A dog's life

A rescue dog shows its gratitude in Free Puppies Photo: First Run Features

Every year, thousands of abandoned, abused or neglected dogs are shipped north across the US to find new homes with loving adopters. This programme, which has been in operation since the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, has attracted a lot of publicity, but there’s little conversation about the reasons behind it. Why can’t these dogs be adopted in the South? The simple answer is that there are far, far too many of them there. Samantha Wishman and Christina Thomas’ documentary, Free Puppies, looks at the cultural reasons for that and meets some of the women who have dedicated their lives to helping dogs in need.

Albert in Free Puppies Photo: First Run Features

As the film is now hitting cinemas across the US, I met Samantha and one of those rescuers, Monda Wooten, to discuss it. Samantha has a much-loved rescue dog of her own, and I ask if that’s one of the reasons why she wanted to do this.

“Oh, absolutely,” she says. “My dog, Billie, actually came from Los Angeles, and so not a transplant from the South, but that was when I started to feel very strongly about rescue dogs. My mom was actually trying to get another dog, and she told me she didn't go to a breeder. I said ‘No, you really shouldn't do that.’ So I helped her get a dog using Pet Finder, which is an app like Tinder. You get matched. And that's when I discovered that there were a number of dogs that were coming up from the South. And we found one, Stuart Little, who came up from Mississippi, and that was what sparked my interest in trying to understand why so many dogs are coming up on these transports.”

The film opens with a particularly charming rescue dog, Albert, who has been given a new lease on life with strap-on wheels which give him the chance to go bouncing across sand dunes despite him having lost the use of his back legs.

“There's this thing called PetCon,” she responds. “It's a convention at the Javits Center for famous pets. And as I'm making the film, I went to the convention. They have all these meet and greets of different dogs, and I met Albert. Albert came from Arkansas and was a rescue, and that's a big part of the advocacy work that he does. So we interviewed them and followed them, because his story is so compelling, and he has so many people that love him. We thought that that was a relatable entry into the issue.”

The rescuers examine puppies Photo: First Run Features

I ask Monda for her thoughts on the culture in the South and why there’s such a big problem with unwanted dogs.

“Well, it's very different, there's no doubt, and so we try to send as many animals as we can north,” she says. “Why is it so different? Why do I believe it's so different? You know, with no disrespect to people, I believe it's a lack of education for a lot of it, and then maybe lack of resources. Or the mindset is that the animals are just not valued here, pets are not valued here like I feel they should be.

“I live in an area where people have front yards that are, you know, 30 or 40 acres, so they're thinking ‘What's the big deal about some dogs running around out here? What's the big deal about cats having litter after litter after litter? They keep the rats away.’ And it just, it's the mindset, it's just not good.”

I mention that I have a friend who is from Tennessee, who used to say that he thought that it was wrong to sterilise animals, because they should have the right to breed just like hu,ans do. Is that a contributing attitude?

“I have I run into that a lot, especially with males, they don't want to do that,” she says. ”They associate that with, I guess, the same thing happening with them. But that's so wrong that someone would think like that, because if animals are spayed or neutered, they don't have the desire to get out and roam, which gets them in a lot of trouble. They don't have the desire to get out and roam for a mate. And so that keeps them at home. They're much healthier, they make a much better pet if they're spayed or neutered. And the biggest reason is because it helps control the overpopulation of animals here in the South, because, you know, there's like 3.9 million animals that's estimated going into shelters every year.”

Rescue dogs on the way to the shelter Photo: First Run Features

Obviously shelters can't cope with that. As a consequence, there are some very hard decisions that have been made that we see in the film about where the money goes, which animals are supported and which have to be euthanised.

“One thing we were definitely conscious of is that some people get so upset by the decisions that have to be made,” says Samantha. “They sometimes just get down on, for example, shelter directors, who are the ones that have to go through with euthanasia. And we didn't want to make them out to be the villains because I think that they are just serving a role in a much bigger problem that is very complex. And I didn't want to finger point. So we wanted to just tell the story and show all the different factors that contribute to this situation.

“The shelters can't handle it, but that's not the issue – it doesn't start there at all. It starts, like Monda was saying, with spaying and neutering and people being responsible pet owners, understanding what they're getting into when they get a pet. I think puppies are so cute, and I think it's very easy to not think through the commitment that comes with it. I was surprised how many of the dogs in the shelters were there because of owner surrender. So I think the difficult decisions, we were really just trying to show kind of the context around it that led to this decision having to be made.”

“There's there's a lot of hard decisions that have to be made daily,” adds Monda. “You know, I just I'm in the middle of working a hoarding situation, and there's lack of funds. You have to have a limit somewhere, you know? Rescuing is mentally, physically and financially exhausting. It's very rewarding, but it's exhausting. And so you have to be able to make those hard decisions.

“The situation that I'm in right now, with this hoarding situation, there's probably going to be a few of those dogs that are going to be euthanised. I mean, we're going to make have to make that hard decision because we're taking puppies out of there that are ate up with fleas but yet they're young. The problems that they have are not great but their health is still pretty good. You know, we got all the fleas off of them, they've got a few sores. They're being vetted as we speak now. But they're young so that they hadn't been in that environment a long time. So they're not suffering a lot of the health issues of doing without heartworm prevention, or worming, or just good nutritional food.

Houston finds a home Photo: First Run Features

“There's several dogs that have been there for a long time, and they have problems – like a heartworm treatment is several hundred dollars for a dog, and then you're talking about, well, we're looking at big dogs. They're considered not adoptable because they're big. They're old, and they're black, which is three strikes against them already. And then we have a couple of them we know that has heartworms. Well, that's an expensive treatment. And then if we have the money, and we apply the money to that treatment, the dog doesn't even have a home to go to.

“You'll run into rescuers that feel different about things, you know? Some rescuers, they just they get so caught up, and I've done it before, you know, and you you spend a whole lot more money than you really need to spend on this one particular dog when it could have went so much farther over here, taking care of so many more. So that's, you know, it's hard. It's just really hard.”

In the course of the film we meet two elderly, disabled brothers who live out in the woods and have been trying to support an ever-increasing number of abandoned animals with no training, equipment or support. Samantha tells me that a hospital nurse told one of them about rescuer Rith Smith, and that was how they came into contact with the women and with the documentary team.

“When we get calls like that, you know, of course, we can't respond to all of them, but when it sounds really urgent, we try to the best that we can,” says Monda.” And so that's how we got out there. And then you get out there and you're dealing with people in that situation, sometimes it can be even harder, because those guys really had a heart for those dogs and they really cared about them. It was more lack of resources on their part than anything, but there was no way we could provide resources for those guys to keep those animals indefinitely. So we have to talk with them and convince them and there's some hard truths that come out there. You know, you just have to tell them, ‘Look, you can't keep these dogs. It's not right to keep these dogs. It's very selfish of you to try to keep all these dogs,’ and then sometimes it gets real sticky.”

Charcoal cares for the brothers Photo: First Run Features

There's also a very powerful moment when one of the brothers is talking about the Vietnam War and his difficulties still as a result of that. It’s one of those difficult moments which every documentary-maker is drawn to, but it’s so deeply personal that it’s a tough decision as to whether or not to include it.

“It came up as so much a part of him giving up his dogs,” says Samantha, explaining why she felt it needed to be there. “Also, I think really, at the core of that whole experience is a lack of resources and lack of support for people who are disenfranchised. You see it in the dogs, but you also see it in access to mental health care and other support for veterans that they are not getting. And so it seemed very much to illustrate, really, their entire situation, which is tied in with the dogs. I mean, those dogs are giving them all the support that they weren't getting from other places emotionally.

“The black lab, Charcoal, I think was really looking after Greg. We went back a number of times, and that dog would just really stick by him. And one time he looked down and told him not to worry about him, talking to his dog. That dog was really there to support him. So I think the relationship between the dogs and those brothers was very strong, but I think it was very inseparable from the other issues that they were facing.”

And then at the end of the film, we get some happy moments with a big dog called Houston, who finds the perfect family to move in with. Was it important to her to be able to finish the film on a positive note, to show viewers that something better is possible?”

She nods. “Yeah, yes. Because I think at the end of the day, there's so much heartbreak. And like Monda says, It's like swimming in an endless sea of misery. But ultimately, there are so many people who are continuing to swim in that endless sea, which is something that I think we can all be inspired by. It's God's work. And it's tough work, and you don't see results all the time. But when you do, we want to celebrate them.”

Free Puppies poster Photo: First Run Features

On the day of the interview, I tell them, there were puppies visiting the Scottish Parliament in order to promote adoption and discourage people from buying from breeders. With Christmas coming up, some people will be considering buying puppies for their loved ones. Do they have something to say to that?

“Yes, absolutely,” says Monda. “First of all, people need to understand that a pet is not a gift or a prank. A pet is a minimum 15 year commitment. It's a commitment. You know, you can fall in love with that little fuzzy puppy. I mean, who don't love a fuzzy puppy? They're great, they're beautiful, they're sleek, they're just loving, but you know, you need to know what's going to be five years down the road, ten years down the road. That little puppy, in most cases, is going to be a big dog. It's going to grow, and it's going to mature, just like a human does, but on a faster scale. And there's going to be health issues that are going to come up. Are you going to be willing to deal with those health issues?

“Is this going to be a commitment and a bond, you know, both ways? Because to that dog or that cat, you are its world, you're everything, that family is everything. They don't have jobs and special interests outside the home like humans do, so you're everything to it. So you know, you have a responsibility. And so I would just say please understand, make a commitment. I'm totally against purchasing a dog from a breeder. I'm saying please rescue, rescue. But don't think about Christmas morning or a birthday, think about five years down the road, ten years down the road, because it's a commitment.

“This is something that that I see and I think about constantly and I'm sure to point it out to parents too. You know, you're setting examples for your kids. If you get a pet and you take care of it for two or three years, or maybe till it has a sickness or you want to move to a different home, or even bring another child in the family, that's not a reason to get rid of your pet. And you show your children that they're just disposable. You just get rid of them. I mean, what kind of an example are you setting for them?”

“We had a number of people tell us when we were filming that dogs as gifts is a major issue and can it please be in the film, and it didn't make it in the film,” says Samantha. “So I'm really glad you asked that question because I do think, going back to owner surrender, people think it's strays in the South that is contributing to the number of dogs in shelters, but it's owner surrender like five to one when you look at the numbers. So I think yes, it's not a gift to get a dog. It's a long term commitment with a lot of responsibility, financial, time, and it's a lot of work to have a dog, and people really have to respect that.”

Free Puppies can be found on major platforms in the US now.