If you’re considering adopting a dog anytime in the foreseeable future, you might consider helping to counteract a terrible trend at animal shelters: large dogs with black coats, when given up for adoption, are euthanized at a much higher rate than smaller or fairer-coated dogs, essentially because the public have an irrational fear of them.
“‘Please don’t overlook our black dogs,’ rescue groups pleaded on their home pages above pictures of Rottweilers, Chows and Labs sporting bright bandannas. One shelter’s website just came right out with the grim truth: ‘The general public is not aware of how doomed black dogs are when they are brought to a pound.’…
“Most black dogs have to rely on shelter staff and volunteers to steer potential adopters their way. And indeed, many shelters take extra steps to make black dogs more adoptable, according to Kate Pullen, director of animal sheltering issues at the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C. Teaching the dogs tricks, putting placards on kennels highlighting the dog’s personality (‘I may just be a black dog, but I know how to balance a biscuit on my nose.’), making sure multiple black dogs aren’t kenneled next to one other — anything to catch the eye and imagination of potential adopters.
“‘I’ve had to turn away many black dogs because I can’t fill the place up with them,’ says Jill Wimmer, shelter manager at PAWS Atlanta, that city’s oldest and largest no-kill shelter.’ And every one I turned away had a great temperament.”
Sorry, just a little bit of off-topic editorializing there.
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