Pet Nation: The Love Affair That Changed America - Hardcover

Cushing, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593083865 ISBN 13: 9780593083864

Verlag: Avery, 2020

Inhaltsangabe

An inside look at the forces behind how our pets become treasured members of the family.

In the last 20 years pets have gone from the backyard to sleeping on our beds, then showing up in every corner of America. Pet Nation tells the story of this seismic shift and the economic, media, legal, political, and social dramas springing from this cultural transformation.

Since 1998 the pet population in the U.S. has almost doubled -- about two-thirds of the country now owns a pet. No longer left to wander the neighborhood, dogs and cats eat special food, get individualized medical attention, and even fly in the cabin. As founder of the Animal Policy Group, Mark Cushing provides an inside look at the rise of Pet Nation, tracking the myriad ways pets are acquired (a "Canine Freedom Train" runs south to north), reporting on pet rights legislation (and the unseen problems that come with elevating their status), pet healthcare (revealing the truth and myths about large scale breeders), and discovering that despite what many organizations would have us believe, there is a shortage of dogs.

Insightful, surprising, and full of great stories, Pet Nation opens our eyes to the big changes happening in front of us right now. It shows us not only what our love of animals says about pets, it shows us what it says about ourselves.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Mark Cushing is the founding partner and CEO of the Animal Policy Group and a Stanford honors graduate. He acts as Trustees Counsel for Lincoln Memorial University and has served as adjunct faculty and lecturer at Lincoln Memorial University, Lewis & Clark College, and the University of Oregon law school.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

9780593083864|excerpt

Cushing / PET NATION

• 1 •

IN THE BACKYARD NO MORE

The Transformation of Pets in American Society

Two strangers meet in a park, each walking with a dog on a leash. They don’t ask each other where they work, or live, or went to college; or about the kind of car they drive, or their favorite football team. They say one, perhaps, two things: “What kind of dog is that? What’s her name?” Twenty minutes later, they know everything about each other’s pet and then part ways as friends. Not have-­each-­other-­over-­to-­dinner friends, but friends who look forward to seeing each other, and their dogs, again.

When you consider the condition of pets in America before Pet Nation, it seems as if everything was photographed in black-­and-­white or sepia, all stills and no video. Pets were scattered here and there, nearly invisible, as if they didn’t matter. Then they began to appear everywhere. Before long, pets were transformed from a diversion to the center of our culture and so many lives. This wasn’t a purely personal experience; pets became social glue, the common bond between people with little else in common, who would never otherwise have spoken to each other. That’s the essence of Pet Nation, and why I wrote this book.

I majored in medieval and renaissance history at Stanford (how’s that for spotting a trend?), went to law school, and became a business trial lawyer. I figured I’d spend my life in a courtroom, raise a family, and see the world. If you had asked me for a thousand scenarios that might unfold in my life, building the Animal Policy Group and becoming a leading advocate and adviser in the pet world would not have made the list. Not even close. Fortunately, that is what happened. In 2005, I received a phone call from Banfield Pet Hospital’s founder, asking me to lead a pet lobbying effort with our federal government in Washington, DC. This was possible then because everything was changing with pets in America.

Dogs and cats went from the backyard to the bedroom, and then dogs headed out the front door of the house to every corner of the United States, every town, suburb, and city. Pets stepped into political and legal arenas, stirring up issues and passions we’d never thought about before. My daily world became the dramas at the intersection of pets and American society. My career as a trial lawyer and DC-­based lobbyist morphed into a full-­time, national practice, fighting battles and advancing causes related to pets. No one else had the job I created or, rather, shaped for myself. This job had never existed, and I’ve battled, cajoled, lobbied, and persuaded ever since.

Pet Nation reveals that something about us—­not about dogs and cats—­has changed without our realizing what happened. Pets aren’t a fad. They are more like the medicine America needs now for individuals and communities to feel better, and to do better. This is the story of what happened, how it happened, where it happened, and why. We explore issues challenging Pet Nation today and a culture that wasn’t prepared for dogs and cats to move center stage. We study the human-­animal bond, legal restrictions, political conflicts, colorful history, cutting-­edge research, and a pet health-­care system that’s turned upside down. What I have discovered is often entertaining, occasionally surprising, and sometimes shocking. It’s an insider’s account of what no one saw coming twenty years ago, or could stop if they tried.

Now, let’s begin with a few stories about dogs and cats.

March 14, 2019

The flight to Orlando, my third red-­eye of the year, was delayed, but not without diversion. Besides the usual suspects tapping away on their iPhones and laptops—­business travelers, Palm Beach dowagers, and families bound for Disney World—­there was a new and decidedly more exotic passenger in the American Airlines Admirals Club that night. Well ­groomed, with a jeweled necklace, a Louis Vuitton case, chestnut-­brown coat, and long eyelashes, Suzette made a stir. From time to time, she sampled a few candies proffered by her traveling companion, a woman in her thirties with a similarly understated fashion flair, took a sip of Tasmanian Rain bottled water, then sat back and closed her eyes, waiting for the flight to board. Three years old, this long-­haired Chihuahua was accustomed to the comforts of business class. Seated across the aisle from her owner / pet parent / friend on the flight from Phoenix, I learned that Suzette had a busy social calendar, a passport of her own, more Instagram followers than I will ever have, and a full, pampered week ahead of her in Boca Raton.

November 16, 2018

A Huffington Post article by Elyse Wanshel tells a different story, in which two beautiful cats became the fulcrum for a modern Seattle wedding of two women that would make any ailurophile purr. In the article, Wanshel describes the efforts of two newlyweds—­Colleen, 27, and Iz, 26—­to entertain their guests at their wedding. Since the ceremony was performed at a Quaker meetinghouse, they were not allowed to serve alcohol while a photographer took their post-­wedding portraits. Inspired by their two older, disabled rescue cats Ladybird and Pangur, Colleen and Iz devised a plan. As Colleen told Wanshel, “When we were brainstorming something alcohol-­free for our guests to do while we took family pictures, kittens came up and things flowed from there.” Instead of a “cocktail hour,” they invented a “kitten hour,” starring six kittens from the Seattle Animal Shelter that were made available.

While Ladybird and Pangur were otherwise engaged at home, “sleeping on the couch, watching squirrels out the window and thinking about killing them,” the kittens entertained the wedding guests, and all the kittens eventually landed adoptive homes. Encouraged by Iz and Colleen to donate to SAS (from which they foster cats) as wedding gifts, several guests filled out adoption papers. Perfect wedding toasts in the form of “Ladybird” and “Pangur” cocktails brightened the reception.

Welcome to Pet Nation.

What Is Pet Nation?

We live in a brand-­new country, one with new codes of behavior, social mores, and artifacts—­iPhones, Facebook, texting, Tinder, emojis, tattoos, cars that drive themselves, fake news, miniature helicopters called drones that deliver pizza to your doorstep, virtual assistants who schedule appointments and remember birthdays. And pets, lots of pets. It’s as if American society said, “Let’s toss out the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and start over. Let’s invent a new world.” Pet Nation is a country where 75 percent of our pets sleep on their owner’s bed, and where millions of dogs and cats have their own social media accounts, receive birthday cards they cannot read, and wear expensive Halloween costumes only once. And it’s not just cats and dogs, as you’ll see in chapter eight. The range of species in Pet Nation is breathtaking.

America has a whopping 185 million cats and dogs. That’s more than one for every two people, or 1.4 per household. Two of three dog owners consider their dog their “best friend,” and this trend is not relenting. As more people acquire their first dog, 26 percent of existing dog owners have two dogs, 10 percent have three dogs, and 7 percent have four or more. The sign above the door to a local groomer’s shop reads, “Dogs are like potato chips. You can’t have just one.” Today, 30 percent of...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Avery
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593083865
• ISBN 13: 9780593083864
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GS1 Slovakia; https://www.gs1sk.org; ; Nantersk� 23; Žilina; 010 08; Slowakei