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Barking at the Knot

Barking at the Knot

Understanding the hidden history of animal services

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  • So You Hate Managed Intake?

    Managed intake is simply a term for common sense lifesaving. Why do we feel so strongly about intake as a default option?

    Audrey Lodato

    April 1, 2026
    Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, Cats, default solutions, dog, dogs, history, hydrophobia, Intake, Intake diversion, Managed intake, path dependency, pathway planning, pets, Rabies
  • Planning to “Adopt” a dog? Animal Shelter Has Them At Bargain Prices for Those Not Too Particular. (1949)

    In 1949, The Dayton Daily News did a feature on their local animal shelter and their “bargain” dogs.

    Audrey Lodato

    March 27, 2026
    1940s
    Adoption, animal control, animal control officers, animal shelters, Animal Welfare, animals, Cats, dogs, Euthanasia, history, Humane Movement, Humanely destroyed, Licensing, Pet adoption, pets, put to sleep, Rabies
  • The Difficulty with Transparency in Animal Services

    Unpacking the history behind why we have such a hard time being transparent as a movement.

    Audrey Lodato

    March 13, 2026
    Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal services employees, Animal Welfare, animal welfare history, animals, ASPCA, carolinas unite, Cats, data transparency, dog, dog catching, dogs, Euthanasia, history, hydrophobia, killing, no birth, No kill, pets, Rabies, Resources, solutions, Transparency
  • The Barbarites Inflicted Upon Brute Creation: Henry Bergh’s Complete Lecture in Albany

    A breakdown of Henry Bergh’s first cruelty laws and the entirety of his lecture in Albany in 1867.

    Audrey Lodato

    March 3, 2026
    1860s
    advocacy, animal control, Animal cruelty laws, Animal sheltering, Animal Welfare, ASPCA, Barking at the Knot, Early Animal welfare, Henry Bergh, Henry Bergh Albany Lecture, history, horses, hydrophobia, legislation, New York Act Anti-Cruelty, Rabies, scripture, TheBarbarites Inflicted Upon Brute Creation
  • Madness and Its Remedies, or More Things That Didn’t Cure Rabies

    More folklore cures that didn’t cure rabies from an article in from 1844, plus a rant about intake as a default solution today.I also complain about snow a little bit.

    Audrey Lodato

    February 22, 2026
    1840s
    animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, Cats, cures, dog, dogs, folklore, history, hydrophobia, Impound, Intake, pets, public safety, Rabies, Social reform, stray management, systems, think differently
  • The Arsenic Club: Blackmail and Horse Poisoners, Part three

    The conclusion of the animal cruelty case revolving around a gang of blackmailers and horse poisoners called “The Arsenic Club.”

    Audrey Lodato

    February 7, 2026
    1910s
    animal control, Animal control investigations, Animal Cruelty, Animal sheltering, Animal Welfare, animals, Barking at the Knot, Blackmail, Crime, dogs, Extortion, gangs, history, horse poisoning, horses, New York City, newspapers, pets, Rabies, Sing Sing, the humane movement
  • The Arsenic Club: Blackmail and Horse Poisoners, Part 1

    What did early cruelty investigations look like? Here’s one: A gang of horse poisoners going by the name The Arsenic Club set a reign of terror on the east side of Manhattan in 1909, killing more than 500 horses in just three months.

    Audrey Lodato

    January 19, 2026
    1900s, 1910s, Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, Arsenic Club, ASPCA, Blackmail, Crime, Cruelty Investigation, Delivery Drivers History, dogs, East Side, Gilded Age, history, Horse Poisoners, horses, Humane Movement, hydrophobia, Manhattan, New York City, New York City Animal History, NYPD, pets, Poisoning, Police, Rabies, Sheffield Dairy, Star Ice Cream, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Apple Gang, The Arsenic Club, True Crime, writing
  • Animals in the Service of Man: A Humane Education Video from 1944

    Animals in the Service of Man was an educational video for children produced by the American Humane Association and shown as part of the humane ed curriculum in the 1940s.

    Audrey Lodato

    January 13, 2026
    1940s, Animal Welfare
    28 hour law, 36 hour law, AHA, animal control, Animal Education, Animal rights, animal shelters, Animal Welfare, animals, Animals in the Service of Man, ASPCA, beef industry, cats cows, Cattle, Children and pets, dog, Dog bathing, dogs, George Woolsey, health, history, Humane Ed, Humane education, hydrophobia, Old moves, Old movies, pets, Rabies, teaching, World War Two, writing
  • Recommendations for Stray Dog Control in Relationship to Rabies: 1942

    Mass vaccination of dogs to prevent rabies still wasn’t recommended by scientists in 1942. Learn why.

    Audrey Lodato

    January 8, 2026
    1940s, Animal Welfare
    1940s animal welfare, 1942, animal control, animal control officers, Animal Control ordiances, Animal Welfare, animals, Cats, dog, dogs, health, history, Humane Movement, hydrophobia, Pasteur treatment, pets, Rabies, rabies ordinances, Stray dogs, stray pets, strays
  • Do Not Be Alarmed if Your Dog Has a Fit, Thinking Perhaps He Has Rabies

    Advice given to new pet owners in the 1928 issue of “Our Animals” included not washing the dog too much, and consulting with your vet before assuming the dog was rabid.

    Audrey Lodato

    January 1, 2026
    1920s, Animal Welfare
    Advice, animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, California, Cats, Christmas pets, dog, dogs, history, hydrophobia, Kittens, Louis Pasteur, Our Animals, pets, Puppies, Rabies, San Fransisco, Veterinary Medicine, Zoomies
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