With all of the bad news coming across my computer screen every day, I am thrilled when I see a story like the one about Hartford, Connecticut. Not too often do you see a community, a shelter and the media working together to save lives and especially not pit bull lives. If only more people would take a page from this city's book and help their local animal care facility.
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/22-desperate-conn.-dogs-all-find-homes#
Too often, the shelters think the dogs and cats are property of that facility and treat the public like an unwanted intruder. I know firsthand how that feels. I have spent years dealing with shelters who do not and will not work with rescues and the public. I have answered many a call from a concerned citizen who took a stray pit bull to the local pound for lack of anywhere else to go. There are no resources for these dogs. So frequently, the caller is upset because they've been told the dog is out of time and failed his/her temperament test. I will hear time after time, "The dog was so friendly and gentle. He played with my dog and let me pick him up."
I'm not saying that these shelters are wrong about every dog, but landsakes, there couldn't be that many vicious dogs in population. In my book, Pit Bull Nation, I talk about the number of dogs who fail temperament tests in these shelters. If that many dogs are that vicious, you would need to quarantine the entire city.
I am happy today for these dogs and the town that saved them.
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