102 Ways to Be Responsible

The animal advocates who want Walt Disney Studios to stop making movies about Dalmatians have gone overboard in their otherwise justified concern about abandoned pets.

Media Partners for Pets, a Las Vegas animal rescue group, blames the 1996 release of “101 Dalmatians” for creating an overpopulation of the popular spotted dogs, many of whom ended up abandoned at shelters. With “102 Dalmatians” scheduled to come out in November, the group fears breeders will step up breeding to satisfy the demands of impulse buyers who loved the reel puppies but are later chagrined to learn that a dog is, well, a real responsibility.

Rescuing kidnapped puppies from Horace and Jasper is the least of it. Spotted puppies grow into spotted dogs that need food, water and exercise every day, not to mention housebreaking and enough distractions so they won’t bark all day or chew everything in the house.

Disney is doing the right thing in teaming up with the Dalmatian Club of America to teach fans of celluloid Dalmatians about the demands of pet parenthood. Then there’s the responsibilities of human parenthood, which may mean saying yes to a toy Dalmatian but no to a live one.

But deprive us of Pongo and Perdita on the big screen? That would be too, too Cruella DeVil.