It is difficult for those of us who treat our animals as part of the family or our fur kids to understand why thousands of dogs are forced to live out their little lives in miserable conditions. They are considered inexpensive “burglar alarms”, chained up in backyards or pens with little to no socialization, provisions for shelter, basic food/water and in some cases not even a name.

Many cities have cutback or removed any type of Animal Control or Care to contract with larger municipal facilities. The “general public” has little to no knowledge or concern for these types of animals, primarily a bully breed or a bully breed mix. Any type of animal forced to live in these conditions can have a compromised health or temperament and make it difficult to find foster care needed to socialize the animal for adoption. The number of households wanting/willing to adopt a bully breed, even with the sweetest personality, remains very low. If the animal is surrendered to a municipal facility or animal shelter and placed up for adoption, the issue then becomes the length of “in care stay” and not having their mental status become compromised during the process. These types of canines tend to have much longer “in care stay” days at most shelters. Most truly open admission shelters or municipal facilities are filled with pit bull or pit bull mixes, waiting for someone to give them a chance, so they may learn to trust again. There are far worse conditions or situations than offering an animal a humane and dignified euthanasia with someone who actually cared for their well being….as sad as that is for me to say.

Marie Skladd