A few weeks ago, I was touched to receive this message from one of our participating rescue groups – “We are starting to pull puppies in anticipation for My Furry Valentine”. For those of you who don’t understand the relationship between rescues and shelters, let me take a moment to explain why this is a big deal.
Shelters typically do not have the space and resources to care for newborn puppies. They and their mother must be kept together for 8 weeks before the puppies are old enough to be weened and can be made available for adoption. Given the constant rotation of animals in and out of valuable kennel space, keeping a litter of puppies for two months in a run where other adoptable dogs should be housed throws a wrench in the whole system. Foster families and rescue groups are generally the only way out of the shelter for a pregnant mom and her babies. So hearing that a rescue group was pulling puppies – puppies that were not ready for adoption at the time but would be by the time My Furry Valentine rolled around – puppies that they otherwise would not have taken into their rescue because they could not commit to fostering another litter without the knowledge of an upcoming BIG opportunity to find homes for a lot of animals – literally meant that those puppies were saved because of My Furry Valentine.
That news made my heart sing.
So when I got another message, this one stating specifically, “Sarge is alive because of My Furry Valentine”, you’d think I’d be doing cartwheels. And I was, initially, until I heard the back story. You see, Sargent is a mixed breed dog with the misfortunate of “looking” like a “pit bull type” dog in a rural county shelter. Not that I have anything against pit bulls, mind you. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Pit Bulls are amongst my favorite breeds because of their loyalty, smarts, trainability, energy, sociability and willingness to please. And I’ve got a soft spot for them, too, as one of my beloved childhood dogs was “Moose the Pit Bull” – long before we even knew what a “pit bull” was.
But these days, a lot of people have do something against pit bulls. And being a “pit bull looking dog” in a county shelter is just about the most dire situation a dog can find himself in. Pit bulls are amongst the most misunderstood and maligned breeds around. And while “pit bulls” are currently the number one bred dog in the United States, it is ironic that they are also one of the hardest breeds to find homes for, with only 1 in 600 successfully finding a “forever” home.
Sadly, for every 1 “pit bull” placed in a loving home, 599 are killed.
Meet Sargent, currently at the Pike County Dog Pound in Waverly, Ohio. He is one such dog facing these unsurmountable odds. In his county, he is not easily adoptable as would be a “non-pit bull dog”. Special circumstances would need to be arranged and approved, and he cannot be listed on their shelter’s webpage. In their experience, there are lot of people coming in to the shelter with the wrong intentions and they just aren’t equipped to do the necessary home visits and adopter screenings, so his chances of leaving the shelter are greatly diminished. For most homeless pit bulls around the country, the death sentence is almost always automatic. Thankfully, Sarge has some advocates in Pike County. Shelter staff have quickly come to love this boy and have described Sarge one of their “all-time favorite pound dogs”. So they decided to do something about it. Enter Pike Pet Pals. PPP is an approved 501(c)(3) organization that assists getting dogs out of the Pike County Dog Pound. They provide vaccinations, vet care, cleaning supplies, dog food and other supplies for the pound and transport dogs all over Ohio to approved rescues. Pike Pet Pals is participating in My Furry Valentine this weekend and will be bringing some of the shelter dogs with them. Including Sarge.
But here’s the catch. “Sarge is alive because of My Furry Valentine”. But if he doesn’t get adopted or transferred to a rescue group this weekend, there will be no welcome mat waiting for Sarge upon his return as a shelter dog. He is not eligible for adoption through the shelter, without jumping through some major hoops. My Furry Valentine is his best hope of getting out of the shelter system alive.
“Saving just one animal won’t change the world. But surely the world will change for that one animal.” ~ Author Unknown
Please come out to meet Sarge at My Furry Valentine. He’ll be there on Saturday with Pikes Pet Pals at Booth #38. They are participating just one day so he won’t be there on Sunday. We are just hoping that Sarge leaves the building on Saturday in a different car than which he came. We imagine him waking up on Sunday morning in the arms of someone who will love him and give him the life he deserves. Please share his story to help make this dream a reality.
