The Man Who Bothered to Ask "Why?"

It's odd to have an annual tragedy of epic proportions and forget to ask "Why? What is the source, the basic cause of this problem so that we can fix it?" So it is for animal over-population that results in killing millions of companion animals annually. Most of us know it's there, and many of us wrestle with it daily, working to rescue, foster, adopt and bring those devastating numbers down. (Sadly, the numbers don't go down.) How many of us have looked into the deepest well of "Why?"

Butch Cappel has. He can clearly tell you when and where the problem started. Based on that, he can tell you the solution; and even as you're reading these words, he is making that solution a reality.

The first thing you might question is what gives Butch Cappel the cred to have any viable opinions about this at all--let alone The Plan to Save Animal Planet? Hmmmm… well, where do I start? 

Butch Cappel has supplied guard dogs and precision trained dog teams, consisting of trained handlers and dogs, for some of the top corporations in the United States and Mexico. His K9 Teams have secured the airport and supplied additional K9 security services to Mexico's President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and he supplied trained security dogs as an adjunct to the close contact executive protection services provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety for the reelection campaign of George W. Bush in his Texas campaign. He has served as an adviser on the use and deployment of K9 teams on medical properties to the International Association of Hospital Security Specialists (IAHSS) as well as the American Society of Industrial Security Specialists. Butch was featured on national television networks in the United States and Europe for his program using trained dogs to protect victims of domestic violence. He has written articles and/or been featured in such magazines as Dogs Against Drugs/Dogs Against Crime, Dog Sports Magazine, Dog World, Dog Fancy, Dog and Kennel as well as police and security trade magazines. There’s much more, but that should be a start that lets you know that Butch Cappel knows his way around the block when it comes to the world of dogs.

Now back to our originally scheduled programming:  The Problem. Butch pointed back to the mid-1930s. "At that time only 1% of Americans owned a purebred dog. Most people had mixed breeds, and that was the norm." He went on to relate that at about that time the American Kennel Club (AKC) came to prominence with the requirement of licenses for those who exhibited dogs for a fee, the first book of AKC rules, the establishment of obedience tests, and generally greater structure that led to a perception of high standards for recognized AKC breeds.

AKC-sanctioned dog shows, Westminster in particular, began attracting media attention (read:  advertisers and money), which brought more public attention and even fascination with purebred dogs. Over the years, as with so much media marketing, the public has become convinced of the status, quality, desirability, and perhaps even dependability of owning a purebred dog. The American public, which previously wasn't too concerned about anything other than a dog's loyalty and temperament, became a ready market for breeders.

The demand began out-stripping supply. Puppy mills and backyard breeders started stepping up to the plate to fill the lucrative demand that reputable breeders could not completely address. Now we not only have way too many dogs that continue to be over-bred and exacerbate the problem--we have a general population brainwashed to believe that to do the best by their family, they should get the kids a purebred puppy from a breeder or pet store. How do we change that to favor the rising tide of healthy, loving rescue animals whose current destiny is typically euthanization?

Tomorrow:  The Solution. (See The Man With the Plan)