Why I blog about the dogs
posted by TheDon

On Saturday we put 6 more dogs in their forever homes, including Eddy, who was in the program for over 2 years. Sometimes it takes a while to find just the right home, even for the best of dogs.

People sometimes question the time and money I put into dog rescue, and tell me there are more important things I could do with both. That is probably true, but irrelevant. Most activities can be criticized as being less important than something else. Why worry about homeless dogs when there are homeless people? Why worry about gay rights when there are innocent people on death row? Why worry about abortion rights when our soldiers are dying in Iraq? Why worry about contractor corrpution when there are terrorist trying to kill us? Why watch TV when you could be writing to Congress? Why clean the house when you could be marching with a sign?

There are a lot of things wrong in our great country, and I think they all need advocates. Some causes are well represented, well funded, well advertised. Some are not. Some causes have strong advocacy and legal standing, some do not.

Dog adoption is much more mainstream than it used to be in most of the country. Even in Georgia, everyone at least knows what it is. But we still have a never-ending supply of unwanted dogs. In metro Atlanta, we kill over 90,000 dogs and cats every year. I can't stop homelessness. I can't stop the war in Iraq, or the coming one in Iran. I can't stop bigotry. But I can do something about the slaughter of dogs in my little corner of the world - Atlanta.

We have an agriculture department far more concerned with dog breeders than dog ownership. We fight attempts which nakedly try to shut down dog rescue and to characterize dog rescuers as nuts. We are fighting a long, hard battle, against long odds, but one day we will win.

So why the dogs? Why not the children? Why not the war? Why not the civil rights? I actually help with all of them where I can, but I do spend most of my money and time on the dogs. There are laws protecting children, the homeless, the hungry, even though they are sometimes inadequate. There are countless government agencies, non-profit organizations and church groups advocating and helping. But not for the dogs. They can't speak for themselves, and they are not well represented where it counts - in the legislature or in the courts.

I have a special place in my heart for the truly helpless - I am a liberal, after all - and these dogs count as some of the most helpless and voiceless. My heart is with them, and I unapologetically advocate for them. If you think there are more important ways for me to spend my time, I encourage you to go ahead and do those things. Make a difference - that's all I'm trying to do.