HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Photo via ABC News

Renae and Junior Biggs were well known “Dog Parents” to five Pit Bull ambassadors who were gentle examples of their breed. The dogs Kilo, Alexus, Angel, Romeo, and Dre frequently appeared at events and in parades. Renae needed surgery to remove a mass in her breast, and the couple withrdrew the money to pay for it at the hospital. Prior to the surgery date, the couple went to the pet store to buy food.

When they returned, their home was in flames and their beloved pets were pulled out of the fire and had succumbed to smoke inhalation. This couple lost their home, their family and the money that now caused Renae’s surgery to be canceled.  A ChipIn widget has been set up to help them through this crisis. You can contribute by PayPal or credit card through the secure widget. If you prefer, an address has been set up to accept gift card and check donations:

Biggs Five
P.O. Box 2141
Lutz, Fl 33559

Several locations in the St. Petersburg area are collecting donation of toiletries and clothing for the couple.

Drop off locations:

• Groovy Cats & Dogs,
  10213-B Lake Carroll Way
  Carrollwood, FL 33618
• Tires Plus (Tyrone Square Mall)
• Natural Paws
  10712 Countryway Boulevard
  Tampa, FL 33626
• Hillsborough County Animal Services
  440 Falkenburg Rd.
  Tampa, Fl. 33619
  attn: Sgt. Pam Perry
• Downtown Doggie Center
  1825 5th Avenue North
  St. Petersburg, FL 33713

Breed Specific Legislation, or BSL, is an all too common phrase these days. Some communities ban dogs, not on a case by case basis, but by breed.  The most common breeds listed are Pit Bulls and Rottweilers.  Some areas do not allow other guardian and working breeds such as the Doberman and the German Shepherd.  As I am sure many of my readers can attest, there are many dogs of these breeds who are trusted family companions and suffer unnecessarily when they are lumped into a category of dogs unfortunately led astray by neglectful or ignorant owners. As they say, “Ban the Deed; Not the Breed.”

If you would like to help dogs who have had it rough get a break, and are not in the position to adopt, there is a chance to give some deserving Pitbull pups a good start in life. They will be vaccinated, spayed, and neutered and placed in a rescue known for carefully matching each dog to just the right family for them.  These Pit Mix puppies just need a little help from you. By donating to Saving Shelter Pets, Inc., you help these kids and pups like them get a good start. You see, they have been targeted for help because they are an unexpected, unwanted litter.  They were headed to a rural Georgia animal control facility where they don’t stand a chance.  On top of that, Mom and the other housemates will be spayed and neutered, making them easier dogs for their family to take care of.

If you want to specifically donate to help the pups you see in the picture, note in your donation that it for Rescue #82, and you would like the money to go to the Pit Mix pups. To donate, you may use the paypal address fundraising @ savingshelterpets.com or follow additional instructions on the SSP donation page.  There are 5 of them. For a donation of $50 per pup, they are vaccinated, quarantined, and transported to a rescue where a home is waiting (of course they will be payed or neutered at the appropriate time.)  Their mother (and other adult dogs and cats at the home) is spayed as well.  $75.00 has been donated so far, with $175.00 left to go!

Submissions for the 2011 Pinups for Pitbulls Calendar are being accepted starting June 1, 2010.

Pinups for Pitbulls raised over $19,000 in 2009. Funds raised were donated to helping individual urgent dogs and to Pitbull rescues doing great work to save abandoned and abused dogs.  The group also raises awareness of breed specific legislation.

Founded in 2006 by Deirdre “Little Darling” Franklin the group publishes a yearly calendar of vintage styled pinup girls posing with rescued pitbulls.  The images often recreate or at least evoke classic images of the 40s and 50s and the calendar is “PG rated.”  In other words, its something you could hang at work.

When entering, you aren’t just auditioning as a dog/pinup pair, the photo has to be a finished product. Models must be 18+ or older and female. All body types accepted.  Styling, such as hair and makeup must be appropriate to the era.  Photos may include dogs of other breeds if a group of dogs is in the photo, but the pitbull must be featured.

For complete list of guidelines, Click HERE.

There is a campaign on Facebook that begs the question: Can This PitBull Get More Fans Than Michael Vick? Michael Vick managed to muster up 223,996 Facebook fans on what looks like his official fan page, and so far, the Pitbull has over 117,000 fans, but needs double that to surpass Vick. While this effort may not change the world, it is something quick and simple you can do. It seems that there is the ability to connect with other folks who believe in Punishing the Deed and Not the Breed.  The atmosphere is less about tearing down Vick than it is creating something positive.

While right now, nobody is doing any  sport betting, nor has any gainful stake in the outcome, but just for personal satisfacton, many would like to see the Pittie rock and roll to the top. If you have a few spare seconds today, why not invite everyone on your friend’s list to participate? If everyone just invited a few, then perhaps a peaceful statement will be made. Of course, the world does not revolve entirely around Facebook. Just ask the young lady who agreed to name her baby “Megatron” if her brother found 1,000,000 million people who agreed it should be so. Poor girl.

These sweet puppies are all Pit Bull mixes. They are all hoping to go on a special ride that will take them to a rescue, not a shelter. They need your help to do it. They are hoping that you will bid on an item at the Spring 2009 Saving Shelter Pets auction. There is even a special auction item that will allow you to specifically help a puppy that is sitting in this very little wagon. The bidding begins at $20.00, with a $50.00 Buy It Now Price. $50 will provide one of these pups with shots, a safe place to be quarantined to be sure they are healthy (or they will stay behind until they are), transport to a reputable, often foster based rescue. Mom and the rest of the adult dogs and cats at the house will also be spayed, to prevent more unwanted litters that are county pound bound.

CLICK HERE to specifically bid on the sponsorship of one of these little tykes.

Blue is one of the “calendar girls” in Saving Shelter Pets’ annual calendar. Money raised goes towards their wonderful programs that fund pulling deserving animals from their last day at kill shelters, to proactive solutions like spay and neuter programs and the Puppy Promises program that keeps puppies out of shelters.

I know this is your second reminder this week, but I forgot to mention that the last day to preorder is DECEMBER FIRST. This calendar is not just for a good cause, but it is printed on high quality stock just like the kind you buy at the mall kiosks and the ones done by the big companies. The pictures are beautiful, and everyone in the calendar is a life that almost was ended too soon. All of these sweet dogs are now in loving families.

At left, Blue is a beautiful young blue and white pit bull with a wagging butt and a love of children. She was just way too special and her personality caught the attention of a volunteer at a very overcrowded shelter. In that particular town, owning a pitbull is illegal, so she couldn’t be adopted to local residents. She would have been euthanized with no reprieve unless an out of county rescue took her. SSP intervened, had her spayed and healthy and transferred her to a rescue where she ws quickly spotted by a loving family. What a great wags to riches story!

Here is a link to order a calendar of your own: http://www.yearbox.com/ssp/

A few days ago, I posed a challenge to you all to see if you could Spot the Pitbull. The reason for my challenge was that most people who say that they don’t like Pit Bulls (everyone is entitled to their own breed preferences which is perfectly fine), and even go to lengths to Support breed specific bans in various localities don’t even know what a Pit looks like. Not only do breed brains rip loyal, sweet, well trained family dogs from loving and responsible owners who just happen to be Pit Bulls, but it also targets dogs that do not have a drop of the breed in them. Often times, many people see a dog that has similar markings/coat pattern and assume it is a Pit Bull also. Some are very closely related breeds, but sometimes they are really far off.

The Pit Bull is a medium sized dog, not a large breed.  Two of my readers mentioned that they took the test and their commentary creates an interesting juxtaposition that really proves the point of what folks against BSL (breed specific legislation) site as opposition to it.

Colleen took the test. Read about Colleen’s results HERE.   She mentions that her neighbor owns a Pit Bull, but is a very large dog/has a different body.   Indeed, Pits are NOT large breed dogs, but mediums.   In the past decade or two, people have been breeding them larger and larger so they are a very far cry from breed standards, or are crossing in much larger dogs like a Cane Corso or Mastiff to give them the larger stature.    She also mentions that this dog is unneutered has attacked her neighbor.   If you look at statistics on bite cases, you will see a pattern that clearly shows that unneutered dogs are involved a much higher percent of the dog attacks than dogs that are “fixed.”   Much of their wandering tendency and their tendency to get in a scrap with whomever gets in their way when they sense a female are curtailed when neutered.

Deatren took the test and  .   HERE,   She is an “aunt” to two very loveable Pit Bulls. In the future, I hope that she shows a picture of them!    She thinks that Breed Specific Legislation works on the “one bad apple principle” and its such a shame to penalize loving dogs.    When a dog is part of the family, is kindly cared for, including being neutered, the behavior of the dog is much different.

Dogs, no matter the breed, as a domestic animal, depend on us for their care.  Also, as a pack animal, they look to us and take our lead.   No matter the breed, if a dog is given love, proper care, and clear limits and boundaries, they become a good canine citizen.  Unfortunately, when we don’t, the dog takes the bad rap.  They don’t often look up the leash and consider that their owner may be the one to blame.

There are some very nice Pit Bulls this week that are desperate for homes.  This boy exhibits the typical triangular head of the Pit Bull terrier.  It is kind of obscured with his wide white markings.  This handsome brindle with a white face was treated kindly at one time, as he loves pretty much everyone.   Unfortunately, he has spent some time as a stray.

He is maybe a year, year and a half old at the most, and would thrive in a good home.  He is doing well interacting with the other dogs at the shelter.  He is living on borrowed time at the shelter, and his time is up this friday.  He was supposed to be seen by an adopter, so was held over last time but they never came.

His id number is 42508.   Shelter address:
Heard County Animal Control Center
11818 Ga Hwy 100
Franklin, GA 30217
Phone: 706-675-3570

I have bookmarked this test and have referred to it for at least a year now, so I thought it was high time to share it.

There are many people who automatically will say that they don’t “like” pitbulls. Everyone is entitled to have their favorite breeds and not prefer others. It is only natural. In my opinion, those of the American Pit Bull Terrier persuasion for the most part are wonderful companions, but I will also admit they are not for every dog owner. No breed is.

What bothers me is that there are people that “don’t like pitbulls” but would never be able to actually identify one. That is how Breed Specific Legislation becomes a witch hunt for any dog between 30 and 55 lbs who is perceived to be a pit bull, regardless if they actually are. Not knowing what a particular type of dog actually looks like? This is not only a problem for a dog whose identiy is mistaken, but also for volunteers who hold a dog’s life in their hands. An inaccurate breed identification could very well doom a shelter dog, as that breed rescue might never have been contacted, nor would someone find them who is searching on Petfinder or Pet Harbor.

Can you Spot the Pitbull?

Take the test HERE and let me know how you did!

I’ll post some results later.