Amid the excited chatter, I hold up my  hand for silence.

“If you’ll give me 15 minutes to talk,” I tell the rapt audience, “I’ll give you five minutes to pet the   dogs.”     The children quickly grow still. I immediately launch  into my   favorite subject –   homeless pets and how   to help prevent them. 

However, as the minutes tick by, these students begin   to squirm, reach out to pet one of the dogs and whisper. Finally, sensing they  can’t stand another minute away from his furry troupe, I cave in and  invite the children forward. In a   split  second, they besiege the dogs in a flutter of petting, scratching    hands. The canines thump their legs in ecstasy. ( 2 deaf Dalmatians, one pit bull, one coyote/dingo and a beagle/basset mix)

I must admit, it always ends up going in reverse – I talk for five minutes, and the kids get 15    minutes with the dogs, but it’s worth it.

At the end of the 45 minutes, everyone can see the eyes lighting up with questions,   ideas,  thoughts  of 'why'.  They really 'get it'.

I have but one goal for the rest of my life.  That is  to change the status quo by helping to raise a kinder, gentler next generation. I plan to continue my travels through 40 states -     over 12,000 miles - with my  five dogs as navigators in the next two years, charging NO fees to groups I address.

I let it all out.  I don't cover up the truth with sweet words or phrases that make a horrific  situation sound more gentle and less important. It’s not a shelter, but a dog pound. We don’t ‘euithanise’ and ‘put to sleep’ we kill these animals - needlessly.

The six of is will appear before more than 1 million youth in schools across the United States, urging students everywhere to form Humane Education Clubs in their schools.

In my opinion, the failure of society to fully value and protect our companion animals is its most extreme example of utter and abject failure.   Kids today literally jump at the chance to try and solve a problem such as this - a  problem that their parents and others just couldn't seem to 'deal with'!

Humane Education clubs are already forming at schools nationwide. The 8 western states that we have visited with this program are already experiencing a profound impact on the lives of the animals. These students involve and immerse  themselves in finding new creative ways to become the new frontier of the animal welfare movement.

Studies show that by offering humane education to our youth, they develop a more sophisticated and solid moral structure and they will come to enjoy education more, resulting in higher attendance, more participation in the field of science, lower drop-out rates, improved achievement scores and the adoption   of   a less violent conflict resolution technique.       

        As the founder and president of 21st Century Animal Resource & Education Services, Inc. as well   as an outspoken advocate of education and enlightenment on animal protection issues, I firmly believe we have failed as a society when it comes to how we view our companion animals. We still have those self-serving, uninformed folks  who have litters of puppies and kittens, convincing themselves that they aren't part of the problem,  It's always those who refuse to play by the rules, that assures that their team will loose the game. But in this game, the animals die from these stubborn humans.

This   program helps kids to use their "CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION, COMPASSION and INTELLECT. There are ideals which have to be broken through and overcome before we can address them; primarily the "attitudes toward animals. Students can speak OUT on behalf of all the innocent lives lost across this country each year and they actually rise to occasion when given the challenge of correcting the tragic situation their parents and others have gotten our society into.

We Americans pay billions of dollars in taxes to reduce the volume of unwanted animals, then turn around and donate another Billion dollars for animal welfare and animal rights and to local and area rescuers. But, shelters and pounds are still overwhelmed by the thousands of lonely, homeless pets who come in every day because of a simple problem: there are many more folks who wish to have litters and that is what this is all about.

It's important that we share the valid and proven ways to solve these problems with those who will govern our nation in the future. We are responsible for their learning and have an obligation to show them it's our problem - its' up to all of us to make the correct decisions.

Americans have the sophisticated technology and successful marketing prowess to make miraculous changes. Put a man on the moon, cure a new disease and even win wars in 100 days or less.. But yet, we can’t seem to successfully convey the reality of our selfish and irresponsible behavior ‘because it upsets too many people to hear this’. I understand that this subject is hard to handle, but, I must remind all who turn away when  these facts and figures surface,  that all those doggies and kitties that go to that little room    to be killed each day become pretty upset too. Maybe, just maybe if everyone were to listen at least once, to the problems,   their causes as well as proven solutions,   these animals could be led outside to a new home instead..

We are so far behind other countries in this battle. In order to become a the "no-kill’ society that many other industrialized nations of the world are presently finding success with, we MUST think first in terms of ‘no excessive birth. Humane Education will create a world where each child vows to spay or neuter their own pets, give their pets what’s best for the pet and, not just what the human ‘wants’ them to have,…and, of course to educate others to do the same.” The informed person will always surpass those who ‘only assume’ and just   continue on  ‘because we’ve always done it this way.”