One of my first posts was with my trainer that I work for at the barn, Rebecca Cushman. She trains horses and fosters dogs for Anderson Valley Animal Rescue, especially Pit Bulls. She her interview was great and very in depth! Shortly after she answered my questions, she was kind enough to forward the interview to the Dog Coordinator at the rescue, Laura. Her interview does not disappoint either!
Me: What made you so passionate about pit bulls?
Laura: I too, fell into the media hype that pits were awful dogs, but then I was asked to foster one. . . yes, I was initially somewhat afraid, but I like a challenge, so, agreed to it. . . he had a sad story, of course. . . I picked him up at the vets, where he had been taken, several days after getting hit by a bus. He belonged to some homeless people who couldn't afford the vet bill, so they didn't take him. . . a friend of mind found out about it, and rescued him. . . he was just over a year, and very wild. I brought him home and thought, "what'd I get myself into?" after a few weeks of recuperation, he was ready to go to mobile adoptions, and I realized that he was such a loving, cuddly boy, I couldn't face giving him up. I remember crying that day, taking him. . . I learned so much from him: that pits are great dogs - loving, want to please, smart - so I decided that I needed to keep him.After that, whenever I'd get pits to foster, they were always so responsive, albeit stubborn, but very smart, and learned quickly. . . and I learned quickly myself - I learned that they are the sweetest dogs, and just want to please, as long as they have a good leader. I learned that people treat them poorly so they can be mean and scary, but that's not really who they are. I wanted to help break that myth. I tell people who're interested in adopted our pits, that they have to be the pit bull ambassadors, and if they can't commit to training, loving, and exercising the pit, they can't adopt it.
Modios, her first pit mix foster, who taught her about Pit Bulls.
He's now 9 years old, and she's had him for 8 yrs.
Me: How difficult has it been for you to change people’s minds about pit bulls? And what obstacles have you faced?
Laura: It's very difficult to change people's minds. I used to try by my words, but I learned that doesn't work, so I use my actions. I'll take a pit to the store or to the bank, and people will want to come up and pet, especially miss piggy, a pit/ridgeback mix, who everyone falls in love with, she's so sweet. People will ask me what kind of dog she is, and when I tell them, they're shocked, and will say, "I thought pits were mean." Miss piggy is very sweet and a bit shy, but she does like attention, and to be petted. One time I had a 10 week old pit puppy, and a woman came up to us at Petco, and wanted to hold her. . . she had the pup to her face, and was loving on her, when she asked what kind of dog it was. . . I told her, and she almost dropped the little thing. . . I said, "moments ago, you were just in love with her, and now that you know she's a pit, you want to drop her. She hasn't changed in those few moments, but you have." The woman agreed, and as we spoke more, she continued to hold the little one, and give it love.
Miss piggy, Her little girl. Rescued about 6 years ago from a back yard
where she was tied up. They were planning on breeding her. . . but Laura
was fortunate to get her out of there!
Obstacles have been mostly the media and the tough guys who walk around with their pits on huge chains. . . people don't want to hear anything that changes their minds a lot of times. They have these stereotypes that they just need to hold on to. I used to try and give a lot of information at adoption day, but, I realized I was blowing hot air, so, now, if people are interested, I talk to them. I also hand out a page from badrap.com, that has true/false questions, and their website, and encourage them to read up on them. . . And what have the majority results been in your efforts? it's hard to say, because most people I talk to are usually passing by Petco. . . I have had success with people who were somewhat interested in pits, wanted to know more, did the research (as required by our rescue), and ended up successfully adopting.
This is tango, a 4 year old pit who used to live with a family until the
landlord decided he didn't want pits there anymore, even though he's
very sweet, and loves kids! Isn't he gorgeous??
Here's an amazing story! Tommy, 4 years old. Ha came in with his litter mates at 6 weeks old, and died during his neutering, but was brought back to life by the vet! He was deaf, blind, and unable to use his limbs. . . but fortunately he recovered, and was adopted out about 3 years ago! He came back to visit this past spring and he's doing really well!
This is Aaron, who Laura had for 1 1/2 years. Very
sweet little boy, who was born with crooked front legs. The rescue got one surgery on him, and he did well. When he was adopted out, the new family decided to go ahead and get a second surgery on his legs, as he was slowing down after play. Unfortunately, he never woke up from the anesthesia. The vet thought he might have had an aneurysm. =(
Me: Approximately how many homes have you found for your foster pits or others from the rescue?
Laura: That's hard to say, as we don't keep those kinds of statistics. All I can say is we adopted out 74 dogs last year. . .no idea how many of them were pits.
Radar, a 3 year old pit we currently up for adoption
Me: What have your challenges or frustrations been as a pit bull owner? More specifically socially, how do strangers react to you or your dogs when you are out and about?
Laura: It really depends on which dog I have. . . as I mentioned, miss piggy is very endearing, and people are attracted to her. . . she's also tan. .. black pits usually don't get a lot of attention. Brindles do sometimes, depending on how well behaved they are, but mostly I get either positive comments, or none at all. Mine are usually pretty well behaved. We have one dog in the rescue that gets very reactive in a crate at Petco at some dogs. . . people see this, and the stereotype is reinforced. It's hard to work with him, as we don't have enough volunteers, so dogs are rotated in and out of crates. He's in a training program we run, and does really well, but, it's a completely different environment. . . of course, he needs to learn that he has to be a good boy in all environments.
Me: Any dog training tips that you can recommend for people seeking to adopt or already own a dog in general?
Laura: Yes! consistency is the key word! even with things that seem unimportant, i.e., making them sit and wait until you release them to go outside the house, or come in. There's a great training program called "nothing in life is free" and that's what it's all about - sit for everything. They learn that you're the boss, and they have to await your command. . . but whatever program you use, you have to do it every single time you have contact with the dog, otherwise, they start to learn they can get away with things. Once you have the dog trained, then you can let up, and not be so rigid. And crate training is a real good tool for you and your dog. . . I used to be against it, but that was before I really knew anything about it.
The rescue's volunteer training group: California conservation corp members
working with the dogs. Molly is in front, then tango, Katie (a cattle
dog mix), Bobby, and Questa, (a husky/shepherd mix).
