Adopting a Dog in Times of COVID

Dragonfly Tales

Adopting a Dog in Times of COVID

 

By STEVE MELCHER

What,Why, and Where?  What and Where?

We all can’t adopt a donkey or a pig. They’re hard to keep in the house and almost as bad as a teenager to clean up after. There are rabbits, cats, mice, snakes...all sorts of critters that need loving home. First: agree not to buy a companion animal. This only encourages the ‘bottom line’ maximization of profits and inbreed- ing which leads to the poor, toxic, overcrowded conditions we find in wet markets and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) which got us into this mess in the first place.

I helped deliver babies for a few years for Amish and Mennonite communities in Delaware and Maryland. The Amish are wonderful farmers, and part of farming is the business of making a profit. Unfortunately they have recently answered a demand for puppies. Using their animal breed- ing skills, many now find themselves locked in an enterprise that every farmer I’ve spoken to wished they had never started. The demand is so great and the profit margin so large that my farmer friends are finding it difficult to stop their sons from start- ing a puppy mill in the back corner of the barn. One farmer told me that if the demand disap- peared he looked forward to his son returning to making furniture again. Please don’t support pup- py mills of any sort. Maybe a friend has a Newfie that is pregnant and will give you a puppy. That sounds OK, but you should never have to pay for a gift. Find a reputable adoption/rescue agency. For a small fee you’ll gain a new family member. The agency will help you with paperwork, neutering and medical bills. Many of the agencies will have you fill out a questionnaire or even make a home visit. These shouldn’t be looked at as intrusions, just ways of matching companions. A rudimentary Google search and word out to friends will reveal many options for adopting from local shelters too numerous to list here.

A recent conversation:
OS (Odonata Sanctuary): We’ve recently adopted two beagles, one from the Beagle Freedom Project. RO (Restaurant owner): Oh, I wish I could adopt, but the folks that interviewed me said I needed to have an area that is fenced in. I can’t afford that. OS: Oh, that’s too bad. How much would a fence cost?
RO: We didn’t bother pricing, we knew it would be too expensive, but we did go online and bought a Bernedoodle! We didn’t want him to be alone so we found a Shih Tzu from the same breeder! They’re coming this Saturday! They gave us a spe- cial “2for”deal. The Bernedoodle was only $2500 and the Shih Tzu was a steal at $2100.

OS: Oh, yeah fencing can be expensive.
ere at Odonata Sanctuary we primarily focus

on large abandoned farm animals: sheep, goats,

If I raise my hand to scratch my head he still cowers away. He also has the interesting habit of dragging anything he can through the dog door to Beagleland to store in his cache. He’s worked out a technique where he brings a sock or sweater to the door, goes through and then pulls it through from the other side. I always know where to look for that missing shoe. Beagle Freedom Project finds homes for bea- gles that have been smuggled out of labs. The resaon beagles are chosen for use in lab experiments is not because they are close to human anatomy and phys- iology, but because they are docile, sweet, trusting and they don’t fight back.

The first institution in the world to experiment on beagles was the University of Utah, where they did studies mostly involving radioactive materials in the 50s. “The Beagle Project” was funded by the Atomic energy commission, where beagles were in- jected with plutonium. Some of the dogs were in- jected with highly toxic doses and developed pain- ful bone tumors, gross skeletal disfigurations, tooth loss and ‘spontaneous’ bone fractures. To keep costs down all 671 beagles were fed horse meat in a facili- ty designed to house 200. The pups became known as the ‘Hounds of Beagleville’. All 671 were bred from just 32 breeding pairs. The practice of using beagles for experimentation spread throughout government and privately funded research facili- ties. Adjusting for inflation, more than $1 billion was funneled into radioactive research with more than 17,000 beagles being killed in hideously pain- ful and deadly experiments.

Today there are more than 56 commercial bea- gle breeding facilities marketing dogs specifically for the research industry. Out of public view, tens of thousands of beagles are bred, sold and killed every year at an enormous profit. The legacy of the Radioactive Beagles lives on. Nearly 60,000 dogs are currently used in research, testing and experi- mentation in the United States each year; the vast majority of them beagles.

donkeys. We promised ourselves, and it's part of our mission statement, not to purchase any animals. We don’t want to reward someone with cash because they overbred or don’t have room for a pot bellied pig. We’ve cared for 143 animals here, not including the 9 dogs and 1 cat. Most are underground now in the Rainbow Bridge above the Westlands here at the sanctuary. Some were with us for a few weeks, others are still with us after 15 years recovering from ‘termi- nal illnesses’. We deal mostly in larger animals, but we do have a pack of rescued dogs as well roaming relatively free in the fields and forests. We recently ad- opted two beagles: Archie and Buddy. Archie is a lab rescue, not a Labrador Retriever but an animal that was used in a laboratory for experimental purposes. I remember when he first stepped cautiously onto the freshly mown grass of Beagleland in the Story Book Garden—he had never stepped on grass before. He gingerly tiptoed across from my wife to my daughter not knowing what to think of this unknown texture found under each paw. In just a few weeks he was bounding away with the rest of the crew. Adopted pups adapt. 

Why Adopt during Times of

COVID?

We’ve talked about ‘Blue Zones’ before in Drag- onfly Tales. In five locales—Sardinia, Italy; Okina- wa, Japan; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California—people live a longer, healthier life than anywhere else on the planet. They have some commonalities, such as be- ing relatively warm year round, fairly small commu- nities, remote and close to the ocean. You may not live close to the ocean, but you can take advantage of the other cultural differences of the Blue Zones.

The basics are simple:

1. Live close to the ocean. OK, that’s a tough one. Maybe we should concentrate on the other factors, which are really habits or lifestyle decisions and be thankful that we live in an area of beautiful lakes and such fresh water abundance!

2. A plant based whole foods diet which includes whole grains, greens, tubers, nuts and beans. That’s easier than you think, really.
3. Herbal teas and plenty of clean water, every day, all day.

4. Limited alcohol and caffeine. Limited means two glasses of wine a day and two cups of coffee or black tea. This is certainly on my doable list.
5. Diet and exercise are just part of the picture. People of Blue Zones tend to walk more to get from place to place and spend more time outdoors with nature.

6. Humans are extremely social creatures and we learn from an early age the importance of teamwork and collaboration. We are genetically hardwired to seek social interaction and companionship. Blue Zone folks are more social. They are involved in their communities and volunteer regularly. They also have more stable life partner relationships involving a spouse or close friends. One way to check two of these off your list is to adopt a dog!

That new family member adopted from a shelter will give you a reason to take a walk after work as well as provide a loving companionship seldom matched by any two legged friend. You’ll also have a connection to fellow rescuers. Companionship and outdoor exercise! Stay healthy—adopt a dog. Don’t buy one. Go for a walk outside in nature with your new companion.

ALSO OF INTEREST

The “Beagle Brigade”

Have you seen the beagles working at JFK Air- port? We met one that had just found a suitcase of butchered pigs and a package containing almost 50 pounds of mangoes.

Can dogs do well on a plant based diet?

Our dogs eat what we eat. I’ve been scolded many times when warming something up from the

fridge by my wife saying, ‘Hey, that was for the dogs!’ There are few studies about dogs and veganism, but all of our dogs are fed a plant based whole food diet with V-Dog and Halo Kibbles. Tico, from Costa Rica is now 14 and Katie, an American Eskimo mix, made it happily to 22.

From the CDC: At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.