Local animal shelters ‘overflowing’ with pit bulls who can’t find homes due to false and dangerous stereotypes

When Donna Goldense adopted her first pit bull from Southold Animal Shelter, her family warned that she should reconsider.

“They said, ‘This is not the breed to adopt. This is a dangerous dog.’”

A decade later, Goldense now has three pit bulls. They snuggle with her one-year-old nephew, they pose in costume on the holidays and they bring joy to her entire family. Her sister has even adopted a pit bull of her own.

“Once they realized that a dog is just a dog – it’s not a breed – they fell in love,” Goldense said. “Pit bulls are not even close to the vicious stereotype that people portray them to be.”

That stereotype – of an overly aggressive, inherently violent animal that is somehow more unpredictable and dangerous than other breeds – has shelters across the East Coast overflowing with pit bulls that can’t find homes.

Pit bulls regularly make up at least 80 percent of the homeless dog population at North Fork Animal Welfare League, which manages both Riverhead and Southold Town’s animal shelters.

“The shelters are flooded with them,” said Gillian Wood Pultz, director of NFAWL. “When people walk into a shelter, the thing they most often say is, ‘Anything but a pit bull.’ No one comes in and says, ‘Anything but a lab.’”

Pit bulls have a mistaken reputation for viciousness that is reinforced by laws banning them in certain cities, counties and countries around the world. Common myths about pit bulls – such as their supposed “locking jaws” with bites that can exert more pressure than any other dog – have not been proven by any scientific studies, according to a review of scientific literature by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

But their reputation has unfortunately made them the breed of choice for some dog owners specifically trying to raise aggressive dogs, Pultz says, which has further contributed to their image as a dangerous dog.

“Some people think that if they have a huge pit bull with a spiked collar sitting next to them, they’re clearly a tough guy,” Pultz said. “But any breed of dog can become aggressive if it’s treated badly.”

This image not only makes people wary of adopting pit bulls, but it also makes them a favorite breed for “backyard breeders” hoping to market pit bull puppies for their aggressive reputation, Pultz said. Those dogs often end up in local shelters when their breeders can’t find buyers for them.

So even though there may not be more pit bulls overall than any other breed, they make up a disproportionately large segment of local animal shelter populations.

“There are a lot of irresponsible breeders breeding these dogs in their backyards,” Pultz explained. “People breeding poodles will make sure they’re going to a good home. But when people breeding pit bulls can’t sell them because the market is already flooded with them, they end up in shelters.”

She recalled a male pit bull found running loose in Cutchogue last year. The dog was neutered after staying in the shelter for six days unclaimed, as is the shelter’s policy. When the dog’s owner called a week later and learned that the dog had been neutered, the man no longer wanted him.

“He told me, ‘He’s nothing but garbage now,’” Pultz said. “And then he hung up on me. That’s the kind of mentality we’re talking about here.”

With so many pit bulls ending up in shelters, and with so many adopters unwilling to consider them, many of these dogs end up spending years of their lives in a tiny cement shelter kennel. “Pit bulls take much longer to get adopted than other breeds,” Pultz said.

Famously, one of the shelter’s pit bulls spent five years as a shelter dog before he was adopted when his Facebook photo went viral last year. But such a long stay for pit bulls at local animal shelters isn’t unheard of.

“It can take one, two, three years for a pit to get out,” Pultz said.

And that’s a shame, she said, because pit bulls make “excellent family dogs.”

Long before pit bulls became popular in dog fighting rings in the 80s, bull terriers were known as “nanny dogs” in the United Kingdom because they were used to supervise young children. “When people tell me they can’t have a pit bull because they have a child, it’s just silly,” Pultz said.

Goldense echoed this sentiment. Her five-year-old pit, Chase, is “best buddies” with her one-year-old nephew, she said.

“The first day my sister brought him over, he was just a week old,” Goldense said. “Chase crawled into the carrier with him and just snuggled up and laid with him until my sister left with him. They’re best friends. It’s ridiculous.”

Pit bulls also find employment in a variety of fields – as therapy dogs, police dogs, service dogs and search and rescue dogs.

“They’re just such goofy, kind-hearted, loyal dogs,” Goldense said. “I think if people just spent some time in a shelter and spoke with the volunteers and spent a little time with the dogs, they would see how amazing they really are.”

Even pit bulls that have been raised in bad environments can come around if they’re shown some love and affection, Pultz said. She pointed to a pit bull mix that came into the shelter a few weeks ago as “skin and bones.”

“She was partially in kidney failure,” Pultz said. “She couldn’t hold her urine. She was just a mess.”

After just three weeks in the shelter, though, the dog is “a completely different dog.”

“She’s a complete mush,” Pultz said. “All we did was start feeding her good food, put her in a non-stressful environment and giver her some love. You wouldn’t know it’s the same dog.

“Just like with people, if you’re put in a horrible situation, you’re going to start reacting horribly,” she added. “If you’re put into a good situation and treated with love and respect, you’ll start showing love and respect.”