Why 'They Dumped the Dog' Isn’t Helping — And What to Say Instead

< 5 minute read >

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Animal welfare stories and messages are full of animals that look downcast and heartbroken - someone has “abandoned” them or done them wrong. When we carry a history of seeing and experiencing negative situations, we can naturally bring these feelings into our work. People often become the villains in any story of what has happened to pets.

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“They dumped Sammy at our shelter”

“Clearly Dexter wasn’t loved in his previous home.”

“They drove away and never looked back.”

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Sometimes the negativity about people is more subtle -

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“Bobbi can’t understand why his family left him here”

“Will you be the person to finally give Angel the loving home she deserves?”

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Yes, there are some bad actors in this world, but too often, we end up blaming and shaming individuals who are not villains at all. Pet guardians are often navigating broken or unfair systems. Most people are simply humans living their lives and doing their best. We end up with messy, imperfect, sometimes heartbreaking situations—not villains.

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We need people to do our best work for animals, but villainizing pushes people away. When someone feels like they are being made “the bad guy” - or that we will judge them -  they may avoid coming to us, engaging with us, or listening to anything we have to say.  We miss opportunities to reach people and animals in need, to collaborate, and to solve big gnarly problems we’re desperate to change.

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Villainizing keeps us in a cycle of problems instead of pulling us out of it. The narrative around villains needs to change and here are three things we can do to drop it.

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Three practices to share powerful stories without a villain

• Stick to the facts
• Flip the Script
• Talk About Systems

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Stick to the Facts

Tell the story like it is - no negative flourishes or filling in the blanks

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Found a dog with a skin condition running at large? Kittens left in a box outside our shelter door? We often don’t know the backstory, what happened, why, or how. We may not like what we see, but we shouldn’t build a story based on things we don’t know. When talking about what happened to an animal we can stick to the facts and drop the negative flourishes.

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For example, here is a post from the Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) about a dog found roaming.

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WHS was able to tell this story in a way that stuck to the facts. Added bonus? Mentioning the good samaritans who helped this little dog out. WHS talks about their fantastic work without a single mention of a bad person. Clearly we don’t need one. We can tell compelling stories of animals without creating villains.

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Flip the Script

We can talk about previous guardians as a good humans too

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What are sometimes labeled “bad” things - like giving up an animal -  may be the result of someone trying to do what’s best. If a family is unable to access what their animal needs, rehoming may be what a guardian feels is a compassionate choice. Sometimes a person and animal aren’t the right match and that’s okay too.

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Why not flip the script and say something nice about the people who were part of an animal’s life before they came to us? We are still describing our critical work, even when we say positive things about the previous guardian.

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Here is a great example from the Northern Dogs Project. In a Petfinder description of adoptable “Fluffy” they included:

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‍“...Fluffy was happy in his previous home but when he and his big dog brother were left to their own devices, sometimes they would head off to adventure on their own. Two dogs can distract each other so in order to keep his big brother focused on the farm, Fluffy packed his stick of belongings and headed off to find a new home. His original home gave Fluffy a wonderful life and Fluffy is the stable, well adjusted boy because of his beginning with kids, dogs and fresh air.”

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Talk About Systems

Describe how systems force people into painful situations

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Rather than shaming and blaming pet guardians, we need to talk about the systems that are the culprit for so many of the heartbreaking, painful situations we encounter. Broken and unfair systems break up pet families, prevent animals from getting needed care, and put animal and human safety at risk.

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‍For example: Check out these ways to talk about people, pets, and housing insecurity.

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When we talk about problems we do need to point to root causes, and talking about systems is how we can do it. Check out SPARC’s guide to Systems Framing for Animal Care and Well-being for more examples and ideas on how to put this into practice.

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Ditching the Villain Story

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Anyone who has worked in a shelter or rescue knows how easy it is to become overwhelmed with the number of animals coming in. It’s easy to believe that if people were committed, tried harder, or were more compassionate we wouldn’t face the issues that we do. This is exactly why it’s important to let go of villainizing people - so that we can get out of these negative cycles and build better ones.  If we always see people as the lock on solving problems, we won’t see the truth - people are the key. The more we can unlock our connections with people, the more we can accomplish for animals.

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