Americans love their pets, and more than ever they are putting their money where their hearts are. With total pet expenditures expected to top $43 billion in 2008, the pet industry has become a major contributor to the U.S. economy—and American businesses have taken note of the trend. According to the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association (APPMA), companies as diverse as Paul Mitchell (pet shampoo), Omaha Steaks (gourmet pet treats), Harley Davidson (pet clothing and accessories) and Old Navy (pet clothing and toys) have begun offering products aimed at capturing a share of the expanding market.
A quick glance at the shelves of any bookstore makes it clear that book publishers have also responded to America's growing fondness for pets. Recent success stories such as Marley & Me, Cesar Millan's The Dog Whisperer and Jay Kopelman's From Baghdad with Love: A Marine, the War and a Dog Named Lava continue to prove that pet books are hot sellers and, as a result, publishers are releasing more pet titles than ever. These include books on pet training and behavior, books about specific dog breeds, books on animal rights and welfare, and feel-good narratives chronicling one person's, or a family's, experiences with a beloved pet. Another relatively new theme that is growing in popularity is pet rescue. This was the impetus that caused Sellers Publishing in South Portland, Me., to pursue a relationship with Best Friends Animal Society, the country's largest no-kill animal sanctuary. The result is a multi-book publishing partnership that will delve into all aspects of Best Friends' important mission, including providing disaster relief for animals, animal rehabilitation, spay/neuter and adoption services and guidance for other shelters around the country that want to adopt the no-kill model.
“The strongest sales in the category are in advice—training, behavior, etc.—but I see a growing interest in rescued animals and mutts, as opposed to pure breeds,” says Catherine Weller, the book buyer for Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah. “As a first-time dog owner, I am now seeing dog books through different eyes and nearly all of them interest me.”
It's important to note that it's not just dog books that are driving this trend. Americans have more cats than dogs (88.3 million compared to 74.8 million), and feline titles are clawing their way up the sales charts as well.
Not All Good News
According to the APPMA, since 2006 the number of pet-owning households in the U.S. has risen from 56% to 63%. With this increase, the number of breeders and retail establishments selling puppies and kittens has increased as well. While some of these are reputable, many are not as scrupulous as people assume. “These businesses promote the value of 'pure breed' dogs, even though most of these dogs are bred at 'puppy mills'—factory farm-like institutions that have only recently started to come under scrutiny by law enforcement authorities and humane organizations,” says Michael Mountain, one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society. “Less 'pure bred' than inbred, these dogs often have health issues that only surface later on in life, and which often lead to their being abandoned at shelters.”
Another problem resulting from the growing demand for pets is the increasing number who are being given up to shelters. “We live in a fast-paced, 'disposable' society. Too frequently people purchase or adopt pets without thinking through all of the responsibilities associated with pet ownership,” says Ronnie Sellers, president and CEO of Sellers Publishing. “Puppies grow up and become large dogs, and only then do people become aware of the health and behavior issues associated with the kind of dog they've bought,” adds Mountain. Unfortunately, even pets who have found a good home can still face abandonment. The devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 brought this issue to the forefront. As New Orleans flooded, evacuees were ordered to leave their pets behind, but such a turn of events inspired people to action.
Help Is on the Way
As soon as the news about the crisis in New Orleans got out, Best Friends Animal Society headed to the area with all the supplies they could muster—generators, collars and leashes, catchpoles, crates, medical supplies, fencing material, twist ties, duct tape and lots of food. Best Friends was the first national humane organization on the scene, and volunteers quickly erected a tent city outside New Orleans. By the time they left the city eight months later, they had rescued and transported more than 6,000 displaced pets and either reunited them with their families or placed them into new homes around the country.
Best Friends Animal Society was started in the 1980s by Michael Mountain and a group of friends who sought to create a no-kill haven for rescued animals. Their sanctuary is located at Angel Canyon in Southern Utah, a 3,700-acre ranch at the heart of the famous Golden Circle of national parks and is the largest no-kill facility in the U.S. A wide range of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, horses, rabbits, goats and farm animals are cared for at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Most of these come from other shelters and rescue groups around the country that don't have the ability or the resources to give them the care and rehabilitation they need. And thousands more are cared for through the Best Friends Network of volunteers and local resource groups. “On top of our major rescue efforts, we receive about 500 calls a week from people looking for urgent help,” says Mountain. “Our staff and volunteers work with them all individually.”
The work is clearly bearing fruit. Twenty years ago, about 17 million homeless dogs and cats a year were being put to sleep. Best Friends became the flagship of a growing no-kill movement that described the huge number of shelter killings as “the dark secret of the humane movement.” Thus began Best Friends' No More Homeless Pets campaign—a grassroots effort of local rescue groups to bring an end to the killing by organizing local spay/neuter drives and adoption efforts. By the end of the 1990s, says Mountain, the number of animals being killed in shelters had dropped to fewer than six million a year.
Establishing a publishing partnership with Best Friends seemed like a natural to Sellers. ““We look for cause-related publishing projects, and this was one that really stood out as being both compatible with our list and near and dear to our hearts,” he says.
Dogtown: Where All the Lights Are Bright
The first book from Sellers and Best Friends, Dogtown: A Sanctuary for Rescued Dogs, was released in June. Written by Bob Somerville with an introduction by Mountain, the book takes an inside look at dogs who have been rescued and brought to the sanctuary for special care. It depicts the relationships that flourish between the dogs and their caregivers, and how happy endings are possible for these dogs. From dogs taken from fighting rings, to dogs rescued from the cages of puppy mills that have been shut down by local authorities, to dogs who have been abused, abandoned, or who grew up feral on the streets and have never had human contact, Best Friends has shown that no dog is beyond redemption at Dogtown, which is a discrete part of the Best Friends Sanctuary.
“Dogtown really is a town,” says Mountain. “Dogs are social animals and naturally form themselves into communities.”
In addition to the animals rescued from Hurricane Katrina, Dogtown tells the story of other high-profile cases, including the dogs rescued from football star Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels. Dozens of pit bulls were rescued and placed in a Virginia shelter. Both the Humane Society of the United States and PETA recommended that the dogs be killed. Best Friends filed a petition to save them, arguing that even the most traumatized among them could be given good new lives.
The court sided with Best Friends, and sent 22 dogs who needed special care to the sanctuary. Some of those 22 are featured in Dogtown, and also on the popular National Geographic Channel TV series of the same name, which returns to the air September 5 for an 18-week run. (A seven-part TV series about this notorious case, Animal Witness: The Michael Vick Case debuted on the Animal Planet network on August 24.)
Not Just for Dogs
The second book from Sellers and Best Friends, The Cats of Kittyville by Bob Somerville (Sept.), depicts the section of the sanctuary—a village in itself—that's dedicated to rehabilitating the cats who are rescued by Best Friends and their Rapid Response teams or accepted from other shelters. Cats with special needs of all kinds benefit from Best Friends' expert medical evaluations, procedures and ongoing care in Kittyville. One such rescue documented in the book was of 800 cats saved from deplorable conditions in a hoarding situation in the Nevada desert in the summer of 2007, an effort widely acclaimed as the Great Kitty Rescue.
Stories such as these and those found in Dogtown can pull at a reader's heart and drive sales of pet books. As Weller said when asked about these sales, “I've got great hope for Dogtown because the book seems like it's on the crest of the animal rescue wave.”
