Diane
Keaton’s Wish Is Home 4 the Holidays
By
Steve Dale
(Visit
our audio archive to hear Steve's interview with Diane Keaton.)
“All
these pets are just sitting there waiting for someone to give
them a home,” says Academy Award winning actress Diane Keaton.
“What a great thing to do over Christmas. You can give them
a home!”
Keaton
is positively ebullient about the Helen Woodward Animal Center
in Rancho Santa Fe, CA and their campaign “IAMS Have A Heart:
Home 4 The Holidays.” Originally a local effort (beginning
in 1999), now a sweeping national campaign which includes more
than 1,300 shelters around the country, and the expected adoption
over more than 300,000 animals this holiday season.
“Our
goal has always been to give orphan animals a chance,” says
Mike Arms, president of the Helen Woodward Animal Center.
“Home
4 The Holidays” flies in the face of how animal shelters
have been operating over the past decade or so. Many facilities
intentionally process fewer adoptions around Christmas, and it
hasn’t been unusual for them close all together. The customary
thinking has been that people who adopt around Christmas are making
an impulsive decision, and as a result are more likely to return
the animals.
It
turns out that recent data demonstrates it’s no longer true
that people who adopt from shelters at Christmas time are more
likely to relinquish the animals. In fact, the National Council
on Pet Population Study & Policy from 2000 indicates that
pets purchased as gifts are, in fact, less likely to be relinquished
by their new families.
Arms
explains, “Years ago, shelters didn’t screen clients
as shelters do today. Also, if there was some problem or question
with the pet, shelters didn’t have the resources they do
today to help people through any issues.”
Of
course, years ago people weren’t as likely to go to shelters
in the first place. They more than likely might to go a pet store
and ask ‘How much is that doggy in the window?”
Arms
says, “We’re in the business of saving lives. If people
are going to buy an animal for little Johnny or Jill anyway, I
want them to visit our shelter; I want to keep our doors open
and enthusiastically say ‘Come here!’ Shelters who
close give people no other choice than to go to a pet store or
a backyard breeder. Of course, those choices don’t save
lives, and they’re not the best choices for people seeking
a pet.
“You
try taking an animal back to a pet store if there’s a problem,”
says Keaton. “No, that’s not going to happen. So,
if people had a problem with the pet, they’d just dump it
somewhere or throw it in the pound.”
In
fact, Keaton’s current dog, Red, was a dumped dog. The actress,
who was nominated for an Academy Award for “Marvin’s
Room” (1996) and “Reds” (1981); and won the
Oscar for Best Actress for “Annie Hall” (1977), and
this year for “Something’s Gotta Give,” was
working on a movie “The Only Thrill” (with Diane Lane
and Sam Shepherd) in 1997 when she found Red.. The movie was being
made in Austin, TX, and Diane was simply walking down the street
when Red ambled up to her.
Keaton
says, “I thought, ‘I’ve gotta get rid of this
dog.’ I had another dog at the time, a dog named Jonesy
who had been with me about 12 years. I tried to get somebody else
to take Red. I offered incentives to people on the set, like you
know, money, cash. No one took Red. I’m so glad they never
did. I love Red dearly; and he was just the found dog no one wanted.”
Red
is likely a shepherd/corgi mix, according to Keaton. “Okay,
he’s a horrible looking dog. I know that. He has the body
of a shepherd and the legs of a corgi,” she begins to laugh.
Red
is a senior citizen canine. Keaton says she has a thing for older
dogs. “They’re least likely to find a home, and frankly
I love them. They’re dogs who frequently have been at homes;
they’ve done nothing wrong – their owners have maybe
passed on or moved an not taken the dog. It breaks my heart to
think they’ve been passed over.”
About
to celebrate her 59th birthday, critics thought she was likely
too old to win an Academy Award. Is the way we view age in our
society detrimental to older people as well as senior pets? “Yes,”
she says. “In life, there are young people and there are
older people. I don’t have to be the star, but I’m
moving onto playing older people. Well, I mean I feel I do not
go gently into the dark night. I mean you have to fight all the
way in your life for things that matter. Stay active and never
concede.”
She
continues, “Look what I gained from my old dog Josie. I
was given Josie as a gift. No, she was not the dog I had in mind.
But I fell in love with Josie. I learned a lot about my capacity
for love from Josie.”
She
credits the confidence she gained by caring for Josie to encourage
her to make the leap to become a parent relatively late in life,
adopting when she was in her 50’s.
“If
you open your hearts and let them in, animals can do a lot,”
she adds. “We can all learn from them. What’s so heartbreaking
is that so many are in need of homes. I hope people adopt now.
Give yourself or your family the gift of love.”
IAMS
is giving a $100,000 in grants to twenty participating adoption
centers. Participating shelters will give adopting families food
samples, coupons, and a five percent discount from Veterinary
Pet Insurance.
For
further information, check out www.home4theholidays.com
or www.iams.com, or call 800-863-4267.
