Pets Gone Green E-Book

Eve Adamson

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 244

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

In Pets Gone Green, New York Times best-selling author Eve Adamson explores how pet owners can have a positive effect on the environment and their pets' place within it. This engaging and enlightening book outlines strategies that pet owners can pursue to reduce the family's carbon foot- and pawprints, from using less toxic flea repellant to offering earth-friendly treats and toys to our much-loved pets. Adamson's goal in writing Pets Gone Green stemmed from her desire to find ways to save her dogs from the increasingly toxic environment around us. "…we are obligated to speak up for our furry companions, who are unable to think or act green on their own." Pets Gone Green remains a timely exploration of many of the hot-button topics in our world today, from eating local and animal rescue to activism and recycling! The book offers practical advice for owners of all pets, from dogs and cats to birds, small mammals, and more. As pet rescue has increasingly become "the thing to do," the book begins with a chapter on "Recycled Companions: The Ultimate Earth-Friendly Act," in which the author discusses the many advantages of rescuing a pet from a shelter or rescue society. Pet food, another hot topic in the pet world, is the subject of "Green Food," which includes a brief history of commercial food and the pluses and minuses of using natural, homemade, raw, and vegetarian diets for pets. The chapter "Altered States" is devoted to the importance and health benefits of spaying and neutering pets. Buying and eating local, diminishing consumerism, organic materials, holistic pet care, and recycling are all discussed in terms of improving humans' and pets' lives and reducing waste on a community, national, and global level. Printed with soy ink on recycled paper, Pets Gone Green presents the original artwork of New England painter and woodblock printmaker Willy Reddick. The book includes over 50 woodblock images of her beautiful peaceful animals, lending a down-home organic feel that is truly unique for a pet book. The ultimate message of the book is summarized in the final chapter "Animal Wisdom," in which Adamson focuses in on what our pets can teach us about the world around us through their natural instincts, simplicity, and view of the world. She concludes, "…animals are companions worthy of our respect, love, and care, and because they are so close to nature in ways we can only begin to comprehend, they are also the key to our salvation….Animals understand how to live lightly on the earth, and we can learn from them." Resources of animal welfare websites and agencies, green organizations, holistic resources, green product manufacturers, and green websites and publications included. Fully indexed.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

 

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

 

Chapter 1 - Recycled Companions

Animal Shelters

Rescue Groups and Purebreds

The Rescue Groups

Responsible Breeders

Exotic Animals

Reflecting Eco-Consciousness

 

Chapter 2 - Green Food

Pet Food: The Out-of-the-Bag Diet

The Natural Diet

The Homemade Diet

The Complementary Diet

The Share-the-Love-and-the-Dinner Diet

The Raw Diet

The Vegetarian Diet

Your Diet

 

Chapter 3 - Altered States

But Isn’t It Unnatural?

The Health Question

Other Benefits

Why Spay/Neuter Is Greener

What about Spay/ Neuter Laws?

 

Chapter 4 - Nipping Pet-Sumerism

Questions to Ask before Buying

Sustainable and Renewable

Simple

Ten Earth-Friendly Buying Criteria

 

Chapter 5 - Healthy Animals, Healthy Earth

What Is Holistic/ Complementary Health Care?

Prevention: The Key to a Holistic Approach

Guide to Holistic Therapies

 

Chapter 6 - Green Begins at Home

Cleaning Up Your Act

Garage Safety

Breathe Easier

The Garbage Situation

Your Lawn and Garden

 

Chapter 7 - Get Involved

What Are You For and What Are You Against?

What Can You Do?

 

Chapter 8 - Trash Talk

The Straight Poop

Banishing Odor and Stains Naturally

Earth-Friendly and Pet-Friendly Grooming

Bug Free, Naturally

Pest Control from the Inside Out

 

Chapter 9 - Green Can Be Fun

Green Sweet Home

Out and About

When You Must Drive

 

Chapter 10 - Animal Wisdom

Instinct

Observation

Conservation

Simplicity

Animal Zen

 

Resources

Illustrations

Index

About the author

ABOUT THE illustrator

Copyright Page

Dedication

To my family, in order of height: Ben, Angus, Emmett, Sally, Jack, Grace, Snugglebunny, Ashley, Mary, Kate, Murdoch, Elimeno, P., Emmett Jr., and Pedros 1 through 8

 

And to your family, no matter how many legs, tails, feathers, wings, and fins they might have

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals.

Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.

 

—Henry Beston, writer and naturalist

Preface

I come from a long line of women who have always been ridiculously mushy at the very thought of a warm fuzzy animal. My grandmother, my mother, my sisters, and I are all confirmed animal lovers, pet parents, and supporters of animal welfare causes. I’ve always been interested in environmental causes, too.

However, for most of my life I viewed mother nature as more of a real mother than anything else—a force that would take care of, nurture, and keep me and all of the other people and all the animals safe and sound.

Then I heard about the polar bears. The news that melting ice caps had reduced their habitats so much that many of these bears were drowning deeply upset me. The pictures showing polar bears stranded on tiny floating icebergs or, worse, swimming through warming waters with no iceberg anywhere in sight, touched me in a way that no theoretical knowledge about global warming ever had. Suddenly, I felt moved to do something about the problem of global warming.

Because of my concern about the environment, I had already changed a lot of my bad habits. My family generates just 25 percent of the trash we used to generate, and we are aces at curbside recycling. We buy a lot less, and we buy local products whenever we can. We walk and bike more, and we try to reduce our carbon footprint in as many other ways as possible: gradually replacing our lightbulbs with the longer-lasting kind, reusing items more, and getting most of our groceries at the farmer’s market. However, after hearing about the polar bears, I was determined to go even greener.

I spent a few emotional days fretting about how to do something important that would make a difference. Then one morning, while watching one of my two dogs chew on a brightly colored dog toy and the other one scratch furiously at his ear, I had an epiphany. My “green efforts” might not directly save a polar bear from its tragic fate, but I have animals right here in my own house, in my own family, that are affected by an increasingly toxic environment. I asked myself what I could do to save them.

I wrote this book for two reasons. Number one, I want to show people who have made animals a part of their families how they can live greener and make a positive impact on the earth as well as on their immediate environments. What can you do to save your animals and the polar bears—and maybe even the human life this planet has sustained so far? This book has some answers.

Number two, I want to plant the seed of an idea in my readers’ heads: What if the best, easiest, and most permanent way to change the way we live on this planet is to think less like humans and more like the animals we love and admire?

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my kids, Angus and Emmett, for making a safe, clean, and evolved future seem a little more important. Thanks to Ben, for keeping said kids out of the office when I was working on this book and for organizing and energizing our family’s recycling efforts. Thanks to the animals that share our home: Sally, Jack, Grace, Snugglebunny, and the many fishes. Each of you, in your own way, adds joy and life to our family. Thanks to my mom, for being so soft hearted, and to my dad, for being so practical. I like to think I inherited an equal measure of both qualities. Thanks to my editors at Pet Product News International, especially Carol Boker, Lisa King, and Anne Sedjo, for giving me the “Holistic Marketplace” column for so many years. Writing this column has given me the opportunity to meet a whole community of ethical and environmentally concerned pet product manufacturers and retailers. Thanks to Dog Fancy magazine, especially Susan Chaney and Annamaria Barajas, for constant support and encouragement throughout my freelance career. Thanks to my editors at I-5 Press, especially Andrew DePrisco, who first called me with the idea to write this book. It’s been a lively dialogue! Thanks to my fellow Dog Writers Association of America members, for their checks and balances regarding the sometimes-volatile issues surrounding pet adoption, spay/neuter laws, and the ongoing “animal rights versus animal welfare” debate. Thanks to Caroline Coile, my dog-world anchor. Finally, thanks to all the animals. Wherever you dash, saunter, gallop, waddle, soar, crawl, creep, sleep, hop, or swim over the surface of our mother the earth, this book is for you.

Introduction

As a freelance writer, a little more than half of my income is generated from writing about animals. I write mostly about dogs but also about cats, birds, fish, garden ponds, and the pet product market. I’ve been doing this for more than a decade, and I have seen many trends come and go. Right now, “green” is in, so naturally I’ve had a lot of assignments related to eco-friendly, environmentally conscious, and green living as it relates to animals. And I started to learn some things.

 

After Al Gore came out with his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, green became a buzzword in the industry. That movie isn’t about companion animals, but it is about the earth, and it made people think about the impact of their choices. Pet product manufacturers noticed a shift in buying patterns, as more customers requested information about the eco-friendliness of products.

Then we experienced a massive pet food recall in spring 2007, after scores of cat and dog foods manufactured in China were found to contain poisonous melamine, a chemical used to make plastics. Pets were dying from organ failure because of the adulterated foods we were feeding them. Pet owners all over the country felt guilty, angry, and grief stricken. Natural and organic pet food sales skyrocketed, and many small holistically oriented pet store owners couldn’t keep enough natural and organic foods on their shelves. Pet food companies’ phones were ringing off the hook with people demanding to know whether the companies’ foods were safe and where the ingredients for those products came from. Some people even switched to making their own pet food.

The pet food market hasn’t been the same since; even in a slower economy, retailers tell me the natural foods are still in great demand. Pets are part of the family, so people don’t skimp on what could affect their health. People will cut back in other areas rather than reduce the quality of the lives of their companion animals.

I wrote a lot about food in the months after the recall, and I’m still writing about it. But there are more issues than food to be concerned about. Several holistic veterinarians have informed me that dogs are getting cancers of all kinds at an unprecedented rate. Although some veterinarians claim that we are just seeing the diseases of aging that naturally occur because dogs are living longer, others vehemently disagree. They say that cancer should not be this common in dogs and that even young dogs are falling victim.

Some veterinarians who see a great deal of cancer in their practices believe there is a correlation between environment and this condition. Many holistically minded vets tell me they suspect that cancer is, at least in part, a result of ingesting the chemicals in commercially processed pet food and exposure to other sources of chemicals in our environments.

Mind you, these are not proven links. However, because pets spend a lot of time on our carpets and furniture, they come into much closer contact with any residue from the cleaning chemicals we use, not to mention pesticides and other pollutants that we track in from the outside world on our shoes.

In sensitive pets, this chemical exposure might have serious health consequences. Although many dogs and cats do not get cancer, many do have serious skin rashes, itching, hot spots, and allergies. Could these be the result of a toxic environment: a polluted planet and a chemically laced home? When I wrote an article recently about grooming products, I learned how many harsh chemicals they can contain. Are we poisoning our animals every time that we give them baths?

And what about human beings? Are processed food and environmental toxins affecting us and our children as well? As a mother, this notion strikes me to the heart, especially when it seems that greater numbers of people are getting cancer at younger ages. If our cavalier attitude toward the earth has resulted in a situation that has put us all—our families, including our animal companions, as well as the animals out there in the natural world—in danger, if we are poisoning ourselves with the products we use in our homes and on our own bodies, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, then shouldn’t we be doing something about it? My job, after all, is to protect the children and animals in my own home, a microcosm of our planet. It’s all enough to give us nurturing types a severe panic attack.

But this book isn’t about panicking. It’s about finding a way to improve our current situation by living greener. I believe the way to do this, and to live more simply, is closer than you might think. I believe that it is sitting beside you, gazing at you with adoring eyes.

Animals don’t experience the world in the same way people do. They smell more of it, hear more of it, and feel more of it, from whiskers to tail. Even domesticated animals understand better than we do how to move through the world and read the natural signs, and they certainly don’t treat the world the way we do. Any trash thrown into landfills on behalf of animals is certainly our doing, not theirs.

If you live with and care about an animal, you are in direct contact with the natural world in a way that other people, inside their climate-controlled houses and cars, may never experience. You have a little piece of nature, right there in your own home, right there in your lap. You see echoes of the wolf or the tiger as well as a mirror into your own soul. Our companion animals help us see how all of life is bound together. We share an ecosystem, breathing the same air, drinking the same water, eating the same food. We share many of the same daily experiences, and we may even share some far-distant relatives.

Even domesticated animals understand better than we do how to move through the world and read the natural signs, and they certainly don’t treat it the way we do.

If you want to get spiritual about it, you could say we share the same energy, flowing in and out and around all of us. No doubt, we are all tied together, you, your animals, me, my animals, and the earth itself. Although some people take their pets for granted, others see life with a companion animal as a privilege and an inroad to understanding the world in all its variety and mystery. Animals have lessons to teach us about how to live more lightly on the earth. Their needs are usually simple—and maybe ours are, too. Maybe we just complicate things with our overevolved brains. What if the animals have the right idea, and we are the ones going in the wrong direction? If you really do care about the earth and preserving the natural world that supports you and your animals, the real question becomes: What are you going to do about it?

I’ve read a lot of books about how to go green, raise your eco-consciousness, and reduce your carbon footprint, and after a while, they all start to sound the same. They start with all the statistics that prove the world has a problem, then they launch into lists about how the average Joe or Jane can make a difference: turn off the water when you brush your teeth, switch out your lightbulbs to more energy-efficient types, and recycle your trash.

This book is different. I’m going to assume that you believe something needs to be done to stop our cavalier treatment of our home planet and that you are already doing some basic things to reduce your carbon footprint, such as recycling, trying to drive less, trying to use less. If you are eating organic food, adjusting your thermostat, recycling your trash, and taking your canvas bag to the grocery store, then you are already making a difference. Every little thing you do to make less of a harmful impact on the planet is a good thing.

But in this book, I would like to challenge you to start thinking beyond the box that I will label “humanness.” When we live with, love, and respect our companion animals, we have an amazing opportunity to start looking beyond our own narrow needs into another, broader, bigger universe that honors all life. What would happen if we tweaked our lives to be a little more in tune with the animals that share them? This book is about how to do that, because changing your mind is the first step toward changing the world. When you change the way in which you think, then your actions change naturally, and that’s how you can finally stick to an earth-friendlier existence.

This book is about how to live green with your animals, for your animals, and by taking a cue from your animals.

Animals know some things we’ve forgotten, and remembering them can change our lives, and the planet, for the better. In this book, I’ll make some suggestions and offer guidance based on what I’ve learned about companion animals over the twelve-plus years I’ve been writing about them, but then I hope you and your animals will forge your own kinder, gentler, and more earth-respectful path.

As I encourage you to tap into your animal companion’s natural wisdom, I also want to encourage you to start looking beyond the surface level of what you do, so that you begin to see how it all works together, how we are all connected. When you start thinking more holistically—recognizing how every part influences the whole—then the differences you make as you change your habits will start to have real power. That’s when you can take the next step—acting on your beliefs. If you take nothing else away from this book, I hope you will take this: if you figure out what you believe, find out whether it is true, and then do what you think is right, you can change the world. This is the ultimate, underlying message of Pets Gone Green. That is how we can take this whole “life” thing to the next level.

To live a greener life, you don’t have to agree with every point raised in this book or take every suggestion. You don’t have to buy organic or quit eating meat or forget your dreams of a purebred dog companion. I am not trying to criticize or to judge anyone. In order to live a greener life, however, you do need to think beyond our limited human nature. It is your journey, your life, and in the end your reckoning.

Yet, at the same time, you are never alone. Each one of us is on the same journey, and when we work together, we can make change happen. If you care about the world that gives you and your family food, trees, fresh air, flowers, fields, mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, and yes, animal friends, then I hope that this book will mean something to you.

May we and generations of our descendants live together in harmony on this planet for many thousands of years to come.

Chapter 1

Recycled Companions

The Ultimate Earth-Friendly Act

The first time I saw Rally Sally, I was browsing through the animal shelter,just to see.I didn’t think I’d find a dog who spoke to me. I meandered down the aisles looking at the animals, and then I caught sight of her: a small, skinny, white and brown smooth-coated terrier mix who fixed me with a hypnotic stare.

 

I stared back, and it was as if she were speaking to me, mind to mind: You will take me home. So I did, and I found myself with the most intelligent, resourceful, clever, and devoted animal friend I have ever had. Sally is my heart dog; I cannot imagine life without her.

Where did your dog or cat or bird or hamster come from? And where will you find your next animal companion? How you decide to bring an animal into your life is one of the most important pet-related decisions that you can make, one that has serious environmental repercussions. Pet store? Breeder? Internet? Animal shelter? Rescue group? What is the eco-conscious—and, by association, the most humane—choice?

Green Words

It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—he wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more inelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.

—Douglas Adams, author, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

When their pets become inconvenient, some people throw them away, like trash, dumping them at animal shelters. Other people reluctantly relinquish their animals because changed circumstances—illness, divorce, death—have made it difficult or impossible to keep them. Whatever the reason an animal ends up in a shelter or with a rescue group, the fact is that animal has been discarded. When you decide to adopt one of these pets rather than buy one “new,” you are, in a real sense, recycling. There are many other benefits to adopting an animal from a shelter or rescue group. These organizations often address medical problems and fund training programs for their adoptable animals to minimize future behavioral issues. The animals may already be used to living in a home with people, and they are often housetrained and well socialized. The older animals are through with the many challenges of puppyhood or kittenhood, such as house-training accidents, destructive chewing, and high energy.

Animal shelters and rescue groups around the country have millions of animals waiting for homes. A huge percentage of those animals will be euthanized every year because nobody adopted them.

So why buy new when you can recycle?

Animal Shelters

Most communities have animal shelters or animal control facilities. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that there are between 4,000 and 6,000 animal shelters in the United States, processing 6 to 8 million cats and dogs every year, so you probably have one near you. These facilities go by many names. Some call themselves SPCAs (societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals) or humane societies. Others are simply called animal shelters. Some are connected with city or county animal control programs, and others are privately run.

Many struggle for funds and staff. Others (although not many) have a lot of funding. Some have the resources to evaluate incoming animals carefully, while others barely have the resources to bring the animals in at all. Some shelters euthanize animals that aren’t adopted in a timely manner. Others, sometimes called no-kill shelters, adopt out or keep and care for all the animals they take in so they won’t have to euthanize any pets.

Before you decide where to adopt an animal, do some research and find out what kind of animal sheltering options exist in your community. If you live in a large town or city, you will probably have many options. Check the searchable shelter database of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) at www.aspca.org. (Click on “Adoption,” then click on “Search Our Shelter Database.”) It comprises nearly 5,000 community SPCAs, humane societies, and animal-control facilities. Or check the Petfinder Web site at www.petfinder.org.

Green Facts

According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, only one of the top ten reasons for relinquishing a dog to an animal shelter in the United States has anything to do with behavior issues (#9). Those reasons are:

1. Moving

2. Landlord issues

3. Cost of pet maintenance

4. No time for the pet

5. Inadequate facilities

6. Too many pets in the home

7. Pet illness

8. Personal problems

9. Biting

10. No homes for littermates

Only two of the top ten reasons for relinquishing a cat to an animal shelter in the United States have to do with behavior (#7 and #10). Those reasons are:

1. Too many cats in the house

2. Allergies

3. Moving

4. Cost of pet maintenance

5. Landlord issues

6. No homes for littermates

7. House soiling

8. Personal problems

9. Inadequate facilities

10. Doesn’t get along with other pets

Green Stats

There are approximately 74.8 million owned dogs and 88.3 million owned cats in the United States, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) 2007–2008 National Pet Owners Survey.

Even if you want a purebred pet, look at the animal shelter first. HSUS estimates that 25 percent of dogs in shelters are purebreds. Additionally, many shelters work with purebred rescue groups, so shelter workers may be able to direct you to relevant resources (see the next section on rescue groups).

The worst thing you can do when looking for an animal companion is to rush into your decision. After all, when you make a significant purchase, such as a car, a home, or even a smart phone, you spend time considering which one is right for you. Otherwise, you might find, once you get it home, that it wasn’t the right choice. Doesn’t an animal deserve even more careful consideration? Impulse buying an animal is much more likely to result in a bad match and problems later—ones that often result in the return of a pet to the shelter.

Some people are hesitant to adopt an animal that someone else has given up because they fear the animal has something wrong with it. Sometimes, this is true. Like children in foster homes, some animals develop behavior problems as a result of neglect and/or abandonment. However, many of them are amazing, loyal, sweet, devoted animals that already know how to live with humans (such as my Rally Sally). Others need just a little bit of time and extra patience.

REDUCE YOUR Carbon Pawprint

Keep your own animals and others out of the animal shelter. Here’s how:

Commit to your animals. If you bring a companion animal into your home and family, commit to a permanent situation. After all, if your kids cause trouble, you help them; you don’t give them away.

License your animals, and be sure they always wear identification tags, even indoors. If these animals ever end up lost and make it to the shelter, you’ll have a much better chance of reclaiming them. Having the shelter or a veterinarian implant an identifying microchip in your animal can also help identify your animal if its tags are lost or taken off.

Spay or neuter your animals to avoid creating more unwanted animals (see chapter 3 for more on this issue). Encourage others to spay/neuter. Tell others whether the local shelters or certain vet clinics offer low-cost spay/neuter options.

Green Fact

October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month.

The best way to avoid problems is to do your research and ask questions. Before you adopt an animal from a shelter, get as much of the story as you can. Don’t be shy. Ask the shelter or rescue group:

How do you screen the animals?

What do you know about this animal’s history?

Do you know whether this animal gets along with other pets?

Do you know whether this animal gets along with children?

Does this animal have any health issues I should know about?

Does this animal have any behavioral issues?

Many shelters do their part by carefully screening you to be sure you have the time, resources, and knowledge to take care of a companion animal—and that pets are allowed where you live. Some shelters also require you to bring everyone in your household in to make sure that all of them are on board with the adoption and that everyone gets along with the potential pet. Even if a shelter doesn’t have this requirement, it’s a good idea for you to take family members with you for this purpose.

Green Shelters

Adopting from a shelter is an eco-conscious act, but adopting from a green shelter doubles the power of the green. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System certifies buildings that are designed, constructed, and operated according to environmentally responsible and healthful standards. The Tompkins County SPCA in Ithaca, New York (www.spcaonline.com/new_green.htm), and the Winnipeg Humane Society in Canada (www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca/. ) have LEED-certified buildings. Other green shelters include the Potter League for Animals, in Middletown, Rhode Island; the Humane Society Silicon Valley, in California; the Bow Valley SPCA, in Alberta, Canada; Dallas Animal Services, in Texas; City of Sacramento Animal Care Services, in California; the Humane Society of Huron Valley, in Michigan; the Washington Animal Rescue League, in the District of Columbia; and Watermelon Mountain Ranch Animal Center, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, just outside of Albuquerque.

Sometimes, shelters won’t allow people to adopt if they have very young children, can’t provide written documentation from a landlord stating that pets are allowed, or don’t have what the shelter deems to be proper facilities to house the animal. Some shelters have policies prohibiting students from adopting a pet, because they have seen too many pets abandoned at the end of a semester or school year. Rejection by an animal shelter drives some people to pet stores, but consider this: if the shelter staffers say you shouldn’t have a pet at the present time, maybe they are right.

Rescue Groups and Purebreds

Although I live with a couple of lovable mutts, I, like many other people, appreciate the history and tradition behind the purebred dog. In fact, I often write about purebred animals. People who want a purebred dog or cat are often drawn to specific qualities and know they can find them most reliably in certain breeds. If you really want a purebred, you can still make an eco-conscious and compassionate choice by going to a purebred rescue group.

The Evolution of Breeds

Although the climate, the influence of indigenous dogs in a particular area, and other aspects of natural selection also played a part, humans actually “created” most breeds through selective breeding,