Barking at the Knot

Barking at the Knot

Understanding the hidden history of animal services

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  • 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
  • The History of Pets as Gifts: It’s Complicated.

    The controversy around giving pets as gifts didn’t develop for the reasons you might think. Check out how the concept has been viewed and how it has changed over the last 100 years.

    Audrey Lodato

    December 18, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    1990s, Accountability, animal control, Animal Welfare, animal welfare history, animals, Cats, dog, dogs, history, pets, Pets as gifts, Rabies, Spay and neuter, the humane movement
  • The Carlson Dog and Cat Procurement Law in California, 1952-1953

    In 1952, the Dog Defenders League waged an advertising campaign against laws allowing pets to be taken from shelters for the purpose of vivisection.

    Audrey Lodato

    December 5, 2025
    1950s, Animal Welfare
    1950s, Advertising, animal control, Animal History, animal shelter history, animal shelters, Animal Welfare, animals, Carlson law, Cats, Dissection, dog, dogs, history, hydrophobia, Laboratory animals, National Dog Week, pets, Pound Procurement laws, Rabies, Vivisection
  • “Lay Low and Say Nuffin’”: The Henry Bergh Humane Society, Part Four

    A bill is introduced in Albany to give the Henry Bergh Humane Society the legal right to enforce the law in New York City. Opinions in the papers heat up.

    Audrey Lodato

    November 26, 2025
    1910s, Animal Welfare
    A.S.P.C.A., Albany, animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, ASPCA, Barking at the Knot, Cats, dogs, Gilded Age, history, horses, Humane Movement, hydrophobia, John P. Haines, Muckracking, news, pets, politics, Rabies, The Henry Bergh Humane Society, The Newspapers, writing
  • Plans for Aggressive Work Well Developed: The Henry Bergh Humane Society, Part Three

    With an agenda set for work and a plan to bring a bill forward to challenge the A.S.P.C.A.’s right to be the sole provider of services in New York, The Henry Bergh Humane Society sets a path for it’s future.

    Audrey Lodato

    November 20, 2025
    1900s, Animal Welfare
    1900s, advocacy, animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, articles, ASPCA, christianity, dogs, Early ASPCA History, history, Humane Movement, Muckraking, New York City, pets, politics, Rabies, The ASPCA, the Henry Bergh Society, writing
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