ohmidog!

The Shelter Pet Project has unveiled a new series of public service ads, all featuring pets talking about their owner’s quirks.

As a follow up to its “Mutts” ads – a stylish series of animations by Patrick McDonnell, creator of the “Mutts” comics — the Shelter Pet Project campaign shifts from portraying the heartwarming benefits of adopting animals to looking at humans through pets eyes.

In the one above, two dogs comment on the flirtatious behavior of their humans. Below, a dog wonders if his human truly understands the game of hide and seek.

The ads end with the tagline: “A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet. Be that person.”

The Shelter Pet Project is a public service ad campaign sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund in partnership with the Ad Council.

You can see all the new ads here.

(All of our “Woof in Advertising” selections can be found archived here.)

HSSP advertisement

This could get ugly, if it hasn’t already.

This week, a newly formed national organization called The Humane Society for Shelter Pets (HSSP) began making itself known, with full-page ads in national newspapers aimed at discouraging people from contributing to the Humane Society of the United States.

The new organization’s point: HSUS, despite public service ads that seem to indicate it helps dogs and cats in shelters, provides little direct funding to local shelters, which need help more than ever.

While polls show 71 percent of Americans believe HSUS is affiliated, represents or helps fund local humane societies, HSSP says “the reality is that just 1 percent of HSUS’s $126 million budget goes to needy hands-on pet shelters.”

“The Humane Society of the United States continues to fundraise on the perception that they give millions of dollars every year to local pet shelters with misleading advertising campaigns. Unfortunately for the dogs and cats in our local pet shelters, that is not the case,” said Diana Culp, HSSP co-director. (Culp is a former director of education for HSUS and former supervisor of animal control in Frederick County, Maryland.)

HSSP, while noting on its website that it doesn’t contribute directly to shelters, either, does provide a database enabling visitors to obtain all the information they need to donate to local shelters. 

However philanthropic that may be, and whether or not you agree with HSSP that HSUS is misleading the public in its fundraising approach, HSSP may not be the angelic organization it makes itself out to be.

Berman, USA Today photo

For one thing, it has ties to Richard Berman, who, through his Center for Consumer Freedom, has been a long-time, highly vocal critic of HSUS.  Berman has raised millions from industries that, at least in the view of HSUS, are cruel and abusive to animals.

In response to the HSSP ads — they’ve appeared this week in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and New York Times – HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle fired back earlier this week.

On his blog, A Humane Nation, Pacelle, called Berman a “king of charity fraud,” and went so far as to show a photo of Berman’s mansion in McLean, Virginia.

“He sets up phony front groups to do the dirty work of bad actors in industry. He takes their money and then takes on their critics. He runs ‘charitable’ organizations, like the Center for Consumer Freedom (which fights The HSUS), the American Beverage Institute (which fights Mothers Against Drunk Driving), and the Center for Union Facts (which attacks public employees and unions), yet his groups don’t feed one animal, shelter one homeless person, or provide any other tangible social service.

“They are charitable organizations in name only, and Berman and his for-profit public relations company pocket a large share or even a majority of the total revenue. It’s a personal enrichment scam of the highest order, and he’s the architect of the con job. He’s got the mansion in McLean, Va., and the Bentley in the driveway as the spoils, with his accountant wife standing by to tally the profits.”

Pacelle, HSUS photo

Pacelle said the HSUS has never presented itself as an umbrella agency that funds local shelters, and he points out that HSUS television ads include a small-print disclaimer: “Local humane societies are independent from HSUS.”

While the HSSP ad states that HSUS gave just 1 percent of the $131 million in donations it received last year to local shelters, Pacelle says that figure doesn’t include the campaigns HSUS has conducted nationally and globally to fight such things as puppy mills, dogfighting, animal cruelty laws and pet overpopulation.

Pacelle says about 20 percent of the Humane Society’s efforts involve companion animal issues, and that, in the last five years, HSUS has given more than $43 million in grants to other animal organizations.

Whether or not it manages to steal the Humane Society’s thunder, the HSSP has done a pretty good job of co-opting the HSUS name and logo.

Berman, while not listed as an official of HSSP, has been hired to do its public relations work and to help bring HSSP “to fruition,” said HSSP Co-Director Jeffrey Douglas.

“… HSSP is a product of the efforts of a group of individuals with deep ties to the animal welfare community and dedicated to improving the well-being of shelter animals across the country,” he added. “Who we hired as our PR firm should be immaterial to the project.”

As Pacelle sees it, though, Berman is its backbone: “Now, this Beltway con artist — who has probably spent as much time as anyone in recent years fighting against animal welfare — has formed a new supposed animal welfare charity … He’s the man behind the curtain … He’s reached a new level of fraud and deception.”

Pacelle said that between CCF and HSSP, Berman’s outfits have taken out 25 full page “attack” ads in national newspapers, at an estimated cost of $2 million.

Berman, meanwhile — whose full response to Pacelle’s comments can be found here — says HSSP has been welcomed “warmly” by the shelter community.

The question the HSSP ad raises is not entirely illegitimate: Are those heartstring-tugging HSUS ads, even with disclaimers, contributing to the misperception that the national organization helps foot the bill for all local shelters that call themself by that name?

But a question can also be asked of the HSSP: If you really care about animals, why not, instead of those full page ads, send that $2 million to animal shelters?

A Lincoln County, N.C, woman agreed to surrender 135 dogs on her property after a visit from animal control officers.

Authorities did not identify the woman and said she would not be charged.

Officers visited the woman’s home Friday after receiving a complaint  from a neighbor. They gave the woman 72 hours to update the dogs’ vaccinations, but she later called them and, saying she couldn’t afford the vet bills, agreed to surrender all but eight of her dogs.

Officers said the woman was running a breeding operation, but that it was not a puppy mill.

But, But Kim Alboum, N.C. director of the Humane Society of the United States, described it as exactly that, and said the dogs’ health and welfare were ignored.

“The animals were clearly neglected in many ways,” she told the Charlotte Observer.

Alboum said the Lincoln County case was the fifth puppy mill discovered in North Carolina in four months.

About 100 of the dogs were heading last night to the Guilford County animal shelter, due to overcrowding at the Lincoln County shelter.

Authorities said a few of them will need medical attention for skin diseases and other ailments but none were in critical condition. The Humane Society of the United States is covering all the costs for the medical care being provided to the dogs, WSOC reported.

The dogs included poodles and miniature Doberman pinschers,
according to the Gaston Gazette.

How hard Hurricane Irene might hit North Carolina and the northeast is impossible to predict at this stage, but, given its whopping size, animal welfare organizations are recommending preparing yourself and your pet for the worst.

If you haven’t put together an emergency kit for your pet, now would be a good time.

Here’s what the Humane Society of the United States recommends you include in it:

• Food and water for at least five days for each pet, bowls and a manual can opener if you are packing canned pet food.
• Medications and medical records stored in a waterproof container and a first aid kit. A pet first aid book is also good to include.
• Cat litter box, litter, garbage bags to collect all pets’ waste, and litter scoop.
• Sturdy leashes, harnesses, and carriers to transport pets safely and to ensure that your pets can’t escape. Carriers should be large enough for the animal to stand comfortably, turn around and lie down. Your pet may have to stay in the carrier for hours at a time while you are away from home. Be sure to have a secure cage with no loose objects inside it to accommodate smaller pets. These may require blankets or towels for bedding and warmth, and other special items. Newspapers, paper towels, plastic trash bags are a good idea.
• Current photos and descriptions of your pets to help others identify them in case you and your pets become separated and to prove that they are yours.
• Pet beds and toys, if you can easily take them, to reduce stress.
• Information about your pets’ feeding schedules, medical conditions, behavior problems, and the name and number of your veterinarian in case you have to board your pets or place them in foster care.

You can find more information from the HSUS here.

PETA’s website also offers some valuable information on protecting your pet in a disaster. PETA’s home office in Norfolk, Va., is in one of the areas potentially in the hurricane’s path. Cats who live at the organizations headquarters have been evacuated, and all PETA vans have been moved to high ground and stocked with food and water to help animals in crisis during and after the deluge. Extra staff and volunteers are on call.

As for what steps you can take at home, PETA has a list of emergency precautions that can be found here.

Petfinder.com is reminding pet owners to make sure all cats and dogs are wearing securely fastened collars with up-to-date identification.

If you are forced to evacuate, check beforehand to see which community shelters accept pets, or make other arrangements.

Petfinder.com offers disaster preparedness tips in English and Spanish here.

A Hurricane Irene Animal Rescue Resources page — allowing people who need help with their pets to hook up with people willing to provide it — has also been posted on Facebook. It can be found here.

Congress may have its head up its ass, but at least some members have their hearts in the right place.

(Did I just say that?)

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Republican from Kentucky, took time out of his busy schedule to rescue a stray dog over the weekend, according to the Madisonville Messenger.

The veteran lawmaker was driving along U.S. 41 between Hanson and Madisonville on Sunday afternoon when he spotted a reddish colored mixed breed on the road.

“The dog was running down the middle of the highway and almost got hit by two trucks,” said Whitfield, a Hopkinsville Republican who grew up in Madisonville. “His tongue was hanging out as far as it could go.”

Whitfield stopped his vehicle and called the dog, but it ran off, disappearing into some bushes. Whitfield followed.

“I walked down there and started calling him in a real gentle voice. He stuck his head out and ran up to me.”

Whitfield put the dog in his car and stopped to get him some water and food before calling Hopkins County animal control officers, who transferred the dog to the animal shelter.

The dog was in good condition, but was missing hair from part of his neck, possibly from being chained or wearing too tight a collar.

“He was a beautiful dog and quite friendly,” Whitfield said. “I told (the officer) that if they would take care of him I would make a contribution.” On Monday, he delivered a personal check for $1,000 to the county Humane Society.

Whitfield has rescued dogs before, including one he saw on the highway several years ago when he and his wife, Connie Harriman-Whitfield — a former assistant secretary of the Interior who now works as a senior adviser for the Humane Society of the United States — were driving back to Washington.

They saw a dog dodging in and out of traffic on Interstate 64 near Mount Sterling, coaxed her into the car and still have her. A mixed breed, her name is Julep.

Whitfield also owns a Scottish terrier named Bosley and a Jack Russell terrier named Nigel, according to the Washington Post.

Nigel (left) often goes to work with Whitfield “because our dog walker can’t really deal with him,” he said.

Michael Vick appeared at a news conference in Washington today to announce his support for federal legislation that would make it a federal crime to organize and attend animal fighting events.

“I deeply regret my previous involvement in dogfighting, I’m sorry for what I did to the animals,” Vick, who served 20 months for dogfighting, told today’s news conference. “During my time in prison, I told myself I wanted to be part of the solution, not the problem.”

Vick was accompanied by Wayne Pacelle, the head of the Humane Society of the United States. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback has teamed up with the organization in an anti-dogfighting campaign.

The House bill, introduced last week, would establish federal misdemeanor penalties against convicted spectators, and make it a felony for adults to bring children to such events.

At the Capitol Hill news conference, organizers played some local television news coverage showing illicit cockfights, according to CNN.

“This is what our kids are being taught, and it’s inhumane and it’s pointless, Vick said after the video was shown.

The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act (H.R. 2492) was introduced by Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pennsylvania, and Betty Sutton, D-Ohio. Sutton was at the news conference, along with Rep. Jim Moran, D-Virginia, who is among the co-sponsors.

Forty years of selling the public on spaying and neutering pets is paying off:

This year fewer than 4 million unwanted dogs and cats will be euthanized, down from as many as 20 million before 1970, the Associated Press reported this week.

That figure’s still nothing to brag about, but it’s a massive improvement, and a testament — not just to surgery, but to the work shelters, rescue groups and animal welfare organizations do to encourage adoptions.

Most animal experts, though, according to the AP story, believe spaying and neutering has played the biggest role in reducing the number of unwanted, euthanized pets.

Nearly every public shelter, private rescue or animal welfare organization in the country now donates money, space or time to low-cost spay and neuter clinics, and spaying and neutering, in addition to becoming a requirement for most adoptions, has become the law in some states, counties and cities.

Spaying and neutering have also become less traumatic — for pets and owners.

“Now they make a one- or two-inch incision and use self-absorbing sutures” that mean a much quicker recovery for the animals, said Stephen Zawistowski, science adviser for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Zawistowski recalled when he got his first dog spayed 50 years ago, “she had an incision that must have been a foot long and was sewn up with what looked like piano wire.”

In addition to eliminating shelter kills, spaying and neutering can make pets easier to manage, less aggressive and healthier, said Andrew N. Rowan, president and CEO of Humane Society International and chief scientific officer for the Humane Society of the United States.

The first public spay and neuter clinic in the U.S., according to the AP story, was opened in Los Angeles in 1969.

What makes the figures all the more impressive is that the decline in the number of animals being euthanized each year comes even as the pet population has boomed. There were about 62 million companion pets in 1970, versus about 170 million today, Zawistowski said.

In years ahead, sterilizing a dog or cat may not always mean surgery. Work continues on pills, implants and vaccines that render cats and dogs unable to reproduce.

Dr. Gary Michelson, a billionaire orthopedic spinal surgeon and founder of Found Animals, posted a $25 million prize in 2008 for the creator of an affordable chemical sterilant, and has put up another $25 million for grants to scientists doing the research.

“When we first saw grant proposals coming in, we saw old ideas that had been laying around for 15 or 20 years. What we are seeing now are proposals based on cutting edge science — areas related to cancer and stem cell research. The level and sophistication of the science has moved to a higher level,” said Zawistowski, who is on the prize board.

In 2003, the FDA approved the first sterilant for male dogs. But at about $50 a shot, Neutersol was too costly. It was reworked, the price was cut to about $6 a dose and it was again approved by the FDA under the name Esterilsol. After trials around the world, it is expected to be available in the United States later this year.

Animal dealers who round up dogs and cats and sell them for use in experiments would be put out of business for good under a bill introduced in Congress.

The Pet Safety and Protection Act of 2011 was introduced by Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. and Chris Smith, R-N.J.

The legislation would amend the Animal Welfare Act to make it illegal for Class B Dealers to sell random source dogs and cats to research institutions.

“Rounding up pets and funneling them into laboratories has been demonstrated time and again to result in substantial animal suffering,” said Andrew Rowan, Ph.D, chief scientific officer for The Humane Society of the United States. “This dwindling practice has no place in 21st century society and results in bad science. We commend Representatives Doyle and Smith for working to prevent America’s beloved family pets from ending up in research labs.”

Class B dealers are licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell animals to research facilities.

Unlike Class A dealers, who breed animals for research, Class B dealers purchase or acquire the animals from “random sources,” such as auctions, flea markets or “bunchers” – unlicensed individuals who acquire dogs and cats by theft, misrepresentation or other questionable means, such as rounding up strays and responding to ads for animals that are “free to a good home.”

It is impossible for the USDA to enforce regulations regarding the true source of each animal sold by Class B dealers, the HSUS says.

The vast majority of research laboratories have stopped using Class B dealers, and only eight of them are currently operating — five of whom are under investigation by the USDA, the HSUS says.

That’s far fewer than the 1960s, when Life magazine ran an expose on animal dealers called, “Concentration Camp for Dogs.”

Earlier this year, the operators of the last Class B random source dealer in Pennsylvania — an outfit doing business as Chestnut Grove Kennel — were indicted on federal charges for the “alleged unlawful procurement of hundreds of random sourced dogs” and “the subsequent resale of those dogs to medical research facilities.” If convicted, they face a jail sentence of up to 50 years and a fine of up to $1 million.

“Class B dealers have racked up an atrocious record of illegal activity and cruelty to animals,” said Rep. Doyle. “Allowing this failed program to continue is simply unacceptable. That’s why we’re re-introducing the Pet Safety and Protection Act — to shut down the Class B dealer disaster once and for all.”

You can learn more about the issue on the HSUS website, and on the website of the American Anti-Vivisection Society.

I’ve never liked the open letter. It’s a cheap gimmick that allows the writer to pretend to be writing to someone when you’re really taking aim at them. It’s a feeble attempt to get the attention of someone who neither knows who you are, nor cares what you have to say. It lets you, the writer, ride on their celebrity while you make a point, ostensibly to them, but really to the world. Open letters are highly presumptuous, and a little rude.

Nevertheless, Dear Michael Vick …

I see an opportunity for you.

This pertains your former property at 1915 Moonlight Road in Surry County, Virginia — the one that’s now headed to serve a purpose far different than the one for which you used it.

As you may have read, or not, your former house, the headquarters of your former Bad Newz Kennels, the home you forfeited after your conviction for dogfighting, has been purchased by a group called Dogs Deserve Better.

They plan to turn it into a $2.5 million center to rehabilitate and rehome dogs that have been abused — tied, chained, penned, or forced to take part in dogfighting. (At this point, were this one of those catty open letters, I would have added “an activity with which you are familiar.” But this really is more sincere than catty.)

From a writer’s standpoint, not to mention a reader’s, it’s a pretty wondrous development in the long-running story that, as you know, just won’t go away.

You should get in on it. You should donate some money to the project — if not to assuage any guilt you might still be feeling, then for image reasons alone, and image, these days, is everything.

To build its $2.5 million center, Dogs Deserve Better needs, well, about $2.5 million. They’ve made the down payment, but there is still lots of work to be done and money to be raised.

That’s where you come in, or could if you wanted to — giving the story one more serendipitous twist.

I know you served your time. I know you paid (and are still paying) your debt. I know your fans, and maybe you, think that gives you a clean slate — but a slate is hard to truly get clean once it has been tainted with blood, be it that of humans or dogs.

You have a lot of haters, myself included. I’ve bashed you before and I’ll probably bash you again — it’s easy to do that from afar, while hiding behind the protective gear of a blog. Though I’m a forgiving sort generally, I’m one of those people who can’t forget what you did with dogs. I’m also one of those people who stopped being a Philadelphia Eagles fan when they hired you, and, in the few games I watched, rooted for you to get sacked, even painfully so. (I did not like that I was doing that.)

Animal lovers, despite all their warmhearted, do-gooding tenderness, can be a pretty vengeful lot, and you permanently alienated them.

Even the work you are doing with the Humane Society of the United States in its anti-dogfighting campaign isn’t enough to change their minds about you. They probably never will. But by kicking in some money to rehabilitate dogs, you might make them, at least, think twice.

It would make a far deeper and more lasting impression than your HSUS appearances. I commend you for those, but, in all honesty and no offense, you don’t come across as all that remorseful. You don’t excel at appearing sincere. Besides, it’s just talk, and talk is cheap.

I realize that, despite your huge NFL salary, your money these days isn’t exactly your money — that you don’t have much to throw around, what with your debts and your lawyers and your agents. My understanding is you’re pretty much living on an allowance, and that endorsements, which dried up after your conviction, are few. This could help with that, too.

News that Michael Vick had chipped in to build a center to rehabilitate animals on his former property — and I’d suggest you do it in a low key, non-trumpeting kind of way — would do wonders for your image.

Since you’re still getting your finances back in shape, I think it would be great if the Philadelphia Eagles, and the NFL, chipped in as well, perhaps doubling or tripling the amount you might be able to come up with.

I’m aware it was you who, willing or not, footed the bill for your former dogs to make miraculous recoveries and find themselves in loving homes. There are pieces of the whole story of you and dogfighting that, horrendous as it is, are also inspiring. You could add another inspiring element – you could quell, but likely not erase, the wrath of dog lovers who hate you. Animal welfare types can be a self-righteous bunch — and persistent as linebackers. You may never have them on your team.

But a donation would give them pause, and perhaps a modicum of respect for you. They might see it as a sign — to some it might seem the first one — that you are truly sorry. Money usually can’t buy forgiveness, but it can soften the sharp edges.

I won’t be so presumptuous as to suggest an amount, and, I’m not even sure Dogs Deserve Better would take your money. I am in no way affiliated with the organization, other than having written about it a time or two. But they seem to mean well.

Support from you, the Eagles and the NFL — on top of all it would do for your image, and football’s — would help the organization accomplish its mission: Establishing the Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs.

Out with the bad, in with the good. Get it?

In closing, I apologize for the openness of this letter, and for sticking my nose in your business. But in a world where bad news is the norm, chances to make some good news – and to make some good happen — should be considered, if not jumped on immediately.

It’s just a thought.