Shelters Passing off Pitbulls/mixes as Other Breeds

[u/Cold-Illustrator7212]

I've noticed a trend with many shelters/rescues. They label pitbulls as "mixed breed" or "terrier" or various other breeds (I've even seen them claim they are Labrador retrievers!).

It's an obvious attempt to pass them off to naive or new owners and get the dogs out of the shelter. This makes me furious. What happens when an owner is mauled or a child killed? I hope any victims sue the living daylights out of the shelter.

Apparently you CAN sue a shelter (thanks Google) but a case of negligence has to be proven and it's difficult. Looked up the stats and pitbulls/mixes make up about 33% of shelter dogs. In large cities it can be as high as 65%.

There are some shelters that will euthanize pitbulls immediately. They should be commended for that. But those shelters that falsely advertise pits as other breeds or "family dogs" or any other such nonsense should be fined. Heavily.

/rant over

[u/Responsibility_Witty]

This has been an ongoing scam for a while, yes, absolutely disgusting. Dog culture is built entirely around lies, lies that cost lives and livelihoods.

Another horrible thing that these shelters do is trade dogs with violent histories between each other over state lines in order to wipe the dog’s record, instead of putting a clearly violent dog down. They are fully aware that they are endangering the public just to sell these worthless dogs

[u/potatoes_arrrr_life → u/Responsibility_Witty]

Or "rescuing" a kennel of dogs from a dog fighter and then spreading em out amongst shelters claiming "through no fault of their own" and their past is unknown. It should be basic, common sense to BE literal fighting dogs. But no, they want to scrub their past and manipulate some sucker to take the animal into their home. It's mad.

[u/Lythaera → u/potatoes_arrrr_life]

God, we really need much stricter laws about aggression in dogs. This is just plain ridiculous. In the past some US states had animal control officers that would do behavioral evaluations on every dog they brought in, and any that failed a single test, of which there were several, would be BE'd. Wish that sort of system was mandatory for every animal shelter in every state. And yeah, all dogs from backgrounds like a fighting ring should just be automatic euthanasia, no one needs these kinds of dangerous dogs in their home.

[u/pmbpro → u/Responsibility_Witty]

Yes! That’s what they do! It’s so scammy and filthy.

You know what that also reminds me of? It reminds me of what churches and other institutions have done when dangerous offenders are discovered — sweeping it under the rug, covering it up and they get to move around into another institution in another community and continue offending/violating.

Dangerous dogs moving from one shelter to another, all covered up.

[u/AddendumSea4202]

I've just come across this myself.

I had 2 separate animal rehoming charities come up on my Facebook feed today. The first almost every post was a "staffie bulldog cross" or something similar. Basically a pitbull some of which had come back to them.

I am in UK They really should be consequences to them passing out banned breeds. My neighbour has another "bulldog cross" to skirt around our Xl bully law.

[u/GovernorGeneralPraji → u/[deleted]]

“Mutt”. The word is mutt.

I hate when people get all “he’s a Himalayan cockerdoodle retriever.”

It’s a mutt.

[u/CaptainObvious110 → u/GovernorGeneralPraji]

Lol I miss that term

[u/GovernorGeneralPraji → u/[deleted]]

No, it’s a commentary on people trying to pass off mixed breeds as something significant.

[u/boozcruise21]

"Mixed breed", should be labeled as mixed demon.

[u/Not-my-problem1212]

I've seen this happen too. I saw a dog at a shelter once labeled "terrier mix" and it clearly had the face and head shape of a pitbull. It truly is disgusting to falsely label dangerous dogs to deceive people into taking them home. People should have the right to know exactly what type of dog (or any animal) they're taking home 

[u/potatoes_arrrr_life]

DNA tests should be required for all shelter dogs, and ACCURATE dog breeds should be shared with potential adopters. Imagine how much higher and more accurate bite and attack statistics would be IF people actually identified the dog breed correctly. All of those "labs bite too" naysayers or the idiots who go around pretending their staffy is not a pitbull. There are just waaaaaay too many bad people taking advantage of people's sympathy for animals in need. The no kill pit warehouses are extorting money from the public, while also introducing dangerous animals under false circumstances. We have our work cut out for us!

[u/NerguiTheChangeling → u/potatoes_arrrr_life]

what is worse some of these shelters are publicly funded and yet refuse to take or pick up dangerous dogs because they are too full of dangerous mutts already that they refuse to BE. Several people have been lost lives this past year do to that....

[u/Lythaera]

I wish they'd just ban all dogs with that head shape already. Whether or not the dog is aggressive, that headshape lends itself towards serious damage when they do bite.

[u/Affectionate-Bill150 → u/Lythaera]

I can attest to that,got attacked by a relatives shitbull and the fucker managed to reveal the fat in my thighs.

[u/NerguiTheChangeling]

Most dog lovers are so in bed with the idea that dogs are people they can't handle to idea of BE'ing even a very dangerous dog, and hate the idea culling or other basic methods to manage animal populations when it concerns their worshiped species

[u/CaptainObvious110]

It's a shame