To post or not to post

The stream of dogs in need of saving from euthanasia or abuse is overwhelming.  Daily, and even hourly, dog lovers are bombarded with heartrending stories, usually accompanied by even more heartrending pictures, and requests to help.  I have unsubscribed from a number of Facebook pages and email lists because I know I can never do anything concrete to help – the “To be destroyed” list from New York Animal Care & Control, for example.  Seeing those faces without being able to do anything constructive is a recipe for insomnia and guilt.

But what about the dogs we might be able to help – the local faces, the ones who might have more than an hour or two before being euthanized?  These come into my inbox and my Facebook stream on a daily basis, as well.  I am ambivalent about sharing even these, because often the chance of helping is still vanishingly small, and the risk of exhausting, depressing, and driving away supporters is large.

 Coco

On the other hand, there’s Coco.  Coco was saved by the Internet.  Really.  First, shelter staff sent out her picture in an email to local rescue organizations – the dreaded “euth list” that usually comes out sometime in the afternoon or early evening, with instructions to reply by 8:30 the following morning if you can help one of the animals listed.  During less crowded times of year, these messages come out mainly for animals who cannot make it to the adoptable section because of treatable health or behavior conditions, such as heartworm disease or demodex (or pregnancy).  As the shelter gets more crowded in the late spring and summer, they become more frequent and start including healthy animals who have been in adoptables for a while (like Coco).  The majority of animals on the list these days are underage kittens – sometimes over a dozen a day. 

So we got the message about Coco and three other healthy dogs from adoptables.  We did not have a place to put her, and almost decided against doing anything.  But Coco is such a nice dog, and such a favorite with shelter volunteers, that we gave it a try and posted on our POPB group page.  A volunteer saw the post and began contacting her own network of friends, in Gainesville and beyond.  It turned out that a friend in her hometown was looking for a dog just like Coco and offered to foster her with the goal of adopting.  Phew.  If we hadn’t posted that picture, the volunteer would not have known that Coco was at risk, and she would not have been able to put together what we think is a match made in heaven. 

Of course, it doesn’t always work out this well.  And that is terribly upsetting for the people who know and love the dog and find out through a Facebook post that there was not a happy ending.  But if we and other rescuers do not use all the tools available, there will be many fewer happy endings.

Mr Little, now known as Chase

This is why we created two Facebook pages for Plenty of Pit Bulls.  We started with a “group,” which you have to join, where we talk about the nitty gritty details of finding foster homes, transporting, donating for neuters, and other pieces of hands-on rescue.  We later added a “fan” or “community” page, which people can “like,” where we try to keep it positive and educational, because there were a lot of people who wanted to stay connected and participate but who do not want to be kept in the loop for the other stuff.  I understand that, and I especially appreciate the fact that some people work on a daily basis with shelter dogs and cannot bear to see their faces posted with “Urgent” on them. 

I think this separation is valuable, and I wish some of the other groups that I like on Facebook would do the same thing, so I could hear about events, education and advocacy ideas, projects for shelter enrichment, and other constructive pieces of information – without seeing the faces of doomed dogs from thousands of miles away.   (Many of the national pit bull advocacy groups do not deal with “Urgents” at all, but focus on advocacy and education; many local groups are like us, however, and do a little bit of everything they can.)

Plenty of Pit Bulls does not have any adoption facilities and we try to focus on supporting existing rescue/adoption groups, rather than taking in dogs ourselves.  Our niche is to connect people and resources – to find that little extra piece that a dog needs.  We try to bring to everyone into the conversation about helping dogs – shelter staff and volunteers, private rescue groups, individual volunteers, and other community partners. 

So pulling dogs from the euth list is really not our mission.  The summer onslaught is making us break our own rules more and more often, however.  In the first week of June, we pulled Bandit (who is heartworm positive) so that he could get out of the shelter and be transferred to an out-of-area rescue organization.

Bandit

Then there were a couple of cats that some pit-bull loving cat ladies wanted to help, and we pulled them.  They are available for adoption – one is being fostered by our resident cat lady and the other is at All Cats veterinary clinic.



So that seemed like enough... then Mr Big and Mr Little, two scared young pit bulls with demodex mange, made the list.  One of our favorite pit bull organizations, Pit Sisters in Jacksonville, offered to pay for the demodex treatment.   Through Facebook and through old-fashioned networking we were able to find amazing foster homes for them, so we pulled them as Plenty of Pit Bulls.  And very fortunately, Phoenix Animal Rescue offered to take the boys into their adoption program, even though they are bursting at the seams (as is just about every other rescue group, locally and beyond). 

Mr. Big

Three dogs and two cats in less than two weeks... I promised myself I would not look at the euth list again.  Just hit “delete.”  Then there was an email from the shelter with “sweet sweet sweet” in the subject line.  So I looked, and saw the most adorable underbite this side of the Mississippi.  The underbite and the gremlin face belonged to a little black dog who came into the shelter with puncture wounds, not bad, but bad enough to keep her out of adoptables.  Uh oh.  So Sharon, an equally crazy dog lady, and I came up with a plan that was not much of a plan at all – we pulled her and put her into boarding in the hope that her adorable face and wonderful personality would get her a foster home before we ran out of money. That’s Cinderella, and we pulled her on June 15, and she still really needs a foster (or foster-to-adopt) home.  She has her own Facebook page, and a lot of friends who are helping pay for her food, vet care, and spay.  (Facebook friends are also donating for the neuter surgery for Misters Big and Little.)

Cinderella

My husband says it is like living with John Edwards, supporting secret children living in different places.  I think he’s joking.  I haven't told him about today's addition of Coco. But I will tell her:  I'm so glad you're alive.