People can be so cruel...

[Emzyyy]

A friend of mine had a white Pitbull puppy w/ blue eyes dropped off on their porch, very friendly wagged his tail when he saw you, licked you. My friend wanted to keep the puppy but they couldn't because they already had 2 dogs, 4 chickens, who knows how many cats, and 4 horses. So they took to the local animal shelter they asked the woman if she thought they would find it a home. "Yes, he's a puppy he'll prob find a home fairly easy." She asked them to call back at their home if they didn't find a home for it. They came back to the shelter a couple days later and the dog was gone. "Oh yay if found a home!" Is what my friend thinks she asks one of the employees if the dog had found a home. He says "No we put the dog to sleep." My friend asks "Why did you do that?" "It was a pitbull." he answered. Pitbulls aren't even illegal in our area! Plus she asked the woman to call if they didn't find a home for it! How could you be so cruel just because of its breed does not mean its going to bite.

 

[sunnydee]

Unfortunitly, most Human Society's are crammed with unwanted pets. I know the one in my area is always full to capacity. If there is a slight chance that a cat/dog/rat/rabbit/etc would not make a VERY easily adopted pet they put them down.

We do have one shelter south of me that does not put their animals down, yet they are full due to having so many unadoptable pets.

I just wished people would spay and neuter.

 

[waterfowlrescue]

My animal control calls us and asks us to come get something, we always come rigth away and i never turn anything down. More times than i care to talk about we show up and someone just euthanized it. The lady at the front desk tells me "I wasnt the one who killed it so its not my problem" There is no accountability they just pass the buck. You call and leave messages and they dont call back and you never get the same person. You finally get one person to save animals fro you and they leave and a new person shows up.

They have a sign that says if you surrender your dog it will be dead before you leave the parking lot, so you better be sure you want to leave your dog. At leasts its honest.

I cant imagine people work there becuase they dont like animals so it must be an extremely difficult job to have to see so much death. That is why the turnover is so high. Also i know first hand what dealing with the public does to your patience. All the cruelty, siezures and difficult situations they are put into. So I try to cut them some slack as much as I can and just keep making the effort to work with them. I am just thankful too i am not in the dog rescue business.

I did find a pit bull puppy last year too and he was the best dog. He had been dumped at a freeway ramp, or made his way there. He was looking at the cars trying to find the one his human was in. So i think he was lost or was recently pushed out of the car. I always have a big crate in my car so I very nervously called him over and he jumped in. My husband woudlnt let us keep him and I had the hardest time finding him a home. I finally got a rescue a couple hours away to take him. The lady who ran the rescue called me and saif they kept him becuase he was such a great dog, so that was nice to know.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Humane Societies are not intentionally cruel. The old persona of the "Mean ol' dog catcher who is out to kill dogs" is an inaccurate one. People who work in the humane societies care very much.

If you find a puppy, it really is the best thing to try and place the dog yourself if you do not want it killed.

Many shelters are overrun with dogs and very poorly kept. The people do their best for the dogs however they can, but unless you've worked in that environment yourself, you truly cannot understand what people go through. Please, don't assume the shelter was cruel in their decision, unless you have worked in or volunteered for a shelter.

It is a very stressful and emotional job. They care very much and it usually breaks their hearts to see so few success stories. When you work in that type of environment, you start to believe that the dogs would be much better off dead. The world can be so cruel and working or volunteering in a shelter or rescue can really open up your eyes.

I'm so sorry that the story did not go as you hoped. Please take comfort in the knowledge that the puppy will never know what horrors await "pittbulls" in the pits and fights. She will never know what it feels like to be neglected and tied on a chain out in the heat and rain. When it comes to pittbulls, shelters know that the odds are stacked even further against them and sometimes err on the side of safety.

What mostly happened in this case, was either the puppy was sick, they lost track of the paperwork and forgot to call you, or they have issues with pittbulls in your area. By issues, I am talking about dog fighting in the area, pittbulls are illegal, or they may not be permitted to adopt out pittbulls in your area.

Death is not cruel; a life of abandonment, neglect, and abuse is what is cruel in this world.

-Kim

 

[Anny]

I work at an animals shelter. Thankfully and (unthankfully) we are one of the very few shelter in my area that adopt out pit bulls.

The sad thing about it is we can only adopt out pitbulls that will honestly put the best face forward for pit bulls. To keep down on the horrible bad rap that they have. All out dogs go through a temperment test (granted I do not agree 100% on the way we do the test but non the less) if they fail said test, they are not adopted out. It's very hard to see all these perfectly wonderful sweet dogs get put to sleep simply because they don't like cats, or because they are not 100% perfect in the eyes of the test.

Also pit bulls don't get adopted as fast as other dogs. Which means the shelters end up with alot of pit bulls there for a long time. And when people come in and just see pit bulls they some time walk right out. Alot of people love the breed but ALOT of people still think they are scrarey fighting machines. Which is horrible

The sad truth is the office staff in most shelters is over worked under paid and under staffed. Calling back one person that brought in a dog is a hard thing to remember. Most the office people are busy just trying to get adoption paper work taken care of, or vet records up dated. And dealing with many many people surrending or finding dogs and cat everyday. It's not to say they didn't care about you, they just have alot on their plate.

they are just a dog four legs two eyes one heart.

 

[waterfowlrescue]

They have actually classified a disorder called compassion fatigue for people who do rescue work. I am reading a really good book from the humane society right now that focuses directly on animal care workers and preventing it.

Compassion fatigue, also known as a Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a term that refers to a gradual lessening of compassion over time. It is common among victims of trauma and individuals that work directly with victims of trauma. It was first diagnosed in nurses in the 1950's. [1]

Sufferers can exhibit several symptoms including hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, and a pervasive negative attitude. This can have detrimental effects on individuals, both professionally and personally, including a decrease in productivity, the inability to focus, and the development of new feelings of incompetency and self doubt.[2]​

 

[maplesky7]

I've been on the side of knowing and loving a very well behaved pit...with a responsible owner.

And I have been the victim of a pit attack...unprovoked, coming home late at night and the dog lunged at my face...thank God, I knee'd it, grabbed it's choke collar and twisted the collar in my hand making it tight and held the dog with a straight arm and walked to my screen porch door, opened it and walked in and let go of the dog...shutting the door as fast as I could and on his head...finally shutting it but it was screen so the dog was head butting the screen trying to get into me and I was fumbling my keys trying to find my house key...

It was like an image from a scary movie...cujo-esque.

I had bite marks on the sides of my face and when I called the pound they asked where I was and said they already had 3 calls that night on the same dog but every time they came out it alluded them.

Unfortunately in my younger years...this apt. was in blue collar part of town but just a jump skip away from the drug dealer part of town. So you know who ever's dog it was, it was trained to be a vicious dog.

I knew somewhat the dog had a playful aire about him but I wasn't taking any chances and tried to ignore it when it approached me. but it just kept getting in front of me and then it lunged at my face.

it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad the Lord was with me.

Responsible people make for trained pets who can be controlled and a joyful experiance.

me,
g

 

[dogzrule5]

Quote:
Shelters and rescue groups stay full 365/year. Spaying and neutering is the only way to help get this problem half way under control. I don't think we'll ever get there though.

It's very sad that the innocent puppy was put to sleep w/o even getting a chance.

 

[MagsC]

How sad. I know most pitties usually get a bad rap. When I was living out in the boonies in Texas with five little kids, we always had a pit bull. They returned our loyalty a thousand and more times over.
Being responsible, spaying and neutering, as stated is the only solution to a very overwhelming problem.

 

[Mycookoonest]

My neighbors cats have about 4 litters a summer... it drives me nuts! She gets rid of them easy enough through the paper but still they are breeding brothers and sisters with mothers and fathers.

I just picked up my Bella today from her spay... I just think if you have animals you need to be responsible for them... it's a shame that not all animals can find homes, GOOD homes.