The Best Thing to Ever Happen

Dear Dog and Horse Lovers... what are we but the choices we make? How will the rest of the world judge us? Do we care? When it comes to dogs, I would have to say that "Yes. I care." People have choices but dogs have none. Today, let us use our rational minds _along with our hearts, when making decisions that affect the four legged (and two legged) creatures in our lives..


The following story is from our Katrina Files. It was written soon after Dale and I returned from the "belly of the Beast." Ninth Ward, New Orleans, LA, 2005. Please share the message..

The Best Thing to Ever Happen

Old decaying buildings defaced with obscene language, bars across every window - here was a neighborhood that was bad long before Katrina came to town. So often, you’d break open these little houses only to find rows of brand new clothes with their tags still in tact, hanging from the rafters. Boxes of new sneakers thrown helter skelter in the room, electric power tools, still in their packages and stacks of CDs and DVDs to accompany the big screen Tv’s and state of the art sound systems that were never installed.

These were the houses of looters but they fled when the flood waters came. Time after time, we broke in only to find the same sorry sight. The looters had gone but they left their Pit Bulls, Cane Corsos,Rotties, Chows and "guard dog-mixes" behind to guard their stash. Sadly, these dogs had been tied to the house. They’d been given a death sentence by uncaring, compassion-less human beings who only cared for themselves.


What kind of society creates this lack of concern for others? Some argue poverty while others argue it comes from a long history of free handouts an “Entitlement mentality” where “Me” means everything and “You” means nothing. It’s a philosophy that’s difficult to argue with when you’ve just left your sixth house to have the macabre ornamentation of a dead, bloated dog hanging from a chain, strung across the front or back porch rail of a looter’s home. We can’t show you these pictures. They’re too hard to look at. They were almost too hard to take. But I bet you share the rage I felt when I focused my lens on the decomposing dog, his face frozen in agony as he gasped for his last breath as the flood waters rose higher than his chain would allow.

No, I can’t show you that picture, but I can share with you my only comfort. That dog is dead now. He is free from his chain and the horrible people who kept him there, to guard a stack of movies they’ll never watch, a pile of sneakers they’ll never wear and some power tools they probably, never would have used. Those luckless guard dogs died in the flood. They didn’t have a chance and sadly, for them, it was the best thing that ever happened.

A Handful of Truth

Like most Americans I believe that human beings are born with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"..the inalienable rights of life..."

Ask any dog breeder when life begins and they will answer - "When the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall." How then can we so adamantly protect our unborn puppies and fight for the right to allow our dogs to reproduce while we hypocritically allow the destruction of unborn human children?

You may disagree with me on this subject. I understand. The me of twenty years ago disagreed too.

But there is only one truth. Maybe I'm just finally old enough to see it clearly.

On the other hand, I have always known the truth about dogs. Highly adaptable, deeply intelligent, dogs understand much more of what we say and think than most people give them credit for. No creature on earth was better designed to walk with man than dog.

The dog has no cares for status. His only desire is to share his life with one special person. That is their truth - the Dogs honest truth. Somehow I have always seen this clearly.

Just Because You're Paranoid...

Forgive me Blogger, for I have sinned. It's been thirteen days since my last submission.

The weekend was filled with my usual - Dogs vs. Horses - training and grooming and taking pictures. My entire holiday weekend was filled with great dog and horse people - and of course - great dogs and horses.


Everywhere I went last weekend the animal talk was the same, "Mandatory micro-chipping" and "Mandatory Spay and neuter" bills are threatening to take away the lifestyle that we animal people love so deeply. While the surface thinking - animal rights activists chant that we breeders are amoral and irresponsible - we try and save our breeds from extinction, juggle our beloved family of dogs (and horses) and rescue others that have fallen onto hard times. None of us complain, we know how special our lives are because of animals but as the song goes, "it ain't easy." Providing quality food in their bowls and bins and vet care keeps most of us empty-pocketed regardless of how much money we make. But the trade-off makes it more than fair. To watch our beauties happy and running free, to have a dog at our sides on a long drive, to hug a pony at daybreak.. what life could be better?

What life is more at risk of being lost?

At night, we animal people lose sleep wondering when the community activists will come knocking in judgment, telling us how irresponsible we are to spend our money on dogs and horses when there is so much want in the world. Will they fabricate charges against us? Will they tell us what kind of dogs we can have and how many? Will they take away our dogs?

They already are.

Surface thinkers probably do not know what happened in Russia after Lenin (and later Stalin) got a hold of the landowner's dogs and horses. Surface thinkers who endorse bills and candidates eager to carve away our Fourth Amendment rights have never heard about what happened to the dog kennels and horse breeding farms when the Bolsheviks overthrew Czarist Russia. Was Castro merely copying them when he came to power? "For the Greater Good" was the mantra. Entire kennels and farms were seized without warning. Land and animal owners were evicted from their own homes and citizens of the Worker's Party - urban people for the most part - with little to no agricultural experience took over the care of the animals. Under a Socialist edict, these once privately owned dogs and horses were now bred as commercial crops for the "greater good." For Castro's government.

I know. It sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it? It was a nightmare. A real one.

Many breeders (that I have interviewed) smuggled their dogs to America but not everyone had the chance. For some, the warning came too late. For some, they simply could not believe their ears. At the final hour, one woman learned from her butler that "Castro's men were on their way to her estate to seize her hearth and home including her large kennel of show dogs. Looking out the top story window of her home she could see the military vehicles far in the distance. A chill went down her spine. The butler had been telling the truth all along. Castro wanted her German Shepherd Dogs for use in his military.

With little time to spare, she ran to her kennel office and and found the deadly poison she kept locked in a drawer. It was for severe cases - to be used humanely for the purpose of ending suffering. Allowing her beloved dogs to be seized by unknown human beings was suffering in her book. With great courage she picked up a hypodermic needle and the deadly poison. Grimly she opened the kennel doors one by one and gently put every single dog to sleep. It was the only way she could be certain. She would not allow her beloved dogs to suffer by unskilled hands.

Knowing that all of the above took place in what are considered "Modern times" causes me shiver late at night. What will I do with my darling animals? What will you do with yours? As my husband likes to say, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

As I read the reports of animal rights activists linking arms with today's political leaders on both local and national levels, I realize that all that has happened in the past could easily come again.

It is already happening.

Indeed, our nation's President was endorsed and heavily supported by HSUS, the world's largest animal rights organization. And what experience does he bring to his role as President of the United States of America? Community activism.

If the old "Trickle Down" theory is true, than what kind of horror are we in for as dog and horse lovers? Will there be a day when the government tells us what kind of dog we can own and how many? Will there be a "Pet Czar"? If so, what will be his/her credentials? Will he/she be one of us?

Are you biting your nails? Well, your worry is based on historical facts from the not so distant past.

The questions begging to be answered are thus: What are we going to do about it? How? When?

Kerrin Winter-Churchill is a writer-photographer with a specialty in dogs and horses. Further information on her work can be seen at http://www.kerrinwinterchurchill.com

Ten Reasons You Should Own a Dog

If you have been sitting on the fence about dog ownership, allow me to give you a push. Dogs need people and people need dogs. Here are my top ten reasons in support of dog ownership.

1. Households with dogs that bark are less likely to be robbed

2. People who share their lives with Dogs learn to think about something other than themselves.

3. It is a proven fact that petting a dog daily is stress-relieving.

4. When your world is turned upside down and nobody else seems to love you, your dog will stand firmly by your side.

5. Children who are raised with dogs learn to be more compassionate and understanding.

6. The needs of a dog will cause its owner to unplug daily and stay connected to the natural world.

7. The act of feeding a dog can cause an owner to focus on his or her own nutrition and make better choices.

8. The loving touch of a Dog can cause the human body to release positive endorphins to be shared with other humans - "pay it forward" applies here.

9. Interacting with dogs teaches us how to be human.

10. The love for a Dog is universal. Take yours on regular walks and you will meet the kind of friends you always wished to have.