The NAPRP Blog

Jul 17

Written by: NAPRP Admin
7/17/2009 5:00 AM

Today I had the pleasure of doing the teleseminar with Deborah Howard from the Companion Animal Protection Society (http://www.caps-web.org/). It was a whirlwind hour of information. I thought I was fairly educated about puppy mill issues, but the problem is vastly larger and more overwhelming than I ever realized. If you are looking for specific ways to fight puppy mills in your area, the CAPS 2.0 Web site at http://www.caps2point0.org/ has more information, particularly on the Activism page.

Deborah has been investigating and dealing with the horrors of puppy mills and pet shops for more than 20 years and it sounds like it has been a roller coaster ride with huge successes like major national TV appearances and serious disappointments and setbacks along the way.

One of the last questions I asked was essentially, "how do you keep doing this work without getting completely discouraged?" Her answer consisted of three main points, which I thought might help everyone:

1. She doesn't let herself feel sorry for herself and knows she's doing the best that she can. Although she used to cry about things more easily, now she just moves forward knowing that the work is vital and she is helping.

2. When things don't go the way she wants, she finds a new plan. She doesn't give up easily. She only lets herself feel discouraged about setbacks for about a day and then moves forward and thinks up ways to attack a problem from a different direction.

3. She has a support network. None of us can do this work alone. You need to involve other people not only to help with the work, but also so you can share ideas.

Homeless animals and puppy mills are huge problems. Neither will be solved by just one person. Know that you aren't alone. Take advantage of opportunities to get together with other people to share both the successes and the failures. You need to take time to take care of yourself, in order to continue to help the animals. What you do is important, but so are you!

As always, thank you for all you do to help the animals ;-)

~ Susan Daffron
Founder & President, NAPRP
 

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