Just Save One Until There Are None: An Update from Phily

For all of you who just stopped sniffling over the recent post from KT, Cam, and Webbie in Philadelphia, here's a quick update:

Webster is doing great in his forever home. His adoption made room for Cam and KT to save a new pittie gal from death row. Indeed, they are now fostering Sam (now Margie)--the luckiest dog in Phily. Consider this a big hug from the whole pittie rescue community for giving one more good dog the promise of a good life.

Cheers!

Sometimes Accidents Happen--A Guest Blog on Fostering by My Awesome Sister

As a reproductive rights advocate, women’s health nurse practitioner and contraception counselor, I never thought that I would be faced with the question of what to do with an unplanned addition to my family.
  

KT, Webbie & Cameron: Perfect foster parents
 and one lucky dog


My partner and I are currently raising the love of our lives: a three-year-old blue-brindle pit bull rescue, Sophia.  Out of our gratitude for the foster mom that pulled Sophie from the pound, we decided that for Christmas we would do the same for another pit.  Without much planning we went to the Philadelphia Animal Control Shelter and came home with a scared and emaciated pocket-pittie named Webster.  He was just 22 lbs when he first came into our apartment.  Nervous and apprehensive, he slowly began taking to my partner, Cameron, and I.  In the evenings he would crawl into one of our laps and fall deep asleep, becoming as heavy and warm as a bag of coals.  It was at these times that I felt the most connected to Webster.  It was as if curling up in my lap in front of the television was the first time he felt truly safe enough to fall so deep asleep.  Like baby and mother, Webster and I started to develop a special bond.  

After a couple of weeks, we began taking steps to recruit a forever home for Webbie.  Starting with an ad on petfinder, the process was encumbered by feelings of loss and sadness.  Webster’s relationship with us was special.  Another family wouldn’t understand him the same.  And most importantly, wouldn’t he think we were abandoning him?  One night as we were snuggling in a giant pit bull/human pile, my partner and I came up with a whole new idea. Looking up from stroking Webster’s velvet ears, Cameron said to me, “You know…we could just keep him.”  I protested at first, “I know, but that is not our life plan.  We have planned our future with room for just one dog.  We love Webster, but he is not supposed to be part of our family.”  Cameron responded with a comment that changed everything. “Honey, sometimes accidents happen.”



Webbie on adoption day.



From that evening on it was nearly impossible to decide what to do with Webster.  As soon as I felt like I would miss him too much, I was reminded that families make these types of adaptations all the time.  An accidental Webster could be the luckiest thing that happened to our family.  Surely we could make room in our apartment for another pittie, we had already made room in our hearts. 

And that’s when I learned that being a foster parent is one of the hardest things to do.  Of course Webster had made his way into our hearts, he basically had done so when we first met him in the shelter.  And making room in an apartment and budget for another dog is always possible.  But I had been right.  This wasn’t our plan.  We wanted to become foster parents to help save pit bulls, not simply to save Webster.  If we kept Webbie it would mean that our family was really truly full and we wouldn’t be able to foster any dogs in the future whose lives were risked everyday that they weren’t pulled from the shelter.  

Webbie making out with his forever dad, Drew.


Eventually the perfect family came forward to adopt Webster; a young couple who were looking for their first dog.  They just wanted to spoil Webster and it was clear that adopting him out to them was the right thing to do.   When we handed Webbie over to Drew and Holly, my heart was much less heavy than I thought it would be.  There was joy and comfort in knowing that this is why we first brought Webster home.  He would get to be the princess of his own home and Drew and Holly would get to know the beauty of parenting a loyal and loving pit.  We are now taking the love that we felt for Webster and using it to get ready to pull another needy dog from the shelter.  Her name is Sam. 



Introducing Mae

 

Mae at the pound.

I was not looking for a new foster dog when I visited Chicago Animal Care and Control three weeks ago. We had come to evaluate Mr. Marbles to see if we could place him with CBBR. Visiting the hundreds of sad dogs at CACC always makes me cry, but I get a little tougher each time. We walked up and down the aisles of one of the "back wards" at CACC, where the dogs can only be saved by a rescue--they are not "on the adoption floor" where the public can even meet them. The overwhelming majority of these dogs are pit bulls or bully mixes. Not surprising, since pitties are more likely than other kinds of dogs to be owned by neglectful, abusive, or irresponsible people.

Day 1 in a proper home.

Anyway, we were looking for Marbles, but in the process I saw a little red brindle pittie curled up on her kennel bed. She looked at me as I walked by handing out treats to the inmates. She got up slowly and quietly and checked me out. There was just something about her--she was so unassuming and mellow. I took her for a walk in the yard, where she behaved like a true lady even among lots of other rowdy dogs. She was fearless and calm. My kinda girl. Too bad I was about to leave town for a week for a conference. After asking at the desk whether the puppy could be held for me until I got back, I learned that this little puppy was "on the list." She had been treated for pneumonia and still had a cold, and had very crooked front legs. It was now or never. We made some phone calls, and a great CBBR volunteered to "babysit" the puppy until I got back to town. I marched back to Mae's kennel and scooped her up.

As it turns out, Mae's crooked legs were caused by hypertrophic osteodystrophy--a painful growth defect in her ankle bones. This was compounded by a total lack of exercise after literally growing up in a cage at the pound for two months. After three weeks of running around like a normal dog, Mae's legs are almost completely straight. The pain in her ankles has decreased, and she's finally growing. (We thought she was about 14 weeks old until we looked at her teeth. She's at least seven months old, just very small.) Mae is a delightful little dog. She loves children, dogs, and cats, and walks on her leash like she's been doing it for years. She knows sit and down, is crate trained, and is doing great with her housetraining. She is going to make someone very happy.



Mae feeling great at home with foster sis.



Lesson: Most dogs end up at the pound because their humans are shitty. Everyday, thousands of OUTSTANDING dogs like Mae sit in cages, staring at nothing, just hoping someone will see their potential and make room in their lives for another life. It's true that the problem is overwhelming. But you can do nothing, or you can do SOMETHING. It's up to you. If you want to understand the depth of need, contact us and we'll tour you around a local pound. If you or someone you know would like to adopt Mae, or you'd like to become a foster parent for another desperate and worthy death row dog, contact info@cbbr.org.



The Worst and Best Day of Belle's Life

Going to the pound to pull dogs into rescue is one of the most emotional experiences ever. The misery you see in the eyes of cold, bored, suffering, caged dogs is almost more that I can bear. You cry for the ones you can't save that day. And you cry all over the few you do.  When CBBR volunteers went to the pound last week we intended to evaluate and maybe pull just one dog--a male pit bull who had been caged for--get this--nine months.

As we waited to be let into the back wards of the pound, we watched an emotionless man relinquish one of the sweetest, most beautiful dogs we'd ever seen. She was a white English Setter or Brittany mix with long, well-groomed fur, and a pink stain around her neck from a bright pink collar. As her owner signed the papers to dump her, she looked around at us all wagging and smiling. We could see she had a small growth on her lip.

A few minutes later, as we walked through the endless back wards of unwanted dogs (crying, as usual), we encountered this little white dog. Her kennel card told us her name was Belle. The dog beside her was trying to break out of its kennel to eat her. We looked at each other and scooped her up. We're a pit bull rescue, our director said, but this dog is not staying here. We made frantic calls until we found a temporary home for Belle--and two other dogs, including a crippled pittie puppy and the big male pittie we had come to see.

Since then, vets have determined that Belle has a cancerous tumor on her lip. It is being removed, along with a bit of her jaw bone. The vet anticipates that she will have many more years to live and her quality of life will be good. What Belle needs now is a long term foster home where she can recover at her own pace. She has a lovely, calm, outgoing temperament, and is gentle with people and dogs alike. She is a true joy, and she is just one more reason why we keep venturing into the pound even though the experience usually reduces us to blubbering misery. Welcome, Belle. You've got good people now.

If you think you might like to foster or adopt Belle, please contact info@cbbr.org and fill out an application at http://www.cbbr.org/. If you can't care for Belle but you'd like to help us pay her $1200 surgical bills, we'd be grateful for donations of any amount. They are tax deductible.

Bad people, bad dogs.

Nothing ruins my day like waking up to a news story like the one that appeared in the Tribune today of two loose pit bulls attacking a 62 year old jogger. It's horrible, first and foremost, because an innocent person was terribly hurt. But it's also horrible, because every bite incident involving a pittie invites a new whirlwind of anti-pittie hysteria in the media. In some places, this hysteria has led to breed-discriminatory legislation and outright bans of pit bull type dogs--including thousands of beloved family pets.

I noticed something interesting this afternoon: There has been a little run on my blog today, and I suspect it's because so many of you came here looking for a response to these news stories. So, one more time, here's my response:

1. The best predictor of a dangerous dog is a dangerous owner. People in the dog business know that breed stereotyping is rarely predictive of an individual dog's behavior.
2. Pit bulls and pittie mutts are by far the most common type of dog in Chicago and are disproportionately likely to be owned by dangerous, neglectful, abusive, or criminal owners. (Though rescue groups are working diligently to change that trend.)
3. Unaltered dogs (like those involved in this attack) are more likely to be aggressive and more likely to roam away from their homes. Part of being a responsible owner is altering your pet. Period. No one cares that your dog's big balls make you feel like the man that you aren't.
4. Dogs who have been abused or neglected--e.g., fought, trained to be aggressive, isolated from human or animal contact, starved, ignored, abandoned, or actively harmed--are more likely to be aggressive toward the species who caused them such suffering.
5. Big, strong dogs, and dogs with high prey drive (that is, the natural canine drive to chase things that move fast) should ALL be handled by EDUCATED, RESPONSIBLE HUMANS. Any dog is capable of serious aggression toward people or other animals. So drivey, strong dogs need to be handled accordingly. This means abiding by leash laws, properly socializing your dog with all shapes and sizes of humans and other animals, and keeping your dog safely confined when you cannot monitor it.
6. Some dogs--regardless of their apparent breed--have real aggression problems. Responsible ownership means, when training and socialization have failed to prevent serious aggression in your dog, you should euthanize it.  Not dump it on the street. You are legally responsible for your dog's actions.

So, there you have my opinion on this terrible incident. For those people who will inevitably want to form some sort of pitchfork-toting posse over this, I suggest the following: If you want to make this city safe, go after irresponsible dog owners, not their dogs.  Demand that all Chicago's pets be spayed or neutered. License only reputable breeders and outlaw basement breeders. When we make our city safe for dogs, we will finally have a shot at making it safe from dogs.

If you would like to share more hysteria-free pit bull info with people you know, please direct them to Pit Bull Rescue Central. It's an excellent resource created by people who actually know the breed. And to the humans who are responsible for what happened to the jogger in South Shore today, may you pay for the suffering you have caused--to the human victim, to your dogs, and to all of the well-loved, well-behaved and still-hated GOOD pit bulls who struggle for respect because of irresponsible people like you.

On Christmas, homeless pets, and the last gleaming ember of my spirituality

Christmas: That time of year when otherwise nearly normal people spend hundreds of dollars on giant, inflatable fat guys for their front yards, and dress up the dog in felt antlers. Charlie Brown thought Christmas had become too commercial 40 years ago, and look at us now.

I'm no Christian--sorry, mom--but I have to admit that there is one part of the Christmas story that always kind of made me emotional. That's the part about the family without a place to stay who has to sleep in the barn among the lowly animals. I totally got it when I was 7 that all the very best things were born in a barn, or so it seemed to this horse crazy girl. I also totally got it that there might have been no baby Jesus if no one had offered Mary and Joseph a place to stay. It made me sad to think that the innkeeper had no idea who these poor looking people were, or who their baby would grow up to be.

Thank god Kathie made room for Bea.

 

 

So, fast forward about 30 years, and here I am, a non-believer and a blogging animal rescuer with a heart of mush. What I take from the Christmas story is this: When I look into the eyes of a creature in need I remind myself that we never know who this downtrodden soul might become. Ok, so, no. That dog you rescue from the pound is probably not Jesus. Not what I mean. But I could make you a list a mile long of rescued animals who have gone on to save us humans--to mend our hearts and give us hope, to remind us of our own capacity for compassion.

The holiday season is, hands down, the worst time to be a homeless animal. Rescues are stuffed, and adopters are few and far between. People are broke after buying all that blow-up crap for the front yard. What homeless pets need now, more than at any other time of the year, is for someone to say, yes, I'll make some room at the inn. Are you at home for the holidays? Would you consider opening your home to a foster dog or cat? If so, contact me or visit my friends at Hyde Park Cats or Chicagoland Bully Breed Rescue. They can match you with a pet in desperate need of some compassion this winter.

Merry Christmas to you and your critters.

Love,
Eevie, Bea, Sushi K, and St. Falcon

Happily Ever After--A Clover Update



A changed dog.



Anyone remember Clover, the teeny, miserable pittie mix that CBBR pulled from Anti-Cruelty Society late last summer? (Click here if you don't remember.) Well, Clover is now Latke, and it's hard to describe just how much this little guy's life has changed for the better since Ruth brought his catatinic little self home a few months ago. Latke has been adopted by an awesome family with lots of kitties and two very adorable little girls who like to play dress up and LOVE their teeny pit bull.

Latke has proven himself to be a top-notch citizen. He loves his humans, his kitties, and all of his dog friends from the park. He is playful, obedient, snuggly, and an all-around awesome little dog. As I understand it, he even enjoys playing dress up with the princesses in his house.



Latke with his girls.



If you want to know the truth, when I first met Clover I thought he might be a lost cause. I wasn't sure there was much of a soul left in there after all he had been through. But, boy, was I wrong. Never underestimate the power of patient care and attention or the heart of a pit bull. Good dog, Latke. And good people.