The Amish – Is It Okay to Abuse Animals for Financial Survival?

My local PBS station, WHYY, aired a show last night called The Amish: American Experience. Over the years, the Amish have evoked quaint visions of horse-drawn carriages and bucolic farms, the simple life so many of us long for. I used to think that way – until I  met my first dog rescued from an Amish puppy mill. And when I heard of an Amish man whipping his pony in front of a Walmart because it refused to  continue pulling a carriage the 5 miles home that should have been pulled by two horses, not one small pony. Or when I attended the candlelight vigil for the 80 dogs who were shot by the Amish farmer who wanted to avoid paying to take the dogs to see a veterinarian.

I posted a comment on WHYY’s Facebook page yesterday when they promoted the show, saying that I hoped that The Amish showed how they are mostly responsible for making Pennsylvania one of the worst states with puppy mills. Someone responded to my comment that the Amish are struggling to support their families and need to breed puppies to make money. I responded, “it’s getting harder and harder for most families, Amish or not, to support themselves.” Does that give them license to abuse animals?

Of course, not all Amish are puppy millers and some of those who are do respect the animals and treat them kindly. We shouldn’t generalize any group of people. My comments are pointed at the ones who treat animals like they are just another crop and exploit them.

Many Amish are having difficulties making a living with farming (as illustrated in last night’s show) due in part to the very large families that they need to support and competition from large corporate food producers. So they look for other ways to make money. Breeding puppies is cheap and easy – and they can get away with very low standards of health and breeding. Most of the public still have the same notion of the Amish that I once had. They arrive to buy a puppy, see the old farmhouse and an emotional, sentimental response follows. The brain then thinks, “if I feel good, then this must be a good place.” That “pure bred” puppy for sale is in reality not always pure bred and may have genetic health problems. And yet they charge several hundreds and even thousands of dollars for this sub-standard quality.

The Amish show opened with this voiceover line, “The Amish represent something true and virtuous that is lacking in many of us.”  Tell me, how is being a puppy mill operator that dupes the public so virtuous? And can you guess? The show never gave a mention to animals. Of course not.

Survival or not, exploiting and abusing animals cannot be tolerated. And the only way to stop them is to stop buying their puppies.

Educating Children

If you are a regular reader, you know that my passion is to educate about behavior. I assume that most people reading this blog are adults. If so, then how do we reach children at a young age to teach them how to treat animals? It’s a source of frustration for me. Yesterday and today, I saw children walking dogs alone – no parents in sight – and doing things that were inappropriate. As you can guess, that makes me crazy!

And I feel so badly for the dogs because this improper handling may change their behavior for the worse. The dogs may then lose their homes.  In both incidences, the dogs were barking at my dog and the children yelled at the dogs to stop. More than likely, they learned this from their parents. Either because their parents yell at the dog or yell at the children, or probably both! Remember my post about yelling at dogs?? Yelling very likely will increase the behavior, not stop it.

I was soooo tempted to correct the children but I didn’t. They wouldn’t listen to a stranger and would probably call me a bad name J Besides, it’s not easy to explain to a young child in a quick minute that yelling increases the adrenaline that is already pumping through the dog, causing the barking. Yeah, never mind!

So then, how do we reach children? Some animal shelters have people called humane educators who go to schools to teach about animals. Sadly, due to economic constraints, these positions are often the first eliminated. Dog training classes are a great option. I believe all dogs should be enrolled in at least a basic training class with all family members attending. That way, everyone can hear and learn about the best ways to treat your dogs. Training classes are also a great way to bond with your dogs.

If you have kids, are you teaching them what you’ve learned in my blog and through other reputable experts who believe in humane training methods?  Please comment and tell us what you’re doing!

Top Posts

I find it very interesting to look at the statistics for my blog to see which posts are the most popular and what things people are searching for when they arrive at this blog. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see that people are coming here to learn, and that I have been able to provide quality education and help. And hopefully have spared dogs from getting turned into shelters or rescues or even euthanasia due to behavior problems.

By far, my post Why Cesar Millan is Not a Whisperer has gotten the most hits.  I can see that quite a few people have searched on different phrases such as, “don’t use the Dog Whisperer’s methods” to arrive at this post. Maybe people are finally catching on that Cesar Millan is not the expert he claims to be and that he needs to stop using detrimental methods. Sadly, however, I recently spoke with a dog walker who says that lots of people like to use that terrible “tsst” that Millan advocates. My wish is that people will gradually learn why that can backfire.

And speaking of Millan and detrimental methods, the next most read post is Showing Dominance. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t find my blog by searching on, “how to pin my dog down” or “how to show dominance to my dog.” I hope that by reading this post, people realize that alpha rolls and pinning dogs down is no longer considered as acceptable training techniques. Being a good parent and benevolent leader is  by far the best way to teach dogs good behavior.

And tied for the third most popular post have been the training tips on submissive urination and attention seeking. Gosh, there must be a lot of dogs out there with these issues! Maybe these two problems are most misunderstood.  Or it could be that many dogs are coming from puppy mills with generic anxiety which cause attention seeking and submissive urination? I’d like to hear from you if you are one of these dog owners. Where did you get your dog?

Thanks for visiting and being an apostle for the animals!

Magazine Error

The Bark magazine has always had the reputation of high quality articles written by excellent writers. I was flattered to be quoted in an article in the January/February issue but saw that I was inaccurately labeled as a “behaviorist.” Lately, this title seems to be afforded to anyone who knows anywhere from a little to a lot about animal behavior.  Let me say for the record that I am not a behaviorist and I go to great lengths to let people know that I am not. Why? 

The title of behaviorist is endowed to someone who has a Master’s degree or PhD in an animal-related field with many years of experience. They must meet certain qualifications of the Animal Behavior Society. I do not meet these qualifications, and no other dog trainers or consultants who also do not meet these qualifications should be calling themselves behaviorists. I have a great deal of respect for behaviorists and believe they alone deserve the title. After all, if you know something about medicine, you certainly don’t go around calling yourself a doctor unless you are a doctor!

I wrote to the editor of The Bark to point out the mistake and offered to write an article for the magazine to describe the various titles used by those in the dog training and behavior professions. I wrote two posts back in 2010 on that topic –  August 10 and August 16. I have not received a reply from the editor and that’s disappointing.  I believe it’s important that people know the distinction.

Okay, my conscience is clear!