"One at a Time: A Week in an American Animal Shelter"

I wanted to post this title someone mentioned and find out if anyone else has read it? I never heard of that book, which is odd, people tell me about stuff all the time, although mostly it has to do with a documentary (which my film is not, although I shot in that style, we use doc footage) or other media, but rarely books.

Have you heard of the book, Save our Strays? It has a lot of stats but is very insightful. But I will definitely look into "A WEEK" it seems interesting and sounds like a doc that was made about ten years ago...called KISS THE ANIMALS GOODBYE, or BEST FRIENDS FORGOTTEN. I am dying to see them but on one hand want to wait until my film is done and on the other I am too ghetto to buy them. ( : I did however get to see SHELTER DOGS. Really good look into a small "shelter" or "rescue." Not that it is the norm but you KNOW that kind of "rescue" is out there.

The doc that got me started making this film is a Student Academy Award winning short doc called, MAN AND DOG. by Randolph BENSON (I think) I cannot remember his last name. Fabulous! Heartbreaking! It shows a "dog catcher" aka "Animal Control Officer" somewhere in the Southern US, like Georgia or a Carolina and a day in his life. Everytime I think of Randy Grim and his dog, Quentin, who was put into the gas chamber and LIVED, I think of this film or when think of this film I cannot help but remember Quentin. Great dog, was able to meet him at the IDA (In Defense of Animals) awards recently.

I actually applied for the job of General Manager to LA's Animal Services. Long shot but what the heck. Didn't get it but now I feel like I want to write the new GM a letter and tell him about this book I am reading now, The Tipping Point, one of the things it does is describe how NYC went from high crime to very low crime. I think the concept could EASILY be used for animal rescue and shelters.

What they did is called the Broken Window theory. Which is, if a abandoned building has a broken window and it is not repaired then people think no one cares about it so they the chances of it becoming even more vandalized is really likely. Kathy Riordan said something that just triggered a bunch of ideas, one being to make it shameful to drop off your pet at an animal shelter. To make it just unheard of. For me it would be but for so many others some who if they don't know, pretend not to know and think, what I don't know won't hurt...

But in NYC they started with turnstyle jumpers. In America people constantly ADVERTISE in newspapers etc, that they have a litter to SELL, and in LA and a LOT of other areas you have to have a breeders license to SELL puppies or kittens, so maybe busting Betty Crocker homemaker who thought it was a good idea to breed their favorite dog or cat might get the attention that its NOT such a good idea....But to have an unaltered dog or cat is ONLY 100 dollars, I think that should be 1000, and if caught without a licensed animal who is unaltered should be 5000. That is a deterrent amount!

I have soooo much footage and thought of a commercial I could edit, to educate the public about things they don't know... without being too in your face. Too many times docs and commercials like the in-your-face approach... I think it puts people off... to reach them you have to get them on their level and not throw images for shockvalue into the mix.

Wow, and thank you for taking the white water raft ride down my steam of consciousness.