Animal Farm Foundation Slideshow

PETsMART offered a phone/web based training on Pit Bull Adoption Basics/Training hosted by Kim Wolf of the Animal Farm Foundation.

These are some of the interesting slides shared with the participants.... These are a great resource if you are trying to explain pit bulls to your friends and family.

Kim said...Only 2-10% of a dog's DNA determines his DNA, and yet we are using that very small amount as a predictor of behavior, which is arbirtary and incorrect.

Don't imply more than you know or use terms incorrectly. Example, for a dog to be a bait dog- there has to be an aggressor dog, which is not a good image to conjure in adopters minds about pit bulls. Also, terriers tend to be "tenacious", but "pit bulls type dogs" can be lazy.

Don't imply more than you know- just because a dog barks at all brown dogs, doesn't mean it cannot be in a home with a brown dog. Fact: It is better to transfer ownership and get the dog back through legal channels if something goes wrong, rather than loaning the dog first- which opens you up to liability as a shelter or organization.

Having a separate area or policy for pit bull dogs sets the potential adopters up to think that pit bulls are different. You as the advocate should not create unnecessary fear. We should not assume anything about a dog's behavior from its arbitrary label.

There can be an unlikely match where you least expect it! Take time to get to know the potential homes.

Animal Farm Foundation does not give people a list of what may go wrong because they feel that they cannot list a comprehensive list of "what ifs".  People with children between 5-17 acquire 75% of dogs at any given time, so age-restrictions automatically restrict the adopter pool to 25%.

Advice from AFF to Shelters/Rescue Groups:

1) Place them next to a variety of dogs, don't segregate.
2) Put a friendly pit bull in your lobby as a greeter with a bandana!
3) Teach the dogs parlour tricks (pray, handshake, roll over, blow kisses)
4) Use enrichment toys to keep pits quieter and busier- they will present better to adopters
5) Think of your adopter as a customer-make the environment calm, cool and peaceful
6) Use playgroups to burn energy, learn more about the dog's personality, and engage volunteers
7) Have Rescue Brunches - invite local rescue groups and foster homes to watch play groups to pick dogs based on observation.
8) Some dogs do best with a job (agilty, disc, obedience, police, search and rescue, assistance, therapy)
9) Happiness Sells, Sadness repells. (Adoptions increase when you focus on the human/canine bond.)
10) Take pictures with other dogs or people, create a scene or tell a story, take pictures in front of landmarks or in costumes, even a hand or foot of a person in a picture increases the dog's chances of getting adopted. Take videos!
11) Use adopt me vests
12) Use business Cards
13) Don't forget the bling! (Cute tags, collars, bandanas!)
14) Don't forget the Elder dogs, they can be great additions to homes for years to come
15) Promote your staff that live with pit bulls to show you believe what you are selling
16) Promote your shelter as an "adoption option" rather than individual dogs.





Free Pit Bull training!

Responsible NYC pit owners, listen up!

 

Tricks for Pits is a FREE dog training class exclusively for pit bulls being offered on Sundays (next class September 11th) in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights. The training is sponsered by the Bully Project.

The couple leading the project (Kelly and Lee Neal) have fostered more than 45 pit bulls and are sponsering the trainings to deal with the root of the shelter-crisis and prevent dogs from dying.

The training will focus on issues like dog-to-dog reactivity, dog aggression, and basic training. This fantastic approach will theoretically help people keep their pets who are too strong and out-of-control rather than giving them up to the shelter, as well as help improve the reputation of pits. Read more.

Source: Bully Project

"Its Me Or The Dog"

I really recommend watching this episode of "Its me or the dog" with Victoria Stillwell on Animal Planet. In this episode (clip below) she helps a young man with a completely out of control Presa-Canario. Unbelievably- the man wants to breed his dog. Luckily, Victoria talks him out of being a back-yard breeder adding to the shelter-crisis by taking him to Manhattan Care and Control (where we adopted Bruno on the day he was to be put to sleep.)

Fear of Little Boys

Bruno is terribly affraid of little boys-- and naturally, they are terribly afraid of him. I hate to think that he was abused by a child, but he only reacts to little boys of a certain age. His fear is not of children in general, which means its not their size or noise level or energy level, but the appearence of little boys. I feel out of my league in training him to not respond so negatively to them because I don't even know what he has been through.

We are not sure what to do, because now that Bruno has gotten more comfortable in our neighborhood and home and gotten better from his accident, he is showing much more aggression towards kids. In a neighborhood full of families and children, what could be worse?

It is a frightful thing because we don't want to scare children of course, and we don't want people to be afraid of Bruno-who we know to be a sweet and gentle dog. We don't want our landlord to even have to ask us to leave because Bruno is scaring the families. We want to advance the breeds reputation, not hurt it.

The ASPCA  has a great resource for all kinds of behavioral problems, including an entire page on Fear of Children. The ASPCA of course advises avoiding children, which is impossible for us where we live now. If unavoidable, they recommend a muzzel. The problem with this is that it makes him look scary, which is the last thing I want, but of course I understand that ultimately a muzzeled dog is less scary than a barking, lungeing dog.

The ASPCA also advises using the "U-Turn" technique, which actually works well for us outside (We see children coming and we either turn around or stop and make Bruno sit and pay attention to us for a treat.) But this is impossible inside. Near and among the elevators is actually where he is the most aggressive because of the surprise of children when the doors open. The surprise seems to be the worst part of it and the hardest thing to work around, which is why I am seriously considering a muzzel.

Muzzels, however, don't fix the problem but only cover it up. The ASPCA recommends psychological treatment called Desensitization and Counterconditioning (DSCC) and seeking the help of experts.

I am hoping that over the next few weeks the muzzel combined with the U-Turn and treats will be enough to help Bruno, because he is after all a very reslient dog who learns quickly.

The other thing that worries me is that breed profiles and specialists sometimes say that when pit bulls demonstrate any agression to humans and esspecially towards children, they may need be put to sleep, because they are not demonstrating typical or desireable breed temperment.

(See this Rescue Site- "Note: A pit bull that shows unprovoked human aggression, especially with children, is NOT typical of the breed and is showing very poor temperament. Such a dog should be thoroughly evaluated by a trainer or behaviorist experienced in the breed for a final determination of their temperament and recommendation on how to proceed.")

Statistics on Dog Bites/Children:
"Studies of dog bite injuries have reported that:

• The median age of patients bitten was 15 years, with children, especially boys aged 5 to 9 years, having the highest incidence rate
• The majority of dog attacks (61%) happen at home or in a familiar place. 
• The vast majority of biting dogs (77%) belong to the victim's family or a friend. "

Interestingly, although Pitbulls and Rottweilers account for more than half of dog-bite-deaths, they do not account for the same ammount of dog BITES. This means that Pit Bulls are plagued with the quality of being able to cause much more damage than other dogs. (For example, while Pomeranians may bite people just as much as Pit Bulls or even more, they rarely kill. Also, only 1% of bite-deaths occured while the dog was restrained and off the owners' property. (Read more here)) Pit Bulls are powerful and are extremely tenacious. We as pit bull owners need to remember that while they may be no meaner or fierer than other dogs, they are capable of much more damage when they do react- (why else would they be used to fighting?) and that is why I am taking Bruno's recent behavior so seriously.

Strangely, Bruno is extremely dog friendly and would never hurt a dog. He also snuggles with us on our bed and loves to lick our faces and gingerly accepts treats and shows no aggression to adults. After how much he has survived, I know that he is going to have a happy life, but I worry about 1) keeping him --because we plan on having children in the next 3-5 years, and 2) giving him up for adoption, because someone might not understand his unique needs and he could end up in the shelter again.

I love pit bulls and I welcome their good and bad qualities. Most of all, I want other people to love them as much as I do. I want to be a good owner who understands my dog's feelings and limitations. Hearing people say they are afraid of my pit bulls is the hardest thing for me to hear, so I need to to everything I can to help Bruno. If anyone has any advice or has dealt with a similar problem, please let me know.