[QUOTE=Coyoteco;7368029]
The dynamic here as I understand it is that people will adopt a pit bull rather than another dog because they feel that the pit bull is more at risk. So, the collie gets euthanized because the person wants to save the pit bull and assumes the collie will get adopted by someone else.
I had heard “of” this phenomena, and recently heard people talking at a kill shelter saying exactly that “I want to adopt a pit bull because they need more help.” Yet, the chiuahua and the lab sit there unadopted and will probably be killed.
It’s a real problem when a municipality “outlaws” any breed - all those nasty “unintended consequences” showing up again.[/QUOTE]
I would hate for someone, goodminded and with the right intentions, to do a google search and somehow come across this post and think it is true. I completely disagree.
I worked a short stint (volunteered for a couple weeks) at a local kill shelter that was housed in the heart of dog-fighting country - there was a 90% kill rate for the dogs (and cats) that came to stay at the shelter. The shelter also moved a lot of animals through local AC and other rescue chapters. I would say, easily, 90% of the dogs euthanized in that shelter were pitbulls or crosses.
Yorkies, pugs, poms, chihuahuas, corgis, beagles and other small terrier dogs were usually gone within the day. Most of the small dogs (pomeranians, chihuahuas, etc) were shipped to California or other states where the lapdogs are in high demand. These dogs were literally GONE within minutes.
Foxhounds and like-looking dogs usually spent a few days in the shelter, appropriate candidates were usually shipped west (AL, TX, TN, etc). They rarely stayed either.
Labs and big breed dogs including herding types, shepherds, collies, large retriever types (excluding pitbull-types) usually had some sort of circuit to travel up north - MA, NH, RI, ME, even VA. These dogs did well for themselves and were usually adopted fairly quickly.
That leaves the pitbulls. And boy, I can tell you there were lots of pitbulls. Tan, black, white, spotted. Some fighting dogs, some surrenders. Sweet, dumb, aggressive, it didn’t matter. These dogs usually had a several day grace period, and if none of the local chapters or other-state circuits didn’t volunteer to pick them up, they were euthanized.
It was incredibly heartbreaking. These were good dogs - some were local surrenders, others were strays. Most were seized animals in dogfighting rings or neglected rescues from anonymous tips. These dogs deserved to be pampered and rehomed, but most of them were euthanized almost immediately without character/temperament assessment just because in that area, pitbulls are a dime a dozen and the resources to feed them and care for them are just too much.
Here is my girl. She was adopted from that shelter as a puppy by my landowner. I ended up with her.
https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/526167_10151043593102643_1507608302_n.jpg
I have 2 pitties (one is a mix) and they are the best dogs in the world. In my experience they are easier to handle, happier to please, and far more laidback than most of the breeds in vogue these days.
My point is, pitbulls always need to be adopted, and I think your statement is infringing on criminally false – and is a great injustice to the breed that is persecuted because of humans and how they choose to “employ” the dogs.
