Help End Convenience Devocalization of Pets

There is a measure currently before the Massachusetts legislature--HB 344, An Act Prohibiting Devocalization of Dogs and Cats--that would end the practice of "de-barking" dogs (and, yes, even "de-meowing" cats) for the convenience of their human guardians.

Opponents of the measure--primarily some people who breed dogs and others who oppose any restrictions whatsoever on what they see as their right to "use" animals in any manner they see fit--argue that preventing people from devocalizing their dogs means more dogs will become homeless and die in animal shelters.

Sadly, the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association, is also opposing this measure, arguing that they need to be able to perform the surgery as a last-ditch effort to keep a noisy dog in his home (the measure would allow for devocalization for medical reasons).

Still, veterinarians are not in agreement about this. MSPCA's Angell Animal Medical Center, for instance, refuses to perform this surgery. Veterinarians supporting the bill state that devocalization poses serious risks--from chronic gagging to hemorrhage, infection to aspiration pneumonia. Tissue regrowth may subject the animal to repeated surgeries--all to attempt to stifle a normal behavior.

DPVHS--along with the MSPCA, the Animal Rescue League of Boston, the New England Federation of Humane Societies and most major animal welfare organizations in Massachusetts--has formally endorsed this measure, and here's why:

Not only is “problem barking” not a significant cause for animals being surrendered to animal shelters, “resolving” problem barking through convenience devocalization is like chewing gum to try to solve an algebra problem—it doesn’t work. It might dull the dog’s barking to a horrid rasping sound, but it doesn’t address the significant social, emotional, or physical distresses that cause problem barking in the first place.

For breeds of dogs who are normally considered “talkative,” we recommend the placement of these animals into home environments where vocalization is both expected and accepted as part and parcel of living with a particular breed of dog. Devocalizing naturally talkative dogs--a standard practice for unscrupulous breeders--for the convenience of breed fanciers is an inhumane practice.

As with people, individual dogs have individual needs and personalities. Rather than performing an unnecessary and painful surgery on an animal in order to shoehorn him into an inappropriate living environment, the more humane alternative is to judiciously match a person’s lifestyle with the appropriate dog.

If the person already has the dog but her lifestyle has changed, then addressing the dog’s barking through behavior modification and enrichment is a far more humane alternative than subjecting him to a surgical procedure.

And, failing successful behavior modification, we submit that carefully re-homing the dog into a more appropriate environment—whether through a shelter, a breed-specific rescue, or the person’s own efforts—is a more humane alternative than convenience devocalization. The relatively low population of sheltered dogs throughout New England makes it unlikely that an otherwise well-behaved but noisy dog will be euthanized in a New England animal shelter for lack of a home.

Devocalization doesn’t keep dogs from becoming homeless—few shelters can lay claim to never having housed a devocalized dog. And if the pro-devocalization lobby were truly serious about keeping animals out of shelters, they would be working much harder to address the real reasons animals are in shelters in the first place—lack of accessible and affordable pet sterilization, a lack of pet-friendly housing, free-roaming animals without identification, and people who have unrealistic expectations of their animals’ normal behaviors.

With so many humane alternatives available to help people with noisy pets, allowing people to resort to the “quick fix” of devocalization is inexcusable. Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society urges passage of legislation prohibiting convenience devocalization.

How can you help?

Urge your state representative and senator to support HB 344. Find them at www.wheredoivotema.com.

Show your support by attending the public hearing at the Massachusetts state house on Tuesday, July 14th (call 617-722-1639 up to two weeks prior to confirm the date).

P-L-A-N is not a 4-Letter Word

As DPVHS prepares to expand our services into Hampden county, we're planning, planning, planning. From my desk, I can hear Lori (our humane educator) arranging some donated moving trucks to help our administration team get from Leverett to Springfield and our rescue team to get from Greenfield to Leverett. Michelle, our development coordinator and website maven, is working with the graphic designer on a reconfiguration of the DPVHS letterhead. Martha (an adoption counselor) and Nate (a volunteer) just wandered through the administration trailer measuring every wall, window, and doorway to determine the best way to use the space once the administrators leave. This morning, Judy, a longtime DPVHS volunteer and board member accepted the assignment of dealing with our telephone systems. Everywhere I look, people who already work long, hard days are stepping up to the plate to plan as seamless a transition as possible.

One of the key parts of this transition is helping our community understand what we're doing. To that end, we've got another community forum scheduled. This one will be held at the Greenfield High School cafeteria (1 Lenox Avenue, Greenfield) on Thursday, May 21st from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. This is an opportunity to hear more about DPVHS plans for expanding services and to come and lend your opinion about what you would like to see happen for animals in the northern parts of the Pioneer Valley.

And once we're all idea'd out Thursday night, it'll be time to head on over to the Rendezvous in Turners Falls for a shindig benefiting DPVHS. Our cat ladies extraordinaire--Nicole, Erin, and Anja--have been working tirelessly to round up a veritable who's who of local musical and literary talent for the evening. Not only will you be hanging with the cool kids from 8:00 p.m. to whenever, but you'll also have a chance to eat, drink, be merry, and bid on auction items to benefit the programs and services of DPVHS.

Hope to see you there!
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I just had to share today's charming photo with you. This is (L to R) MacDuff and Charlie, dog companions to Ella Smolenski. Ella is the Northampton Lions Club member who organized April's benefit dog walk. Charlie is a proud Dakin Dog.

Lions and Ringtails and Bears, Oh My!

Yesterday evening I was honored to be invited to join the Northampton Lions Club at their monthly dinner meeting. The Lions presented DPVHS with a portion of the proceeds from their April 26 Dog Walk benefit (the other beneficiary of the event was our host, Look Park).

This isn't the first time I have joined the Lions at their dinner meeting. A few years ago, the Lions chose to honor the memory of the late Michael Giusto with an annual scholarship in his name for one of our staff to attend the training conference of the New England Federation of Humane Societies. One of the best things about attending the meetings of civic organizations like Lions is that you bear witness to the long tradition of service and volunteerism in even the smallest of communities.
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On my way home from the meeting, I came across a small bear wearing a red radio collar. He was ambling across a street in Florence, stopping only to stare down my car as I pulled to the side of the road. He soon disappeared into the trees at the back of a yard. As I drove on along the backroads to my home in Conway, I encountered two raccoons out for their evening stroll. All of this is a reminder that with spring comes more wildlife. Please remember to slow down, especially at dawn and dusk when they are active along roadways. And don't assume they'll know enough to get out of your way. Give them a brake.

The Truth can be Hard to Come By

Thank you to everyone who expressed their joy and excitement at the prospect of DPVHS extending our operations to Hampden county by purchasing the MSPCA's Union Street animal care and adoption center! I am grateful for your support and inspired by your enthusiasm.

One unfortunate spot in all of this is the statement made by Greenfield's newspaper, The Recorder. The front page headline of the May 1st edition indicated that DPVHS is considering closing both our Greenfield and Leverett shelters. In addition, in the May 7th edition, an op-ed piece ran suggesting that DPVHS is "abandoning" the animals and people of Franklin county.

Regrettably this miscommunication has led to angry calls and letters from DPVHS supporters accusing us of turning our backs on them.

Here's the real story: DPVHS has never considered leaving this community. We are closing the Greenfield facility because it is old, rundown, and does not lend itself to remodeling or expansion. In fact, any DPVHS supporter who has followed the saga of our search for land to build a new facility knows the Greenfield shelter was eventually going to be closed when a new building was built.

Every service the Greenfield building performs for animals can be done more humanely and more safely in our Leverett and Springfield buildings.

Leverett is staying open precisely so we can continue to serve the upper valley. Located in Franklin county near the Hampshire county line, the Leverett shelter has traditionally served more animals and people than our Greenfield shelter did. Not only that, but the Leverett building lends itself to renovations better than does the Greenfield building.

Our administrative offices (development, bookkeeping, etc.) are currently located in a house trailer behind the Leverett shelter. The people who work in these offices will be moving to Springfield some time in June. The space they leave behind will be used to give work, meeting, and animal care space to the Leverett shelter staff.

DPVHS has its roots in Hampshire and Franklin counties. Our supporters and most of our staff (including yours truly) live here. We are committed to these communities and will continue to provide vital services to animals and the people who care about them in Hampshire and Franklin counties. The good news is that we will also be expanding these services to communities in Hampden county.

DPVHS Buys MSPCA Springfield Building

When the MSPCA closed its Western New England facility in Springfield on March 31st an enormous void was left in relation to the future care and welfare of homeless animals. The nearly 7,000 animals received each year by that adoption center would no longer have a place to go.

I know from speaking to many of our DPVHS friends and volunteers that you shared my concern about what this closure might mean for the animals and people in our communities. For the past few months, we have been working with other agencies, exploring the best approach to ensure that no animal in need will be left without shelter and no person will be left without a place to turn.

DPVHS has been working and saving toward the building of a new facility to meet our growing needs and consolidate our efforts to help the animals of Hampshire and Franklin counties. However, with the close of the MSPCA, we needed to rethink our planning process to include the animals of Hampden county.

We chose to see the unfortunate departure of the MSPCA as an opportunity to help animals and their people on a much broader scale, bringing DPVHS’s innovative programming to a new set of communities, not just expanding our scope geographically, but also increasing services and outreach with a goal of helping more animals in need.

The MSPCA has generously worked with DPVHS to continue to meet the needs of animals and the people who care about them in western MA. While still owing a multi-million dollar debt on the building, the MSPCA accepted an offer of $1.2 million dollars to purchase the Union Street property.

The purpose-built facility at 171 Union Street in Springfield holds the promise of being able to bring DPVHS’s ideas about sheltering and preventing animal homelessness forward. In addition to our adoption and humane education programs, we will be able to provide a high-volume, low-cost, high-quality spay/neuter clinic to serve our own sheltered animals, as well as those in shelters in surrounding communities. This clinic will also assist low-income members of our communities in western Massachusetts with their own pets while serving even more dogs and feral cats than we are currently able to help through our existing mobile clinic or voucher programs. In addition, there is ample room to expand our cat areas to create beautiful and bright colony rooms, thereby reducing stress while increasing feline adoptions.

We hope to close on the building by the end of May. Although our administrative offices will move to Springfield, our adoption center in Leverett will remain open to serve the communities in the northern parts of our region. We plan to close our center in Greenfield at the end of June, transferring the rescue and rehabilitation function of this building to Springfield.

We anticipate a Grand Opening celebration of the new DPVHS animal care and adoption center in Springfield on Saturday, August 1st! Stay tuned for more information about a series of friend- and fundraising events being planned for the interim.

You are an important part of the success of DPVHS. You have helped us help animals, deliver programs to people in need, and given me the inspiration to continue to work for a brighter future—a future we hope you’ll embark on with us.

Deadly Northampton Fire a Sobering Reminder

Last week a devastating fire swept through a Northampton apartment building, killing pets and leaving dozens of people homeless. Thanks to fast-thinking neighbors and hardworking firefighters, many pets were rescued from the blaze or found wandering nearby shortly afterward.

The good folks at the Pioneer Valley chapter of the American Red Cross were on the scene to help families find temporary housing. After reading about the plight of so many people and their animals made homeless, I called the Red Cross and offered the assistance of the DPVHS in providing pet food and supplies to people in need.

It wasn't long before I heard from Lisa. She and her family were lucky to escape the fire with all of their animals. While neighbors cared for the smaller pets, Lisa and some of her family were staying at a local motel with their dog, Blue. Blue was eating off paper plates, drinking out of an inverted Taco Bell container and had no collar or leash. We quickly put together a care package of food, leash, collar, bowls, and a temporary i.d. tag and headed off to deliver them to Blue and his family.

This tragic incident reminds me of the importance of having a disaster plan for your family and pets. The Humane Society of the United States has wonderful information about making your own plans--whether for large scale disasters like hurricanes, ice storms, floods, and chemical spills or smaller disasters like house fires.

If you had to evacuate your home quickly, how easy would it be for you to snap a leash on your dog? Wrestle your cats into a carrier? Lug your gerbil cage out the door? Would you have their medications? Their special foods? A can opener? What if all those things--and more--were ready to go in your family's disaster kit?

We all think it won't happen to us. Until we meet people like Lisa and her best buddy, Blue.

The best time to plan for a disaster is before the disaster strikes. Join me in making this pledge: "I will get my family (including my animal family) disaster plan in place before the end of May."

Include Pets in Domestic Violence Protection Orders

"He told her if she left him he'd kill her cats. Can you help?" The domestic violence volunteer advocate was pleading with DPVHS to provide safe haven for a pair of cats while their person found safety for herself. We were glad to help. And it wasn't the first time we've provided refuge to cats, dogs, and other animals who were being used by abusers to control their victims.

In fact, according to a recent study, animal abuse was present in 71% of non-fatal cases of domestic violence. Furthermore, the study found, 48% of victims will not leave their abuser for fear that animals will be hurt or killed. These sobering statistics demonstrate the importance of including animals in domestic violence protection orders.

As the 2009-2010 Massachusetts legislative session gets underway, lawmakers will be asked to consider this very thing. House Bill #1499 will provide protection for both human and animal victims of domestic violence, allowing judges to include household pets in domestic violence restraining orders. In considering this legislation, Massachusetts is following in the footsteps of other states with similar laws in place or bills pending. These include our neighbors in Maine, New York, and Vermont.

What can you do? Let your lawmakers know the importance of supporting this life-saving legislation. Volunteer to serve as a Safety Plan for Animals foster home to help DPVHS ensure safe haven for animal victims of domestic violence.