A Pitty Smile Is My Favorite

Two and a half years ago my life took an unexpected turn when I came into the care of 10 precious pit bull puppies. Because of those dang puppies, my focus and life has literally been filled with pit bulls. Before that experience I never thought of dogs as any particular breed. The only dogs my family has ever had were mutts that we rescued from a shelter and one very strange chihuahua that belongs to my grandma. (She's strange but we love her just the same.)

When I decided that I would care and find homes for the pups I had no idea of the road blocks and difficulties that I would face. There were a few that seemed to be the biggest problems.

Problem #1: People want a purebred dog and they want proof.

This was something that was extremely foreign to me. Here I was with these beautiful and adorable puppies and the first question almost everyone would ask is if they were "purebred." The next questions would be if they had "papers" and for those who knew anything about the breed what line they were (blue, red, brindle, etc.)

I had NO IDEA! I had the hardest time understanding this and started to get very frustrated as my search for homes continued.

To my knowledge there were no papers and I had seen both the parents of the puppies and they both looked like pit bulls so they must be "pure." That's what I began telling people and it wasn't enough.

All I REALLY knew was that they were puppies, they were cute, and they needed a loving home.

Problem #2: People don't want pit bulls.

And that is a fact.

Some people politely told me no thank you, most people laughed, and others just said "good luck." I posted those poor little pups on websites like petfinder, made several craiglist postings, and even turned to an ad in the pennysaver.

I tried vaccinating some of them to make the pot a little sweeter and was asking for no money. I was LITERALLY giving them away. I was just looking for loving homes.

The media has done such a wonderful job of demonizing these poor dogs that I couldn't even GIVE puppies away and I have a huge problem with that (but that would be an entirely different post.)

It makes me happy that there are shows emerging to change the perceptions like "Dogtown," or Cesar Milan's "The Dog Whisperer" on National Geographics. "Pitboss" who features Shorty with his therapy pitty Hercules and his wonderful rescue on Animal Planet.

As much as these shows are trying to show that it is simply the owners and the upbringing of the dog there is still a stigma connected with the two words "pit bull" and it makes it very, very hard to adopt them out.

Eventually we did find most of them homes. The whole thing left one behind and for that I'm grateful. The one I decided to keep (mostly because no one wanted her) has been a blessing and has connected me to to an entire world of organizations and wonderful people who have a similar compassion not only for pit bulls, but for all animals.

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Last weekend I was fortunate enough to volunteer with the wonderful organization Angel City Pit Bulls. They run a monthly adoption event every second Sunday at a park in Sherman Oaks. ACPB is a small rescue org that is able to run because of the good hearts of p
eople who lend their homes to foster rescued pits from shelters in the Los A
ngeles and Greater LA area.

I took "J" a long with me because it was his first volunteer experience. He has been on this "pitty" journey from the beginning and I thought he might enjoy seeing some new friendly doggy faces.

This organization is doing an amazing job of finding homes for as many dogs as they can. They put the troubled ones through training and try their best to socialize and house train many of the dogs before adopting them out. They visit the homes and have a two-week "trial" time before the dog is officially placed in the home to make sure that the animal won't end up back in a shelter or on the streets. The goal is to match the perfect dog with the perfect home.

One of the goals for ACPB and many organisations like them is to change the perception of the "vicious" dog that everyone sees in the media. With the proper training and handling these dogs are and can be amazing pets.

We have to remember that it is PEOPLE who train them and who have bred them to be aggressive.

Thank you to Angel City Pit Bulls for one of the best and most welcoming volunteer experiences I have ever had and thank you for all of the amazing work, time, and effort that you put into saving this amazing animal.

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