WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP IF YOU HAVE AN ADOPTION POLICY?

Examine your policy with an honest assessment of your organization's capacity (financial, managerial, and professional) to select, maintain, and re-home these dogs.

A TRUE AMBASSADOR program……

  1. Chooses TRUE AMBASSADOR candidates with the help of persons knowledgeable about the       virtues and challenges of the breed; while you are becoming an expert:
      (Canine Aggression Research Center and Behavior Evaluation and Placement )
  2. Insures that the population does not exceed your capacity to house and exercise these dogs for       the time it will take to secure responsible homes (Out of the Pits, Inc.);
  3. Spays/neuters immunizes and microchips all dogs in your program;
  4. Educates your staff so that they learn to socialize dogs, when appropriate, with dogs of the       opposite sex;
  5. Provides dogs with human interaction and positive motivational training;
  6. Considers having your dogs earn a Canine Good Citizen or pass American Temperament Test;
  7. Establishes and enforces high-bar adopter criteria
      (Advice from Diane Jessup: Special Needs Dog Evaluation and Placement);
  8. Incentivizes training programs when it considers adopters new to the breed;
  9. Offers post-adoption assistance and referrals and follow-up
10. Monitors the success of the program;
11. Has a community and staff educational component and promotes positive press;
      (Pit Bull Press)
12. Gives a dog his day when you cannot give him back his life (Give a Dog His Day).

A TRUE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM, one dog at a time, is within everyone's reach, and can only reflect positively on the sponsoring organization. It will promote good will with your staff, many of whom are these dogs' strongest advocates. Use the newsworthiness of the "pit bull" to your advantage, to help generate more gifts than the additional expenses involved. If you place even one TRUE AMBASSADOR in a responsible home, the dog itself will be the breed's best ambassador. It will be a small step in returning these dogs to our circle of compassion and meeting our mission of protecting animals against cruelty.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP IF YOU HAVE A NON-ADMISSION POLICY?

Whether or not you admit pit bulls into your facility, please consider your policy with view to how you can reduce the suffering of these dogs.

If you have a non-admission policy, remember that the dogs you don't admit are going somewhere.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN?

a. They may be inhumanely euthanized by an inferior facility
b. They may be taken in and adopted out without proper evaluation and/or without high-bar owner     standards an/or without spaying/neutering.
c. They may be warehoused with no regard to their needs and with no consideration for quality for     life, creating a negative image of the dogs and the shelter.
d. They may be tortured and killed.
e. They may be abandoned by their owners to run loose unsprayed or unneutered.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

a. Maintain a referral list of approved rescues, fosters, and approved open-admissions facilities. Use     Pit Bull Rescue Central as a resource.
b. Explain your policy to the community so as NOT TO BLAME THE DOG WHO IS THE     VICTIM, but in terms of the overpopulation, the shortage of responsible homes, and the current     unavailability of long-term sanctuary.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU ADMIT PIT BULLS BUT DO NOT REHOME THEM?

a. Network with approved rescues, fosters and adoption agencies to select and give TRUE     AMBASSADORS a chance to be re-homed.
b. You can explain your policy to owners and to the community so as NOT TO BLAME THE     DOG WHO IS THE VICTIM, but in terms of the over-population, the shortage of responsible     homes, the current unavailability of long-term sanctuary, and, because you take them in, in terms     of your concern for the safety of these dogs if you simply turned them away.
c. You can consider a "Give a Dog His Day" euthanasia program, when you cannot give him life in a     new home.

Fad breed and special needs dogs pose a unique challenge for the sheltering community. The breeds may change, but the problem of overpopulation and irresponsible and abusive owners and breeders will remain. Pit bulls (not a breed at all but a loose term for a collection of four breeds and legion of look-alikes), when appropriately selected and evaluated, can be responsibly re-homed, and are entitled to the same humane consideration as any other dog.

Now, let's consider

What every non-adopting organization can do.

I.  You can explain your policy so as not to increase inappropriate demand for fad-bred dogs. If those of us closet to the animals characterize a breed as innately vicious and dangerous, not only do we perpetuate an untruth, we, however inadvertently, create demand for such a dog among those who are the least responsible dog owners. When you explain your policies in terms of a shortage of appropriate homes, and couple this with an effort to restore these dogs to their rightful image, you help create the right homes.

II.   Have an educational image program. Involve your community, the local press, and your newsletter. High-light local service dogs, athletes and everyday heroes. Use Pit Bull Press for current positive stories about the breed. Animal Farm Foundation has an historic postcard collection that is available for loan and which will promote interest in the breed.

III.   Have a low-cost spay/neuter program. Better yet, have an uncentivized program.

IV.   Consider starting, one dog at a time, a TRUE AMBASSADOR Program in your organization. There are resources available to help you. Such a program is within everyone's reach, and can only reflect positively on the sponsoring organization. It will promote good will with your staff, many of whom are these dogs' strongest advocates. Use the newsworthiness of the "pit bull" to your advantage, to help generate more gifts than the additional expenses involved. If you place even one TRUE AMBASSADOR in a responsible home, the dog itself will be the breed's best ambassador. It will be a small step in returning these dogs to our circle of compassion and meeting our mission of protecting animals against cruelty.

V.   Consider a Give A Dog His Day Program when you cannot give him life in a new home or sanctuary suitable to his needs.