Jennifer Brown

For the longest time there have been articles on how Pitbulls are terrible dogs, they are aggressive and will eat your face off. These are terrible exaggerations and in fact most are loyal and loving. I have owned five of them personally and I can say that, during my experience I have never had a problem with them. Then again I am what my veterinarian calls “a responsible owner”. I keep my dogs healthy and they are members of my family. The plight of the pitbull is terrifying at best and it is heartbreaking to see that hundreds of these dogs are put down every day. A couple of years ago on Animal Planet, a program aired called Pitbuls and Parolees. A lady named Tia Torres has a rescue called Villalobos Rescue Center. She has had, at times, over 200 pitbulls and other dogs that she has rescued from all over.  When the state of California made it nearly impossible to operate she had to relocate.   Recently her rescue moved to New Orleans where they have welcomed her and the dogs with open arms.

 

I know that the dream that I have is at least five years in the making and all that I can do is continue to save in order to accomplish it.  I would like to start with 20 animals and then move up from there.  There are so many hurdles to jump through though.  I would have to find an area outside of the city limits with at least ten acres.  There are rules and regulations on how many dogs a person can have inside city limits not to mention that the homeowner’s insurance would go through the roof.  If it happened that all the odds were against me, I could at least help with fostering of animals.  It would be a safe haven for pitts until they could have a place of their own, either at a rescue or in their forever home.

I have analyzed my income and have found that there is a possible disposable income of over nine hundred dollars.  The embedded link will provide a  chart of my monthly expenses. I have found that I can do a lot of good with the extra money every month. If I can’t have a rescue I will be able to foster.  I have found that with doing my expense budget that I am going to have to come into a lot of money in order to do things the way that I would want them done. My initial expense was enormous.  My worksheet entitled expense1, shows what it would take to get it started.  This doesn’t include all of the time and effort that I am sure that my family would also contribute, we are all dog people.

The Expense1 worksheet details all of the things that I would consider to be important to start a rescue.  Although the figures are not concrete they are the best estimates that I think would cover the costs.  Some of them, like food for instance, may be off due to sales or being able to buy in bulk, whereas things like vet bills maybe exaggerated to cover things like problems encountered during surgery.  Other variables such as employees and trainers may also be manipulated as some of the services may come from volunteers.  Also the expense sheet really only depicts a financial picture of buying everything brand new.  Knowing this, the expense for the second round of dogs would be drastically reduced as a lot of things could be reused.  The sheet also doesn’t take into account for items donated.  A non-profit organization would be able to receive such donations and be able to provide a tax receipt to the donor.

I am well aware of the dangers and stigmas that I will have to fight.  People are often pushed to hysterics when there is a story of one bad dog.  The truth is that pitbulls are like any other dog.  We as a society have put them where they are now and it is our job to see that we make it right.  Pitbulls want nothing more than to please their owners and that mentatlity has got them to where they are today.  They didn’t start off as aggressors, they were taught that.  In my eyes there are no bad dogs, just bad owners.  Your dog will become what you put in to it.  If you love them and take the time to train them and teach them the difference between right and wrong, they in turn will be loyal and love you forever.  I look forward to doing my part.

This page has the following sub pages.

• 1. Report – Thank Goodness for EXCEL