It's not a good time to be a pit bull.
In Northern California's Contra Costa and Alameda counties, for example, 60-80% of the dogs in animal control shelters are pit bulls or pit mixes—and they account for 75% of the dog euthanasia.
High-profile attacks have stigmatized pit bulls and reduced the pool of potential adopters.
Some shelters concerned about liability refuse to adopt out pit bulls. Some cities have banned the breed.
But a segment of the population continues to breed pit bulls for financial gain or fighting.
Combined, these factors have created a crisis and, in most communities, animal welfare organizations have not found an effective way to respond.
In Northern California, the East Bay SPCA and Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls (BAD RAP) have joined forces to try new approaches: Pit Bull Hall and Pit Fix are attacking the problem through education, adoption and spay/neuter.
Pit Bull Hall
Pit Bull Hall is part of the East Bay SPCA's Oakland facility. The goal of Pit Bull Hall is to show off and adopt the best of the breed, educate the public about the breed and enhance the pit bull's tarnished image.
Pit Bull Hall is comprised of five dog kennels identified by special signage. SPCA staff feed the dogs, clean the kennels, and provide medical care and spay/neuter surgery. BAD RAP selects, trains, fosters, shows and finds new homes for the dogs.
Maddie's Fund spoke about Pit Bull Hall with Donna Reynolds, Executive Director of BAD RAP, and with the East Bay SPCA's Kirsten Parker.
Q. Donna, tell me about the selection process for Pit Bull Hall.
A. Our dogs all come from high kill shelters in the East Bay. When we have an opening, we visit several of the shelters and look at numerous dogs in our search for a dog that will make a good ambassador for the breed. We typically pull young adults. As far as temperament particulars, we look for dogs that meet the AKC breed standard: Highly people focused, eager to please, great with children, enjoy handling, accept confinement, appropriately submissive, tolerant of other animals. We have no history on 99% of the dogs we select—they usually come in as strays or as custody dogs in abuse cases, or occasionally from fighting busts.
Q. What kind of temperament testing do you do?
A. We conduct our tests outside the dog's kennel -- in a lunch room, supply room or wherever there is space – at the various shelters we visit. We use a variation of the SAFER test, but have developed our own methods for checking dogs' reactions and responsiveness during high arousal. We also do dog-dog tests with other shelter dogs to help us see what kind of limits the dog might have with other animals.
Once the dogs pass our shelter evaluation, they're fostered in home settings for two weeks and are exposed to our pets, our kids and the world at large. If they continue to show solid temperaments, they're moved into Pit Bull Hall and offered for adoption.
Q. What kind of training do the dogs receive?
A. All our dogs receive basic obedience training, crate training, leash work and, if they're in our program long enough, they begin Canine Good Citizen prep training. They're also socialized to other dogs as appropriate and learn good play manners. We do a lot of our recall work and rile/recovery work during play sessions at the Oakland shelter.
Q. How much staff time does your organization devote to Pit Bull Hall each week?
A. We have two part-time trainers and rely on about fifteen trained volunteers to help home and foster new dogs, screen potential families and meet the dogs' needs while at the Hall.
Q. What qualities are you looking for in an adopter?
A. Great adoption candidates are generally as easy to spot as great dogs. They've already done some breed research and they've thought their decision to get a pit bull through very carefully. They tend to have mature, confident personalities and are often as outgoing as the dogs they're attracted to. We don't expect applicants to know everything about the breed, but we want them to show a willingness to learn and to attend some of our training classes. They either own their own home or have a secure rental with an agreeable landlord (we check).
Folks that might not be ready for this breed have bigger challenges such as landlords that won't allow dogs or family members who're not willing to support their breed choice. We routinely decline homes that are looking for a guard dog or a dog that will live out in the yard. On the flipside are the homes who want to love their new pit bull so much that they want to take them on all sorts of off-leash adventures. Pit bull guardians have to understand the responsibilities involved in keeping their dog out of harmful situations. If we sense that a person is just too unrealistic about the breed or too immature to be responsible, we'll encourage them to look at other types of dogs.
Q. Do you make people take classes or a test? Do they have to have a certain amount of strength?
A. We require that new adopters handle the dog in weekly BAD RAP classes before they complete the adoption process. Families with more dog experience can generally go full adoption within a month or two; others may have to wait many months – sometimes up to a year. In the meantime, they care for the dog in their home under our foster home contract. This works out great — we can help folks develop the skills they need to ensure a permanent placement, and we know for sure if we did a good job with the match.
We do match applicants up with dogs that they can physically handle. Senior applicants will generally be led towards smaller, easier dogs. Young people love the more active pit bulls for their active lifestyles.
Q. How much follow up do you provide?
A. Our reps do weekly check-ins when applicants bring their dogs to our classes. All are encouraged to join our online discussion board so we can communicate – almost daily – as they get settled in with their new pet. Post-adoption, we do email or phone check-ins every six months, and then yearly once we're confident all is well.
Because many of our adopters become volunteers, we get the added bonus of seeing the dogs bloom in their new homes long-term. Many of our adopted dogs go on to socialize newer dogs that come into the program.
We have a joke in the group (if you're a Star Trek fan, you'll understand): "Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." The not so funny part is that the political climate is so anti-pit bull right now that our adopters don't tend to disappear once they get their dog from us. At this point in time, most stick very close for the support that the group offers.
Q. Have you had any problems or returns?
A. We adopt out 40 to 50 dogs a year (24 from Pit Bull Hall, the rest through our own program) and generally have about one or two returns a year. Divorce or marital problems have been our biggest reasons for returns. To prevent owner returns due to moving challenges (it's next to impossible to find a rental that will accept a pit bull), we work closely with any of our adopters that have to find new housing by providing coaching (my husband and I are dog friendly landlords, so that helps!) and letters of recommendation to help pave the way to a good, solid, pit bull-friendly lease.
Q. Have adopters been unprepared for anything they’ve experienced?
A. We're tough as nails about making sure people know exactly what they're getting into before they get a dog from us. The biggest issue that people have a hard time with is the backlash from friends and family who are unwilling to support their breed choice, or worried neighbors or landlords, or just the public in general. A few adopters have reported that they've actually broken off relationships with people in their lives who're unwilling to visit their home once they adopt a pit bull.
Q. Is this program reaching enough dogs and people to make a difference?
A. I don't know. It's our hope that every adopter that walks the planet with their BAD RAP ambassadog can have an impact on the breed in general by curbing breed bias and misunderstanding.
Hopefully, our program will inspire other private shelters to consider a similar ambassador style program. It's the only way we can think of to help save the lives of the most adoptable pit bulls and to educate large numbers of people at the same time.
Q. Kirsten, what prompted the East Bay SPCA to open Pit Bull Hall?
A. The mission of the East Bay SPCA is to find a home for every healthy and treatable in-County dog and cat. Dog intake is way down in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and as a result, the only in-county dogs at risk are either old or pit and pit mixes.
We have always adopted out pit bulls, but we didn't have a good way of doing it before—the dogs would be with us for three months to a year. So we came up with the idea of setting aside a special area to showcase the dogs, educate the public, and find the right pit bull guardian.
Q. How did BAD RAP get involved?
A. We approached BAD RAP because we knew they had expert knowledge of the breed, the skills to properly assess temperaments, and trained volunteers. We had the space, resources and traffic and figured it was a perfect fit. It's clear now that we couldn't have done this without BAD RAP.
Q. What kind of response do you get from visitors?
A. People who come by and look at the dogs are very impressed. Actually, they are so much better behaved than the rest of our population because of all the training and socialization they get. The dogs leave a very positive impression.
There is another benefit as well. Before, if we had three or four pits in one adoption room people would comment about how many pit bulls we had. Now that we have them all in one room, people get a very different impression.
Q. Would you say Pit Bull Hall has been a success?
A. We do about two adoptions per month, but high adoption numbers are not the goal. The Hall has been very successful on a number of different levels:
- It offers a unique approach to achieving the organization's mission of saving all healthy and treatable in-County dogs and cats.
- It provides other shelters with a model for handling pits that is outside traditional norms.
- We hope it will inspire shelters to come up with other new ideas and approaches to solve the pit bull problem.
East Bay Pit Fix
East Bay Pit Fix offers free surgeries for pit bulls, pit mixes, and pregnant pits belonging to residents of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. 1,185 dogs were spayed or neutered in the program's first year.
Festive "Shots Fairs" bring in many of the clients. At least 30% of the people who come to the Fairs have pit bulls. In addition to receiving free vaccinations, dog leashes, collars, and microchips, pit bull guardians can set up appointments for free surgeries. As folks wait in line, BAD RAP volunteers, including at least one Spanish speaker, chat with the pit bull folks, offering training advice and promoting the benefits of surgery. Many decide to get the free surgery; others promise to think about it. Says BAD RAPS Donna Reynolds, "The Shot Fairs give us an opportunity to reach people we wouldn't ordinarily come in contact with. Most are really nice, caring folks who want to do right by their dog. It's just a matter of giving them the information."
