One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues
Written and Narrated By: Cara Sue Achterberg
Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
From fostering, to “pulling” from kill-shelters; Cara’s journey continues…
Wow… My sister had to remind me that I’d listened to Cara’s first book as I’d comPLETEly forgotten about it by the time I spotted and purchased One Hundred Dogs and Counting (Thanks, Chirpbooks!!!). That book, narrated by the fantastic yet sometimes mesmerizing Xe Sands, seemed more like a series of concepts tackled from looking for The Perfect Fit for the Family, to musings about children growing up, to writing and blogging for the masses.
This book, dear Accomplice, is all dogs dogs dogs. And then some more dogs.
Don’t worry that this tackles Kill-Shelters; yes, there are plenty of dogs here who don’t make it, who have that big red “X” on their paperwork, destined for euthanasia. But there are sooo many who do, and Achterberg (May I call you Cara as this seems to be such a personal journey you’re letting us all ride along for?) makes it aBUNdantly clear: We can all make a difference. She’s not about chronicling the tragedies so much as she’s about enlightening the public.
What starts off as a looooong story about her most difficult foster, a dog who runs away, who’s, wellll, it’s not unheard of for her to bite, just a really, reeeeeally exasperating dog, leads her to hand off the dog, knowing someone else might be able to socialize her, and it further leads her into questioning just Why there are ALWAYS more that come in to fill the spots for foster. She looks into the rescue group she assists, OPH—Operations Paws for Homes, and takes a drive down South to really learn about how the system works.
It’s mind-blowing to her, and heartbreaking. She learns the word “pull”—as in, We can only pull so many dogs, and she wonders how on earth the groups can make the decisions necessary, why one doomed dog is saved over another. She learns how the designation of breed type can make or break a rescue as there’s such a thing as breed discrimination with entire cities having breed bans. Such dogs?
Death.
Don’t worry. This isn’t anywhere neeeear as hard-hitting as, say, Kim Kavin’s journey into the underbelly of rescuing from The South’s high-kill shelters (Little Boy Blue). Kavin described such incredibly horrific situations for rescuers, some who might have to choose between buying food and buying medicine, thereby having a lot of sick dogs left untreated, and she posited some truly and seemingly lose-lose situations. No, here Cara’s pretty angry, but her point is to make people aware of the situation. I don’t mean to say that Kavin was going for shock-value—rather, her style was just more emotionally fraught. Cara’s style is more about specifics of what can be done, like a tax on non-essential pet items such as dog costumes (A gazillion and six dollar industry… and saaaay, CATS can be wrangled into costumes for saaaay Christmas and Halloween toooo!).
There are some wonderful stories here, pregnant dogs pulled at the last moment; big dogs who may’ve gotten so terribly stressed during hurricane evacuations that they bit people, thereby earning that big “X” but who are given a second chance; small dogs who are cute and cuddly and inspire dozens of applications. And there’s not so much about Cara’s kids, tho’ her daughter’s theatre doings are written of (She can’t help but be a proud mama). There’s also a LOT about how much puppies poop…
Sounds like a hodgepodge, huh? And it is a bit thrown together. But this is mostly about a story that needs to be told, about how people just don’t think much of animals, that they’re just a dog, just a cat, why get them neutered even if it’s free and a mobile vet comes straight to one’s door (Which kinda ticks me off… I’m about ready to nuke entire geographies…)? It’s about thinking before buying from a pet store or breeder and looking to Rescues instead. It’s about maybe taking that step and becoming a foster to help out. It’s about involving the community to walk dogs, to maybe raise awareness by doing something like painting rocks along community hike and bike trails.
It’s about what you yourself can do, which is soooo empowering when you’re dealing with a book about the needless suffering and deaths of animals. Achterberg narrates this one herself this time (Wha?! Xe was busy? Or p’raps it was noted that Xe’s smoooooth tones had me zoning out?), and I say Achterberg because her reading, with its bit of emotional reserve, implies we are NOT on a first name basis, which is tragic cuz I’m friendless and am desperate to be liked but which is in no way a deal breaker as she comes off as no-nonsense and This Can Be Done, Y’all. This bit of detachment really saved me from tears as she walks by the first dog who’s not going to be pulled, WILL be killed. But I must admit that I do so love a good emotional wallow, so the performance was the tiniest bit lacking for me.
All said, all done? I’d buy the next Cara Sue Achterberg book in a heartbeat, knowing that it’ll deal with real issues, knowing it’ll have answers, and?
Knowing it’ll be about dogs, dogs, dogs!
Tho… barely a mention about all the cats that are put down at higher rates than dogs. If Cara has a friend who fosters and rescues cats and writes a book?
Dude, I’ll be chucking out m’ shekels for that one too!
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