ALL FOR THE DOGS

How many times do you hear someone say that what they do to advocate for and rescue dogs is ‘ALL FOR THE DOGS’?  

It’s a common statement made by many and yet how many really do it ‘all for the dogs’?  How many out there honestly and truly set aside ego, the need for recognition and personal feelings about everything from training methods to how a dog is to be kept including all the little differences we may have with others to work solely for the benefit of the dogs?  How many? 

In my experience of three years traveling through the animal welfare/pit bull advocating and rescuing communities I have found many people who share my concerns and goals and who make public claims that everything that they do is ‘all for the dogs’ and yet I have met so few that suspend personal preferences and feelings to do it ‘all for the dogs’.  It’s not that unusual to connect with a new person on social networking that appears on the surface to truly be on the same page as you are when it comes to advocating for or rescuing dogs but who over time finds too many ‘differences’ in opinion and philosophy to continue the association.  Things go along famously, working together for the good of the dogs, until one ventures an opinion on something like let’s say…dog training methodology.  Then you can sense a coldness and a distance all of a sudden and in extreme cases a promise not to associate with you in any way in the future.  You agree to disagree, to continue to work for the dogs together, but they go on to harangue and to admonish you in a not so veiled attempt to convert you around to their way of seeing and/or doing things.  They insist that they are right about whatever issue you are discussing and that because you are not right that you surely can’t be their equal nor can you possibly offer any adequate support for what they are trying to accomplish.  Some gather forces to wage a war of words, and often enough alliances, where it ends up more of an ‘us vs. them’ situation where one side is against the other even though both sides share a common goal and everyone claims that everything that they do is only for the dogs. Yet all the while, while they are fighting against you, they are vehemently claiming that they and only they know the facts, that they are the ones who have it right who can do the best for the dogs and that you will only bring harm to the dogs.

IF it is ALL for the dogs then why allow differences of opinion and philosophy hinder forming an alliance where more can be done for more dogs with less obstacles?  IF it is ALL for the dogs then why be so immature as to be unable to look past another person’s opinions and philosophies so that together more can be accomplished?  IF it is ALL for the dogs then why shut others out when they reach out to be a part of what you are doing for the benefit of your cause?  IF it is ALL for the dogs then why refuse to join forces with someone else on their project simply because you don't see eye to eye on everything or they might get the lion's share of the credit?

Ego seems to permeate all corners of life but I think it’s a bit more prevalent in the animal welfare/pit bull advocating and/or rescuing world.  So many led purely by their emotions who believe that drama is just a fact of the animal welfare community and who go along with whatever drama seems to be out there being passed around.  So many forming friendships that flourish as long as the other person sees things and believes just exactly as they do and that fall to pieces at the slightest indication that there might be a different view or opinion about things lurking in the other person.

Bottom line as I see it is that when we ignore the help of others so that we and only we will get all the credit, whether we do it consciously or not, some dogs are losing the help that they need.  When we fight amongst ourselves about such things as training methodology, prong collars and the like we are robbing the very dogs we claim to care so much for and to be working so hard to help.  

Helping dogs, regardless of in what capacity, is a highly emotional undertaking at the very best.  There are so many dogs failed every single day by us humans; dogs that we are unable to help simply because there is so much to be done and so few of us to do it.  So doesn’t it make sense to work hard to reduce the emotional aspect of helping dogs as much as possible so that we can accomplish more?  Doesn’t it make sense to STOP CEASE AND DESIST our own personal campaigns about dog training methods, kinds of collars, on or off leash and all of the other things that we so often argue about that takes precious time away from our being productive for the dogs?  Doesn’t it make more sense to bite our tongue, hold our head high and work with others who are different than ourselves for the benefit of the dogs as opposed to separating ourselves into groups of people who prefer this kind of training or that kind of collar or whatever the ‘differences’ are?

I often think of all of the people I see out there on social media who are all working toward the same goals for dogs and yet who work alone as if they fear that if they join forces they might get lost in the shuffle and no one will ever really know what our contributions were.  I often think of all of the people out there who go it alone simply because they are intolerant of other ideas and ways.  I often think of the many, many, many, thousands if not more, people out there who could do so much good and save so many dogs together but yet because of personal opinion and differences in beliefs they remain isolated or at the very least form a small select group of people who often do little else except argue with other people about how it should be done and what needs to be done for the dogs.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time for us in the animal welfare, pit bull advocating and rescuing community to cast our differences aside like mature adults and join together for the good of the dogs we all claim that are the sole purpose that we do what we do.