I volunteered at Los Angeles City animal shelters for many years. I actually did this a few times until I knew better. Another volunteer told me to call all pitbulls "lab mixes" or at worst "staffordshire terrier." They told me they'd have a better chance at being adopted. I was supposed to call pitbulls "kissbulls." I later realized this is a bad idea. You must be 100% honest about the animal so it will go to the right person, right home. I know quite a few pits were adopted from the shelter as "sweeties!" only to go to a new home and kill the other animals. Dog is then returned and instantly euthanized. That doesn't help anyone or any animal. It just makes the problem worse. I saved a copy of this video if it goes down. This is a prime example of a "kissbull."
King was impounded off the street October 15, 2013 in North Central. He is a nine year old unneutered big brown pitbull with home cropped ears. You generally crop ears to make a pit look tough or to use for fighting. This way the other dog can't grab onto the ears. This volunteer obviously loves animals and wants to find this dog a home. I did the same when I first volunteered but I don't any more because I know better.
The volunteer says paraphrased "Meet King! A sweetheart, gorgeous, brown brindle stafforshire terrier. He's sooo adorable with his cute cropped ears, little tail, a total sweetheart. He's a cute little low rider. He's nine years old. He came in with a collar so he grew up in a home. He seems house broken. His tail is wagging nonstop. He wants to play with dogs that he sees. He is a wonderful little boy!"
Here is King's intake photo. This is his "collar" which "proves" he "grew up in a home." He is wearing a regular chain link collar. It's not a dog collar but chain link. I fostered a pit and had a prong and metal chain collar so I know dog "collars." This proves he did not live in a good "home." He was either used to fight or made to look mean because the owner wanted him to look that way.
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
King was impounded off the street October 15, 2013 in North Central. He is a nine year old unneutered big brown pitbull with home cropped ears. You generally crop ears to make a pit look tough or to use for fighting. This way the other dog can't grab onto the ears. This volunteer obviously loves animals and wants to find this dog a home. I did the same when I first volunteered but I don't any more because I know better.
The volunteer says paraphrased "Meet King! A sweetheart, gorgeous, brown brindle stafforshire terrier. He's sooo adorable with his cute cropped ears, little tail, a total sweetheart. He's a cute little low rider. He's nine years old. He came in with a collar so he grew up in a home. He seems house broken. His tail is wagging nonstop. He wants to play with dogs that he sees. He is a wonderful little boy!"
Here is King's intake photo. This is his "collar" which "proves" he "grew up in a home." He is wearing a regular chain link collar. It's not a dog collar but chain link. I fostered a pit and had a prong and metal chain collar so I know dog "collars." This proves he did not live in a good "home." He was either used to fight or made to look mean because the owner wanted him to look that way.
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| King, pitbull, north central shelter, adoption, euthanized |
In the video they say the dog wants to play with the other dogs. Look at King's reaction to the other dogs. That does not look like play. They say King is house broken. How would they know? He lived in a kennel where he defecates and urinates where he eats and sleep for the past two months at that time. He was found on the street supposedly.
The volunteer says "look at his cute cropped ears!" How is a home crop job cute? How about "look at his cute little chain link collar. It's sooo pretty!" They also don't call him a pit. He's a pit. Again, I love animals. I fostered a pit. I look at the pic above and see a poor animal in a sad situation. I want to save the dog but we have to make tough decisions. We can't save them all.
Here in LA some teens and men living in tough areas want a mean looking dog. They want to walk around, drive around with a mean looking guy to show the world that they are tough. They want a big dark pitbull with a massive head. They will cut the ears at home with no pain relief to make him look like a fighting dog. They will not neuter the dog to make him look even more "manly." King is a prime example of one of these dogs.
King is nine years old. We don't know how long he was living on the street. Did the owner dump him and lie? Did he get out and the owner just never went looking for him? Who knows. All we do know is he was impounded stray off the street October 15, 2013. North Central shelter volunteers made a video for him to help him get adopted December 21, 2013 two months later. I saw a post about this dog March 2014 on Facebook after King had been there four months. I saved his adoption page which is here. It's gone now because King was euthanized.
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| King, pitbull, euthanized, north central |
King is a big, old, brown, unneutered pitbull with cropped ears. The way he reacts to the other dogs makes me think he probably does not want to play with them. I bet he's in a kennel by himself. Every day more and more big, old, brown pits enter the shelter. Why would you hold onto one so long? It doesn't make sense when new ones come into the shelter every day. Plus, it's not humane for the dog. He'd go cage crazy from being cooped up in a loud shelter for so long. If he was house broken, he's not anymore. You will have to house and leash train him at the bare minimum.
One reason they hold onto them is because they can. He came in during the slow time of the year. He's a pit so he can go months without getting kennel cough. A regular dog breed would be sick within two weeks. Cats will get sick in a week. When I volunteered when the animal got kennel cough or URI, they were euth'd. That means they were up for adoption for at least a week and no one wanted them.
Here the shelter spent a lot of money on this pit keeping him there for all that time. His chance at adoption was very, very low. If you have many big, old, brown pits, why make this guy stay in a kennel for months before euthanizing him? It doesn't make sense based on resources and humane treatment of animals.
The goal is to save as many animals as you effectively, humanely and safely can. That involves resources such as money and cage space. Why spend money to house an animal with little chance at adoption? It's not fair to the animal. The resources could be better utilized to save more adoptable dogs such as younger, smaller, more desirable breeds such as poodles, labradors, retrievers, animals that don't have major behavioral issues...
I feel the same way about cats in shelters. I used to bail moms with kittens because a regular person could not afford to bail them all at $86 each. You had to take mom with all unweaned kittens. Rescues got a discount on mom with litters. They'd euth unweaned kittens then later euth mom if we didn't take them.
I only bailed animals on death row. I want the public to have all the chance to adopt it first. I would only bail pretty, young, long hair, basically healthy animals. They all got URI and that was fine. I wanted to effectively use my resources to save the most animals in a humane manner. If I took in short hair black, tabby, old, disabled, feral, adult cats, it would be very difficult to find them homes. If a young, pretty, desirable kitty is on death row along with an old, disabled, undesirable, feral cat, which one should you try to save? I go for saving the more adoptable one. If I adopted the old, disabled, undesirable, feral cat, I'd be stuck with it for life and couldn't save other cats.
Once someone told me to temporarily hold an old, unneutered australian shepherd mix that had lived on a chain all its life. While he was sweet, he herded the cats. He also had medical and many behavioral issues. I was supposed to hold it long enough to get it over kennel cough and get it neutered. Then someone would take it. The lady dumped it on me. It took me forever to deal with the medical and behavioral issues. Finally I did find it a great home but it took a loooooong time. During that time I could have saved three different dogs with those resources.
We need to look at animal overpopulation with our eyes open and brains functioning. We can't just listen to our heart. We must effectively use our limited resources to humanely and safely save animals. I love animals but we can't adopt them all. There are those who don't even agree with my point of view on rescuing at all. They say we could save more animals by limiting the supply side of the equation. We should use our resources on spay and neuter, anti-breeding laws, regulating pet stores... I agree that we must work on the supply side but I will still rescue what I can until we can turn off the spigot.
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
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