Confused about local animal shelter

[Roxxie]

Pits are not banned in my area. Actually a LOT of people around here own them. Obviously that means there are a number of them who end up in the shelter for whatever reason. So my question is... if it is perfectly legal to buy and own a pit bull in this area, why is it that the shelter will not adopt them out? I realize that this 'shelter' is county run and they don't have to explain anything to me, but it doesn't make sense. Any pit or pit mix (and rottweilers as well I believe) that comes into the shelter is PTS. They end a life often times for no reason at all. It just isn't fair at all.

My mother owns a Lhasa Apso girl who is as sweet as can be... when she wants to be. I can't let her near my boyfriends pit because she will try to eat him. When I go into petsmart with her, the little kids want to pet her and I have to tell them no because she will either yelp or snarl when they get anywhere near her. My APBT on the other hand... wants to be best friends with every dog and person she meets. She especially LOVES little kids. She will sit in the floor with strange children and let them rub all over her. The Lhasa is crate agressive.... guess who isn't?

Are there other shelters like this as well? If I am posting in the wrong area I apologize.

[PITtsburgher]

My shelter went through a period of time where it did not adopt out pits (this was long before I worked there). I think that the attitudes / prejudices surrounding pitties are very widespread and unfortunately can exist in people running shelters and rescues as well as the general public. There is also the liability aspect where shelters always have that possibility of being sued if an adopted dog injures someone, and some organizations might attempt to mitigate that liability by avoiding certain breeds. I totally disagree with that line of thinking, but I think that is the explanation the shelter would probably give.

[Roxxie]

As unfair as it is, I can understand them wanting to cover their bottoms.

I know that the shelter welcomes you to bring in any current pet to see if it gets along with a potential adoptable... Maybe I should take her in every once in awhile? Maybe I could eventually find a nice dog to rescue.... or even better maybe I could get on their good side and manage to adopt/foster a pit eventually... Maybe I'm just bias but Roxxie has a face that is hard to resist. Maybe she could win a few people over. I have always wanted to adopt a pit from them but when I went there to look for a dog for the first time a few years back... I found out they don't adopt out 'dangerous breeds.' Although they do adopt out GSD's? I thought they had a similar rep.

There are just TOO many people in this town who add to the bad rep of APBT's and I would really like to fight that as much as possible. Roxxie already has a large following at the local petsmart

When I clicked the picture one of the kids had stood up and Roxxie had a weird look but..... Had to share!

[msvette2u]

There is also the liability aspect where shelters always have that possibility of being sued if an adopted dog injures someone

I don't know as it's even that - shelter workers as a rule know what awesome dogs pit bulls are - but where I worked we did not spay/neuter, and we also did no home checks. Anyone with $45 could waltz out with a dog.
You can imagine what kinds of people would be adopting the pit bulls, especially an unaltered one, with no background checks, and only $45??

To me, it made more sense to send them to rescues who do alter, and perform home checks plus assess the pit bull to find out what type home it should have (cats, no cats, dogs, no other dogs, etc.) and make sure it's going to a responsible, pit bull experienced home, than it did to just shove them out the door to whomever has the adoption fee.

That's not even to mention how many places have banned the breed, maybe not necessarily in that town (in our town they are/were) but perhaps surrounding areas, or perhaps fear that someone won't check with their homeowner's insurance and find themselves in trouble due to that. To top all that off, even if legal in the town, many renters find themselves homeless or having to bring the dog back to the shelter when they are told their landlord won't accept the breed.

Anyway, there's many reasons shelters don't adopt out pit bulls to the public but I'm guessing the reasons are more complex than liability.
Because if it was just liability, no dogs would be adopted out, period.

[Roxxie]

As far as breed bans... I don't know of any that are anywhere near my area. My shelter either has the animals spayed/neutered or requires it. You actually have to pre pay for it at the vet and bring in the receipt. I know they check about other animals... not 100% on home checks? I know the local rescues do home checks and require a fenced in yard...

But anyway... my shelter is capable of finding these dogs good homes. I mean, even if they don't usually do home visits they could require them for the breeds they currently don't adopt out.

I'm just trying to brainstorm. A friend and I got to talking about pound pups right after I got my puppy and I was complaining about how they euthanize pits. I just really think it's pointless, and I know I'm not the only one. Maybe I could at the very least find a pit rescue nearby? They have to be willing to accept some kind of help to keep innocent dogs alive. I understand that they are better off.... gone, than in the wrong hands. But special steps could be taken to find them perfect forever homes.

[msvette2u]

Well have you talked to them specifically?
You may want to start volunteering there and you could learn the reason over time or at least when you begin to build a relationship, ask then.
You could get together with a group of friends and volunteer to do the home checks, etc. If the shelter has an adoption coordinator that'd be your best bet for finding out how to assist in responsible placement of the pit bulls.

[APBT<3er]

ugh, animal shelters that operate like that make me cringe :s I could never imagine euthanizing a perfectly adoptable dog, luckily, with us, it would never happen.

Hopefully, over time, if you're willing, you could try to convince them to place them, or atleast contact a bully breed rescue and see if they would be willing to take a few out of the shelter or even aid in their placement.

[Amy Hendrickson]

Ask them and you might find out. Lots of shelters (sorry don't know where you are) don't spay/neuter and do contracts which they don't follow up on. Since they are county run, they can't really tell anyone "no" and as a rule, they don't do back ground checks, home checks or reference checks. So a backyard breeder could potentially come in and get a whole set of bitches

When I was working with a shelter, we at least set up background checks and a waiting period for "at risk breeds" and had a spay/neuter policy (that wasn't always enforced by the way posting.php?mode=reply&f=7&t=135554#)

I have a picture of a female dog that came in emaciated, intact, older dog with a giant tumor hanging from her belly. Was a really cute rednose in her day - guess where she originally came from...OUR SHELTER. and then went to live on a chain, she was in really rough shape. I held her while she died, I didn't want her to have to sit in a cage and suffer for the 72 hours and be put down by the jerks that worked the stick.

[Misskiwi67]

The humane society in Omaha, Nebraska works this way as well. They do background checks (well, they call your landlord), have contracts and call you a month later to find out how things are going, but this isn't enough when it comes to pit bulls.

Prior to my 3 week internship, they had NEVER adopted out a pit bull, and they euthanized probably 20-30 a day. They rarely released any to rescues either. The day before I left they adopted a pit bull to one of the staff members after she installed a 6 foot fence, got some serious home-owners insurance that covered the dog, and the dog underwent several behavior evaluations (they have a behaviorist on staff).

Despite this, their dog to test dog-friendliness with other dogs is a pit bull owned by one of the directors. He was a brindle/white version of Caesar's dog Daddy. None of the people at the shelter I talked to felt that pit bulls should be banned or were dangerous, it was their reputation that was dangerous to them... and therefore it was too much of a liability to both the breed and the shelter to adopt them out to the public.