Happenings at Almost Home NM: Too Many Issues!!!!

Pitts!!! Gotta Love Them!!!

Well, recently I received an e-mail requesting rescue for 3 animal aggressive pit bulls. I was very shocked by that request seeing as we do not, by any means, have a shortage of animal friendly pitts! I pull pitts as often as possible-- but I will not pull a pitt into rescue if it is animal aggressive. This goes for all breeds of dogs not just the pitts-- I do not see any reason to save an aggressive animal that poses a liability or can and may cause pain and suffering. So I contacted the requester and she explained that a pit had been euthanised and now people were causing a stink about it. This was my response to her:

I think the question to ask these people is: "If you are so worried about these aggressive animals why don't You foster and train it rather than give others a hard time for not wanting to risk a lawsuit or injury?". Most will decline due to not wanting to put themselves, their family, or their animals in danger. They are too quick to judge those of us that must do it on a daily basis though.

I can almost guarantee the people giving you the hard time do not work with dogs on a daily basis, run a rescue, or have ever worked directly with the volume of dogs we (shelters/rescues) work with. They may be advocates for them but do not actually do the hands on stuff we do. On average we keep about 24 dogs at any given time- they are kept in a pack- so to bring an aggressive dog with a high prey drive could be detrimental to my efforts.. It takes a while yes to integrate the animals the way I do but I believe it helps them in the long run to know how to behave around other dogs..

My guys know me and my girls are the bosses and there is no fighting allowed here ever- it just isn't tolerated. We humans are the only ones ever to give any corrections-- they eat together, sleep together, everything is done as a pack..

If you have problems with these people regarding these aggressive dogs needing to be euth please feel free to direct them to me and I can explain to them how utterly irresponsible it is to adopt aggressive animals out.

There is no shortage of good natured animals to adopt out and the aggressive ones should be euhanized the minute the caregivers realize it is in their blood (their instinct so to say-- it is prey drive and can be very dangerous to deal with) and not just fear.. Every rescue I know of is packed beyond capacity--- why on Earth would we waste a space on an aggressive animal that will be very difficult to place when there are soooo many non aggressive animals dying daily in the shelters???

The people causing the stink about euthanasia of aggressive animals need to be given a good talking to-- and maybe even given an example..

"OK-- we only have space for 1 animal right now-- here is a friendly dog (breed doesn't matter) this animal has absolutley no issues at all and here is a great people friendly dog that has quite a bit of animal aggression and can possibly be dangerous..

Who do we save to meet with adopters??

Which one poses a liability to the rescue or shelter adopting it out??

Which one will more likely cause pain later on to the adopters and possibly others??

Who will move faster to make room for another dog???

Everybody inolved in animal services/rescue/etc should understand which dog should be spared and which needs to be humanely euthanized.. The average advocate on the other hand who does not work directly with the animals would say -- "Oh both-- you must save them all!!!"..

Here is a good example of what can happen that you can share with these people:

A family adopts one of these dogs after "rehabilitation".. They trust the dogs commands, training, and rehab.. They take him out for a walk and a child accidently lets her dog out of the yard.. Now that dog runs over and the "rehabbed dog" goes into instinct mode and kills this child's dog!! Trust me there is no real training you can do when it come to a strong prey drive-- yes those of us with extensive knowledge on behavior can control it-- but the average owner will not be able to control this-- the eyes glaze over into a blank stare and instinct takes over-- not a good thing to have to deal with!!! This prey drive/aggression can be with any breed not just pitts (I have seen it in Spaniels, Setters, Shepherds, you name it I have probably seen it in action-- this is not just a pitt thing)!! Now what?? That child just saw her dog killed, the family (possibly with children) just witnessed this as well and now don't want this dog anymore.. Now instead of 1 dead dog- you have 2 dead dogs and a bunch of people who are now terrified of pitts and are now supporters of breed specific legislation!! It is a bad situation all the way around!!!

It is not realistic to adopt out any aggressive dog regardless of breed.. It is our responsibility as people and rescuers to not put any dog into a worse situation than what they came from. To put a possibly aggressive pitt out there, a breed with so many strikes already against it, that may fail and cause even more negative media attention to the breed is very detrimental to the work we do.

I am a very strong believer in humane euthanasia when there is no safe alternative or if by letting that animal go out to the public it can cause more negative media attention.. We just don't need that type of hype surrounding pitts who are already so difficult to place due to ignorance..

Now take a look at our handsome boy Happy!!! He is the typical clownish pitt we pull who loves everything and everyone!!! He is just so Happy!!!!! These are the ones that should be saved-- not the aggressive time bombs waiting to blow!!!