Connections

Last week, I had the honor and good fortune to be invited to present the KC Pet Project story at the Best Friends National Conference in Atlanta.

As usual, it was an amazing conference with fantastic speakers from inside and outside of animal welfare sharing best practices of their craft with advocates that were thirsting for more knowledge. 

During my presentation, I share a short video that we produced last fall by a dog named Carabina. She was so named because she had been found with a carabiner imbedded into her neck (the video is touching, but not terribly graphic).

 

Later that afternoon, I had a woman who attended my presentation come up to me and share that she was very moved by the video as she had recently taken in a dog that had also been found with a carabiner inbedded in her neck (apparently this is a thing?).  She, of course, had pictures on her phone that she shared (one of my favorite things about technology) and we talked a bit about the dog and how the video made her feel.

I think we all have a story like that -- that one dog, or cat, that touched us in a way that would change us forever. When the woman talked about the dog, you could just FEEL the connection she had with her dog. And the connections with our pets, helped the two of us connect with each other.

Pets are funny that way.

I realize that I've not spending much time on the blog lately, but I am planning to change that. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to get down on screen. Thoughts about the movement to save animal lives in shelters in this country. Thoughts on our fight to end breed discrimination. And my thoughts on how animal welfare has changed over the past decade and is moving forward. I also have a ton of research that I want to write about, as science has taken a huge interest in our canine companions.

I'm looking forward to sharing.