Reddit mentions: The best animal & pet care essays

> If I weren’t out here every day battling the white man, I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity—because you can hardly mention anything I’m not curious about. -Malcolm X


Most Helpful For Me:

-The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Fiction)


Uplifting Inspiration:

-Life Lines: Holding On (and Letting Go) (Beacon Press)

-The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine ($0.99 ebook)

-The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth ($0.99 ebook; Beacon Press)

-A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power by former Pres. Jimmy Carter

-How Should We Live?: Great Ideas from the Past for Everyday Life

-The Art of InterGroup Peace (Free PDF ebook.)

-Place, Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America (Speaks of the pitfalls of college affirmative action, yet, the lessons apply beyond that as well; Beacon Press.)


Philanthropy/Social Enterprises:

-The Moral Measure of the Economy

-To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India (Buddhist-inspired governing/economics; Beacon Press)

-A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World

-Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference

-The Power of Partnership: Seven Relationships that Will Change Your Life

-Toxic Charity: How the Church Hurts Those They Help and How to Reverse It

-Charity Detox: What Charity Would Look Like If We Cared About Results by the author of Toxic Charity

-Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan and Leaving a Legacy


Self-Care:

-Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

-This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live

-Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life (Skinner House Books)


Children:

-Critical Lessons: What our Schools Should Teach

-Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs

-Three Key Years: Talk - Read - Play - Sing To Support & Help Every Child in America (Free PDF ebook.)


Nature/Wildlife:

-The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for The Animals We Love by Jane Goodall & Marc Bekoff

-The Souls of Animals by UU Rev. Gary Kowalski

-Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

A number of assumptions in your reply make it clear that you do not value the lives of these animals and are only seeking to justify your own behavior. You do not have to eat meat or other animal products to live a healthy productive life, yet you justify animals being tortured “so you can eat”. The bar for an animal being reduced to property that can be tortured and killed for you is not scientific discovery, but your own taste. Similarly, you seem to think it’s okay for an animal to be reduced to entertainment as a companion, to be bred and separated from their family so they delight a human or human family who can decide on a whim whether they want to continue caring for or paying for medical treatment for such an animal. You do not value the life of most non-human animals, and so it is easy to justify using them as fodder for a specific type of scientific progress, even if the same or similar progress could be made more slowly using less exploitive means.

I don’t have time to respond to this as throughly as I would like, but I highly recommend reading Beasts of Burden which does a fantastic job deconstructing many of the moral assumptions in your comment.

It's a tough thing to learn from a book and most of my reading is dressage based but I have flipped through Bill Dorrance's book (I think it was this one) and what I remember of it, I liked: http://www.amazon.com/True-Horsemanship-Through-Feel-Second/dp/1599210568/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421433622&sr=8-2&keywords=ray+hunt

You could try this Mark Rashid book too: http://www.amazon.com/Considering-Horse-Problems-Lessons-Learned/dp/1616081562/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1421434415&sr=8-7&keywords=mark+rashid

Maybe this John Lyons book? http://www.amazon.com/John-Lyons-Bringing-Baby-Progressive/dp/1929164122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421434443&sr=8-1&keywords=john+lyons

There are a LOT of snake oil salesmen out there selling natural horsemanship. That's because it's really easy to screw up a horse and so there's a big market of people who love the horses they screwed up but want to make them better. Anyone can hang a shingle out there, publish a 10 part CD training series and charge $100 for it. Nothing substitutes for a real life mentorship with someone who is producing well adjusted, happy, useful horses. The proof is in the pudding.

The natural horsemanship stuff popped up initially as a humane response to a rough around the edges cowboy approach. There are some cruel methods out there but at this point, a lot of the wordless joining-the-spirits-as-one training approaches is just as harmful and consists more of hopeful marketing than anything else. Pat Parelli is the worst offender of this in my opinion and he's made himself an assload of money creating an industry out of it.

Go for no nonsense types if you have to. I like Ray Hunt, Bill and Tom Dorrance, Buck Brannaman and John Lyons. I don't know much about Clinton Anderson but I hear mixed things. Really, cut out the marketing middleman and just look for someone who is consistently producing purpose-bred and trained horses. It's not rocket science if you've grown up in it but it's not necessarily intuitive either. Dressage (or at least the kind I do--the classical folks are their own breed) doesn't buy into most of this stuff, they just back the horse and ride.

Okay...THIS might sound silly but how about getting her one of those Chicken Soup books? I just checked Amazon (best seller with 100% rating sells a new copy for under $6, shipping included), and there's one for the pet lover's soul which means while there's probably not one about a goat, it isn't breed specific and probably easy to relate to.

I've only ever read one of those books but I remember it helping with whatever my issue was at the time and they're insanely popular and have helped a lot of people.

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Pet-Lovers-Soul/dp/1558745718

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

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amazon.nl

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Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
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I didn't read the entire article, but what I read seems to be based off of the book Redemption by Nathan Winograd. It's an interesting read, but a majority of the examples are from the 1980's (if I remember correctly). Although some of the options stated are good, they don't seem to be sustainable in many places or in the long run.

Thank you! I will do my best. I agree with your caution, especially considering previous cases.

Fortunately, I did graduate work and a BA in philosophy, so I think I'll be able to give a fair presentation if forced to explain. I have the training to debate fiercely if needed.

I'm actually writing a book on therians, anthrozoology and philosophy of mind. From one standpoint, I think that the breaking down of barriers between human and animal/human and other may be one of the most important philosophical ideas to arise. The furry community does this too.

There is very little literature on it, but more is being written every day:

http://fordhampress.com/index.php/the-anima-that-therefore-i-am-paperback.html

http://fty.sagepub.com/content/12/2/219.extract

https://books.google.com/books/about/Beyond_Human.html?id=JOF0UR2oNA4C

http://www.amazon.com/When-Species-Posthumanities-Donna-Haraway/dp/0816650462

http://www.nzchas.canterbury.ac.nz/about.shtml

I love his book about psychic dogs. "Dogs who know when their owners are coming home."

http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-That-Their-Owners-Coming/dp/0307885968/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZXYKP8MQ9DSJTENFXKV

You're just going to love bioethics.

Go/Golang

https://github.com/bryfry/dpc197

I had a bit of fun with this. Implemented:

• ISBN-10 validation
  
• ISBN-10 check digit calculation
  
• ISBN-10 amazon lookup
  
• ISBN-10 neighbors (10) calculation & lookup
  
  Example output:
  
  dpc197 $ source env_example.sh
  
  dpc197 $ go run isbn.go -i 0761174427 -n
  Checking for valid ISBN: 0761174427
  ISBN-10: 0761174427 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Loves-Heartwarming-Stories-Kingdom/dp/0761174427
  ----- Neighbor ISBNs -----
  0761174400 www.amazon.com/Hero-Dogs-2014-Wall-Calendar/dp/0761174400
  0761174419 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Heroes-Inspiring-Stories-Courage/dp/0761174419
  0761174427 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Loves-Heartwarming-Stories-Kingdom/dp/0761174427
  0761174435
  0761174443
  0761174451
  076117446X
  0761174478
  0761174486 www.amazon.com/Moms-Family-2014-Desk-Planner/dp/0761174486
  0761174494 www.amazon.com/Lego-Calendar-2014-Workman-Publishing/dp/0761174494
  ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
  
  dpc197 $ go run isbn.go -i 076117442X -n
  Checking for valid ISBN: 076117442X
  Not Valid ISBN-10: Invalid check digit: expected (7) received (X)
  Looking up expected ISBN-10: 0761174427
  ISBN-10: 0761174427 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Loves-Heartwarming-Stories-Kingdom/dp/0761174427
  ----- Neighbor ISBNs -----
  0761174400 www.amazon.com/Hero-Dogs-2014-Wall-Calendar/dp/0761174400
  0761174419 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Heroes-Inspiring-Stories-Courage/dp/0761174419
  0761174427 www.amazon.com/Unlikely-Loves-Heartwarming-Stories-Kingdom/dp/0761174427
  0761174435
  0761174443
  0761174451
  076117446X
  0761174478
  0761174486 www.amazon.com/Moms-Family-2014-Desk-Planner/dp/0761174486
  0761174494 www.amazon.com/Lego-Calendar-2014-Workman-Publishing/dp/0761174494
  

  ---

I have to know something though. Has your girlfriend cut her family off? Or at least in very little contact with them? I think it's just better for her to cut off all contact, even if her father doesn't admit it what he did. It's just more drama to get him to admit it.

I agree that she needs to see a counselor/therapist, but I've read a book that mentioned that traditional therapy doesn't work for many people yet equine therapy does. Troubled teenagers, veterans with PTSD, criminals... I would give that a try.

Also, if there's a horse rescue near you, you should try volunteering together. I know it's helped me a lot.

It could be something like this. Maybe your dogs knew your boyfriend was on his way.

Instead of simply being responsible pet owners, we mutilate our pets! Granted the "spay and neuter mantra" has programmed us into thinking this is actually for the pet's sake and not ours. If you don't want your dog being a dog, don't get a dog! In addition, pet over-population is a myth; the majority of dogs in shelters have been relinquished or abandoned by their owners.

This. Wild animals should never be made pets, period. And [there’s frankly a pretty gray area](Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets https://www.amazon.com/dp/022620989X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KVJcAb9DVXYPJ) with cats and dogs, too.

Edit: WTF, is this what posting a link with the Apollo app looks like?

A book of "wisdom" from an animal communicator: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Legged-Wisdom-Sacred-Stories-Communicator/dp/1500772267/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1418791219&sr=8-3&keywords=animal+communicator

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Lives-Animals-Scientist-Explores/dp/1577315022

http://www.amazon.com/When-Elephants-Weep-Emotional-Animals/dp/0385314280

The Daily Coyote - the blog

The Daily Coyote - the book

It's called "Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home."

https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-That-Their-Owners-Coming/dp/0307885968

there is this

and a book

> This is quite frankly nonsense.

Quite possible. The OP did ask for things we believe even though they're "completely unscientific." I accept that my explanation may be rationalization. Nonetheless, I've had some experiences I can't explain, and these things are difficult to test.

> Where?

There's a book about it and some ongoing related experiments. They did a similar demonstration years ago on an ABC show (Primetime, I think) with synchronized cameras and double-blind protocols (nobody in the house knew when the owner was coming home), but I can't find the video online.

Hell he even says Pet Overpopulation is a myth in the title of his book..
http://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Myth-Overpopulation-Revolution-America/dp/0979074312

If you think that mass amounts of killing generates a market for funding, you’re delusional. ‘Hey rich people, donate here, we kill 90% of our supposedly “sheltered” animals.’

C’mon. Surely you can see a difference between the appeal for no-kill vs. those who kill.

And yes municipal animal care and control shelters have had success with the no kill equation as well. You should read this book. It changed my mind. How are some communities... rural, urban, southern, northern, western, eastern... so successful while others still tout that killing is the only way?

I like to learn from the success of others. Why do all the hard work or mental gymnastics when others have already written down a formula that works?

There's an entire book on the topic, [Redemption--The Myth of Pet Overpopulation] (https://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Myth-Overpopulation-Revolution-America/dp/0979074312)

You can probably find the answers to most of your questions at The No Kill Advocacy Center

I wrote my thesis on this. Here are a few of my sources and some new works:

The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery

Eternal Treblinka

The Sexual Politics of Meat

Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters

Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation