Pitties of the Week: 6 Baby Brindles

Everyone wants a puppy, right? Then these guys shouldn't have a hard time finding a home- that is unless their stripes, big heads, and short muzzles scare potential adopters away.

While volunteering, I have definitely come across families ready to adopt a pitty pup like these, only to ask what breed he is and walk away at once!

The other possible problem with puppy adoptions (and this is true of all breeds) is that puppies grow into dogs; and pitty puppies grow into pit bulls. What might be cute now, may look fearsome in 10 months.

Well meaning adopters also may not have pit bull experience. As a pit-mom, I know owning two pit bulls has its challenges - and new adopters of pit puppies may not know what they are in for.

If you DO have pittie experience, consider a puppy to add to your home! A big pittie brother or sister would really enjoy one of these cuties running around!

Click here to learn more about these pups and to contact Animal Haven in Soho, NYC. 

Pittie of the Week!

This pup is named Radar, and I love how much he reminds me of Bruno. He is shy of new people, but loves Dogs, just like Bruno. Last night, Bruno had such a hard time listening to all the noises and children outside - he got so anxious he would randomly start barking at things- including at one point, growling at our chandelier for 5 minutes!? Then I let him under the blanket on the couch and he snuggled in, and knowing he was safe in there, went straight to sleep. How can you resist that?? If you'd like your own Bruno- here's your chance!!

RADAR
Age: 1 year
Sex: Male
Breed: APBT Mix
Hi! I'm Radar and I'm a very loving, active pup who had a rough start in life.  I am the perfect size for NYC living, although I'd probably prefer a quieter place.  I am super shy but will quickly bond with my caretaker.  I love dogs and would do best with a another dog in my forever home.  My new parents need to be patient, understand my social limitations and be committed to taking me to training classes so he can build confidence and a relationship with my new family!
I am currently in foster care, so please contact the shelter to set up a meeting with me!

Rescue Spotlight: Pet Rescue of Mercer

So as you may remember, we moved to central New Jersey recently so that the fiance could get to law school and I could stay working in NYC. So far, so good. The dogs love the new place and our commutes are going good.

Sadly, moving means leaving behind a few things in New York, like volunteering at Animal Haven- which I haven't been able to do in a long time.

 Luckily, I found an amazing group in Hamilton, NJ called Pet Rescue of Mercer (County).

I begin with my orientation this Saturday and cannot wait to meet some of the beautiful dogs (many of them Pitties!) that they are helping to find good homes. Just take a look at Dutchess,  baby Gizmo, handsome Pooh Bear, Kelsea, and others.

Animal Haven

This is the work of a fanTASTIC shelter here in NYC.



So glad we found Animal Haven, which helped us find Winnie, which helped me understand the needs of pit-mixes, which helped us find Bruno- who completed our family!!!

What IS a pit bull, afterall?

While volunteering, I've seen a few litters of puppies born at Animal Haven, and one thing I've learned is that for the most part they NEVER look like mother, and often never look like each other.

With mixed breeds, appearance can vary so much-- a couple months ago a brindle Pit-bull-type mother named Myra, gave birth two a litter of what looked like two yellow labs, one mix, and one brindle pit-mix like her:
(Below are Myra and one of her puppies, Ring Ding.)

I noticed that while Ring Ding wouldn't be outlawed in any city or state, her mother and one of her brothers would be- but they shared much of their DNA!

While mixed-breed dogs' DNA is highly variable, human perception is not. Studies show that shelter erroneously label many dogs as "Pit Bulls" when DNA tests often reveal they are wrong.

This dog, Cernun, was labeled a "pit bull mix" by shelter personnel, but DNA has shown him to be part Bull Mastiff and part Boxer.

With so much variety- even among litter-mates, what is the point in even trying to identify the breed in well-mixed dogs? By mis-labeling shelter dogs as pit bulls, the dogs are given even less of a chance at a happy life. Some shelters even kill pit bulls automatically. When dog bites occur, people often wrongly assume the breed of dog to be a pit bull, when in fact it could be a Presa Canario, a Dogo Argentino, a Boxer-mix, or just a mutt that looks like a pit bull.

In certain jurisdictions, Breed Specific Legislation mandates that dogs be assessed based on physical attributes, not behavioral testing. In Denver for example, whether or not a dog is a pit bull depends on an assessment based on 36 points- measuring the head size, chest, paws, etc.  If a dog is found to be a pit bull, you have 24 hours to remove it from the city.

With such high stakes, why are shelters labeling so many dogs as pit bulls, when DNA tests would prove that many have either no "Staffordshire" DNA, or DNA that comes from predominantly other breeds.

These dogs all look so different, but all were labeled Pit Bulls or American Staffordshire Terriers by New York Animal Care and Control:

If pit bulls are this genetically diverse, how can we ascribe one temperament-type to all of them?

What breeds do you think these dogs are? Post your best guesses in the comments (for reference top right is dog #1, and bottom right is dog #4)

Read more here, and here.

Puppy Fever

I've got Spring Puppy Fever!

Animal Haven in Soho, NYC has been helping out rescues in the South for a long time (our Winnie came from a rescue in Georgia), and has recently taken over 20 dogs and puppies in the last month from a group in Atlanta called the Barking Hound Village Rescue Foundation.

Most of the latest additions have been PUPPIES!!!
If you are interested in adding a sweet bundle of adorableness to your family, consider these Southern Belles and Beaus:

Gabby:                   

Soda:

Buzz:

Lovey Dovey:



Guss:

 

Gunther:

These 6 puppies the "Southern Sprouts" are 2 months old and are Sheperd/Hound Mixes.

Also available are:

Tia



Linus:

and Sammy:

Happy (ALMOST) Spring Everyone!

Thoughts on Rescue:

This weekend I volunteered at the Shelter longer than usual (most of Sunday), answering phones and helping potential adopters and new volunteers- which is a lot of fun, but also sometimes disappointing.

Here are the three types of people that made me sad about Animal Rescue:

1) People who want to get rid of their Pit Bulls:

When people call the shelter to relinquish a dog- if it is a pit bull they are advised to fill out a form on the website, if it is not a pit bull, the request goes right to the intake manager. We already have a lot of pit bulls and pit bull mixes, but to keep people coming to the shelter and adopting dogs, it can't be full of pit bulls, which I understand- it is just so sad that people mostly want to relinquish pit bulls.

2) People who don't care about the pets they have:

While answering the phone, I encountered a man who wanted to give up his cat- I advised him to fill out the form on our website for relinquishment and he responded with "no, I want to get RID of a cat, like I don't want this cat no more." How do people like this get animals in the first place!?  Just talking to him, I wished we could have taken the cat right away so that it didn't end up being abused or dropped off somewhere. :(

3) People who don't care which dog they adopt:

A family with three little boys came in looking for a dog- I asked for some details about what age/breed/type of dog they were interested in. They really were open to anything, but wanted to see the 8 week old puppy in the window right away. I showed Floret to them and the boys were very exited, but they were easily distracted by all types of dogs that came in and out. Almost as soon as I explained that puppies get adopted very quickly, the father filled out the adoption application and sent the picture of Floret to his wife, who promptly called and told him a pit mix was not an option because they are "ferocious" and "outlawed in a number of states." (Does this puppy look like she will ever be ferocious to you?) 

Floret:

I told them that I love pit bulls, but that we always have puppies at the shelter and they could either wait to see Iris who was coming back from the adoption van, or wait a a few days until the right puppy came through.

Iris:

Guess what- he told me to scratch out Floret's name on the adoption app and put in Iris'. They weren't even going to wait an hour or come back to meet Iris before adopting her. Wow. Luckily, both Floret and Iris have 4 or 5 applications so they can go to the very best homes. :)

A few positive thoughts:
While volunteering, I did see a pit bull and a geriatric Spaniel admitted- it is amazing how much traffic Animal Haven gets on weekends and how many animals they can help-what a great model for a Shelter!



Meet Cha Cha the Boxer/Mastiff Mix!

Today, Animal Haven's forever-home hopefull, Cha-Cha was featured on Pet Blogs United, see the feature here.

Also, Cha-Cha will be the hostess for an Animal Haven Shelter Open House!
March 26th, 6-8 at 251 Centre Street.

On the road to my Shelter

Since Winnie and Bruno came into our lives I realized my calling in life was to help dogs- to be around them every day. Our two dogs make my life so full of happiness, especially at night when I lift up the covers and Bruno climbs in face-first and falls alseep cuddled up against my legs under the blankets. (As you may have read, we have tried to kick him out of the bed and the bedroom before but he gets so anxious being alone that he actually pees himself!)

I want to be the person that makes those valuable connections between dog and human. The relationships that bring life to dogs that could have been put down and bring companionship and meaning to the people that save them.

Last weekend, while volunteering at Animal Haven, I finally got the opportunity to interact with potential adopters, which I found to be a much more exciting experience than walking the dogs and cleaning their carralls. First, I brought out Violet to a couple that was pretty sure they were going to adopt her- they had seen her the day before and didn't have eyes for anyone else.

Violet

I have so much knowledge about dogs, especially pit mixes, and I knew Violets' history (she came from ACC) so it was really fun to be able to help this couple learn about adopting their very first dog.

The next couple that came in couldn't have been more different, they looked at 7 dogs! From puppies to adults, from Italian Greyhound to giant Mastiff! I enjoyed helping them but I felt a little frustrated that they might not be ready to adopt or know what they wanted. The wife clearly loved Issie, the mom whose puppies have almost all been adopted, and who is a staff favorite at AH.

Issie





I can't wait to open my own shelter and be able to educate people about mixed-breeds and shelter animals and to be able to be that important bridge that connects man and best friend :)

I'm going to be doing some research soon about how to start a shelter, and even though I know it will take me some time to be in the place in my life to start one, it doesn't hurt to do the research now.

Here are some of the helpful guides I have found so far:

From Best Friends

From ASPCA

Yellow Dog Certified

This past weekend I became certified to walk "yellow dogs" at Animal Haven Shelter in Soho, NY. I learned a lot about the shelter in the process.

Dogs at Animal Haven are labeled "Green" when any volunteer can walk them- meaning they are small,  or easy to walk. They haven't (YET) developed any bad habits that would make walking them difficult.

Yellow dogs have some issues- sometimes they are just larger than the average dog, but often they are hard to control and volunteers have difficulty getting their harnesses on or controlling them around other dogs or people.

I have a lot of experience controlling Bruno on walks. Winnie is very easy to walk- she stays by your side unless she sees a fun child or person or dog she can go wiggle up to. Bruno on the other hand, I have to watch constantly. Case in point- today he was walking so well on his new Gentle-Leader (a small head harness I got from Animal Haven after I saw how great it worked on Cha Cha), and was on a short leash, when all of a sudden he jumped up at the lady walking behind me! She was not pleased.

Cha Cha !

Anyway, I have a lot of experience, but I learned a lot more about how professional trainers want things done and how vital it is, not just to make it easier on you or the people on the street-- but for the good of the dog.

Apparently, as Katrina (Animal Haven's Intake manager and Trainer) said, being in the shelter actually causes dogs to "degenerate," meaning they lose skills they had and begin to learn bad habits. The Yellow-dog training is most important because it gives the dogs consistent reactions to bad behaviors no matter which of the many volunteers is walking them.

Katrina and Animal Haven only use positive reinforcement and never punish the dogs for bad behavior. She explained that jumping, biting and barking is all done to get human contact and attention. Even negative attention is a good thing to medium-to-large adolescent dogs with limited exercise. So apparently, Georgie-Girl, a large rambunctious lab-mix at the shelter, will even get egg-ed on if you turn the other way when she jumps on you, and she enjoys turning you back and forth while you are trying to get her leash on!

Gerogie Girl!



Basically, ignoring dogs can go a long way, because they realize very quickly that their behavior gets not results. We have always tried this on Bruno and Winnie, but apparently verbal ques should even be shunned. Dogs, don't pick up on verbal ques very well and shouting "No!" can feed into their desire to get you to play.

After my yellow training and before my yellow-evaluation (walking a dog around the block with Katrina watching), volunteers gathered to see Cha Cha, a wonderful Pittie/Shepherd mix, show off her training. Cha Cha has been at the shelter since we got Winnie six months ago (I remember them bringing her out to us) - This had been right after Cha Cha had given birth to her puppies, who have all since been adopted. But Cha Cha- for no fault of her own, has not been adopted yet. Since many dogs lose skills and gain bad behaviors in a prolonged stay in a shelter- Animal Haven has worked really hard with her to keep her socialized and well-mannered. We were all so impressed with her and I (and everyone else at AH) want to help her find a home as soon as possible.

I also learned that Animal Haven as a shelter is dedicated to temperament testing-- Basically any animal that comes through the shelter must be well-behaved and show no agression to humans. This leaves quite a few dogs at AC&C out of the running, but as my boyfriend put it-- you have to go after the low-hanging fruit first. I completely agree. Katrina said, as long as she does her job right and the dogs are testing as they truly are- they will have no "Red Dogs" (dogs that can only be walked by staff).

I think I'd like to have a pittie rescue where only friendly dogs are rescued too- at least at first, because unless you have excellent trainers and adequate resources, you can't commit to rehabiliating a dog that may be genetically aggressive. Best Friends in Utah is wonderful because they commit themselves to a dog for life, whether or not it is adoptable, but I think I'd like to save all the sweet dogs I can before I commit myself to rehabilitations. Animal Haven likes to get the dogs out of the shelter as soon as they can to keep them healthy and well-socialized, and the longer a dog stays there because they are aggressive- the worse they will get. I found this all very valueable information. Hopefully I'll get to learn much more as I continue volunteering.



In this season of Giving...

Give to the Animals who need your help.
I choose to donate to Animal Haven in soho, especially with my time, and I know that they use their resources wisely to save animals' lives. If you are from the New York area, consider giving to this Shelter-- if not, give to one near you.

Animal Haven's Holiday Video
Animal Haven rescue video

What? Excuse you... I am not a pit bull!

Sadly, despite their sweetness, Pit mixes have trouble getting adopted everywhere. The result has been resorting to different names for pit mixes looking for homes.

The no-kill-Shelter where I will begin volunteering on Saturday has a lot of trouble adopting out dogs the moment they label them with "Pit-mix" on their website. Our pit-rotteiler-bulldog-chow-terrier mix, Winnie, came from Animal Haven and was labeled a Lab/Shepherd Mix.

We completely understand the need to do this- and I have watched the Animal Haven website so much that I have seen dogs go from "Pit Mix" to "Shepherd Mix" in an attempt to get them homes.

For example:

Notice that not one of these dogs is labeled a pit-mix. I know that Cha Cha, whose puppies have all found homes, has been at the Shelter for months (more than 3?), which is extremely rare for Animal Haven, which usually places dogs within a matter of a 2-3 weeks. The team has tried everything with these three dogs, such as changing their pirctures and giving them cute sweaters, to get them some attention. Luckily, they won't be put down just because of their size and pit-bull characteristics; if a home is not found in a certain length of time, they will go to another rescue group with more expertise. Cha Cha gets lots of attention from volunteers and is given as much stimuation as possible while she waits.

I have found that Animal Haven is more willing to label a dog a "pit-mix" when it is a small puppy because people are much less afraid of a baby. Although I have a feeling that once they grow up, if they are still at the shelter, their breeds might change to something like a "lab mix" or a "boxer mix" perhaps. See below:

Is this ethical? Well it has been done at a lot of shelters and even the DNA testing we have used don't even have a category for Pit-bulls. I guess they figure that they don't want to sell someone a $80 DNA test just to have them find out something they didn't want to know. Insted they tell you that your dog is a "American Staffordshire Terrier," which a lot of groups have tried to encourage lately.

The frustrating thing to me is that while some groups actively avoid the word "pit," Animal Care and Control seems to embrace it. Even when a dog doesn't even look much like a pit bull, it is a "pit mix." 90% of the dogs are pit mixes, and I'm sure they could come up with some creative names that might help save their lives. This is especially important because AC&C allows you to put in a "pure-bred request" so that if a Golden Retriever for example happens to come in, they will let you know. Adding that a dog might be a "Boxer Mix" would bring in all of the boxer-people just to look, which is all these sweet dogs really need to get adopted.

Too bad every dog can't get a DNA test to help show their genetic diversity. Too bad people are so focused on breed and so un-focused on heart.

The glass IS half full

When I started this blog, I thought about all the ways I could show what is happening to Pit bulls in the US-- how we bring them in to this world, abuse them, and take them out of it. The pain that many dogs face at the hands of their owners is not something I could turn my back to.

But so many organizations have made it their goal to educate and reach people about this injustice. I decided to focus more on a "glass -half- full" approach.

Over the next few months I will be learning as much as I can about the New York City shelter system and posting these adoptable beauties in hopes that they will melt some hearts.

I'll start by sharing a few dogs with you who desperately need their forever homes. All the dogs I have posted are dogs that have been said to have good temperments and sweet dispositions.

This is Spot, she is just a baby who had babies of her own. She was found emaciated in the Bronx. To learn more about this darling, click here.

 

This darling girl, Alexia, was found as a stray on the West side- Click here to learn more.

This is Sarah, who has been at Animal Haven (a no kill shelter) for a while, which is confusing considering how adorable this little girl is. Click here for more.