The Dog Fancy & Pet Owners. Isn't it Time to Make ?First Contact??

It?s said that timing is everything, and in Atlanta, it was on my side. Hurricane Sandy spared the city where I was attending ?BarkWorld,? but another day or two and I might still be there because of flights canceled by the storm.

I would have missed having oral surgery the other day.

That would have been tragic.

And yes, that?s sarcasm.

It?s also small minded. The discomfort of my sore, swollen gums pale in comparion to what others hit by the hurricane are suffering this week. The devastation is unfathomable to me, and I do what I can with donations and prayers. The ASPCA?is partnering with Petsmart Charities?to provide emergency relief and have set up a distribution center in Syracuse, NY. with 4,000 sheltering supplies ready to be distributed to local rescue groups in need. You can make a donation to the organization online.

The Facebook Page Hurricane Sandy Lost and Found Pets?page is posting photos of missing and found pets. People are also using the #hashtag #sandypets to communicate updates on Twitter.

Let?s help out where we can.

I?m often asked what goes on at a ?blogging convention? like BarkWorld. There are seminars and classes, of course, but attendees always hope to have a good time, as well. Depending upon the venue, parties can be a planned part of the schedule,but impromptu gatherings also break out when like-minded writers and social media ?influencers? (as we?re now called) find themselves together. Last year, ?BlogHer? had over 5,000 women bloggers in attendence including ?mommy bloggers,? ?fashion bloggers,? and those who wrote about cooking, exercise, life changes, etc. I assume most were like me in gravitating to people who wrote about similar things, but one morning at breakfast, I sat next to a blogger who wrote exclusively about honeymoons at Disneyland.? Talk about a niche.

Despite the apparent debauchery, we are all professionals, here. We write, we think, we blog, and on this night, we did shots of Pinkies, compliments of our server. Guess which one he is.

?Pet blogging? conventions, of course, attract people who write about (wait for it?.) pets!? ?BarkWorld? had a schedule which included a Halloween charity party, morning yoga with one?s dog (called ?doga?), cooking-for-pets demonstrations, and six minute ?speed dates? with various companies looking for reciprocal arrangements with bloggers. Part of any convention, too, is a whole lot of ?swag? (free goodies) provided by companies which hope that bloggers will write about.

It was a night for dressing up, and that included the dogs.

The crux of any of these conferences, however, is to make connections and learn to do what we do better. Some of the seminar titles at BarkWorld were:

• Showcase Your Influence: How to Make the Most of a Blogger to Brand Relationship;
• Google for Pet Influencers and Brands, Name that price!
• How much is your Tweet Worth?
• Navigating the Pet Lifestyle Product Landscape: How to Attract Readers and Advertisers with the Hottest Trend in Pet Blogging.

I?ve been home for a few days now, and oral surgery notwithstanding, I?ve had a chance to reflect on my first time at ?BarkWorld.? Having now attended several such conventions, I?ve come to decide that a ?pet industry? blogging convention isn?t that different from a National Specialty; each event allows us to catch up with old friends and network with new ones, gauge our progress with that of our peers, and ?check in? with our sport or industry. Specialties and conventions each bring together people with a common interest, but at BarkWorld, as with other pet blogging conventions, I was reminded ?- again ? that there is one difference between the two worlds I straddle, and it?s not an easy one to overlook.

The hearts and minds of dog fanciers are on the same page. We love our pure bred dogs and partner with them in the show and performance arena. We have as a common foe the animal rights movement, and increasingly if feels as if we?ve been forced into a protective circle, shoulder to shoulder, backs against each other?s as we push back at bad dog legislation and lies about who we are and what we do. We have different breeds, show in different aspects of the sport, and possess different levels of achievement and experience, but the ties that bind us are immutable.

Anymore, it feels as if we?ve been forced into a protective circle, shoulder to shoulder, backs against each other?s

Pet bloggers also share a deep affection for the cats and dogs of whom they write, but it seems to me that once out of the starting gate, they disperse in different directions. Some bloggers write through the voice of their dog (which I find personally maddening), some speak as their dog?s ?parent,? and others write blogs in common sense terms. Some bloggers are accepting of purebred dog ownership as long as the dogs are rescue or shelter refugees, but other take a dimmer view of any kind of purebred dog. I?ve attended conferences where distain for the owner/breeder/handler of purebred dogs was palpable.

And so far, the only blogger I know of at these conferences who writes from the perspective of a dog fancier is me.

This is concerning to me because the issues that worry me should worry all dog owners. The animal rights movement has had the show fancy and purebred dog owners in their crosshairs for some time, but the day is coming when its spidery reach will impact all dog owners, if not the concept of dog ownership entirely. We in the fancy know this to be true. My fellow bloggers, not so much.

Shelter and rescue dogs are central to the the majority of bloggers I?ve met at conferences. These writers aren?t sympathetic to the animal rights movement, but neither is there consensus among them about purebred dog owners and breeders. My evidence is anecdotal, to be sure, but talking with other ?pet? bloggers gives me the sense that very few of them appreciate the distinction between responsible breeders, backyard breeders and large scale commercial operations. Others, meanwhile, hold all breeders responsible for the ??pet ?overpopulation? they?ve been told is a national disgrace and not the regional issue it is. None expressed awareness that rescue dogs are equally important to the fancy, or that 33% of purebred shelter dogs are rescued by people acting on behalf of an AKC breed club.

I?m very careful to avoid the word ?all? when referring to the awareness level of pet bloggers. There are individuals to whom I?d like to give a ?shout out? for helping educate their audience. Pawcurious is a pet lifestyle blog and its author, Dr. V (Jessica Vogelsang, DVM)? routinely heralds sound, purebred dogs and the responsible people who breed them. I, for one, am appreciative that she gets the word out to her sizeable audience.

I also credit Eukanuba which every December iinvites a handful of pet bloggers from across the country to attend the AKC/Eukanuba National Dog Show in Orlando. For most of these writers, this is the first dog show they?ve ever seen in person and the effect on them is often just short of seismic. As these bloggers wander through a grooming area, follow conformation judging, and watch obedience and agility events, they see not abused, hollow eyed show dogs, but well loved and indulged companions.

The idea of inviting ?pet? bloggers (some of whom have scorned the dog show world) to actually attend one is thinking outside the box, and I?d like to see this kind of ?radical? thinking at a pet industry blogging convention. Why not invite the AKC to a pet blogging convention?? Why not include the NAIA? These two groups have much to offer pet bloggers, and frankly, we need pet bloggers on our side. But first, we have to inform them.

Who will be the first to build the bridge between two worlds that need to come together? I don?t know. I do know that the fancy needs the pet people, and pet people need us because we know stuff. Fanciers can?t afford the luxury of arrogance (something of which I think we can be guilty), and neither should shelter and rescue people be allowed to feel morally superior because they ?adopted? and didn?t shop (something I wrote about here).

In some ways, coming together could be regarded as a reconciliation because once upon a time, we were united, show people and pet owners. And then PETA and HSUS came along. They made us think. They made us reconsider the meat we were eating, the furs we were wearing, and some of the sports we watched. It needed to be done, but then they went too far. They spearheaded an animal rights movement that through its divisive, destructive and deceptive ways made reasonable people quickly learn the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. And so we have people who buy into the overpopulation myth, the one-size-fits-all moniker of ?puppy mill,? the shoulder shrug at astronomical (and probably unconstitutional) fees leveled at responsible breeders, and a laundry list of increasingly invasive dog legislation. For the madness to stop, we need allies. We need to come together with the folks who share a common love of dogs but who, because of AR lies, regard us as the monsters under the bed.

Owner/Breeder/Handlers are better looking than this, and not nearly as toothy

It?s time to turn the lights on, point a flashlight under the bed and chase away the scaries. The only way I can see to do this is to foster ?first contact? because if we don?t, the treasured relationship between man and dog will be a thing of the past.

Don?t doubt me.

Source: http://dogknobit.com/2012/11/01/the-dog-fancy-pet-owners-isnt-it-time-to-make-first-contact/

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