Briana's Senior Blog: A Little More Extra Perhaps?

March has been quite the month for me. Even if volunteering at a shelter seems uneventful sometimes there are great stories that can be told and for me those stories happened this month. I love my shelter and I can't say it enough and I love all the animals even more. From the Chihuahuas to the Pit Bulls, they are all great animals and I can't wait until they find their forever home and it makes me so happy knowing that I can help them find it. The days for me at the shelter start off as any other day I go in. I grab my key, log into the computer, check my locker, grab my badge and look into all the puppy rooms to say hello to all the doggies. I look at all the doggies we have not only to see if the same puppies are there but also to see what kind of new breeds came in, this way if a potential adopter comes in, which has one time, asking if we have a certain breed I can answer their question with ease and lead them to the dog they are interested in. On March 23, there were so many cute doggies! I was in love with all of them but then again when do I not fall in love with all of them. I said hello to Val and Bell. Both of them are Pit Bull Terriers but Bell is a mix. I love them so much and they are the sweetest dogs I know, I just wish I could take them out on walks but they are to strong for me. I do pet them for a while though. Anyways, I saw this man with a little boy and I walked up to them and asked they if there was anything I could help them with. At first I noticed the man's accent and thought to myself maybe he spoke Spanish so I replied to him in Spanish but he didn't say anything, leaving me to think maybe he was Italian. After a while later talking with him I finally asked if he spoke Spanish because we were outside with a German Shepard that his son wanted to meet and pointed at a wood pecker and said mira, which means look in Spanish. It took a while for me to ask him but I got it. He told me how he lived in Ranch Cucamonga and how he went to their shelter looking for a German Shepard because that is what his son wanted. When he got there and asked for one the shelter declined him the ability to adopted. I was astonished at this because yes I know some shelters do this but as he kept talking he told me they kept asking how many hours they would play with the dog, what is the dog going to sleep on and where. When he replied that the dog would be staying in the backyard they responded by saying that type of dog does not stay outside. Again I understand why some of these questions are necessary for some shelters to ask to adopters but to tell an adopter they can not adopt with these types of questions is something I cannot understand. In my opinion if an adopter would be declined, in this case, because they are worried that a young child may be hurt by a big dog such as a German Shepard is after determining whether or not they know how to handle such an animal. I believe the questions that should be asked would be: is this your first dog, have you had any experience with large animals before, how many dogs have you had before. These types of question will be able to give an insight on how much knowledge the adopter has on dogs and whether or not they are capable of taking care of a large dog. At the end of the day I was able to show them a dog they liked and was interested in buying but they shelter was closing they were not able to receive any information, I just hope they come in again asking for the dog. On another note, I went into the kitty room. I hardly go into that room and this time I went in to interact with some of the cats there. I saw this really cute and I wanted to pet him. He was so cute and he was purring so much, at one point he put his front paws on my chest while he kept is back paws on the floor of his kennel. He started to rub is check across my face, it was completely adorable and I couldn't stop laughing and when I least excepted it he bit my nose! Talk about battle scars. He was to cute to stay angry with anyways. So those are just two stories that has happened to me at the shelter and I would write more but this post is already long enough.

Another thing I would like to write here, and I know it is not part of my topic, is about the awareness of Pit bulls. The fist thoughts that come up when a pit bull is mentioned is aggressive and dangerous. However, I believe these thoughts should not come up when considering a pit bull for adoption. The truth is that pit bulls are really great dogs, they can be trusted. It has been show in a temperament test that Pit Bulls score the highest at a 85% followed by the Golden Retriever. Also the reality is that Pit Bulls do not have the same chances as other dogs in shelters. On average the intake of Pit Bulls and Pit mixes is around 33% nationally. In large cities it is around 40-65%. Around 75% of these dogs that enter municipal shelters are put to sleep immediately, they do not receive a chance at adoption. Also when a shelter is experiencing overcrowding Pit Bulls are chosen to go first. Per year, studies estimate that around 1 million Pit Bulls are euthanized. Also an organization Animal People did a study that reports a 93% euthanasia rate for these dogs and that ONLY 1 in 600 Pit Bulls find a forever home. Sadly it is because of the unwillingness of the people of wanting to adopt these beautiful dogs and the many dogs that go unfixed. The need to educate the public on spaying and neutering is essential to help lower the number of dogs that are not finding there homes because there are to many. Please before you begin to say Pit Bulls are an aggressive breed inform yourself about the facts, they are truly beautiful and kind dogs. I volunteer with some and I love them so much, help me find their forever homes!
http://www.examiner.com/article/pit-bulls-and-euthanasia-rates