12 May

The Beginning Of Love

by Jon Katz
The Beginning Of Love
The Beginning Of Love

I remember little of that year, other than that I barely survived it,  and it gives me the chills and fever just to think of it. I remember sitting broken in the office of a therapist, and I was 61 then, and so no light at the end of the dark tunnel that seemed to be my life then, and the therapist, hoping perhaps to steer me in a better direction,  asked me what it was I most wanted for the rest of my life. The answer came quickly and easily.

“I want to find love,” I said, “but I don’t think I know what love is. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it.” And the tears came just as easily as my answer. The therapist nodded, he said it was clear that this is why I had come to my farm, moved to upstate New York. I was looking for love.

There is no one definition of love, but I think I have some sense now of what it is, as I do see it, every single day. Being loved and accepted is a sometimes jarring experience for me, Maria says I sometimes look at her strangely, as if to say “what are you doing here?” I tell her that that is not precisely what I am thinking, when I get that strange and cloudy look I am most often thinking “who are you? How do you happen to be in my life, someone who loves me this way?”

I think the beginning of love is to permit the people we love to be themselves, completely and perfectly, and to never twist them to fit our own image, or to force them to change in our image. I first encountered this idea reading the writings of Thomas Merton up in my cabin when I first ran to the mountain.

If we do not let those we love be perfectly themselves, wrote Merton, then we love not the person, only the reflection of ourselves that we find in them. Maria and I accept one another fully, if I sometimes look at her in shock it is because I still can’t quite believe that she exists, or that she lets me be so perfectly myself.

Acceptance, like encouragement, is the nourishment of love. I believe that many people believe they have to right to ask others to change, to twist and badger and push them into changing in their own image. Love is acceptance in the purest and fullest terms, I hope Maria never looks in the mirror and sees  only the reflection of me that she finds there. I want her to love herself as much as she loves me, because only then can we love one another completely and perfectly.

 

 

12 May

Journal Of Fate. She Comes Inside Karen’s House: The Journey Begins

by Jon Katz
Fate Comes Inside
Fate Comes Inside

Fate’s journey into her new life began in earnest tonight, she came inside a house – Karen Thompson’s  house in Virginia – for the first time. She began to adjust to life indoors, to life alone, to her crate, to new experiences and the first steps towards training. You can follow it for yourself here, it is fascinating to watch a skilled trainer like Karen Thompson take the first subtle and gentle steps towards understanding and commands.

I have trained five or six border collies, all but one successfully, but I always learn something from Dr. Karen Thompson, who has been doing it for nearly 40 years and knows how to communicate with her dogs. Karen moved Fate inside today so she can begin acclimating her to  her new life, and to life in our farmhouse. In the video, Karen gently exposes Fate to a crate – she puts some chew sticks inside so Fate can come in the crate and look around, find good things there, but not yet be confined.

She is marking the dog’s behaviors – she says “that’ll do” when Fate runs towards her, this is how border collies are trained to follow movement commands – the patient trainer waits for them to make the right move, then gives it a name, calmly and clearly. She uses a sharper scolding voice in the video when Fate whines a bit, perhaps realizing that she is without any other dog for the first time in her life in her nine weeks of life.

Karen is always positive with her dogs, but is also a leader, and asks, as I do, that the dogs respect her dignity, work and property.

Karen is careful not to give many commands, but to enthusiastically respond when Fate moves towards her, and she is introducing Fate to her new name for the first time. I continue to be impressed by the poise and calm of this puppy, as I was with the videos I saw of Red. She is curious, responsive, but there is a steadiness about her that I like. Given that this was the first time she has ever been in a house, she was strikingly confident and at ease, checking out the other dog smells, handling the floors easily.

Karen  says her border collies are not afraid of noise, she has worked on breeding dogs that are steady.

It’s good we are  not coming until Sunday, this will give Karen five or six days to show Fate some basic commands, help her learn her name, acclimate her to the crate, all gifts for us when we take her home. I perceive in the videos that this is a highly biddable dog, and a grounded one. She shows no wariness, neither is she crazed, running all over the place in a frenzy. This is what I like to see in a puppy – not too wary, not too crazy. Somewhere in the middle.

I look for sluggishness or undue wariness as something to be careful about. People often assume these traits are signs of abuse, but they could just as easily be symptoms of genetics,  litter politics and standing. Fate is neither sluggish or unduly cautious, she has a confidence about her that is impressive to me.

So that’s about all I can gleam from a video, other than that she looks like a rascal, as many border collie puppies are. We will get a workout with her. I am braced for the waves of advice I know are coming, they began yesterday with several people questioning why I am doing a lot of the training of Fate if she is to be Maria’s dog.

I will not be responding to too many of these inquiries, but the answer is pretty simple. I will work with Fate as much or as little as Maria wants me to, but we both are much looking forward to training a puppy together.

We will never have a child together, and Fate is not a child, but it will feel like that, and how lucky that is.Maria has not done much dog training, none of border collies, she has asked for my help. We will train Fate together and we will make certain that Maria and Fate bond primarily to one another, as Red and I have, and as Frieda and Maria did before. Maria will spend time alone most of the day with Fate, in her studio and on walks. She will feed her, and take her out to play (maybe to visit the sheep) and train her in basic obedience several times a day.

Those are all bonding behaviors, especially with border collies, who attach powerfully to people who bring them to work and activity. I hope to spend time with Fate as well, but our lives lend themselves to bonding with a working dog. Maria and I each have dogs with us when we work, and we work in different places.  Maria has 17 acres of woods right outside of her studio, these two will explore the world together, and make some beautiful art together. Red and I work in my office and range around the town doing chores.

I would wager Fate will be coming along when Maria rides her new pony Chloe on the trails behind the farmhouse.

I thank Karen for sharing this video with me, and bringing all of into the fascinating first steps of Fate, as her journey begins. How great to watch. More videos are on the way, I will share them with you as well as this amazing opportunity to write about our life together with this exciting new dog, right from the beginning.

12 May

Stay Focused. The Red Dog Goes Home

by Jon Katz
Stay Focused
Stay Focused

This weekend, Red is coming with Maria and I to see Karen Thompson, the breeder who gave him to me three years ago. Since then, Red has changed my life, and brightened the lives of many others. He is a remarkably dedicated and focused working dog, an intuitive and loving therapy dog, a wonderful companion for me, in every aspect of my life.

Karen is eager to see him again, she had this idea we belonged together, she generously sacrificed a dog she adored because she thought he might get to fulfill his great potential more easily in a life with me. Finding a great breeder and human being is one of the best ways on the earth to get a dog. Karen has been breeding dogs for 40 years, and she brings a generosity and spirituality to it, she has that great breeder radar for matching dogs with people.

I am excited to see  her and meet her, and for Red to see her again. Karen’s friend Ginny, who loves Red dearly, is also eager to see him again, she hated to see him go. I love this image of Red watching the sheep as the donkeys practically step on him. He doesn’t care.

There is something immensely satisfying about getting a dog from Karen, we will get a good and healthy dog, but the processes is also infused with a humanity and spiritually that launch the relationship in the most beautiful way. With Karen, it is never about money, it is never a business transaction, it is just what getting a dog ought to be, a beautiful partnership, launched in a dignified and respectful and loving way.

The Gods always shine on that.

12 May

For Truth, Justice, Rationality, Animals: Joshua Rockwood Wins A Great Victory

by Jon Katz
Joshua's Great Victory
Joshua’s Great Victory

Good news from the heart of the animal wars for farmers, animal lovers, sanity and for truth and justice. Early this morning, a judge denied a horse sanctuary owner’s attempt to be reimbursed nearly $8,000 for caring for three of Joshua Rockwood’s impounded horses for 30 days.

I believe this is the beginning of the unraveling of the unjust assault on Rockwood, a turning point in the increasingly cruel and irrational conflict all over the country between people who have animals and people who only know animals as pets. It isn’t over, the criminal charges against him still stand, a hearing is set for Glenville Town Court for June 2. I told him he ought to be proud of himself, he has accomplished something that is extraordinary.

Judge Paul Davenport ruled that Peaceful Acres Farm, the horse rescue facility that helped the police seized Rockwood’s horses, did not prove that any animal cruelty took place on his farm. On March 15, Rockwood was charged with 13 counts of animal cruelty and neglect – failing to provide proper food and shelter to his animals –  and his horses were taken away. Nanci Beyerl, the owner of Peaceful Acres, was seeking $7,750 for the first months’ care. The horses have now been at Peaceful Acres for nearly three months.

I am still talking to people about the ruling, but I believe it is significant, even precedent-setting. I can find no evidence of any other case in which a judge has ruled that people do not have to pay impound fees for animals who are seized without compelling evidence of abuse or mistreatment.

The name of the original complainant remains a secret. The raid on Rockwood’s farm followed one of the worst cold waves in the modern history of the Northeast, the water streams and bowls on his farm froze. He was accused of having an unheated barn and of not providing shelter for the pigs that was warm enough for -27 temperatures.

I have met Joshua, been to his farm, seen his animals more than once, he is guilty of this: being part of a local foods movement farm during a brutal cold wave, and for being inexperienced in farm infrastructure. Despite the historically cold winter, he kept his animals fed and cared for. Two different veterinarians have certified – right before the police raid – that Rockwood’s cows, pigs, chickens, sheep and horses were healthy and hydrated. His shelter is adequate and typical of livestock shelters for sheep, pigs,  horses and cows.

The charges embodied the lunacy surround the many conflicts sprouting up between people who live with animals and self-appointed advocates for animals who seem to know nothing about them. Joshua’s animals all are free-range, they are treated far better than almost any of the billions of animals kept on gigantic and inhumane industrial corporate farms. And they are all fed natural and pasture food.

Around the time Rockwood was arrested – the authorities tried to set bail, claiming he was a flight risk – the sewage pipes at the Glenville Town Building froze, and the pipes backed up.

No one was arrested or charged with cruelty.

But there is what is different about this case:

Hundreds of farmers and animal lovers from all over the country seemed to decide that enough was enough, they gathered together to support Rockwood, mostly through social media, and to raise more than $56,000 for his legal fees. Hundreds of people came to his hearings. They will be there on June 2 as well. Before social media, these people had no simple way of connecting with one another, or supporting one another. Rockwood has introduced a new dynamic to the deepening confusion over what is abuse for animals and how they can remain in our world.

I can also share this: I am told that Joshua was offered a plea deal just before his last hearing in which virtually all of the charges against him would be dropped if he would agree to pay the fees for the transport and boarding of his horses.

He declined, he has told friends that he will never plead guilty to something he didn’t do.

This was a good offer for him to walk away from these troubles, he could have simply made the deal. Most people would have, I think I would have. It took strength and courage for him to refuse, and it appears that his own sense of right and wrong was vindicated last night. Not many people would have done that. Rockwood is an inspiration to the growing numbers of younger people seeking to return to nature and to help find new and healthy ways of raising and selling food locally. When you buy food from Joshua, you know where it comes from and how the animals have been treated.

I can tell you as one who loves animals and has lived with them for some time that Joshua’s animals are among the most fortunate ones, they are treated well.

Judge Davenport ruled that because the Glenville police officer and small animal veterinarian who participated in the raid were not called to testify or made available for cross-examination, the evidence had to be considered hearsay and therefore inadmissible.

Rockwood’s lawyer argued that the horses should never have been seized and that the reimbursement costs were not justifiable or reasonable. All over the country, thousands of animals on farms and in private homes are being seized by people – often anonymously – claiming they are neglected or abused. When the animals are seized by the police and sent to rescue farms and preserves, the owners are billed for their care and boarding, whether or not they are found guilty. People arrested are routinely humiliated and disgraced on television and in local media, the final outcomes of the cases are almost never reported. Many are found innocent, or see the charges dropped.

As the Rockwood case reveals, the people lobbying for arrests and prosecutions do not always know how farmers or animals live, or what abuse really is, they often argue that all animals should be returned to nature, but when they are – Rockwood’s animals live very close to nature – the people who own them are often arrested.

Rockwood’s animals could not have been denied food, they are all healthy and vigorous, food farmers do not starve their livestock, they would have no meat to sell. I showed three different pig farmers photos of the shelter for Rockwood’s pigs (two out of 100 had gray matter on their ears) and none could begin to fathom why he was charged with cruelty.

Rockwood, an idealistic young farmer who left construction work to start a CSA farm (CSA farms sell shares to consumers, they get produce and meat in return, they share the risk and bounties of farming) and to sell healthy, locally grown food from naturally fed animals, found himself struggling for his farm and his reputation. A lot of people who knew him and many who did not decided enough was enough, they supported Rockwood in an unprecedented and powerful way, perhaps setting a new kind of model for the victims of this kind of persecution.

And make no mistake about it, this was a persecution. There is almost nothing to these charges. The judge seemed to me to be making that very statement in his ruling yesterday.

Rockwood’s animals were well cared for, any farmer in the Northeastern United States this February could have been arrested just as easily, and had their animals hauled away for no reason, and then face enormous legal and boarding costs whether or not they were guilty of any wrongdoing.

The national hysteria over animal abuse and animal rights has become a new kind of social mob action, it seems much more Orwellian – secret informers, outrageous demands of money made against innocent people who seem almost without rights, a hysterical and unbalanced news media, damaged businesses and reputations, a way of life that is being destroyed, and a civic culture that has lost any connected with the natural world, or any real understanding of farmers, farming or the needs and lives of animals who are not pets.

But Joshua Rockwood’s trials are not yet over. It is not clear how and when he might get horses back. A June 2 hearing has been set for the criminal charges against. I imagine he will be offered a deal again, my guess is that he will never take a deal. One of the cruelest things about this story is that Joshua Rockwood is the last person who should be fighting for his life on the basis of absurd charges like this. It is important to protect the rights and welfare of animals, but not by trading their well-being off against the rights and freedom and dignity of human beings.

Joshua still needs support for people care about keeping animals in our every day lives, who wish animals to remain in our lives, who support new and humane ways of farming and who believe that people and animals both have the right to be treated with compassion and dignity.

You can help: People in the Glenville, N.Y., area can buy his healthy and popular food offerings.

People elsewhere can contribute to his legal defense fund. As one farmer told me, “this time, they came for him, next time they will come for me, and so I am going to do everything I can to support him.”

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