Barking at the Knot

Barking at the Knot

Understanding the hidden history of animal services

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  • An Unfortunate Series of Events (or Why We Impound Every Stray)

    Before a treatment for rabies, all stray dogs were widely regarded to be dangerous. Learn how the industrial revolution and tenement housing influenced how we chose to impound dogs, and how that effects us today.

    Audrey Lodato

    August 6, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal sheltering, Animal Welfare, animals, ASPCA, Caroline Earle White, dog, dogs, George Angell, Henry Bergh, history, industrial revolution, mandatory impoundment, Massachusetts, pets, Rabies, travel, Urbanization
  • “Efforts Increase To Save Unlicensed Dogs”

    This week in Barking at the Knot, I’m offering a complete reprinting of a New York Times article from 1984 which takes a look at the state of animal shelters on Long Island. This piece gives a thorough snapshot of one location during a pivotal point in time in animal shelters, 1984.

    Audrey Lodato

    July 28, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal sheltering, animal shelters, Animal Welfare, animals, dogs, historical policy, history, hydrophobia, long island, new york times, Rabies, writing
  • The Battle of Island City Homes

    This week in Barking at the Knot, we have a guest post from fellow animal welfare worker and history lover Cole Wakefield. Cole is the Executive Director at Good Shepherd Humane Society and the Managing Advisor for Rural Humane. Hear about how some young boys fought to save their dog in Galveston, Texas in 1957.

    Audrey Lodato

    July 10, 2025
    1950s, Animal Welfare
    Animal Advocacy, animal control, Animal Welfare, animal-rights, dog catcher, dogs, history, Humane Movement, hydrophobia, pets, Rabies
  • How the Early Humane Movement Set a Precedent For Killing Animals

    Today, I am bringing you a brief article from the January 1915 edition of The National Humane Review, which was the monthly periodical of the American Humane Association. I recently attended a gathering where someone asked why killing animals in shelters continues to be an acceptable solution for population control. I answered that question by…

    Audrey Lodato

    June 30, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    ACOs, animal control, animal shelter, Animal Welfare, animals, dog catcher, dogs, Euthanasia, history, municipal shelter, pound, Rabies
  • “Automatic Electric Cage”

    The humane movement never began with the intention to provide live outcomes. It began with the intention to provide humane death.

    Audrey Lodato

    May 27, 2025
    1910s, Animal Welfare
    Animal Advocacy, animal control, Animal Welfare, animal-rights, animals, cruelty, dogs, evolution, health, history, Humane Movement, Massachusetts, pets, Rabies, Zoophily
  • “That of God in Every Man.”

    Humane Movement founder Caroline Earle White was influenced in her approach to animal advocacy by both religion and her family’s abolitionist background.

    Audrey Lodato

    May 12, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    19th century animal welfare, Abolitionist Influence, American Anti-Vivisection Society, Animal Advocacy, animal control, Animal Cruelty Prevention, Animal Rights History, Animal Welfare, animals, Caroline Earle White, Cats, Compassionate animal care, dogs, Early animal welfare movement, history, History of Animal Welfare, hydrophobia, Journal of Zoophily, leaders, legacy, level setting, Origins of Animal Welfare Movement in America, Pennsylvania SPCA, powerful women, Quaker religion, Quakers, Rabies, Raising the bar, Shelter Reform, the future, The Importance of Level Setting in Animal Welfare, The Role of Religion in Animal Welfare History, Vivisection
  • How Corruption of Children Contributed to the Advent of Paid Animal Control Officers

    Our first dog catchers were children catching strays for a 50 cent rabies bounty. Did this corrupt their morals?

    Audrey Lodato

    April 21, 2025
    1870s, Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal Welfare, animals, ASPCA, books, Dog catchers, dogs, fiction, history, Rabies
  • Throw Him in the Sea or Some Early Things That Didn’t Cure Rabies.

    Very early cures for hydrophobia were certainly creative. Learn about some of the more interesting ones.

    Audrey Lodato

    April 17, 2025
    Animal Welfare
    Animal Welfare, barking-at-the-knot, history, hydrophobia, Rabies
  • Hydrophobia and the Early Role of Health Departments in Dog Licensing

    Rabies had a lot more to do with the reason that we license dogs than you might think. Licensing is solving for a problem we no longer have – find out why.

    Audrey Lodato

    April 13, 2025
    1870s, 1880s, 1890s, Animal Welfare
    animal control, Animal Welfare, dogs, hydrophobia, Massachusetts, pasteur institute, Rabies
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