Rethinking Rescue: Dog Lady and the Story of America’s Forgotten People and Pets

Journalist Mithers (coauthor of Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War) writes an enlightening and compassionate profile on Lori “Dog Lady” Weise and the origins of her Los Angeles–based Downtown Dog Rescue. Weise flipped the script on unhoused people and their pets and worked in some of the roughest neighborhoods of the nation, such as Skid Row. Instead of separating an unhoused person and their beloved animal companion or blaming and shaming, Weise offered innovative approaches to keep owners and pets together. This book also includes the author’s analysis of the history of animal welfare in the U.S., and she shows how perspectives on animal sterilization and vaccines have evolved through the past few decades. She also highlights some of the dramas and controversies in the animal rescue world: racism, classism, sexism, hoarders, con artists and scammers, the dangers of “redemption porn,” and unaffordable veterinary care and rental restrictions that contribute to animals entering the shelter system in the first place.