Love in the Time of Treatment Plants

We've long known that the struggle between fear and love is about relationships: Fear fights for isolation, and love fights for connection. 

The stakes may remain the same, but the venues of this battle have changed. Today's sites of contention can have a uniquely ugly and foul character, and they make the struggle that much more important. Most recently, that struggle played out at a water treatment plant in California. The following video shows how:

Seeing the dog at the treatment plant, I couldn't miss the presence of the neglect, suffering, and marginalization that accompany fear. Those factors enable each other, making connection rare and fragile. In such a situation, it is easy to discount love.

By contrast, the second part of the video provides a reminder of just how powerful and effective love can be. The people at Hope for Paws, the organization that rescued the dog, cleaned him up, and helped make him available for adoption, prove the fight for love is worth it. Sometimes, it takes just a little offering, and other times, it requires extra effort, but when a connection is made, the bond can overcome even the most apparently hopeless situations.

This is no time for the faint of heart, but it is most definitely a time for the heart.

Art of the Heart

In art, some dogs play poker, but Mark Barone wants to raise awareness about the many dogs playing Russian roulette. 

Three years ago, Barone set out to draw attention to the fact that an average of 5,500 dogs are euthanized in animal shelters each day in the United States. With that number in mind, Barone created An Act of Dog, an art project featuring 5,500 dogs that have been euthanized. Check out a trailer for the documentary PBS is doing on the project:

An Act of Dog takes a sad and challenging issue and turns it into a powerful message and a labor of love. The number of pets in animal shelters strains the resources of those people trying to find homes for them, and we often overlook adoption as an option for getting a pet. All this amounts to some very difficult circumstances. Barone's project expresses the pain of the situation and calls for something better. For more information about his work, click here.

Considering the size of the problem, it's probably a good time to construct a better system for handling pets that need homes. It will take all of us and a new perspective about pets, but it promises to give Barone a more positive picture to paint.

Adopting a pet is simple, so we tend to forget the power it carries, but An Act of Dog finds a way to communicate just how meaningful it is.

A Reader's Companion

Once upon a time, a cat helped a boy read in exchange for friendship. You'll find this story in the nonfiction section.

In this case, once upon a time is now, and the boy, 10-year-old Sean Rodriguez of Pennsylvania, improves his reading skills by reading to cats at the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Berks County. The cats benefit because the interaction helps socialize them to humans before they are adopted.

If you think the story can't get any better, you're wrong. Kristi Rodriguez, Sean's mother, works for the ARL, and after seeing her son's success, she helped turn the experience into a program called Book Buddies. Now, area children in grades 1-8 can practice reading with cat friends. The animals find much needed companionship, and the children receive the benefit of having an attentive, judgment-free audience. For more information about Book Buddies, click here.

I believe in the powers of reading, pets, and caring, and I also believe we need happy endings that aren't fairytales. Discovering ARL's Book Buddies program pleasantly reminded me that the pure goodness we find in some stories comes from real-world inspiration.

The great thing about heartwarming nonfiction is that we can keep many of those stories going forever.

Backin' Black

A new photography project asks us to embrace the power of the dark side.

Dogs with black fur tend to have trouble getting adopted. According to this article from The Huffington Post, it's due to "black dog bias." Because of a fear of black dogs, a phobia fostered by stories in books and movies, people shy away from adopting them.

Through the Black Dogs Project, photographer Fred Levy hopes to give black dogs a new image and a better chance of adoption. Levy photographs black dogs, capturing their personalities and raising awareness of the bias that makes them less likely to be adopted. To view his work, click here.

When it comes to perceptions, the power of images cuts both ways. Some images limit our thinking, but others expand it. That's one reason photography is so special.

With his pictures, Levy shows us the light about black dogs.

Say Hello to Your Little Friend

Adopting a behavior is the ultimate goal of most campaigns, and it's especially important when adopting is the behavior.

With this in mind, The Humane Society of the United States, Maddie's Fund, and The Ad Council created The Shelter Pet Project. The campaign aims to boost adoption of shelter animals. To achieve this goal, The Shelter Pet Project works to connect shelter animals with people. Check out one of its meet-a-shelter-pet ads below:



The ad introduces a pet (Stetson) and the desired behavior of adopting a shelter animal. Think of it as a relationship that begins through a mutual friend. The campaign Web site provides more opportunities for connection with its interactive features.

After the connection is made, the possibility for adoption increases. In fact, according to the campaign's Web site, adoption of shelter pets has risen since 2009 (when The Shelter Pet Project began) despite a poor economy. To get additional information and interact more with shelter pets, click here.

Oh, and the next time you're looking for a pet, take the next step in your relationship with shelter animals.