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PITBULLSSee our videos below! When people call us, the first question we ask is, “ what would it take for you to keep your dog?” Often, the home that the dog is in might be the only home that dog will ever have. Depending on what the circumstances are, and whether the person needs to “give up”, “give away” get rid of”, or even “donate” their pit bull to us, there are few options for that dog because there are just too many pit bulls and pit bull mixes, and not enough qualified people to adopt them.
Reasons for DOG GUARDIANS Relinquishments:
There are ideas and solutions that we can offer if you want to work with your dog that is too high energy, and often destructive. Over the years, we have kept many dogs from going to the shelter by offering our hands-on experience with behavioral problems. Please call us at 818-407-4145. If you are moving and can’t take your dog with you, the best that we can offer is to post a photo of your dog on our website, and help you adopt your dog to another person. If you have less than a month to find a new home for your dog, we suggest that you board your dog until you can find a new owner for your dog. Depending on where you live, we have a list of kennels that you can pay to board your dog so that you can avoid taking your dog to the shelter where the odds are that she will be euthanized. If your dog has attacked a dog, no matter how bad the fight was,
it does not mean that your dog will now automatically be more likely
to bite you, or a child in your home. There are many reasons why
dogs are aggressive with other dogs, and that aggression often
never transfers to humans. A dog fight is a horribly stressful
situation, and needs to be dealt with immediately. Blaming the
dog, and looking for a new home, which may never materialize for
your dog, or worse, euthanizing your dog is not the answer. Please
call us if you would like to work with your dog to overcome dog
on dog aggression. We also recommend that you visit Dog Psychologist
Brandon Fouche’s site at www.brandonfouche.com.
Brandon is the reason that so many of our pit bulls are in great
homes today! 
PIT BULLS ARE AGILE, ATHLETIC, AND FUN
No matter what your dog's tolerance is for other dogs, it's your responsibility to keep him well socialized and properly managed around other dogs, especially dogs he doesn't know. Good management is KEY and must be kept up for the life of your pet. This includes avoiding leash greets, doing sloooow introductions with potential dog friends and eagle-eye supervision during doggie play sessions. A pit bull that shows leash aggression by pulling at the leash on city streets straining to bark and snarl at other dogs does NOT make a good impression (puh-leez!) and should be trained ASAP. To prevent trouble, all pit bull owners should stay very alert to the different types of things that could trigger your dog into a dogfight (tug-of-war? chew toys? escalated play? etc).
The Golden Rules of Multi-Dog Management:
Select your pets carefully. Some dog pairs have great chemistry while
others are Jerry Springer material: Nothing but conflict and strife.
Maintain a strong leadership role so the dogs respect your house rules. Separate pets before you leave the house. Know the most common fight triggers and work to prevent them. Know how to break up a fight, then promise yourself you'll never let them get into anything bigger than a spat. Involve everyone in the household in multi-dog management. Understand that dog dynamics can and do shift along with life changes. Give your dogs individual attention to strengthen bonds.  Choose
well; good chemistry is key. Dogs are like people; Some hit it off
and some just aren't meant to be together. When choosing a new pit
bull for your existing dog, be prepared to look at numerous dogs and
let your current pet give you his or her opinion. It's best to shop for a mature dog rather than a puppy. Dog social pups can change and develop dog aggression as they mature, shifting household dynamics in painful ways. But adults will give you a much better read on their limits with other dogs and how the overall chemistry between your pets will work out for years to come. Rescue groups, like DOWNTOWN DOG RESCUE that foster dogs at home with other pets can be a great resource for well socialized prospects. Stick with opposite sex pairings: There are examples of same sex pairs that do well together, but generally speaking, boy/girl matches stand a MUCH better chance of succeeding long term.
Excitement is a Trigger! -- This ball game got everybody wound up and, as a result, the dog on the left redirected onto the dog that slammed into her. (A loud HEY! ended the problem.) Redirected aggression is one of the most common fight triggers in multi-dog homes. To keep the peace, be ready to intervene when play or chase games get too exciting, especially when mature dogs are involved.
1. Dog problems are generally problems with owner
responsibility and are not limited to breeds. When breeds are singled
out as dangerous or vicious, responsibility is removed from the
dog owner which is where it belongs. Irresponsible people are also
less likely to follow the law - and as a result, everyone has to
suffer.
Videos of our dogs! |
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| Apple, our little red pit bull and her sisters Athena and Mystique were taken into our rescue when their owner Mark could not find homes for them. He brought his female and male pit bulls to our Free Spay/Neuter clinic in Compton, and then brought the whole litter of pups to a clinic in Watts. He decided that he never wanted to breed dogs again after seeing how much attention and care the pups needed. He could not find all the pups good homes, so we took the last three females. In this video Apple is playing with a Great Dane puppy in her new home. Thanks for adopting one of our girls Mika! | |
| Take a look at Preston now with his owner Eric Anthony! When he came to our vet, he was almost dead from an infection that resulted from his canvas halter growing into his chest. His owners dumped him at our vet's office as a 3 month old pup. Two months later, he was in our dog rescue, and one aggressive boy! Fight after fight, he began to over come his dog aggression. Now, a year later, he can go to the dog beach, dog parks, and loves to play. It takes a lot of discipline to keep Preston on the "right track" Eric takes him to Canine Communication Doggy Daycare where he can play with dozens of other pit bulls. | |
| Two graduates of the Downtown Dog Rescue rehab program, Jackson and Maybeline, playing! | |
| Downtown
Dog Rescue is a program within the non-profit Friends
For Animals |
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Everyday, our hotline receives many calls from people,
who need to re-home their pit bulls, or they rescued a pit bull,
and now they are not sure what to do next. In almost every case,
we cannot take the dogs. We, like all rescues that take on this breed,
are overwhelmed with the calls for us to “find a loving home
for my dog”. We can help, but we can’t take your dog. 
If you have rescued a pit bull , and need to find her a home,
you have done a very great thing for that dog. Please don’t
be discouraged, we have helped many independent rescuers find homes
for their rescue dogs. Some people who rescue this breed for the
first time are nervous at first about all negative stories that
they have heard in the news. Please remember that first, and foremost,
your pit bull is a dog. She is not some type of killing machine
that the media often portrays, and this breed does not “just
go crazy one day”, and turn on her owner, who has responsibly
raised her, nor will she “out of no where” bite people.
I believe that the majority of “bad pit bulls” come
from very bad people, who often abuse them by confining them to
a chain in a backyard, praising them for being protective, never
socializing them with other dogs, and people, and sometimes intentionally
promoting them to be violent with people and other dogs. Ignorance
is the number one problem that this breed faces. 
Below is a list that LA Animal Services recently published for
all breeds of dogs. If you plan on adopting a pit bull, or any
dog for that matter, please take a look at this list with great
care, and ask yourself, can you keep your dog safe for the next
13-14 years? Your dog is counting on you, and if you own a pit
bull, chances are that your home is the best home, and possibly
the only home the dog will ever have in his lifetime. 
For pit bull owners, we have found that the three top reasons
that owners need to relinquish their dogs are, she is destructive,
and too high energy for the family. Second, the owner has to move,
and their new place will not accept a pit bull. Third, the dog
attacked another dog, especially when it is a dog within their
family. 
DOG
AGGRESSION HAPPENS! 
AVOIDING
CONFLICT BY KNOWING FIGHT TRIGGERS 
Downtown
Dog Rescue is ALWAYS against any form of Breed Specific Legislation.
Please read the important comments found on the 
4.
Breeds and mixes are hard to identify and often dogs are mis labeled
and destroyed based on paranoia and prejudice and also punishes
those that are good canine citizens. Many breeds function as assistance
dogs for handicapped owners, search and rescue dogs, drug-sniffing
dogs, police dogs, etc. and drives them out of the community. The
American Veterinary Medical Association and several state veterinary
medical associations oppose breed-specific legislation for just
this reason. 
I.
Stronger enforcement of existing dangerous dog laws. If they are
not already in place, lobby for protection from untrained and unsupervised
dogs of any breed or mix. This is a broad-based effort that protects
all citizens as any dog can bite and be a nuisance when owned by
an irresponsible owner. Those who would deliberately train a dog
to act aggressively towards people or other animals, or to use dogs
in the commission of a felony or misdemeanor should face additional
penalties. 
guardian
dogs by criminals. If pit bulls in their various incarnations are
banned, drug dealers and other felons switch to another breed or
mix. In the meantime, the ill-tempered terrier mix that bites the
hand that feeds it and the poorly-bred purebred that attacks the
neighborhood children pose a far greater danger to people than the
obedience-trained American Staffordshire Terrier that is a registered
therapy dog but cannot step foot inside the city. Far better than
breed-specific bans are strict laws to control aggressive dogs of
any breed or mix. Known as generic vicious dog laws, they put restrictions
on the ownership of dogs that pose a danger to people, restrictions
such as confinement in locked, escape-proof kennels while outdoors
on the owner's property; muzzles when the dog is off the property;
and purchase of a liability insurance policy.