RAVE: Volunteers who are making a difference, And how you can help.

We're getting to the point where we can say that - for the most part - highly adoptable pit bulls are not dying in our east bay shelters anymore. It took ten years of mind changing and networking and spay/neutering and educating and laying good resources out for adopters - but, we're just about there. We aren't completely out of the woods yet, tho. While the number of sheltered pit bull adoptions has skyrocketed in recent years, the quality of adoption matches varies widely, with some shelter dogs going to very prepared homes and many to not-so-prepared homes - and, everything in between. As a community of dog advocates, we gotta work on that - for sure. I spoke about that in this blog post since it's been one of our ongoing hot buttons.

While we puzzle over ways to influence stronger adoptions, we can begin the next important phase of helping sheltered pit bulls. That is, helping the dogs that were once the easy throw-aways. These are the dogs with workable behavior problems and/or the older dogs that aren't so pretty to look at. Right now - in the east bay - young and/or squishy marshmallow dogs fly out the shelter doors at breakneck speed. We barely look at 'em anymore since they don't need rescue. Isn't that a treat? But the others, man ... that's where our activist bones get a work out.

Care to help us help those dogs that need some fixin' up? Let me tell you what's going on in Berkeley...

Every Saturday, a group of dedicated dog handlers pours into BR's Pit Ed classes toting dogs from Berkeley Animal Care Service's (BACS) kennels. They're showing up to help make the dogs more adoptable. Dogs with bad manners like workable leash reactivity typically die in other shelters due to the difficulty in finding homes that can deal. The solution for Berkeley has been to give them better manners and then match them to supported owners. Simple right? The good news is that it's working. We're routinely amazed at what can be accomplished with a little elbow grease and are proud to be working alongside the volunteers that care so much.

It gets even better when the dogs' adopters start class and find out that their new pet once spazzed like a wild caveman during his early days at shelter... "Not my dog? Really?" Yep. Your lovely dog used to act like a weasel on speed, but this here volunteer helped turn him into a Super Star for you. Take a bow, volunteer -- you deserve it.

If you're looking for a way to make a stunning difference in a dog's life, consider joining the BACS team to help us train the shelter's many pit bulls. The staff will want to give you a brief orientation so you'll know how to get around the shelter, then you'll observe our Pit Ed class to see how we operate. Once you have a handle on things, we'll begin training you to train the dogs.

I have to be honest, this is hard work and it's not for everyone, but if you're the grounded sort who can think on his feet and is eager to absorb new information, it could be one of the most exciting things you do this summer. And if you really like the scene, we'll invite you to get more involved in BR's other projects.

Below are a couple of posts from the BACS Dog Volunteers Blog on their work with the dogs.

1. Mercedes at school. That's DeAnn with Mercedes in the photo, top of this page.

2. Azul working on his grades. Pictured with his handler Joel, right. Both pix snapped by Rob McNicholas (thanks Rob!)

LINK HERE for SIGN UP INFO.

Do it! We'd love to spend part of our weekends with you and the dogs.