year to year, the decreasing numbers of animals passing their way. They do not have time to read the success stories of no-kill operations elsewhere. They just have time for the daily frustration and horror of their work. Strident, desperate, they petition to destroy all good relationships with dogs and cats so that their daily grief can be diminished.

2. “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” The numbers used to illustrate the shelter populations are big, so total numbers are used. They are not broken out as to feral cats (unowned, semi-wild creatures that multiply well and help keep rodents under control,cause problems and constitute a large percentage of the animals euthanized as unadoptable, diseased and otherwise unsalvageable), dogs surrendered by owners for euthanasia due to age, illness, or incorrigible bad behavior, abandoned dogs and cats that are truly victims of human lack of caring or human insufficiencies to maintain care. The numbers quoted then become a lie by omission, especially when there is no comparison to previous years. It is a lie big enough to be believed by everybody with a kind heart, repeated often enough to have some sort of credibility and accepted by anyone who simply doesn’t care enough to dig deeper.

3.”How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” Often the thinking starts when the effects of government are realized in a most uncomfortable way. The realization that certain rights have become denied privileges, except for the chosen few, hits hard, embitters the people and creates frustration. The people then suffer increased crime among themselves. Acts of brutality increase, murder, assaults, rapes, divorce and general discontent occur in previously sedate communities. Government then responds with heavier force to simply maintain peace. Essential slavery begins.

4. “Thus inwardly armed with the confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the politicians can begin the fight for the ‘remaking of the Reich as they call it.” It is with religous ferver that the proponents of AB1634 strke out on this mission to ban all breeding of dogs and cats in California. Just look up the sayings of Ingrid Newkirk and David Pacelle to verify this.

Car pools are forming in southern California to transport folks to Sacramento for the second hearing in the Business and Prefessions Committee of the Assembly. Last hearing there was one less opponent than proponents. That one could make the difference. Where will you be.

And dog parks, while needed for exercise areas for those spayed and neutered survivors of AB1634, may become memorials to what used to be, unless the voice of thinking Californians can be heard.