Use your voice to help dogs

This week a nice piece of news was published by all the media outlets; a little rescue dog was making his way into Number 10 in the UK. Whatever you think of the political situation, it was wonderful among all the chaos to see that for this guy, life was about to get much better.  A little dog that went from being an unwanted puppy, to becoming the focus of hundreds of photographers hungry to get a picture of him, and to know what his new routine was like. Was he allowed to go onto the sofa? Did he enjoy his walks?

Sadly, this is not the reality for thousands of many other dogs which as result of irresponsible breeding fill in the kennels of UK rescues.  This is also a problem replicated to an unprecedented scale in the streets of Spain.

Spain is once again at the top for animal abandonment with 104,688 dogs being collected by shelters during 2018 according to the Affinity Dog Foundation. A shocking figure, which does not even account for the abandoned dogs that die in the streets before being rescued, or the ones that die at the hands of the hunters who get rid of them when no longer have use for them. Although the attitudes in Spain are changing, and from a judicial point of view the sentences for animal mistreatment are higher and tougher, there is not yet a shift of attitudes among the hunters and the people from the rural areas.

Within this background, charities like ours and many others struggle to save as many dogs as possible knowing that it does not matter how hard we work, how many dogs we feed and how many dogs we get adopted, this will never be enough to save them all.

What do we need? 

More effective campaigns that make mistreating a dog shameful. To instill in the population a duty of care towards animals, all animals.  To get away from breed trending. All dogs big and small are wonderful, the only factor that matters is which dog needs you more. 

Animals can serve a purpose and help to improve our lives in many different ways. They can help to guide the blind, support the police, and help farmers looking after their animal stock.  In exchange,  it is our duty to care and to give them the best quality of life possible. That is, food, water, shelter and love. This is never more needed than when they reach their old age.  Dogs may not have the same status as humans, but they are neither things nor simple tools. They are living beings with feelings, wants and needs, who love us more than we love ourselves sometimes.

We need to bring to the forefront the work of so many dog rescuers, volunteers, fosters, who work daily to make the life of these poor dogs better. These people are all heroes in their own way.  We need to help and enable them to do their work by facilitating resources and by giving their work the value it deserves.

Council pounds should hire the best people to care for stray dogs.  These should not be low level paid positions to which anybody can access.

Most importantly, we all need to look around us and ask, what can we do to help? After hearing about the disaster that hurricane Dorian caused in the Bahamas,  who can forget the kind actions of one woman, who did not forget the many strays and opened the home to nearly 100 dogs, so they could be protected from the worse effects of the storm saving them from certain death.   

People in a position of power must also take into account animal care. A society that is kind to their animals is a society with a better quality of living.  If you have access to a pulpit where people listen to you,  this must be used to help animals in need too. So this is why it is so important actions like that of Father Jim Hynes, who shows stray dogs so much kindness and encourages adoption. Or Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who on wanting a new dog did not hesitate in rescuing one and tell everyone about it.

If you like programmes such as the X-Factor, you will be familiar with Simon Cowell’s acerbic judgment of the contestants. He is, however, all kindness when it is time to help dogs in need as well as a strong advocate for their rights. Ricky Gervais, another famous face, who with access to so many high profile people, still thinks that meeting dogs is the most important part of his day. 

Why all of this is important?

Because our thinking and actions are influenced by a number of psychological biases, one of which is Social Proof.  That is, we all tend to look to others for answers as to how we should behave, what we should think and what we should do. The more people that talk the talk and walk the walk in helping dogs, the quicker we will build a society for which helping, rescuing and caring for dogs is the norm.

In the meantime, charities like Spanish Stray Dogs will continue to work to save dogs and raise awareness, one dog at a time.

Blog written by Victoria Vazquez (Spanish Stray Dogs UK VP)