Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a shelter dog

When I blogged about the new Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie, rescue groups both here and abroad had just started to agitate about the influx of chi’s they were expecting to flood their shelters from a ‘irresponsible public’ after the release of the movie.


Nathan Winograd reported on my post saying:

After posting my concerns about the position of PETA and some shelters regarding Disney’s new movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua, I came across Shel’s review of September, before the movie was released. Had I read it before I had done mine, I would have cited it. It is a thoughtful analysis and I am grateful for the voice of sanity and reason which sees golden opportunities for lifesaving in popular culture’s reflection of our love of dogs.

And also criticised shelters for missing the potential of the film;

Instead of the fear mongering based on draconian stereotypes, platitudes, and mistruths, how about a campaign to appeal to what is best in the dog loving American public? How about picking up where Disney left off with their lifetime responsibility and adoption disclaimers, and putting in place a comprehensive pro-active and positive message that says to people:

CHIHUAHUAS ARE GREAT. ADOPTING ONE IS EVEN GREATER.

But while groups lament the film and trot out untrue clichés of ‘101 Dalmations Syndrome’ instead of taking advantage of the moment to educate and inspire people to adopt, the No Kill Nation blog today reports;

The naysayers missed an even greater PR opportunity than Winograd imagined for them: People reports that the film’s canine star was rescued from a California shelter.

Trainer Mike Alexander told People that after searching for weeks with breeders and pet stores, he saw “a photo of a big-eared Chihuahua mix named Rusco on a rescue Web site.” When Hollywood called, the shelter’s response, according to Alexander, was to tell him to “hurry.” The dog, a stray, had been at the Moreno Valley shelter for two weeks and “could be put down any day.”

Fortunately, Alexander “raced 120 miles” to see the dog and adopted him “without hesitation.”

In this instance, the shelters might step back from their rhetoric and take a page from Hollywood’s book to trumpet an inspiring success story and get out the right messages about the great dogs that end up in their care.

Amen.