The Internet Has Saved a Lot of Dogs

What has happened to information in the last 20 years is a quantum leap forward unimaginable even 20 years ago, and unprecedented in human evolution.

If you want more information on some obscure point, you can get it by simply going to Google and posting a simple query.

What is particularly amazing is that this technology is not not captive to a few rich people in a few well-placed countries. Easter Island now has three Internet cafes, and spam email from Nigeria and Ghana are commonplace. When I run into computer trouble, I call Tech Support… in India.

And it's not just the big players that have an international reach. This little blog (entirely free to create in a world where water costs $2 a bottle) is visited by several thousand people a day. In the last 9 months it has registered visitors from over 180 countries.

This is all pretty amazing stuff. The Internet, if nothing else, has become a great equalizer. You no longer have to be rich, live in an urban area, or have a high-powered job to be heard.

Today, even in rural America, if you have discipline and time, you can be as well-read as anyone on earth.

And has this benefitted dogs?

It has.

More dogs than ever before are being adopted out of rescues and pounds.

More people than ever before understand the benefits of spay-neuter and its role in reducing the killing of millions of healthy dogs at “shelters”.

More people than ever before have access to good information about sensible and consistent dog training.

Kennel Clubs are finding it harder to peddle diseased, defective. and dysfunctional dogs based on fictional histories, sniffing pretension, and fraudulent claims of expertise.

Dogs owners are able to more easily self-diagnose and self-treat common canine problems and ailments, from fleas and ring worm to cut pads and manic barking.

As strange as it may sound, the Internet has saved a lot of dogs.