Wild About Writing

The July Reader’s Digest, Canadian edition, is out with my feature article, Canada’s Puppy Mill Scandal.

Other than to say it describes my own personal experience with a dog that I believe came from a puppy mill, I’ll not go into detail on the article. You can read in the RD how unscrupulous breeders exploit their animals, sell off the puppies that often end up in pet stores, and profit from dogs that frequently carry serious genetic and behavioural defects. Present laws are ineffective in stopping this, despite frequent raids.

We lost Rory, our beautiful Wheaten terrier, after six years of struggling with his aggressive and anti-social behaviour. We tried everything – dog counselling, medication, you name it. Among other disturbing traits, he had a serious anxiety complex and tried to bite any one of us when we headed for the door.

I was heartbroken when we reached the decision that we had to have him put down — to end his suffering, and ours. I’d awaken in the night, tears streaming down my cheeks.

My partner Deborah thought it would be healthy if, as a writer, I wrote about the experience.

I started doing research, and found out from a prominent vet that Rory exhibited all the traits of an animal from an abusive puppy mill.

I moved on to investigating the prevalence of puppy mills. I discovered that even the valiant efforts of SPCA animal rescue officers were unable to bring these establishments under control.

Except in Ontario, laws are weak and penalties for animal abuse minimal.

Then it happened. A major raid in Quebec turned up appalling conditions at one particular mill. I interviewed people involved in the raid. Then I queried the Reader’s Digest, offering an outline of the story. I mentioned my own personal experience.

After about a week, I got an email back. They wanted the piece. I was sent the Writer’s Guidelines for the RD, and told I should model the piece to fit.

It took a couple of months of back and forth to finalize the piece. The editor I worked with was positive and supportive all the way. The fact checkers who worked with my manuscript were impeccable in their treatment.

With a circulation of 1.2 million and eight million readers, the Reader’s Digest is the most widely read magazine in Canada.

This means my piece exposing the evils of the puppy mills will catch a lot of eyeballs. I hope this will add to pressure on politicians to modernize our out of date legislation. Maybe it’ll give a boost to Liberal MP Mark Holland’s efforts to get his private member’s bill on the issue up for a vote.

We now have a lovely little Wheaten terrier which we obtained from Jan Cunningham, a small breeder in Ontario’s Prince Edward County. She came to us from a loving and caring home. We’ll never forget Rory, but Moreg is a delight every hour of the day.

The July issue of RD is on the newsstands now. I hope you’ll pick up a copy.