Freedman - Beg: a radical new way of regarding animals

Funny and frank. Ms. Freedman... lays it on the line with her unembarrassed love for the dogs in her own life and a perfect plan as to how every dogophile can shake a leg to help dogs and other living beings.

Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

This book will show you how to be an irresistibly happy person whose own life has the power to uplift the whole world.

Sharon Gannon, co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga

Rory Freedman heard the call of billions of suffering animals and was brave enough to answer it in print, in the media, and in your face.

Simone Reyes, animal rights activist and cast member of Running Russell Simmons

Beg has all the wit and no-pulled-punches style of Skinny Bitch, and Rory Freedmans intensely personal revelations will tug at your heart at the same time that you are chuckling at her candor.

Alexandra Paul, actress and activist

With writing so crisp, honest, and engaging, you wont put this book downat least not until its time to walk the dog.

Victoria Moran, bestselling author of Main Street Vegan and Creating a Charmed Life

.... Your eyes will be opened, but more importantly, so will your heart.

Nathan Runkle, executive director Mercy for Animals

The message is contagiousan amazing example of advocacy.

Tatiana von Furstenburg, filmmaker

Beg is an important book.... It asks us to step up in awareness and begin making more conscious choices in our daily lives. Thank you, Rory, for the wake-up call.

Ben Lee, award winning singer/songwriter, actor

Beg makes the process of changing our relationship to animals feel easy and inspired rather than burdensome.

Ione Skye, actress, painter, and director

In Beg, like in Skinny Bitch, Rory Freedman explains directly and succinctly about how each of us can make simple choices to create a better world. Kindness to animals is good for animals, and its also good for us. Highly recommended.

Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary

Rory Freedman is on a mission not just to change our lives or the lives of our companions but to make the world a better place for all its inhabitants.

Nellie McKay, award-winning singer/songwriter and actress

This beautiful book weaves the authors personal story with individual and universal stories of animals in our world today. I want to put a copy in the hands of everyone I know!

Gretchen Ryan, internationally renowned artist

A searing expos into the treatment of all sentient beings.

Frances Fisher, actress and activist

Beg

A RADICAL NEW WAY OF
REGARDING ANIMALS

RORY FREEDMAN

RUNNING PRESS

PHILADELPHIA LONDON

2013 by Rory Freedman

Published by Running Press,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

Cover photo: 2013 Sylvia Elzafon

Endpaper photos: 2013 Blake Gardner

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or email .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933358

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-4956-9

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Design by Joshua McDonnell

Edited by Jennifer Kasius

Typography: Avenir, and Love Ya Like A Sister

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

Visit us on the web!

www.runningpress.com

CONTENTS

For the animals. All of them.

(And in honor of the people who make
the world a better place for them.)

... it is the fate of many wild creatures either to be unwanted by man or wanted too much, despised as a menace to progress or desired as a means to progressbeloved and brutalized all at once....

MATTHEW SCULLY, Dominion

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

HELEN KELLER

I find it fascinating. Were all out in the world, wearing clothes, carrying things, driving cars. We encounter other humans and sum up one another based on what we see. But we totally forget that many of these humans have animals at home. That one of the biggest parts of who they are isnt immediately apparent to the outside world. Like a secret life. Sometimes Im out, dressed cute, talking to people, being social. And they have no idea that at home, there are three dogs who are madly in love and totally obsessed with me. And that even though Im having a good time, in the back of my mind, my dog clock is ticking, carefully calculating the number of hours since they last peed or pooped, and how long weve been away from each other. Sure, there are times Im having so much fun, Im bummed I need to leave to go take care of my dogs. But Im usually eager to get back to my broodmy family. The three hairy aliens I live with are my favorite beings on the planet. I have dear, beloved friends I love so much it hurts. I have human kin I adore. But the truth is, there is no one I love like my dogs.

For me, so much of it is physical. I kiss them full on, right smack in the center of their perfect little mouths. I habitually bite themthe tips of their ears, the tops of their ears, the sides of their lips, their elbows, their toes, their nails, their paws, their backs, their necks, their throats, those bones underneath and to the sides of their chins. I pat their chests, bellies, and butts to a cadence I can feel in my soul. I pull their teeth (gently, just a littlejust the big ones). I pinch them; I grab their legs when they walk by; I push them; I pull them; I manually wag their tails; I tease them; I body slam them (not really, but you know what I mean); I put them into my own version of a half nelson; I spoon them; I hug them; I squeeze them; I devour them; and I inhale them. They are completely intoxicating. Blindfolded, I could pick their individual breaths out of a lineup, should the need or a contest ever arise. For the most part, I can read their thoughts and anticipate their needs. And when I cant, Im unsettled, because all I want is for them to be happy.

Im just like all the other dog-loons out there who feel exactly the same about their fur-spring. We buy them toys; we buy them beds; we buy them collars and leashes and harnesses; and sometimes we buy them clothes. We talk about them too muchsometimes to other dog people who care (read: people who patiently wait for you to stop so they can then talk about their dogs), sometimes to nondog people who dont. We talk in stupid voices, and we say stupid things. We get into fights with other dog-loons at dog parks; we gossip about those who are too strict with their dogs and those who arent strict enough; and we behave just like the insecure, neurotic parents of human children who want their kids to be included.