The Future of Dogs

"The one sentence picture of the future of dogs in America is this: On the present lawmaking road, home breeding of dogs is about to be wiped out in our country and as this occurs, purebred dogs will all but disappear."

Go to booklet by clicking the below link:

Future of Dogs booklet from Pet-law.com 

America today is rushing toward dramatic changes in the way we breed and keep animals. These changes are already beginning and the laws that will make them continue go far beyond the changes we can see.
All species and all animal uses, from deer in our woods and fields, to rats in our scientific labs, to animals farmed for meat and milk, to the pet dog or cat in our living rooms are being affected. These effects will increase in the future.
The picture is vast and complicated; we will focus on the effects on pet dogs. We will emphasize what is happening and how it is being done.
Why is more difficult to understand. but the basic reason is that a very few Americans – no more than a thousand – want these changes. They break them down into small chunks that sound good and sell them one chunk at a time to good-hearted, often busy, people. But the chunks are put together to make something that none of us would ever have approved.

The ‘animal rights' movement is essentially a fruitcake religion.

"People need homes. Please donate to buy a brick." Then they use the bricks to build a prison.
The ‘animal rights' movement is essentially a fruitcake religion. It will not be stopped short of an expensive and nearly irreversible disaster unless most Americans come to understand that the bricks they buy today with contributions to Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), and many smaller organizations will be used to build a prison, and stop sending those checks.

In the short term, all of us (but lawmakers especially) must become extremely skeptical of new laws that claim to 'protect animals.'

In the short term, all of us (but lawmakers especially) must become extremely skeptical of new laws that claim to 'protect animals.' America has had basic animal protection laws for more than fifty years; some go back over a century. These laws need better enforcement in some parts of the country but there are very few new laws that will make animal or human lives better, rather than simply making ownership and breeding more difficult and less likely to succeed.
The three long essays in this booklet – What Is Animal Rights?, Introducing HSUS, and The Future Of Dogs In America – were written over the last two years; they were extensively revised at the beginning of December, 2006. The Importance of Home Breeding of Dogs and How Animal Rights Laws Work were written specifically for this publication.
It's frightening how much ground we've lost just in the last two years. We can still win – that is, keep our rights to own and responsibly use pets and other animals – but we must not delay or falter.

I hope this booklet helps.

Walt Hutchens This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Timbreblue Whippets
December, 2006

Herr und Hund

My wife found this book: Bashan and I in the Harvard Bookstore in her trip to Boston last week. I have been reading it and it is a delightful read. The review of the book does better then I can so I just post it here. - Rod

Herr und Hund by Thomas Mann (1919) 144 pages.

Click on link to find out more about the book: Bashan and I (Pine Street Books)

The English title of this little novella is Bashan and I and I can heartily recommend this book to both Thomas Mann fans and dog lovers. If you happen to be both, as I am, then you're in for a delight. Mann is a master of capturing thoughts and actions in elegant prose and – while he was often arrogant, clinical and distant in his writing and in person – the beauty of this book lies in the obvious love, joy and respect that exists between the man and his dog. The playful side of Thomas Mann is something one doesn't encounter very often (that said, some parts of The Magic Mountain make me weep with hilarity), but this is a great example of unadulterated and unashamed feeling, displayed for all to behold.

It is a masterclass in the art of observation and description. Mann succeeds in beautifully pinpointing the minute actions of his short-haired pointer in such a way to be familiar to all of you who, for example, have ever experienced the mad, dervish-like scramble of your dog as he runs to greet you – tongue hanging out, front paws on your chest, out of his mind with joy and excitement. There are scenes in which Bauschan (his German name) sniffs around after squirrels and rabbits, or examines twigs and leaves, or is just bored in the garden – all of which is very mundane, but not when described by Mann.

It's a charming and delightful little book that has often made me think of my own little dog, who was with me from my ninth to my 21st year. My thoughts have also very much been with two friends, each of whom has lost a beloved canine companion this week. While Thomas Mann never lets us forget how much separates humans and dogs, he has, at the same time, given us a timeless gift of prosaic affection and erected a wonderful monument to his noble and silly friend.