Need for Mental Shift of Pet Ownership

A week ago, I was working with one of my sixth graders who is in our Deaf & Hard of Hearing program.  He has a cochlear implant and wears a hearing aid in the opposite ear.  We were using an app called Sentence Ninja where sentence parts are jumbled.  The student has to put the words in the correct order.  It is common for students with hearng loss to struggle with English word order and so I spend a great deal of time teaching sentence structure.  One of the sentences we encountered that day had the word "litter" in it.  My student easily put the words in the correct order, but when he signed the sentence to me, he used the sign "little."  Although the picture that went with the sentence showed trash spilling out of wastebasket, he had not understood the word litter.  It occurred to me that the words "little" and "litter" look exactly the same on the lips and would be indistinguishable to him.  In addition, ls and rs are phonetically very similar. 

After the student's session ended, I went to the internet to print out a set of minimal pair pictures to work with him the next time.  Minimal pairs are words which vary by only one sound and are often used in speech therapy.  I frequently use Google Images to create visuals for my students when we are working on unfamiliar vocabulary.  But photos on the internet can be dangerous.

Innocently, I typed in the word "litter." The first two pictures showed what most would typically call trash - fast food wrappers and cups, paper, etc. in an outdoor environment.  But the third picture made my stomach turn.  It was a photo of a dog on a beach with his head wrapped in pastic and duct tape.  I couldn't get away from that photo fast enough. Under "litter" was a whole subheading of "animals."  I couldn't look at it. My day turned from joy to despair.

The idea that dogs are commodities is all too prevalent in our society.  I hear more and more often of individuals who decide to breed dogs for the lure of money.  Many of these dogs are sold for hundreds of dollars when they are not papered and their lineage is unknown.  Dogs are kept in deplorable conditions for the purpose of breeding for money.  On the otherhand, other dogs are viewed as an accessory similar to a Coach handbag or Jimmy Choo shoes.  When the dog develops undesirable behaviors, it is disposed of (relinquished or euthanized) or traded in for a new one.

After I adopted Pongo, I became very interested in shelter animals. Why do so many people give up their dogs? I wondered.  As I began to do research for my book Rescuing Pongo, I looked for data that would answer my question.  I came across one article in The Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science titled "Understanding Animal Companion Surplus in the United States: Relinquishment of Nonadoptables to Animal Shelters for Euthanasia."  Published in 2001 by a group of veterinarians who compiled their data via questionnaire at local animal shelters, the very title refers to animals as a commodity in economical terms.  While the largest percentage of people who relinquished their dogs for euthanasia cited "old age" as the reason, other reasons included aggression toward people or animals, disobedience, excessive vocalization, escape, fear toward people, destructiveness inside or outside the home, house soiling and hyperactivity (jumping on people). 

Sadly, most of these behaviors can be changed through education, exercise, and positive behavioral modification with a qualified trainer.  Living in a society of excess, we need to shift our thinking.  Pets are not a commodity that can be tossed out as trash. They are living beings with heart and soul.