Who loves animals?

Most people do. Even the hardcore type that present a curmudgeonly facade is likely to be defensive of her or his relationship to a pet.

There's not a shred of curmudgeonry in Ron Reagan Jr., but his national talk show on Air America radio is hardly the venue you might expect for a discussion of puppy mills and animal abuse.

But after emailing a link to my fundraiser to his producer, Tina Nole, I was invited to appear on the show and talk about my work.

See, Ron and Tina are big-time dog-lovers. BIG-time. Some of you may be familiar with Ron's work as emcee for big-time dog shows. Tina, I suspect, is also a dog freak. I know this because I sent them a news release for a fundraiser in February aimed at raising money for the Skagit and Snohomish county rescue groups and shelters. Bad timing on my part: They were just set to go national (congrats, guys!) and it would have been inappropriate for their format.

Fast-forward to the publication of my article in The Bark magazine, and my fundraising campaign to initiate a nationwide investigative journalism spree, and you have a suitable topic for a radio show hosted and produced by a couple of mutt nuts. Yay for dogs!

So on Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m. EST, I'll be in Ron's Seattle studio, live, on-air, answering questions about the local and national implications of mass-breeding, otherwise known as "puppy mills."

Tune in for Ron's entire show. It airs from 6-9 p.m. EST on Seattle's KPTK AM 1090, and other Air America stations around the country (check with the Air America site to locate a broadcast in your part of the world, or stream it live from Seattle's site).

They say politics is a dog-eat-dog world. Just maybe they don't know the half of it.