Pitbulls :(

[Canis-Lupess]

Pitbulls are banned here in the UK but people who do illegal dog fighting still breed these dogs.

It all came to light recently when a dog belonging to a drug dealer mauled his neice to death at home. In the papers, they never state what happened prior to the attack, they just tell everyone how the dog mauled the child to death and people think the dog just decided to get up and go maul the kid for no reason.
It turned out that the dog was pitbull and it was destroyed in the back yard. After this episode, they found a whole load more pitbulls being bred for dog fighting and they took them away, apparently connected to the original guy in some way although he didn't do dog fighting himself, he knew the breeder of the pitbulls found. There was footage of an officer carrying one dog out to the van and its tail was going ten to the dozen, bless the poor thing.

No doubt all of these dogs would have been destroyed for being pitbulls.

It's such a shame that it's often the idiots that are attracted to this type of dog. It isn't the dogs that are dangerous, it is the idiots that too often own them as status symbols.

[borzoimom]

Well it comes back to liability. The shelters are worried about their liability in adopting a breed/ or type if something happens. Our county has done this as well because of several serious attacks from "pitbulls"... If not claimed- they will put them down.. And within town limits, they are now banned..
If you have a "pitbull type"- make sure you microchip so if lost, the dog will be returned..

[luvofallhorses]

Well it comes back to liability. The shelters are worried about their liability in adopting a breed/ or type if something happens. Our county has done this as well because of several serious attacks from "pitbulls"... If not claimed- they will put them down.. And within town limits, they are now banned..
If you have a "pitbull type"- make sure you microchip so if lost, the dog will be returned..

I really don't think they are worried about liability.. we aren't. we say they have to get their rabies shot first thing becuase of the breed.. we are worried about finding the RIGHT home for the dog and do home checks, background checks, and screen the people REAL well. we had a pit bull pup at the shelter where I volunteer and it took awhile to find her a home and not every dog attack is a pit bull type dog. she found a great home with great people who also have a redbone coonhound.

[borzoimom]

I really don't think they are worried about liability.. we aren't. we say they have to get their rabies shot first thing becuase of the breed.. we are worried about finding the RIGHT home for the dog and do home checks, background checks, and screen the people REAL well. we had a pit bull pup at the shelter where I volunteer and it took awhile to find her a home and not every dog attack is a pit bull type dog. she found a great home with great people who also have a redbone coonhound.

I am applaud you for trying to help. The breed club is totally " ostrich with their head in the sand" and doing nothing to help... This is what makes me sick... They have done nothing to eductate owners- the breeders are not screening owners etc..

[luvofallhorses]

yes, I don't think a lot of pit bull breeders screen their homes, but they are mostly the backyard breeders.. responsible pit bull breeders screen their homes if they don't screen them, then they just want money. I think it's VERY important for them to screen the homes when it comes to pit bulls. I think every shelter and rescue should screen the homes like we do, but unfortuantely they are not like us. some shelters just want to get rid of them and could care less if they end up in a good home or not.

[luckies4me]

No, the shelter is animal control for all of Lane County so there are many different types of dogs there. We just expanded our shelter due to donations after it reopened. There are now about 20 more kennels and the outdoor runs all got replaced etc.

We do have pitbulls that are transferred (along with other dogs) to other rescue groups through their second chance program. Some go to Greenhill Humane Society and others go to private organizations so that more of the dogs can be adopted. We have pitbulls everywhere here. They are very common.

All homes for any dog, cat, chicken etc. that gets adopted are screened very very hard!!! Trust me, I know. They house their adoptable cats are my work so they can adopt more out. My friend is the volunteer adopter outer person so to speak. LOL.

The reason why they did the article was to point out that pitbulls are great dogs. They are trying to draw more attention to them as family pets so they can get adopted out quicker. Unfortunately, even most purebreds dogs that wind up at the shelter are euthanized.