Barking at the Knot

Understanding the hidden history of animal services

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
Horse Drinking Fountains

Drinking fountains for horses held an interesting place in the humane movement, both philanthropically and practically.

Audrey Lodato

March 20, 2026

Animal Welfare

animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, Architecture, ASPCA, Cats, dogs, Drinking fountains, early city design, Ensign Fountains, history, Horse drinking fountains, horses, pets, Philanthrophy, the humane movement
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
Good Dog! Good Person: The Folklore of Animal Control

This guest post from James Rodgers, interim Executive Director for Increased Access, explores how social reform influenced the development of animal control policies.

Audrey Lodato

February 12, 2026

1800s, Animal Welfare

animal control, Animal Welfare, animal welfare history, animals, canadian animal control, Canadian animal welfare, Cats, dogs, Early Animal Control, history, Humane Movement, Indigenous communities, James Rodgers, Moral judgement, nature, pets, philosophy, politics, Social reform
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 two

Part two of the this early cruelty investigation surrounding a gang of horse poisoners in 1910.

Audrey Lodato

January 30, 2026

1910s

ACOs, animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, Blackmail, cruelty, Cruelty investigations, history, Horse Poisoners, horse poisoning, horses, Humane Law, Investigations, writing
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