Lovin' on pit bulls in Hayward

The rain gave us a break last Saturday so we could finally do our spring 'Celebrate Your Pit Bull' public outreach event. This was the first time we've done an event in Hayward, and we were excited to see who would show up with their pit bulls.

The Hayward Animal Shelter staff rolled out the red carpet and helped make this a very positive event. Clients gathered up for free shots, microchips, s/n vouchers, leashes/collars, support and advice ... LOTS of advice to help them enjoy their pets.

Every fair seems to have its own personality. The theme for this one was definitely ... "Welcome to Hayward. Can you help me train my dog?" Everyone seemed to want help with that ... even a few dog-less people beelined over to our tables and asked for early training advice on their way into the shelter to shop for a new pet.

Some of the shots fair clients who came for help: We met a family who was a bit overwhelmed by their reeeally big American Bulldog's caveman manners. They loved that dog, but wow, Mr. Drama Dog just made the short list to our Pit Ed classes. We met a couple whose son just dumped his dog on them, and they showed up to get the pup on track with shots and training advice. The young guy on the left here came with his workmate and was all ears about training help. And we all loved the sweet guy who drove his puppy in on a specially designed Puppy Mobile (below) There were so many more people that I didn't get to talk to because they were busy getting help from one of shots fair volunteers. It felt like a training convention going on in that parking lot.

Below, a dog owner (there's a puppy in that dog crate) talks with shelter director Jenny Comstock.



The pups below each went home with spay/neuter vouchers - the parent dogs, too. No problem, and thankyouverymuch. In the photo, BR volunteers Berenice Mora, Christine Allen and Cris Cohen are soaking up their fringe benefit puppy fix from the day.



Sign of the times.

We met Jorge for the first time at this fair. He's a brand new resident of Hayward and is still getting to know his way around, but was happy to meet up with some friendly pit bull people. San Francisco had been his home, but finding a rental that doesn't discriminate against pit bulls proved to be impossible, so he migrated over to the east bay in order to stay committed to his young pet. That's a man who loves his dog.

We expect to be seeing more of Jorge as his girl finds her way to training classes - and I'm predicting! - a Canine Good Citizen certificate.



Big thanks to Kim Ramirez and Christine Allen for wrangling, to the staff and volunteers of Hayward Animal Shelter, to the kick ass BR shots fair junkies, to Dr. Dianne Sequoia for your expertise, to Tina Vickrey for shots, to Dr. Singer for surgeries, and to the Hayward pit bull community for loving your dogs so much.