Opinion: Rather Than Penalize Dog Guardians, Support Them

This week, news broke that “the Atlanta City Council halved the amount of time a dog can bark before its owner runs the risk of being cited and paying a $150 fine.” Now if Mayor Andre Dickens signs the legislation, “under the new ordinance, a dog barking for longer than 10 minutes (without a 20-second break between barks) can be considered a nuisance.”

As someone who's nervous system doesn’t love tons of barking and is very interested in animal welfare, I can find ways to generously interpret the intent behind this ordinance (and the many others like it that exist throughout the country). But I think it’s important to talk about the realities of rules like this and what they actually mean for both humans and non-human animals.

Animal control, who is generally charged with enforcing these ordinances, has historically taken a “community policing approach” to “animal welfare,” but is that actually the best way to care for non-human animals and/or humans?

A good friend of ours, Kassidi Jones, who does a lot of antiracist animal advocacy work on her Instagram page (@gingers_naps), recently highlighted a helpful article on this topic: Punishment to Support: The Need to Align Animal Control Enforcement with the Human Social Justice Movement by Sloane M Hawes, Tess Hupe, and Kevin N Morris.

The authors point out that “animal protection ordinances, similar to human criminal justice policies, disproportionately target communities of color with their enforcement interventions.” Beyond that, “punitive approaches to addressing social problems, such as citation and incarceration, often blame the individual while disregarding the structural causes of an issue.”

In this punishment based approach, it’s not just the humans who are likely to suffer. What happens to the welfare of animals whose guardians are trying to avoid citations and fines? Might this set the stage for more people to slap bark collars or shock collars, devices with well documented risks to behavioral health and welfare, on their dogs to try to get them to stop barking quickly?

This ordinance and those like it around the country treat barking as a monolith, but it’s actually a topographically diverse behavior that functions to produce a huge range of outcomes for dogs and it shows up in a wide variety of conditions. Reducing a dog’s barking ethically requires us to understand what is going on with an individual dog and their environment.

Punishment ordained by cities and enforced by animal control is not the answer. I am not saying that actual animal cruelty or neglect should be ignored. But I’d find it hard to believe that the majority of dogs whose barking may violate this ordinance would be doing so due to some mal-intent on behalf of their guardian. Instead, I imagine people don’t know what they don’t know and/or don’t have access to resources they need (information, training, dog sitters, etc.).

What would happen if instead of punishing and criminalizing, we sought to provide people with the resources they needed to care for their animals? What if instead of threats and punishment for barking dogs, we connected people to affordable or free training resources like Kiki Yablon’s “Thanks For Barking 2.0 Protocol” or Logan Buie’s article for Tails of Connection entitled “What to do for a Dog With Separation Anxiety?”

Christie Catan, is the co-founder of Tails of Connection and a certified professional dog trainer, knowledge assessed. She also happened to grow up in Atlanta.

Secrets to Sustainability on a Budget: Yes It’s Possible!

Have you ever been scrolling through social media and come across an ad that reads something like “If you care about the planet, then buy our product!” These products tend to cost more than their traditional alternatives, which isn’t an inherently bad thing if it means better quality and fair compensation for the people making them. Unfortunately though, more often than not, these claims are no more than greenwashing, which entails intentionally misleading consumers about the actual sustainability of products or services. This can make navigating the marketplace incredibly frustrating and confusing, especially if you have limited financial resources and/or time to spend on something like buying dog gear. While these concerns are valid, I am here to suggest that perhaps the way our culture approaches being sustainable is inherently flawed. Living more sustainably is possible for anyone, regardless of income.

It doesn’t matter what your tax bracket is because the central tenets of sustainability remain the same. In short, repurposing what we have, buying less, and buying better (when we have to) is a great recipe for sustainable living. Full disclosure, I am not rich, nor do I come from an affluent family. Much of my introduction to sustainable living came out of necessity – choosing the most environmentally-friendly pet accessories wasn’t a real consideration because our dogs weren’t generally getting new things.

Chances are, if you grew up in a scarce environment, you probably can relate that resources are precious. If something breaks and you don’t have the money to replace it, repairing it is a necessity. Indeed, reducing your level of consumption is not a huge issue if you’re not over-consuming in the first place. However, you don’t need to be struggling financially to be mindful of your resource consumption, and to carefully tend to what you already have.

When It Comes to Sustainability on a Budget, Research and Consideration Are Key Before Making a Purchase

Luckily, it's usually more sustainable (and cheaper!) to keep using what you already have! For example, what is the more sustainable option -- a new electric car, or the old gas-guzzling SUV you might have? You might be surprised to learn that it's actually the old SUV. This isn't to say that an SUV is eco-friendly, by any means, but if you're looking at the amount of resources it takes to produce a new car, vs. continuing to use the one you have, it's better to keep the one you have! This same principle applies to most things, including dog accessories.

Historically speaking, “reduced” consumption, reusing, and repairing was the cultural norm for pretty much all people. For instance, fast fashion didn’t exist in the past, so people held on to the clothes that they had. Learning how to sew and repair things was so standard that it was taught in Home Ec classrooms across the country at one point. However, with increased industrialization and exploitive overseas production, our culture has shifted away from valuing the materials and labor that went into producing things, and towards a culture of reckless consumption and disposability. While some people go as far as arguing that things like cheaply made clothing increase accessibility for lower income folks, this is a very recent idea, and it doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Up until quite recently, even low-income individuals paid good money for things like clothes, with the recognition that they would be well-used for years. Most people owned far less in the past, but what they did own was intentionally selected and used.

Today our cultural approach to shopping is drastically different. How many times have you impulsively bought an item for you or your dog? How much of a role does cost play in these decisions for you? If you’re like many people, you probably buy impulsively at times, and are much more inclined to do so when you see a sale. Marketers are excellent at creating a sense of urgency around purchases – buy now to save money! This coupled with constant item turnover, of things like dog collars or new clothes for yourself, can seemingly remove our ability to take the time to consider our purchases. This is a large part of fast fashion business models – if somebody doesn’t know if they’ll find an item the next time they return to a store, they’re much more likely to buy it the first time around. I see the same business models replicated by many larger pet companies, with everything from new collar designs to new toys being manufactured and sold at an alarming rate. Conversely, what would happen if we took the time to consider our purchases beforehand? Nobody is saving money by spending money on cheap products that aren’t made to last. Indeed, spending time researching and considering our purchases is well worth it, both from a cost and a sustainability standpoint.

Perhaps if we spent more time researching our purchases, we would be less inclined to fall for misleading marketing claims. While “sustainable” has become a marketing buzzword, most of the time these products advertised are very far from sustainable. Without even getting into the materials and whatnot that might lend to a more sustainable item, it’s the rate of production for most of these “eco” products that makes them unsustainable, by the very definition of the word. I would be remiss to say that more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional products, including pet goods, aren’t necessary. They are. But in order to be truly sustainable, we have to change our relationship with the way we consume such products. We cannot continue to consume at the same rate and call it sustainable. It’s simply too much for this planet and the people on it to continue to support.

Why Slow Production and Consumption Are So Important to Living Sustainably

Moving towards slow models of production and consumption – as opposed to things like fast fashion or fast food – is a critical part of getting out of this climate mess. Mass production is inherently at odds with sustainability, and that is a concept that is almost never relayed by marketers. Instead, marketers tend to tout the idea that the “sustainable” thing to do is to buy their “eco” product in lieu of a traditional product, and to continue to consume at the same rate. Not only is this not sustainable, but it also makes sustainable living seem out of reach for many. If you’re already living paycheck to paycheck, how could you possibly be expected to pay more for a product that you’re already struggling to afford? Speaking from my own experience living on an extremely tight budget, I would suggest buying less to begin with, and opting for gently-used items whenever possible. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that you or I will never have to buy something new again. Instead, I’m suggesting that we shift our relationship with our belongings, old and new, away from one of disposability.

For instance, if you’ve ever bought something from a local small business, be it dog-related or not, do you tend to appreciate the item a bit more than a mass-manufactured version? You might be less willing to get rid of an item if you have a personal connection to the maker, and perhaps even to the design of the product that was made for you. For example, I have a custom collar and a few leashes of different lengths from a small business that is local to me. When the collar (my dog’s only collar, I might add) became rusty after swimming in salt water this past summer, I reached out to the maker, and she happily replaced the hardware for me, free of charge. So instead of throwing away a rusty generic collar, I was able to have the collar repaired and increase my attachment to it in the process. 

This isn’t to say that one must become hyper-attached to everything in order to be sustainable; I’m merely suggesting that if we know the makers and are part of the production process, we might gain more of a respect for the materials, time, and craftsmanship required to make something like a quality dog collar. Importantly, you can also be much more confident that what you are buying is ethically made, because in many cases, you’re speaking directly with the maker. This direct line of communication also allows for more customization (and in turn, a product better suited to your specific needs over the long term), as well as the ability to request things like more sustainable and local materials if they’re not already offered.

Making Sustainable Food Choices On a Budget For Your Dog

Our co-founder, Christie Catan, wanted to share one idea (above) for how to make super high value dog treats at home in a more sustainable way. She tried this just other day and reports that it made her house delightfully smelly for her dogs, Otis and Sully.

Some of you might be reading this and wondering about other things that we have to buy for ourselves and our dogs, like food. If we’re considering the environmental impacts of dogs, their protein intake is by far the most damaging, so it’s well worth examining more closely. There has been a rise in many “sustainable” pet foods, ranging from more ethically raised livestock, to insect-based dog foods. Unfortunately, many of these options are just too expensive for a lot of people. Again, marketers often posit such options as the only real sustainable choice for dog food. Terms like “human-grade” are used to make us think that we are providing the best possible options for our dogs, but if we consider things from both a health and an environmental standpoint, such qualities aren’t necessarily better. 

From an environmental perspective, it makes the most sense to utilize all parts of any animals that are raised for consumption. This would entail feeding byproducts to our pets, which some marketers have done an excellent job of demonizing. In reality, many people already do feed by-products to their pets, they’re just not marketed as such. Any liver, tripe, or other organ tissues that are often sold as healthy options for pets, are in fact by-products. The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) even recognizes that byproducts (which do not include hair, horns, teeth, or hoofs) can be “perfectly safe and nutritious” for dogs to consume. And while we might find things like udders or lungs extremely unappetizing, our dogs would likely beg to differ! In short, feeding our pets a more sustainable, nutritious diet doesn’t have to mean opting for the “best”, most expensive cuts of meat, or feeding them expensive alternative proteins (although I am personally very interested in the advent of insect-based dog foods). A more sustainable bowl of dog food can just mean feeding them some of the scraps (aka byproducts) of our own meat consumption, something that dogs are especially evolved to do.

Although cost can sometimes seem like an insurmountable barrier to living sustainably—especially when dogs are involved—this is rarely the case. Cost should not be a real barrier to living sustainably, because in short, using what we already have on hand is the most sustainable thing we can do as individuals. When we do purchase things, it is wise to take the time to (1) evaluate if we really need a new item, or if we can repurpose something we already own, or buy used, (2) consider how a product can serve us over the long-term, and (3) beware of greenwashing when buying something new. If there is one take-away from this article, I would like it to be that we should all take the time to question marketing claims about sustainability, and to buy less in general. Reshaping our relationship with our consumerism is perhaps the best thing we can do to live more sustainably, and it doesn’t cost a dime.

The Journey to a Sustainable Life and How To Live it With Dogs

Editor’s Note: Hi, it’s Christie Catan here! It's so tempting to equate sustainability with recycling, but it's so much bigger than that (for example: I spend more of my energy thinking about what I chose to buy or not buy). Am I perfect? NOT EVEN CLOSE. My hope is that our new TOC Contributor, Brianha Hendey, will help our community learn a bit more about how this home of ours (earth) works and why talking about sustainability even matters. I want to acknowledge that there are a HUGE number of reasons why people behave the way they do, and they are all valid. We are here to talk & learn with you (not tell you what to do). I'm hoping that our conversations will help us all better understand what contingencies are at play (yay behavior nerds!) as we make choices related to our dogs and perhaps allow you to bring even more awareness and intention to what you do (even if your behavior remains exactly the same).

Have you ever stopped to think about who you’re serving when you post a cute gear pic with a discount code on your dog’s Instagram account? When my partner and I decided to start an Instagram page for our dog, Boba, we were excited to share dog pictures, connect with trusted dog professionals, and meet other pet parents in our community and the greater dog world. However, the more time I spent scrolling through “Dog Instagram,” the more concerned I became about the environmental impacts of everything I was seeing. In an effort to make Boba’s Instagram feed a bit less consumeristic, I searched for sustainability-related dog pages and the results were unsettlingly empty. Indeed, I found nothing but a few pages promoting vegan dog diets, which were unhelpful to sustainably-minded pet guardians and the dogs in question.

Full disclosure, I’m a vegetarian. My master’s research focused on sustainable consumption. I was specifically interested in factors that might lead people to reduce their meat consumption and opt for higher quality, more sustainably-sourced meat when they do eat it (as opposed to completely abstaining). Without going into the behavioral science of it all, I am generally interested in helping people live more sustainably in a way that promotes their own well-being and that of the collective. 

Dogs undoubtedly increase our well-being (in most cases at least). You don’t have to do much digging to find numerous studies citing dogs’ ability to increase our life satisfaction, as well as improve our mental and physical health in measurable ways. So while our dogs’ environmental “paw print” is far from negligible, for many people their benefits far exceed their costs (although I say this as a self-acknowledged dog-obsessed millennial woman).

This then begs the question, what are the environmental implications of dogs, and how do we lessen them?

Since I couldn’t find answers on social media, I took it upon myself to research and to share my findings with you, with the hopes of creating an open and ongoing dialogue on the topic.

How the Pet Industry Impacts a Sustainable Life and How To Live It With Dogs

In a country like the U.S., where dogs and cats are very common pets, the environmental impacts can add up. Indeed, dogs and cats consume as much dietary energy as ~62 million Americans, or one fifth of the U.S. population!

At a glance, domestic dogs are an environmental disaster. You can’t really sugarcoat the massive amounts of resources spent on dog accessories and what have you, but it’s their food (and the waste that follows it) that is the biggest environmental culprit. Roughly 30% of protein raised in the United States goes towards feeding domestic pets. If you’re at all familiar with the impacts of industrialized animal agriculture, then you know that these aren’t small environmental impacts we’re talking about. Yet even as a vegetarian sustainability professional, it’s very easy for me to mentally distance myself from the environmental and social impacts of Boba’s dry food as I scoop it, twice daily.

Indeed, the pet industry has somehow managed to completely separate dogs from the natural world to which we all belong. While the idea of connecting to nature has been commercialized across dog products, from food to toys, in practice it’s rarely more than marketing. Catchy advertisements with terms like wild, all-natural, and evolutionary, are slapped onto bags of dog food with images of wild animals, yet the food bears no visible resemblance to anything an actual wild animal might eat. And in most cases, it was manufactured with limited to no concern for any wild animals impacted throughout the production process.

 In reality, domestic dogs are not “wild” animals. They have been co-evolving with us for thousands of years, along with their diets and behaviors. This is not to say that they are not as much of a part of the natural world as their more wild relatives. On the contrary – dogs are a great reminder that we as humans are also a part of the natural world.

With that in mind, I don’t think meat is the problem here. I think it’s the means by which we produce it that is problematic. 

Why Considering Quality and Your Dog’s Needs Can Help You Live Sustainably

Our industrialized society is constantly pushing to be faster and more productive, compromising quality (and our ecosystems) in the process. This also persists at the individual level, where feelings of inadequacy persist if we’re not “productive enough.” So consider this a formal invitation to slow down with me and to connect with your dog in a meaningful way. If the pandemic has taught us anything, I hope it’s that we are all allowed to slow down. More than that, slowing down is necessary for our own health and the planet’s. I think it’s also something that dogs have been trying to teach us all along.

When you see ads on social media for pet gear, what are you considering before you tap "buy now"? Is it something your dog needs? Is it something you want because you saw someone else with it? Is it because it's cute and caught your eye? Are you hoping watching your dog with it will bring you some joy? I'm not here to tell you what to do but rather to invite you to pause and notice. What would happen if we took the time to genuinely consider our dog’s needs, and actually listen to them when they try to communicate those needs? Would they prioritize a bit of time outside with you more than a shiny new collar? When it is time to make purchases for our dogs, it’s much easier to mindfully select products that serve their needs if we’re actually familiar with them. Let’s take the time to observe the subtleties of their body language, and wonder at the way they engage with our natural world. 

While living more sustainably with dogs might seem like uncharted territory – especially given the lack of conversation around it – I will leave you with one simple message: slow down. Take the time to connect with your dog, understand their needs and preferences, and actually research purchases before making them. We will explore what it might mean to make "better" purchases in the future, but for now, my invitation for you is to take time to really connect with your dog. Talk to you soon!

The Importance of Juneteenth

According to a quick Google Trends search, interest in Juneteenth increased by 400% between 2019 and 2020. This fact is unsurprising, considering the rise in awareness of race and racism that came with the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many, many others. In efforts to counter the weight of all the anti-blackness we faced in the midst of a viral pandemic, some people, both Black and white, looked for more reasons to smile, to celebrate. And while I love that attention to this holiday is increasing, I’m nervous about what might get lost along the way. My perspective on the significance of Juneteenth and how to observe it today is influenced by my research as a scholar of 19th-century African American literature and history, my love of dogs (I’ll get to that later), and my general skepticism about the commercialization of cultures. But first— a history:

Juneteenth is a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” the precise date on which the Union made its way down to Galveston, Texas to inform the enslaved Black people that President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed them free. You see, one of the many underhanded tactics used by white enslavers to delay the dissolution of slavery was withholding the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation from the people they enslaved. Some waited until the end of the harvest season; some waited until the Union came and told everyone for themselves. In any case, the day that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863 was not the day that every Black person in the U.S. gained their freedom (and technically, neither was June 19th, 1865). Texas was considered the last state to part with the institution of slavery, and so, in 1866, Black Texans commemorated the day that the United States promised to be and remain the land of the free. 

Unfortunately, that promise is yet unfulfilled. When I look out of my window, I don’t see a land that equally affords freedom to everyone who inhabits it. And I mean that literally— my window looks out onto a police station. At night, the displays of red and blue lights come crashing through the glass, painting me in a stark reminder of how easily the freedoms I enjoy right now could vanish. Black freedom in the country is a tenuous thing. I say this from a position of privilege as a Ph.D. candidate living in a luxury apartment building in the middle of Chinatown in Philadelphia. Still, as we’ve seen time and time again, class signifiers and education are never enough to guarantee our safety. 

This Juneteenth, I’ll be spending my time thinking about how I can use the privileges I have access to to get us more free by next Juneteenth. I’m working on a syllabus for a class I call “Reform, Defund, Abolish.” I’ll be regularly putting money toward mutual aid. I’ll be using my platform to encourage ongoing conversations about difficult subjects that affect me and the people I care about— queer folks, trans folks, disabled folks, folks in Palestine and Tigray, incarcerated folks, and as always, Black folks everywhere. 

“Why have I never heard of Juneteenth?”

The battle against critical race theory (or rather, what people who have never read any critical race theory are calling “critical race theory”) is all over the news right now as several states work to keep children ignorant by pretending racism never existed. Florida is the latest in a slew of states sanitizing American history by removing any trace of U.S. racism from school curricula. Before this recent wave of uproar about “critical race theory,” which is actually a legal studies term explaining how racism shows up in U.S. policy, there have always been widespread efforts to keep the subject of racism out of schools. White parents rushed to shelter their children from learning about the tragedy of racism but dragged their feet when it came to protecting Black children from experiencing it. That’s one reason you may not have been taught about Juneteenth in school.

Another reason is that Juneteenth is a particularly regional holiday. Because of its origins, it used to be a day for Black Texans to remember the history of their ancestors and their state. As time went by, African Americans at large began to celebrate the day that the Union notified the last of the enslaved people in Texas of their freedom, essentially rendering all Black people in the United States free— although today we know that not to be true. 

Considering how seriously this country takes freedom (I’m looking at you, Fourth of July), Juneteenth should be a significant milestone in U.S. history. It’s strange how loudly nationalists boast the “Land of the Free” while remaining silent on the day that allegedly made that statement true. I say “allegedly” because with mass incarceration, wealth inequality, and the persistent remnants of slavery that show up in policing, housing, voting, and elsewhere, I’m hardly convinced that Black Americans enjoy the same freedom as everyone else. However, as someone who enjoys a good barbecue, I’m all for holidays that recognize the most important moments in our history as long as we recognize that the project of Black freedom is ongoing. Juneteenth is an excellent time to stop and reflect on the progress we’ve made and plan for the progress we still wish to see. 

Just 156 years ago, this country experienced a rather significant shift, one that deserves to be remembered even though its impact was not as big as other major shifts like the Civil Rights acts. June 19th, 1865 changed lives, and freedom on any scale merits celebration. 

“But wait, what do dogs have to do with slavery?”

Ok, I’ve kept you waiting long enough. What does my dog have to do with my Juneteenth plans? Well in my article about police dogs, I mentioned the existence of “Negro dogs,” or dogs specifically trained to track and control Black people. I know of at least one dog breed that no longer exists because its only function in the Americas and England was “catching fugitives,” aka punishing Black and Indigenous people who dared to pursue the freedom that was denied to them. In the United States specifically, abolitionists used stories of Black people being hunted and mauled by “slave hounds,” as they were oh-so-affectionately known, as evidence of the cruel and gruesome nature of white supremacy and the role that dogs played in it. “Slave catchers” who were hired to chase down enslavers’ property were often accompanied by scent-tracking dogs. U.S. military forces used dogs to terrorize and commit genocide against Indigenous and Black people, incentivizing the hounds to hunger for human flesh and going so far as to memorialize these attacks in artwork. These dogs were vicious, because white supremacy instructed them to be. 

While some enslaved people had to learn tactics to avoid or escape the jaws of enslavers’ best friends, others (who were allowed by the law) kept their own dogs as companions and hunting buddies that made life a little bit easier to live. They helped bring in food, and sometimes income. They gave some enslaved people a small taste of the power and autonomy wielded against them every day. In some cases, these dogs aided in their escapes to freedom by catching food and scaring away those who chased them. Given that some states imposed legislation that forbade the enslaved from keeping a dog of their own, the Emancipation Proclamation and subsequently Juneteenth marked a shift in human-dog relationships for African Americans. All of this means that my dog, Ginger, is a little milestone for me, a rite of passage that allows me to step a little further into autonomy. Our bond is a revolutionary act I will celebrate on Juneteenth and every day that comes after it. 

How to Celebrate Juneteenth: A Guide for Allies

Now that the Senate has passed a bill making Juneteenth a national holiday, I worry about the imminent array of reinvented brand logos in various shades of brown and empty gestures written on discount store t-shirts across America (a la Pride). This sudden widespread awareness of Juneteenth can be dangerous if we view it as only a memorialization instead of a reminder: there is still so much more work to do. To me, Juneteenth is not about looking backward, but rather about taking a close, hard look at our present reality and making it better. 

To Black folks, how you celebrate Juneteenth (if you celebrate) is entirely up to you. Please don’t feel pressured to perform for this newfound audience, a pressure I often feel myself. But if you do want to mark the occasion, I wish you a very happy holiday! Any opportunity to come together and reflect on how far we’ve come is worth taking. 

To non-Black folks, you don’t have to wait for an invitation to the cookout to show up and show out for us. Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, I anticipate that a lot more non-Black people will be joining in on the festivities. And while I don’t think “celebrating” Juneteenth is the most appropriate term for non-Black engagement, there are ways to mark the holiday that actually benefit Black folks. Instead of giving your money to the big name brands that I’m sure will be plastering Black power fists all over their merch, consider patronizing a Black-owned business (like the ones in this spreadsheet I’ve been compiling) that uplifts Black people year-round (Lenox Ave Company, Scipaws, The Doggish Life, and Migo & Company come to mind). Do some reading on current legislation that disproportionately affects Black folks, and keep those conversations alive among your peers. Participate in mutual aid by donating money directly to Black folks asking for help, online and in the real world. In my opinion, the single most important thing we can do to honor the Black people that created this holiday is commit ourselves to continuing the fight for racial equality here and abroad. The work continues. Happy Juneteenth.

Recommended Reading

Boisseron, Bénédicte. Afro-Dog: Blackness and the Animal Question. Columbia University Press, 2018.

Giltner, Scott. “Slave Hunting and Fishing in the Antebellum South.” To Love the Wind and the Rain : African Americans and Environmental History, edited by Dianne D. Glave, and Mark Stoll, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.

Johnson, Sara E. ""You should Give them Blacks to Eat:" Waging Inter-American Wars of Torture and Terror." American Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 1, 2009, pp. 65-92.

Parry, Tyler D., and Charlton W. Yingling. "Slave Hounds and Abolition in the Americas." Past & Present, vol. 246, no. 1, 2020, pp. 69-108.