Constant Content

I just had an article rejected and I was surprised that the reason was for first person narrative, which the article is not.

However the article is based on an interview, and several times throughout the interview, the interviewee uses first person, here is an example:

"The only way to train not to bark is to have your dog with you all the time. When he barks, try to find out why," Sakson says. "Tell him you hear him and you appreciate the warning. Take him to the door with you and try to see what caused him to react. If it's the mailman, tell the dog, 'Okay, that's the mailman. Thank you for alerting me, but you can stop now, the mailman is our friend.'"

Obviously I could rewrite the quotes to not sound first person but then they wouldn't be quotes anymore, just reference material and not (IMO) as credible or marketable.

FYI the specific note on the rejection said:
"Please note that we do not accept content that uses the first-person plural when it refers to the author."

Hi Eric,
CC wouldn't reject a first person reference in a quote. Read the rejection notice carefully:

"Please note that we do not accept content that uses the first-person plural when it refers to the author."

Did the article use the term "we" or "our" to refer to you? For example, did you say something along the lines of:
We wanted to dig deeper, so we interviewed dog trainer, Joe Blow, to find out more about stopping barking.

That's what I'm interpreting from this, not the quote.

Note that "we" can be used on CC when it refers to people collectively, not the author. For example, "Job hunters face many challenges in today's market. Not only do we have to compete against hundreds of other applicants, we must also be willing to settle for less competitive job offers."