Straying.

Most of the dogs taken in by rescues have been at a public shelter and been placed on the euthanasia list, either because they've run out of time or because they have some treatable health problem, ranging from heartworm disease to demodex mange to sniffles, that shifts them from "adoptables" to "the list." In these cases, we know something about the dog, at least from his or her time in the shelter, and we know that there are no other options. The right thing to do is clear, even though there are not always sufficient resources to do it.

But what about strays? There have been a lot of those lately. They are just as needy as dogs in the shelter (and many dogs in the shelter were first strays), but the right thing to do is not always so clear-cut. And often there are many ways to do the right thing by the dog in need.

The right thing surely happened on Saturday for a skinny, injured black pit bull mix who was found at Morningside Nature Center in east Gainesville. A Morningside employee called Animal Services and a patient, compassionate officer came to get the dog. She carried him to the car and reassured the worried finder that the dog would receive medical treatment.


This dog was doubly lucky, because not only did he get medical treatment but the finder offered to foster him once he was ready to leave the shelter. In this case, going to the shelter was the best option, since the dog needed immediate medical care. The finder did all the right things, not only calling Animal Services but also calling a dog-savvy friend who immediately connected her with rescue folks who will help her rehome the dog if he is not claimed or adopted at the shelter.

Even if a dog is not injured, taking him or her to the shelter is not always a bad option. Shelter staff will scan the dog for a microchip, which might find the dog's people, and worried owners usually know (or are told) to look at the shelter for their missing pet.

Sometimes finders do not want to take a dog to the shelter, however, for various reasons. They may be willing to foster the dog themselves and not want to expose the dog to the stress of shelter life, which affects some dogs more than others. If you find a stray and decide not to take him or her to the shelter, here are some steps to follow. First and most important, try to find the dog's owner! Even a dog who looks rough may have frantic people missing him or her. Even the best-loved dog will look skinny and sad after being lost for a while, so don't assume the dog has been deliberately abandoned or abused (though that does happen... more on that later). To find the owner, go to a vet or the shelter to have the dog scanned for a microchip, send a description to Animal Services, put "found dog" ads and flyers up, and use a service like Gainesville Pet Finders (www.facebook.com/gainesvillepetfinders).

If you don't locate the dog's owner, talk to rescue organizations about getting support while you look for a new home. If you are willing to foster the dog, and if the dog has a sweet and stable personality, most often a rescue group will help with advertising him or her on Petfinder and at adoption events. It will help if you can have the dog tested for heartworms, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered if needed. Do not expect a rescue group to find a foster home for your found dog, however. They are always full with dogs who have been taken directly from the euthanasia list at the shelter. If you offer to foster, however, you will usually find a lot of support.

Sometimes you know no one is looking for the dog. Last week, a man getting into a bus at the downtown station tried to bring his female pit bull mix with him. The driver told him the dog needed to be in a crate. The dog's owner got on the bus and left the dog behind. A kind-hearted person who witnessed the abandonment took the dog with her. This was not a stray, but a dumpee, but some of the same dilemmas arose: do I take the dog to the shelter? If not, what can I do? The dog's savior could not keep her long, because she lives in an apartment with cats and was already at her maximum number of pets.


Fortunately, she found another big-hearted person who agreed to foster the dog, now named Indigo. Indigo is having a great time at her foster home, revealing her sweet personality and ability to get along with other dogs.

Indigo's finder did not want to take her to the shelter because she knew there was no heartbroken owner in search of her, and she knew that a black pit bull mix, however sweet, may not have good odds at the shelter. She was smart about asking her network of dog-loving friends for help. Even though she could not keep Indigo, her commitment to finding a good solution probably saved the dog's life.

In some cases it is not just possible but certain that a dog will not leave a shelter alive. Last week we were asked for help with a pit bull type dog who was abandoned at a dog park in Miami. Because of the ban on pit bulls in Miami-Dade, he would have been euthanized at the shelter there.


Fortunately, his finders were dog people and knew not to surrender him. They were able to place him with a rescue in a different county, where he will be available for adoption.

These dogs all got lucky. Most strays probably do not. Even if you do take a found dog to a shelter, you can improve their odds by contacting rescue groups and asking them to consider "pulling" the dog if she or he ends up on the euthanasia list. If you can offer support, such as help with vet and spay/neuter costs, that will make it more feasible for them to add the dog to their program. While the dog is at the shelter, you can make up flyers and post ads to encourage prospective adopters to visit the shelter. The more detail you can give, the more likely a rescue group or potential adopter will take a second look at your found dog.

Much more good advice is available here -- http://www.badrap.org/node/28. And if you live in or near Gainesville, check www.facebook.com/plentyofpitbulls, where friendly dog-loving volunteers will do their best to help you do your best for the dogs who find you.

Adoptable!

A number of the dogs we have helped pull are still available for adoption. All these dogs were saved by the bell, all have great temperaments, and all are waiting for permanent homes. We have ...

boy dogs


and girl dogs


brown dogs


and black dogs


white dogs


and brindle dogs


red dogs


well-accessorized dogs




and dogs with amazing ears






and more ... all these dogs are available for adoption through several different rescues in the Gainesville area. All are spayed or neutered, current on vaccinations, healthy, and friendly. For more information on any of these dogs, please visit www.facebook.com/plentyofpitbulls

Closing the gap

I just read, separately, two items that together give a lot to think about.

The first item was in Bark (yes, I read “the dog culture magazine.” Anyone surprised?) A new survey conducted by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) found that 21% of all the dogs and cats in US households have been adopted from a shelter. Another 6% have been adopted from private rescue organizations. That means – and I was surprised at how surprised I was – that almost three-quarters of all pets come from pet stores, breeders, and other non-rescue sources.

The other item was another survey showing that “71 percent of pet owners feel that shelters should only be allowed to euthanize animals when they are too sick to be treated or too aggressive to be adopted. Only 25 percent said that euthanasia should be used as a means to control the animal population” (http://www.petside.com/no-kill-shelters).


Put these together: only about a quarter of people with pets have given a home to an animal from a shelter or rescue, but almost three quarters of them do not want shelters to kill homeless animals.

Houston, we have a problem.

The gap between expressed values and actual practice is not unique to animal welfare. These figures, and the gap between them, are remarkably close to those for environmental concern and practice. About 80% of survey respondents say they care about the environment and want to protect nature, but only about 20% actually do anything about it (e.g., recycle, use alternative transportation, alter their diets, donate, or volunteer for environmental reasons).



There is a huge gap between what we value and what we do. Part of the gap results from a lack of knowledge. People may care about dwindling rainforests without knowing that their fast food hamburger contributed to the problem.

While accurate, accessible information is necessary, it is not adequate. Sometimes people know what needs to be done and still cannot do it, for a variety of reasons. They may think that just one person cannot make a difference or that the required change is too hard.

People who love their pets are usually horrified to learn that millions of healthy, sociable dogs and cats are killed in the U.S. annually because they do not have homes. Hard as it is for those of us involved in animal advocacy to believe, a lot of people do not connect this monstrous statistic with their own lives. For example, I have an acquaintance who recently purchased two “teacup schnauzers” from an online dealer. She probably had never heard the term “puppy mill.” She loves her puppies and is already driving them two hours to a veterinary specialist who can deal with their dental problems. Ouch, on all accounts. The teachable moment may have passed in this case (though I do contemplate giving her a copy of the book Saving Gracie, about puppy mills). However, if nothing else, this is a reminder that good people with good intentions do not know everything that we know. In some cosmic balancing act, two healthy, friendly puppies died in a shelter because she bought guinea-pig sized dogs with chronic health problems. And she had no idea.


I have another colleague who told me, a few years ago: “I know you won’t approve.” (Whoa, I thought. This had better be good.) “I just bought a puppy from a breeder.” He was right. I didn’t approve. But we had never talked about it, so his sense of my disapproval came from more subtle sources. He knew that all my dogs were rescues and that I volunteered for rescue organizations. And most important, he felt there was a contradiction between rescuing animals and buying them from breeders. He was defensive because he had knowledge that he did not act on. (Sidenote: Although in general I do not approve of bringing more puppies into the world, I don’t believe that there is always a contradiction between breeding and rescue. I have learned about some breeders I respect a great deal, who rescue and foster and promote rescue and in general do a great deal of good for animals. But I don’t think my colleague went to that kind of breeder.)

His guilt and my disapproval are not getting us anywhere. We both love dogs. What can we do to close the gap between us? And more important, to close the gap between the dogs who need good homes and number of good homes looking for them? As my grandmother used to say, “you catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.” Being judgmental does not change minds, hearts, or – most important – actions.

Here’s what I have learned from years of studying these issues in the context of environmental practice: We have to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing harder. It has to be easier to ride your bike to work and harder to park your SUV. (Sorry. It’s true.) And the right thing has to be not just easy but intrinsically rewarding, e.g., fun and meaningful. So it has to be not just more convenient but more enjoyable and rewarding to get a dog from a rescue or shelter than from a pet store.



Like all our battles, this one has to be fought on many fronts. There are a lot of great initiatives that work well to bring people into shelters and rescue organizations who would not otherwise have looked there for a pet. Some of the most effective strategies include off-site adoption events, foster volunteers who are also adoption advocates, and training and followup support for adopters. Studies show that positive images are more effective - happy pictures that let people imagine an animal as part of their family are more effective advertisements than sad "prison" pictures of miserable animals.

We know how big the gap is between what animals need and what they get from us. The answer is always the same: it takes a village. It takes creativity and dedication, evident in Beth's amazing pictures. It takes struggles on many different fronts and appreciation for the contributions every one of us makes.

Some of my best friends are pit bulls

One of the things I love most about pit bulls is that they surprise us in so many ways. Most of all, they surprise people who think that dogs who look like pit bulls are vicious and anti-social. They challenge the stereotypes simply by being individuals, by showing the same range of variations as all dogs. Turns out they’re just dogs – not monsters, not killing machines – just dogs. Maybe a little wigglier than average, but isn’t that a good thing?

The gap between the stereotype and the real dog is why people who adopt pit bulls often become such strong advocates for them. This is why there are so many amazing pit bull advocacy groups. Lots of folks love Golden Retrievers, but no one needs to go to bat for them. They’re not banned in many cities and killed in many shelters because of the way they look. Pit bulls are just as lovable, and they need us so much more.

While pit bull advocacy groups vary a great deal, they share a constant refrain: we have to counter, publicly and repeatedly, the prejudices that make people think that they know all about a dog because of the way he or she looks. They remind us, again and again, that “Dogs are individuals” and that “Stereotypes victimize.”

Obviously, stereotypes victimize not just dogs but also people, including people with pit bulls. One of the reasons these dogs are feared, hated, and attacked even more than other types of dogs labeled “dangerous” is because pit bulls, unlike German Shepherds, Dobermans, or Rottweilers, are strongly associated with working class and poor people. Thus the folks at PETA say that “nice people don’t go to the shelter to adopt pit bulls.” What they mean is that middle-class white people don’t go to the shelter to adopt pit bulls.



But it happens: some “nice people” go against expectations and adopt short haired, muscular dogs with big jaws. We fall head over heels in love with them. We are surprised and hurt and angry when people tell us that our dogs are scary or that we must be brave (i.e., stupid) to have one of those dogs in the house with our children. We fight back by telling the world that our dogs do not fulfill the stereotypes. We believe, in the words of another great BAD RAP slogan, that “my dog will change your mind.”

Loving pit bulls is not just about changing other people’s minds. They can help us enter a world in which people surprise us too. Some not so nice looking people love their dogs and want to do right by them. Their version of “right” may not be the same as ours, and we may feel very strongly that they are wrong. Sometimes, as Donna Reynolds of BAD RAP puts it, “We have to put blame and judgement aside and value the bond every pet owner deserves to have with his pet, even if he has to make decisions that more privileged dog owners might disagree with” (http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/2011/11/grateful-for-everyone-who-steps-outside.html)

There are a lot of good lives for a dog, as for a person. Not even the people who look like us treat their dogs exactly as we would. We disagree about a lot of things – are crates a good idea, should dogs be allowed to sleep on the sofa or eat people food, should we go to dog parks, what training methods to use, do dogs even need training, and much more. The vast majority of the differences fall happily onto the continuum of “various things done by good people who love their dogs.”

This doesn’t mean anything goes. But when we believe change is necessary, are we helping make it possible?

Dogs Deserve Better is dedicated to bringing dogs off chains and into the heart of family life. DDB sometimes removes dogs from their current homes, with legal support if necessary. However, they always try first to educate the family about why chaining is bad for dogs and people. And they provide support – fence building, education about house training and crating – to make make positive changes possible. Surprisingly often, it works. Some former dog-chainers have even become DDB volunteers, helping teach others that there’s a better way.

BAD RAP offers vaccination and spay/neuter clinics in low-income neighborhoods. People line up hours early to get a place in these clinics.

That’s what social change looks like. It requires so much -- expanding the pool of people who adopt rather than buy; who adopt pit bulls, or black dogs, or big dogs, or old dogs; who train their dogs rather than abandon them when the going gets tough. It also requires us to help, rather than just judge, people want to do right by their dogs but may not know better or, even if they do, may not have the resources to make changes.

We are lucky to have had our minds and hearts altered by some amazing dogs. We are lucky to have great examples of ways to make social change. And we are lucky to have a great community of people trying to make life better for more animals.