A Jefferson City family adopted primo, a 4 month old American Bulldog puppy.
Primo was adopted out of the Bull Runs Program that works to change the negative stigma attached to many breeds including pit bulls and bulldogs. Animals over 6 months of age undergo intense training for 4 weeks before they are adopted by families and individuals.
All of the animals are microchipped, neutered and have age appropriate shots.
Bull Runs organizer Katie Steckel said, “It’s basically a specialized program to adopt out bully breed animals through the shelter. We just do a little bit more specific behavior evaluation. They spend some time in foster care
What is Bull Runs?
Bull Runs is a program through the Central Missouri Humane Society which will adopt out ambassador bully breed animals through a specialized animal evaluation and adoption process.
The program will accept animals that pass a strict behavior evaluation. The animals will enter a mandatory four week stay in foster care where they will undergo training for basic obedience and manners. After this stay the animals will be fully vetted and placed for adoption. The adoption process will include a more detailed adoption application and interview, a home visit by a member of the Bull Runs staff, and a one month follow up interview. This is done to ensure responsible placement of the animal and support for any adjustment issues that an adopter may encounter.
The Bull Runs program will also focus on educating the public about bully breeds and stress the importance of having all animals, bully breeds in particular, spayed and neutered.
[Think about how much money, time, resources, etc are being used to 'intensively train' these pit bulls for a month while they're being kept in foster care.
Meanwhile, that beautiful cocker spaniel mix that is sitting in a cage at the shelter isn't afforded these same opportunities. He was turned in by his owner b/c he was hyper and jumping on people, but otherwise he is a perfectly delightful dog that loves everyone. But does he get 'intensive four-week training' to make him a better pet? I didn't see anything on their site about this.
Does he get sent to a foster family to get him used to being around kids, other pets, etc? I didn't see anything on their site about this.
While the MO Humane Society is bending over backwards for 'bully breeds', this cocker spaniel mix will be ignored for a set number of days, and then on the final day he will be given some attention by a kennel worker when he is walked to the back room to be put to sleep.
Oh and don't forget that they do pre-adoption home visits and also a follow-up interview for the bullies! Do they do that for any other dog? Do they do a follow-up visit to ensure that a family didn't adopt a dog and simply chain it to the tree in the backyard and forget about it? I didn't see anything on their site about it.
Someone explain to me the logic in this. All this time, effort and money being used on 1 pit bull type dog when 10 perfectly adoptable dogs could have been saved.]
