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Founder Shares Her Thoughts On Anti-Dog Legislation, Animal Rights and Creating Political Power For Dog Owners

Meet Barbara Haywood, the woman behind My Dog Votes™, one of the most-talked about and perhaps even controversial figures to hit the dog world in years. As the Chief Strategist for an advertising and communications consulting firm, and the former Chief Client Officer for one of the largest Internet companies on the planet, Ms. Haywood is a veteran advertising and marketing professional. Over the years, she helped create communications strategies to solve image and branding issues for some of the world’s best known firms, including Accenture, Bristol Myer’s Squib, Wyeth, Morgan Stanley, Panasonic, Ikea, and many more.

She’s also the author of the wildly popular blog, www.DogPolitics.com - The Political Blog For Dog Owners.  It is one of the few that this editor reads!  We view it as a wakeup call for both dog owners and politicians, who by the way, are almost always dog owners.  Her articles are posted everywhere across the dog world, from confirmation, agility and rescue sites, to Schutzhund and hunting sites – and of course – political sites.  

A busy lady, Barbara travels the country speaking to dog organizations and doing programs for kennel clubs.  Her message is simple and straight-forward; how to create local political power for dog owners and the use of civic engagement as one of the most effective anti-BSL strategies.

We caught up with Barbara at home this week, and she shared her insights on the proliferation of anti-dog legislation.  She has a vision for helping dog clubs create dog-friendly, dog-safe communities and her comments on animal rights, combined with an incredible talent for mobilizing dog owners as a political force that goes out to the polls is having an impact across the country.  It is one that is being noticed by politicians…..

TDP: What exactly is My Dog Votes™?

BH:  My Dog Votes™ is the name of my company – a company on a mission to Save Dogs and Democracy™.  There are actually three parts to My Dog Votes™ - there’s Campaign, The Company and the Community.

TDP: Can you explain that for our readers?

BH:  Sure, My Dog Votes™ - The Campaign is a nonpartisan public service GOTV (Get Out The Vote) public service awareness advertising campaign designed to help create political awareness of dog owners as voters and inspire them to vote in local and state elections. Dog owners of all political persuasions simply need to get out and vote for dog-friendly candidates. Close to half of all households own dogs.  Can you imagine the impact on local anti-dog legislation if more dog owners voted? 

My Dog Votes™ - The Company sells the trademarked line of My Dog Votes™ campaign gear. People wanted to know where they could get my stickers with the “cute paw”.  Now we sell T-shirts, bumper stickers, car magnets, political pins and more.  Wholesaling our goods directly to dog clubs and dog nonprofits helps dog groups raise the funds they need to power community responsible ownership education, and fight BSL and other anti-dog laws. That means when you buy a My Dog Votes™ product, you are helping local dog groups and helping to Save Dogs & Democracy™ at the same time.

My Dog Votes™ - The Community is a volunteer network of local dog owners (show people, rescue people and everyday dog owners) who connect locally for the purpose of helping to make their community a dog-friendly and dog-safe community.

TDP: That’s quite a package!  What was the inspiration for My Dog Votes™?

BH: Love, plain and simple. My Dog Votes™ was inspired by my dog, Zsa Zsa.  We love her so much and the thought of losing her or having to move because she’s the “wrong” breed had me obsessed with the issue of breed discrimination.

I thought to myself that if any local politician ever voted to ban my dog, I would be sure to vote his sorry butt out of office.  Then I had a mental picture of my dog, Zsa Zsa, in a voting booth - pulling the lever to vote the guy out of office.  I actually laughed out loud  - and thought, that’s it!  My dog votes! 

DP: So you took a mental image and made it happen!  How did you get started?

BH: I don’t have to tell you that breed breed-specific measures are proliferating across the country despite the hard work of canine organizations and protests of responsible dog owners. It seems pretty clear that we’re on the losing side of the battle, and that local politicians have latched onto BSL – it’s a hot political issue.

I felt so badly for all of the good dogs and owners.  I couldn’t just sit on the sidelines - I had to do something. I’m just an average dog owner, no show dogs - but I thought if I can help major corporations with their communications and image problems (I work in advertising), why not dogs? 

As my personal answer to BSL, just for fun, I decided to create a faux political campaign to address breed bans. I created the Patriot Paw™ icon, designed a bumper sticker and a few public service voter awareness ads and put them out there.

The response was amazing!  People saw the My Dog Votes™ bumper stickers and wanted to know where they could buy them, and then I started getting calls and emails from people who wanted to volunteer. People were taking the My Dog Votes™ campaign seriously.

That’s when I decided to make dogs my client and create a communications strategy for them - that’s how it started.

TDP: How do you create a communications strategy for dogs?  That’s novel.

BH: The very same way you create it for corporate clients, with a few extra challenges. Communications strategies solve problems, but first you have to nail the root cause of the problem, then you can create a solution.

I admit the first challenge was how to solve it without a paying client and no budget.  (laughter) Then there’s the problem of a multitude of dog organizations that are often at odds with each other, the overall fractured nature of the dog world, so how to solve the problem and get them on the same page?

The solution is to take a very complex problem and distill it down, and create simple, clear messages.

That’s why My Dog Votes™ - The Campaign works.  The Campaign’s messages are simply this, “ Register To Vote”, “Your Vote Matters” and “Local Elections Count”.

The Campaign is an umbrella campaign that works no matter where you are in the dog world, which registry, which breed, which club – or no club at all – it’s unifying dog owners everywhere.

DP: I can see where it would.  So tell us more about the Campaign.

BH: The My Dog Votes™ Campaign is where it all started. It’s the only nonpartisan Public Service Awareness campaign specifically targeted to dog owners.  The goal is getting out the “dog vote” in local and state elections.

The Campaign features portraits of real dog owners and real dogs from across the country paired with the GOTV (Get Out The Vote) messages, such as “Register To Vote”, and “Your Vote Matters” and “Local Elections Count”.

The goal of the campaign is to raise public awareness, resulting in voter participation.  The campaign breaks through breed, social, or racial stereotypes by portraying the wonderfully diverse landscape of responsible American dog owners.  There’s a Canadian version of the campaign too.

The My Dog Votes™ PSA Campaign is running in national dog magazines, newspapers, and breed club newsletters throughout the dog world, thanks to the generous support of publishers who share the vision and the important mission of getting out the vote. 

TDP: Why is My Dog Votes™ a company and not a nonprofit?

BH: The world doesn’t need another poor, powerless dog nonprofit that lacks funding, does it? Why not create a company that can help fund dog nonprofits, especially the local groups?

After all, these small local groups are the ones directly engaged in the fight to save dog ownership by advocating against BSL and fighting other anti-dog measures. And it is these dog groups who have the least funding to fight BSL and most are too small to qualify for grants. 

My Dog Votes™ creates a self-funding mechanism for dog organizations that commit funds raised to responsible ownership education and ending breed discrimination.

My Dog Votes™ is partly modeled on Paul Newman’s company, Newman’s Own, because the company’s products help to fund causes and charities.

It is about Saving Dogs & Democracy™.  We can help save dogs by helping fund community responsible ownership programs and we can save democracy by raising voter participation in local and state elections.

TDP: Why name it My Dog Votes™? Some say it sounds like an animal rights group – how do you respond to that?

BH:  Of course dogs don’t really vote - that’s just silly. The name My Dog Votes™ is an attention-getter, designed to create awareness and political power for dog owners – with the emphasis on owners’ voting.

Animal rights group? My Dog Votes™ is pretty much the antithesis of an animal rights group, and anyone that reads my blog, www.DogPolitics.com, knows that the mission and values of My Dog Votes™ are about protecting and preserving dog ownership – including the activities that go along with owning a dog.

I don’t believe in letting animal rights groups dictate our public policy by changing, reducing or eliminating property and/or privacy rights as a means to further their agenda.

My Dog Votes™ is about mobilizing and galvanizing dog owners to get to the polls and cast a vote for dog-friendly candidates - candidates that are interested in protecting property and privacy rights.

My Dog Votes™ creates political power for dog owners.  Dog owners are probably the largest voting block in America!  They have more power than they know. I think that local politicians that support anti-dog legislation may be in for a wake up call.  If fact, I might even say they’d better Wake Up & Smell The Dog.

TDP: Well, a little humor doesn’t hurt.  That’s pretty clever.  Barb, the concept is so unique, so simple, and so effective, I think it is going to ignite all dog owners.  And let’s hope it puts a fire in the political scene! 

Thank you for your time, you have given dog owners new hope and a defined direction for solving the legislative onslaught!

 TheDogPlace.org Ó 6/2006

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