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Surrendering Your Dog
***If you are looking to surrender the dog you adopted from It's The Pits, please Contact Us immediately to discuss your options.***
We cannot take in strays or owner surrenders. We pull dogs from shelters after they have been evaluated and given proper medical care from shelter staff.
If you have found a dog:
1. Take the dog to your vet to have them do a courtesy scan for a microchip.
2. Put up found signs and/or create a craigslist posting but don't give every detail about the dog so that when someone calls to claim them, you can make them tell you something about the dog to be sure he/she belongs to them.
3. If it's been a few days and you haven't found the dogs owner, call your local animal shelter to surrender the dog. Get the dogs A# and put your name on them as the finder so that they will call you before euthanizing the dog. This will give you the opportunity to get the dog out and try to rehome them on your own. Being in the shelter for a few days gives them a better chance of being found because some people who lose their pets go straight to the shelter to look. They will also scan for a microchip if you weren't able to get that done at the vet.
4. If you have exhausted all of the above options, you can email info@itsthepits.org, Please include a picture and bio of the dog along with your contact info and we can place them on our courtesy listings while you try to find them a new home.
If you want to surrender a dog that is currently part of your family:
1. Please think about the real reason for why you want to give up your family member. There are solutions to almost every problem.
2. If you can't find a place to live, check out our pit bull friendly rentals . Your best bet is to rent from a private owner as opposed to a management company as they often have breed restrictions. You can also get renters and homeowners insurance that covers your bully breed.
3. If your dog is showing undesirable behaviors, please consult a behaviorist before giving up your dog. Most issues can be overcome with a little effort on your part.
4. If your dog keeps escaping the yard, keep them inside! Bully breeds are inside dogs and love to be with people. In a crate inside a locked house is the safest place for a dog to be when you are gone. Also, if your dog is not yet spayed or netuered , get that done ASAP. Getting a dog spayed or neutered will greatly decrease their desire to escape the yard and look for a mate.
5. If your "work schedule is too busy", "you don't have enough time" or "you can't give the dog what they need", consider hiring a dog walker to come over during the day to let your dog out and get them exercise.
6. If your dog has separation anxiety and is "tearing up the house", consider crating your dog while you are gone. You can also leave the TV or radio on. Get them chew toys they can't easily destroy such as Nylabones or Kongs. Some dogs do better with a playmate - we always need fosters !
7. Remember, you made a committment to your dog when you brought them home. Why are you giving up on them? Dogs only know as much as we teach them, so it is our job to make sure we have happy, well balanced, well behaved dogs. You may think that your dog will find a great home at the shelter but chances are, they won't. Below are a few stories about the truth of surrendering your dog to the shelter system...
Before you surrender your dog to a shelter please think about why you are considering giving up a family member. Are you: having a baby, moving, don't have time for a dog or your dog is acting out. All of these reasons are NOT reasons to surrender your family member. They are managable with a little effort which will save your dogs life. You can contact one of the trainers we work with to discuss how to integrate your dog with a new baby or any behavior issues. Check out our homepage for pit bull friendly rentals. Look into dog walkers or doggie day care if you're away from home for long hours.
The reality is that if you bring your dog to a kill shelter the chances are they won't make it out alive. Every year millions of dogs die in shelters around the country because they cannot find homes. Spaying and neutering is critical to reduce the needless deaths of thousands of pit bulls annually. Depending on what part of the country you are in 60-80% of dogs in shelters are pit bulls or pit bull mixes. In fiscal year 2008/2009 San Diego County shelters (not including, San Diego Humane, Escondido Humane, El Cajon or Chula Vista shelters or any other privately held shelter or facility) euthanized 2,204 dogs. There are very few no kill facilities meaning that shelters and privately held facilities do euthanize for space, they euthanize animals that the public has not shown any interest in and they euthanize animals with minor illnesses that are easily treated. The public is under the misguided impression when they surrender their pit bull to a shelter or facility that they will find a home, in most parts of the country pit bulls do not leave the shelters alive. Which leaves a heavy burden for rescues to save as many dogs as they can. Because of this It's The Pits is not able to take in owner surrenders who were not adopted from us.
If you have a situation you feel is unavoidable and need to rehome your dog but can keep your dog until it finds a forever home please email us a bio and picture of your dog and we will Courtsey List it on our website.
Think about this before you surrender your dog...
Courtsey of United Against Animal Abuse
Dear Mom and Dad,
I died today. You got tired of me and took me to the shelter. They were overcrowded and I drew an unlucky number. I am in a black plastic bag in a landfill now. Some other puppy will get the barely used leash you left. My collar was dirty and too small, but the lady took it off before she sent me to the Rainbow Bridge. Would I still be at home if I hadn't chewed your shoe? I didn't know what it was, but it was leather, and it was on the floor. I was just playing. You forgot to get puppy toys.
Would I still be at home if I had been housebroken? Rubbing my nose in what I did only made me ashamed that I had to go at all. There are books and obedience teachers that would have taught you how to teach me to go to the door. Would I still be at home if I hadn't brought fleas into the house? Without anti-flea medicine, I couldn't get them off of me after you left me in the yard for days.
Would I still be at home if I hadn't barked? I was only saying, "I'm scared, I'm lonely, I'm here, I'm here! I want to be your best friend." Would I still be at home if I had made you happy? Hitting me didn't make me learn how.
Would I still be at home if you had taken the time to care for me and to teach manners to me? You didn't pay attention to me after the first week or so, but I spent all my time waiting for you to love me.
I died today.
Love, Your Puppy
You can't keep your pet? Really?
By a Shelter Director
I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it's dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".
Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don't forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don't spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a "making money issue" and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia's so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right!
I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat).
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this.