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| Lady and her life's blood spilt by a LHS adopted pit bull Is it humane to adopt out predatory pit bulls that kill our pets? |
The three attacks that made it to the news:
2014 Pit bull taken onto public transportation in Portland OR immediately killed a pomeranian inside the street car in front of horrified passengers. Police tracked the pit bull's history by means of a microchip and discovered that it had been adopted from the Longmont Humane Society TWICE. LHS was aware that sometimes the pit bull didn't get along with other dogs when they adopted it out.
2013 Longmont Humane Society places pit bull that had been designated "dangerous" in another county in foster care in the community of Longmont because they felt they had "rehabilitated" it. It then attacked a dog and a person, just as it had done several times before. Longmont may be the first Humane Society to be fined for allowing a dangerous dog to attack.
2012 A Longmont pit bull killed small dog being walked on a leash. The pit bull had been recently adopted from the Longmont Humane Society. Apparently, the new owner was told that the pit bull had attacked another dog in the shelter, but then they said the pit bull was only "dog selective" when in fact the pit bull has high predatory aggression.
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| Anguished owner of a pomeranian killed by LHS adopted pit bull Is it humane to cause this anguish in a grandmother? |
Sadler seems to have taken Leah Purcell's place as the go to person who can magically rehabilitate aggressive dogs. Leah Purcell was idolized as a magic worker until it was discovered that she had horribly abused pit bulls for years by warehousing all these unadoptable "merely dog aggressive" pit bulls in crates while lying to shelters about their rehabilitation and subsequent happy-ever-after adoptions.
LHS imports quantities of street dogs from Houston as well. In the news report, they claim these dogs do not have behavior problems, and show only puppies of the non-pit bull variety in the news article. If you believe they're not finding or importing pit bulls from the Houston area, I have a boxer mix I want to sell you.
Sadler's program sounds like a wonderful enrichment program that would work well with normal dogs stuck in a shelter for long periods. It centers on creating outdoor playgroups for dogs to run around together burning off energy and interacting with each other. Her theory is that shelters can carefully select compatible dogs who get along together in a group, introduce a less well adjusted dog into the group, and under supervision, allow the socially competent dogs to teach the troublesome dog how to behave. In addition, the program provides individual training for the dogs.
This sounds great as long as the shelter is well-funded, has plenty of competent volunteer trainers and the population of dogs consists of mostly well-adjusted dogs that can't get adopted with only a few problematic dogs. Sadly, Longmont Colorado exists in the real world where most shelter dogs are pit bulls. Even more sadly, Sadler seems to think she can burn off genetically determined predatory aggression as well as extra energy and train away genetically controlled impulses to attack anything that moves. She claims her program allowed Longmont Humane Society to adopt out 92% of their dogs, but neglected to mention how many of those dogs went on to attack, maul, maim or kill pets and people in the community.
She left the Longmont HS shortly before it was slapped with the fine for allowing a dangerous pit bull to attack. She's moved to Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation in New York and runs her Dogs Playing for Life program in which she spreads her techniques around the country. And she is a darling of Nathan Winograd, Maddie's Fund and Animal Farm Foundation support comes with big cash.
Look at the partner shelters!
There's Austin Pets Alive! - When Austin recently went No Kill, Austin Pets Alive partnered with the publicly funded shelter to take the "overflow" of pets and to take the "large dogs with behavior problems", apply Sadler's techniques and adopt those dangerous large dogs into the Austin community. Reported dog bites went up an incredible 35% when No Kill practices were adopted and the focus became adopting out as many pets as possible. That did not stop their shelters from quickly becoming stuffed to the gills.
Reading the comments sections of the various articles on LHS adoptions gone wrong shows Longmont residents are both aware of and sick of No Kill and the superstar Aimee Sadler's program. It is obvious that the people at Longmont Humane Society need some very close supervision and some instruction about what the word "humane" means and how to implement a humane mission for first people, and then pets.
Reported Longmont adopted pit bulls that attacked:
Officer works to send killer pit bull to Colorado
Longmont couple believe attack that left their dog dead is lesson for pet owners
More attacks in Longmont:
Two Longmont pit bull attacks
Pit bull attack leaves Longmont man hospitalized
physical therapy 6 mos after attack
Longmont Police: Pit Bull Attacks Father, Son
Officer shoots, wounds pit bull
Fundraisers to send pit bulls and other dangerous dogs to Longmont CO.
WOOF! LET'S HELP GINGER GET TO LONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY!!
Let's Help Summer Get to Longmont Humane Society!
More attacks in Longmont:
Two Longmont pit bull attacks
Pit bull attack leaves Longmont man hospitalized
physical therapy 6 mos after attack
Longmont Police: Pit Bull Attacks Father, Son
Officer shoots, wounds pit bull
Fundraisers to send pit bulls and other dangerous dogs to Longmont CO.
WOOF! LET'S HELP GINGER GET TO LONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY!!
