Plenty of Pit Bulls is a group of dog-loving volunteers with the goal of helping save the lives and improve the quality of life of dogs in our community. We focus on dogs labeled “pit bulls,” a broad category that includes about 40% of the dogs in Alachua County. We concentrate on pit bulls because breed prejudice makes them less adoptable and subject to high rates of abuse, neglect, and abandonment. We also just love these dogs, for their playful, affectionate natures and generous hearts. Many of us live with pit bulls who are family dogs, agility dogs, therapy dogs, bed warmers, and sources of endless love and fun. We also learn from the many local and national pit bull advocacy groups. We always love to talk about dogs – please ask!
Helping dogs requires many different tasks and many people with different skills and passions. We celebrate the many people and organizations helping animals in our community, including staff and volunteers at Alachua County Animal Services, private no-kill rescues, and spay/neuter programs such as PetSnip and PitNip. We are not affiliated with any particular organization but work with many. Our aim is not to replicate or replace their activities but to complement and support them by filling gaps.
One of our primary activities is helping to move dogs out of the county shelter and into no kill rescue groups, foster homes, and permanent adoptive homes. To bring dogs into rescue, we have built a network of foster homes that are available to any rescue group that is willing to take a particular dog from the euthanasia list into their program. This differs from most foster programs, because we work with a variety of rescue groups to match animals in need with appropriate temporary homes. We have a generic foster application that is accepted by a number of local groups. We always need new foster homes!
In addition to the foster network, we have a “Pull a Pittie” Fund to sponsor dogs placed on the euthanasia list at the shelter. Rescue groups must pay a “pull fee” to remove animals from the county shelter, which is usually $45 in Alachua County. Most of the funds have come from individual volunteers, but to increase our ability to sponsor dogs, we have begun fundraising.
However, rescue does not end with the pull! Once dogs make it out of the shelter and into a foster home, they still need to find permanent adopters. We try to help rescue groups match adoptable dogs with the right adopters through events, publicity, and networking.
We always need volunteers and good ideas.