You say tomato, I say tomahto

The second of three articles about the current state of affairs at Toronto Humane Society came out today. "A leader with a passion for animals, loyal supporters - and an iron grip" focuses on Tim Trow the man more than on what's happening with the animals under the THS roof.

The article starts off with a story I've often heard from people regarding their experiences at THS - that of being publicly berated and humiliated for some perceived wrong they were doing.

Now I'll be the first to admit that there have been times when I would've loved to have been able to tear a strip off of someone for being an asshole in their treatment of an animal. If someone decides to dump their pet because they're bored of the 12 week old puppy they got 4 weeks ago, or if someone leaves their dog outside in the backyard for 12 hours everyday and then wants to euth the dog because it's a problem barker, or if someone thinks constantly beating their dog is the same as training, then, yeah, I'd have a go at them.

But if someone thinks feeding their dog only cheap kibble is good enough or if they're a fan of the old school methods of dominance training or if they crate their dog all day when they're away at work - all things which I disagree with to varying degrees, I keep my mouth shut or, at most, politely mention an alternative. Why not yell and stamp my feet at their perceived sins? Several reasons: because I might be wrong, because I might be missing information, because everyone has different ways of caring for their dogs, and mostly because, it's not going to help the animal. After all, when was the last time some jerk screaming at you got you to change your long term behaviour? If anything, it probably turned you against the message he was trying to convey.

From the article:

... soon after they entered the lobby, a large man began yelling at Ms. Piccinin and Mr. Perkins.

Ms. Piccinin, a 22-year-old bank worker who has worked with pit bull rescue groups in London, said that the man asked whether her dog was wearing a prong collar.

“And then he starts shouting, ‘I’m the president of the Toronto Humane Society and you have to get out of here’” she said.

“He continued to yell at us and call us dog abusers and then had some people escort us out of the building,” Mr. Perkins, a 28-year-old construction worker, said.

Yelling at potential adopters in this way paints a picture of a man who has a poor concept of how to relate to individuals on behalf of animals and has no emotional control over his temper tantrums. Yelling is not communicating. Yelling is domineering. Yelling is offensive. Yelling is aggression.

They were considering making a $500 donation and adopting another dog but instead the couple were yelled at and escorted out. How's that supposed to help a dog dying in its cage?

Here's the reason Ian McConachie, a THS spokesman, gave for kicking out the couple.

... the couple had refused to remove the prong collar when they were asked to do so, and were asked to leave because the society objects to prong collars as anything other than training devices.

“[That type of collar] should not be used every day because it can cause pain to the animal, it’s essentially digging into the animal’s skin around it’s neck,” he said.

Anyone who has done any research into prong collars knows that the device, while it may look mean and nasty, can be an effective and injury free training and control tool. There are endless debates about the actual harm it causes, if any, compared to, say, a choke chain or a martingale or even a flat collar and obviously, any tool, used improperly can cause injury. The key thing here, though, is that the prong collar is not an all out assault against the dog it's being used on and to judge someone's ownership potential solely based on its use is wrongheaded.

And even if there was strong disagreement with its use, wouldn't it have made more sense to present the objection with a discussion of alternatives rather than an abusive oratory and an escort out the front door? Yelling and calling out the guards might appease a big man's ego but, again, what does this do for a dog dying in its cage? What does this do for any dog?

The article goes on to talk about the board apparently dominated by Trow and also about the impression Trow has left on various people, friends and detractors both but mostly detractors.