The Summary

Ingrid Newkirk has written a thorough and usable guide to making changes in your life that improve the overall welfare of the animals who share our earth.

This detailed book includes PeTA’s suggestions on:

How to eat healthfully and compassionately
How to help get animals out of laboratories
How to make a difference for animals in puppy mills
How to make your vote count and change public opinion
How to switch to cruelty-free cosmetics and clothing
How to choose activities that protect rather than exploit animals
The topics outlined in the book include:

Making the choice to eat Vegan
Animals in the entertainment industry
Zoos & circus
Hunting & Fishing
Humane treatment of pets & animal companions
Laboratory testing on animals
Making the choice to purchase cruelty-free products
Saying “no” to dissection
Dealing with pests ethically
Choosing charities & organizations that are PeTA approved
The Review

There is so much room for improvement in the way that we honor and respect the animals of our earth. In a beautiful way, Newkirk brings forth amazing facts about the animal kingdom and the special talents and innate abilities of many species. For example, did you know that dolphins could “see” through the human body to detect cancer? I sure didn’t… but, I did know that my doggies are always sniffing at the ouchies on my body and wanting to lick them!

After enlightening her readers on the remarkable beauty of the animal kingdom, Newkirk shares the attrocities of animal abuse. In today’s world, I blindly have come to the assumption that most of these acts of terror have been, on a large scale, eradicated. Unfortunately, there are still horrendous acts of hate and ignorance being inflicted upon animals. What Newkirk offers in this book are solutions and ways to enact change today and in the future. Ultimately, it comes to making better choices and using your voice to make a difference.

One of the biggest changes that Newkirk recommends is becoming vegan. Vegans do not consume animal meat or products. Yes, this includes dairy products and eggs (and, for most… honey as well). This is a huge step to change and a complete lifestyle change. Two years ago, I become a 90% vegetarian. I did eat select fish, however I primarily ate all fruits & vegetables. Although I was not vegan and I still ate dairy & eggs, I managed to hold to this vegetarian commitment in eating for nearly a year. However, I just had such a hard time with it because my children are not vegetarian and I was constantly cooking two different types of foods.

After reading this book, I am re-committed to my eating lifestyle. I’m going to try to ensure that I eat primarily vegetarian, however allow myself the occasional treat every now and again. Although this guide does confirm that you can get all of the proteins and required nutrition from a completely vegan diet, I am unwilling to change my daugther’s diets until they have completed their growth. Also, I feel that a change of this magnitude should be their personal decision at this stage in their life and development.

Another commitment that I am going to make is being more aware of my consumerism. I will try to purchase products that have affirmed that they do not test on animals. In addition, I will avoid purchasing leather and wool. I already avoid furs, feathers, and things along that line. I will also avoid attending circuses that exploit animals.

For my regular readers, you may already know that I am a huge animal lover. For the most part, I agreed with the majority of this book. However, there are some topics that I cannot fully agree with. I’ll give a small example… this book claims that dogs should never be placed in crates. Our pup, Claire, loves her huge, comfy crate in Dee Dee’s bedroom. It’s covered in a pretty blanket, super big, and has wonderful warm bedding on the inside (along with toys, bones, etc.). When she’s ready for bed, she walks right on in there and treats it almost like a den. In the morning, she doesn’t even want to go outside and likes to linger in there. As she gets older and less likely to chase and terrorize the cats during the night while we sleep, I may try to encourage her to sleep freely in the house. Our lab, Tori, has the full run of the house and we have no issues with her and the kitties. However, for now the arrangement seems to be just fine with both Claire & us. Also, when we travel on long trips, the two large dog crates/pens fit into the back of the car nicely. I feel that everybody is safer on a long trip when they are secured. The book is adamantly against the use of crates. Based on my experience with my dogs, I disagree. The crate training worked wonders for both of our dogs, even though Tori’s outgrown it and no longer needs it except for in the travel that I mentioned. There are a few other topics in the book that I found to be a tad extremist and don’t agree with 100%… although, I can definitely see Newkirk’s point.

Plain and simple… if readers of this book can make even 1 or 2 lifestyle changes out of this book, then there will be improvement in the protection of animals. It may not be everybody’s choice to follow this book to the “T,” however it’s an eye-opening guide that gives some great advice and knowledge.

Oh… a tip that I read that I found new and interesting… cockroaches can’t stand bay leaves. If you’ve got a problem area (i.e. under the kitchen sink or what not), place a few bay leaves in the area and they’ll stay away!

The Rating

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale,” I am giving this book a rating of 8.5 out of 10 for the genre Non-Fiction:Instructional. The research and resources are very thorough and useful! I appreciate the way that one of my most cherished animal rights groups, The Sea Shephards, are mentioned in the book. Also, I believe that the subject matter holds a lot of importance in today’s world and our future! ( )

When I received an email offering to send me this book to review, I knew immediately that I had to have it. I received it in the mail yesterday (along with a copy to give away to one lucky commenter, YAY!) and I stayed up until 5 this morning reading it. And it's almost 10 now, so I haven't had much sleep. Honestly, there were times that I cried reading this book and there were many times that I had to put it down and take a breather. This is an extremely intense book and at times was hard to stomach. I love animals and I love our environment and I'm not perfect but I want to do everything in my power to make a difference in this world. Even if it's only for one human or one rabbit.

I have 3 dogs who I love so very much. They have completely different personalities just like humans. Some people say that animals don't have souls but I don't believe that. My dogs are treated like part of the family and I wouldn't have it any other way. Here are some facts about my doggies so that you can get to know them.

Precious - A friend of mine had a dog who had puppies and I ended up getting one of them. Precious is part Shepherd, Lab, Chow, and Husky. She chose her own name. The day that I got her (she was 8 weeks old) and she crawled underneathe my bed and I was trying to get her to come out. I don't know why but I just kept saying doggie names and then saying come on. When I said Precious, she came out. So that's how she got her name. When she was little and we were trying to potty train her, we put a gate a the top of the second half of the steps (bi-level) and she just roamed around downstairs. My dad is diabetic and his sugar was too high and he ended up falling down the first half of the steps. Precious took a running leap over the gate to get to my dad. She was not very big at this time and I have no idea how she was able to do it. From that point on, we kept the gate up knowing that she could just come right over it, but she was really good and stayed downstairs until we had her fully potty trained and then she was able to roam the house. Precious is a diva, in every way. She loves baths, she loves to have her hair brushed. In the winter time we use a hair dryer on her. She is extremely smart and she has no idea that she's a dog. I love her so much.

Bubba - I got Bubba from the SPCA and he's a Chow mix. He's quiet and lazy. He thinks that you should be petting him at all times. I have only seen him growl and turn mean looking twice and both times it was because some shady characters were coming around me. He is extremely protective, especially of children. Whenever I would take him out to go to the bathroom, he would head to wherever he heard kids playing. One time my cousins came over and I was holding the 2 year old and I threw up in the air playing and Bubba started barking at me, he did not like this so I had to stop. He is especially protective of my nephew, Damien. Damien practically tackles Bubba and Bubba loves the attention.

Reese - I got Reese from the SPCA and we almost lost her after 2 hours. We took her home and were letting her get used to her new home. Our plan was to take her to the vet the next morning to have her checked out and to get the vaccines that the SPCA doesn't give them. After 2 hours in the apartment, Reese started pooping pure blood. It was so sad and it literally broke my heart. I called around to all the vets and they kept saying that she needed to be seen right away but that their office was closing. So I kept trying. I was determined to do everything in my power to save this little puppy. Finally I talked with someone at Banfield who said for us to bring her in right away. We did and they did the parvo test and Reese had parvo. I was terrified that she was going to die. We'd only known this little puppy for two hours but I was already in love with her. She had to stay at Banfield overnight, which broke my heart but I trusted these people. They were so kind and I could tell that they were going to do everything they could to save my baby. The next day we went to visit her (we visited 4 or 5 times a day) and she was already acting so much better. The people at Banfield took turns going in and playing with her. She had to be kept in isolation until the parvo was completely gone. After we were able to bring Reese home, I called the SPCA and I told them what had happened. She had supposedly been vaccinated for Parvo but the paper that they gave us with her shot records had the day after we got her as the date she received her shots. When I called them, they said I could bring her back and exchange her. Like she's a freaking sweater. I told them no that they needed to do something about this and they need to check the other dogs for Parvo. After fighting with them for a while, they reimbursed us for half of the vet bills. I wanted to let them know that this was unacceptable. It had nothing to do with the money and everything to do with trying to save another puppy from dying of a disease that is preventable. She's still known as the Parvo Puppy whenever we take her to the vet. They all still remember my little angel who survived.

This book is filled with little ways to make a big difference. Animals can't make themselves be heard and they need us to be their voice. I think everyone should read this book to fully understand what goes on behind closed doors. It's not an easy book to read but standing up for something is never easy. I hope that you will take the time to help someone in need. ( )