Ch. Bon Ton Uzander de Bejaune, CGC

Hello, you are visiting the newly renovated webpages of Ch. Bon Ton Uzander de Bejaune. I started a website for him a few years ago as an effort to learn a little about web design. Since that time, I've learned a bit and recently decided to completely revamp the site...all of which exists to share my dear dog, a five year old black Briard boy, with the world.

Uzander, or Zander as we call him, was bred by Karen MacDonald of Bon Ton Briards here in Michigan. I will never forget the day when I was sitting ringside at the 2004 Briard Club of America's national specialty and Karen pulled up a chair next to me and asked, "How would you like a dog?"

I have lived with Briards nearly all of my life. My parents acquired Phoebe Chez Phydeaux from the well known Phydeau kennel of Art and Mary Lou Tingley when I was two years old, and I had never really lived without one since...that is, until I got married. When Karen proposed taking on this hairy briard boy, I knew that the only person who needed convincing was my husband.

Obviously, I was persuasive...

Ch. Phoebe Chez Phydeau

Here is a photo of our old Phoebe, probably taken in '68 or '69. Phoebe has the distinction of being the first Briard to win the AKC Working Group. Here she is handled by Barbara Zimmerman.

I don't remember much of her "show life", but fondly remember her as our big, shaggy friend and protector. She had a zest for life and for food. We woke one Thanksgiving morning to find that she had unexpectantly and quietly passed away during the night at the age of 12 1/2 years. We said that if she had only known what day it was, she would have stuck around a bit longer for the leftovers.

A Future Without Dogs?

If you love dogs, please do not donate to either PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) or the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). These two organizations are well-funded, well-organized lobbying groups that push for legislation at the state and local level that will eventually put hobby breeders, small family farms, and dog and cat rescuers out of business.

PETA is an extreme animal rights group that believes private ownership of animals is exploitation--this includes companion animals--and its agenda is to eliminate ALL animal ownership. Most people recognize that PETA is extreme. However, HSUS is becoming every bit as extreme as PETA and because HSUS masquerades as a moderate organization it is twice as dangerous.

HSUS is the nation's wealthiest animal "welfare" organization whose assets figure at over $200 million dollars and whose income is estimated at $100-150 million dollars each and every year. HSUS itself does not operate a single dog or cat rescue or shelter, and donates only a paltry 4% of its income to organizations that actually do rescue and shelter animals.

Ironically, HSUS is always on the scene when large, well- publicized puppy mill busts are underway and uses this exposure as part of its fundraising scheme. When Michael Vick's pitbulls were seized, HSUS was present. As the animals were being removed from the property, HSUS made a public plea on its website for donations, claiming that these funds would be used for the "care of" the Vick dogs. A New York Times article published several weeks after the HSUS online beg-a-thon indicated that HSUS, in fact, did not have possession of the dogs and was not caring for them. As this information came to light, HSUS then curiously recommended that all of the seized dogs be euthanized.

This is not to say that HSUS does not do good work. No one will deny that dog fighting is bad and that puppy mills are a blight. I grew up on small hobby farm where we kept cows, pigs, horses, dogs, chickens, and a rescued Suffolk ewe. My mother was a dog show exhibitor, obedience trial participant, and an occasional breeder of dogs (five litters in four decades). Puppy milling and factory farming do not square with merciful, humane animal husbandry.

But, HSUS's motivation is not to correct the inhumane by merely making it humane. Its motivation, rather, is to abolish the breeding, keeping, and use of animals through legislative incrementalism that places onerous financial burdens on dog and cat owners who dare to maintain unaltered animals and on individuals who dare to participate in animal agriculture.

Even other animal activists and individuals involved in rescue and the humane movement are questioning HSUS motivations, policies, and practices. For an animal welfare organization whose leadership is comprised of avowed vegans and yet recommends the wholesale euthanasia of dogs based on breed, the public has a right and duty to question those goals and to examine how the organization conducts its fundraising.

It is important to note that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is NOT affiliated with your local shelter. If you truly wish to help rescue and shelter dogs, please donate to your local shelter or all-breed rescue organization. These folks are the ones who truly need and deserve your donations.

If you would like to learn the truth about HSUS, please visit some of the blogs and websites linked elsewhere on this page.

Think You Know What HSUS Is All About?

Click here for a few of HSUS CEO's Wayne Pacelle's thoughts on animals, pet ownership and animal agriculture. HSUS is not about animal welfare; it's about animal rights and the extinction of animal ownership.