HugABull Blog

It’s springtime! The new season brings many new wonderful pit bulls looking for their forever homes. On behalf of all of our wonderful dogs we would like to say a big THANK YOU to our donors and sponsors last month.

Lacey’s HugABull Angel- Cecelia LeBrun
Oakley’s HugABull Angel – Heather Seeley
Rose’s HugABull Hero- Tori
Grace’s HugABull Hero- Chopper

Here are three dogs who could use some extra attention this month:

Rosie the AB - this gorgeous red and white American Bulldog was born to love people! Rosie is very food motivated (she loves food almost as much as she loves people), so training sessions are tons of fun for her. She loves to spend time outside going for walks, runs and playing with other dogs. Searching for new smells and sounds on a hike leaves her happy and tired, as does playing in the water.  Rosie suffers from separation/isolation anxiety, but is getting better every day! Her foster family has been working hard to build up her tolerance to being left alone. Rosie is currently taking Clomicalm to help deal with her anxiety. She is totally housetrained and LOVES her crate which has been a useful tool in managing her separation anxiety. Rosie’s love for people is incredible and her focus and trainabilitly will make her a wonderful dog for the right person. A special thank you to Rosie’s HugABull Angel, Mike D’Antoni.

Avery - this  5 month old puppy is eager to please and quick to learn new commands easily. She is confident and outgoing, and relishes the chance to join you on all your fun adventures, especially if it involves heading outside and getting exercise. She’s very social but could still use some work on her playtime manners since sharing isn’t her favourite. Avery loves nothing more than to be showered with attention. Basic obedience is a breeze for Avery, she knows “sit”, “down”, “wait”, and responds to verbal corrections. Now that she’s got the basics handled, she’ll be eager to learn more advanced things and maybe even get involved in sports! Avery is a very sweet puppy who is growing into a gorgeous young dog while she waits for her forever home.

Grace - this 5 year old sweetheart is suffering from nerve damage in one hind leg, but that doesn’t let her slow her down. She has been attending hydrotherapy classes at K9H2O on a regular basis for rehabilitation. (A very big thank you to the staff at K9H2O for donating their time and energy to help with Grace’s rehab!) She has also been receiving regular massages from her foster family to help stimulate movement in her leg. Grace adores her foster family and children, as well as playing with her toys. It’s been a tough road for “Hippo” (as she has been nicknamed due to her hippo-like build caused by poor breeding) but she has an amazing fan club supporting her rehabilition every step of the way. Grace is being sponsored in memory of Chopper (right). A very special thank you to her HugABull Angel!

We had a ton of fun with our puppy naming contest last month, and judging from the over 30 entries into the contest, some of you did too! Thank you to everyone who entered (sometimes multiple times). All funds support the care of these adorable but expensive little bundles of joy.

Our winner was Tori and Dale of Flirt, Punk & Loo pet services, who purchased several entries to the contest. Tori has been supporting HugABull since last year when she organized the October 2011 ‘Born This Way’ fundraiser. Since then she has opened her home to foster dogs, and adopted Ontario refugee Pigeon (formerly Sienna) through HugABull early this year.

“When I restarted my business, a goal I set for myself was to give back as much as possible,” says Tori. “I am a huge supporter of HugABull and the efforts they put into not only helping these dogs but educating the public on the true nature of the breed. I try to take advantage of any opportunity to help them in their fundraising efforts so entering a contest to name puppies was a must, and winning was just a fantastic bonus! What better than being able to name not one but seven adorably squishy faces?”

The pups said good-bye to their littermates a few weeks ago and are settling into foster and adoptive homes. And Tori turned out to be one of them! When we put out the call for foster homes, Tori contacted us and we felt her home filled with confident dogs, canine-savvy kids, and lots of activity would be perfect. She’s fostering Flint, our shyest puppy who benefitted the most from the company of her other canine role models. Flint is doing so well, in fact, that she’s invited him to become a permanent part of the family.

Congratulations to Tori for winning our puppy naming contest and for picking wonderful names for the brood. We couldn’t be happier that you ended up being a forever home for one of them as well!

When most boys turn nine and their mom asks them what they’d like for their birthday, the usual answers are “a bike!”, “iPod Touch!”, or if they’re vehicularly-inclined, “1968 Shelby Cobra GT 500!”

Not so with Hunter Byles of Vernon. When Hunter’s February 22 birthday came around this year, mom Heather asked him what was on his wish list. “Nothing,” Hunter said. “Christmas was two months ago and I got enough presents.”

Hunter was perfectly happy to have a birthday party at the laser tag arena but he didn’t really want his friends or their parents to bring him presents. So after some brainstorming with mom, Hunter hit upon the wonderful idea of having his party guests bring donations for the local SPCA and HugABull in lieu of birthday gifts.

You see, pet adoption and fostering are a big part of Hunter’s life. Not only does his family currently include two rescues: 10-month-old pit bull/Cane Corso Bane and four-and-a-half-year-old pit bull/Mastiff/Rottweiler Askem, Hunter is also good friends with HugABull Adoptables Zayda (top right), Gus (bottom left), and Ozzy. This young bullie breed rescue enthusiast had a great time at the Love-a-Bull walk on March 3  and aspires to be a volunteer dog-walker for the SPCA when he’s older.

Heather couldn’t be prouder of her son who is a natural when it comes to dogs, “He really loves and respects bully breeds and is very knowledgeable for his age,” she says.

With the help of friends and family, Hunter and Heather collected towels, cleaning supplies, cat toys and carriers to be donated to the Vernon SPCA in addition to two large sacks of blankets, treats, bowls/dishes, chewies, dog food, leashes and toys plus $40 cash for HugABull.

Everyone here at HugABull would like to say a resounding “Thank you!” to Hunter for his generosity in volunteering his time and offering up his birthday gifts for much-needed animal rescue supplies. All our foster dogs and families are especially grateful for your kindness, Hunter!

And thank you to Cara for working with Leah and Hunter to write this story, allowing us to share it on our blog. Cara is a longtime HugABull volunteer and proud guardian to Rigby, a rescued Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and his rescued pug brother.

Our first ever fundraising cookbook is here! After months of collecting, sorting, and editing recipes, the copies are available for sale and we could not be happier with the result. A special thank you to Christopher Thorn Photography  for the stunning photos, Wayside for their printing sponsorship, and most of all Samantha Smith for the countless hours she invested in design and layout.

It was truly a team effort, with more thanks due to project coordinator Kristy Schreiber and Vancouver Island coordinator Christina Pommelet, plus the many other volunteers and contributors who made this possible.

The cookbook is 140 pages of recipes to tempt your palate, whether you are human, canine, vegan, gluten-free or anything in-between. The book includes special recipe features from foodies and dog rescue supporters like:

• NHL player Blake Comeau and wife Lacey
• NHL player Frans Neilsen
• NHL player Paul Bissonette
• Paul Mon-Kau of The District
• Reuben Major of Earls Restaurants
• Jason Stefanko of Gardein
• Erin Ireland of It’s to Die For

Since we’re all dog lovers here, recipes are complemented by articles on dog wellness by Shelagh Begg of Dizine Canine, Darcie Jennings of Communicanine, Michelle Sevigny of Dogsafe, the people at Victoria’s Your Pet Pals, and Lisa Robinson of Elemental Canine.

So the important question – how do you get your paws on one? The cookbooks sell for $25 and can be ordered through our online store: http://store.hugabull.com

We are also slowly getting them out to partner vendors:

Mainland
Bad Dogs Gone Good (Whistler, Burnaby) 
Dizine Canine (East Vancouver)
Dog Utopia (Surrey)
South Point Pet Hospital (Surrey) 
Elemental Canine (Cloverdale)

Vancouver Island
Island Pet Source (Victoria)
Pets West (Victoria)
Prevost Veterinary Clinic (Duncan)
Sweet Avenue (Port Alberni)
Willow Wind Feed & Pet Food (Victoria)
Your Pet Pals (Victoria)

Okanagan
Bark N’ Fly Dog Daycare and Boarding (Kelowna)
Healthy Spot Pet Nutrition & Supply (Vernon) 
The Ruff Life (Vernon)

Fetch your copy today, and share your recipe reviews on our Facebook page!

You’ve probably heard about the puppies that came into our care a couple of weeks ago. For all the attention and applications they bring, remember that there are so many amazing mature dogs who still need support and homes – including Maui the momma dog. She is a great little lady who is SO relieved to be out of the shelter and the tyranny of seven hungry, demanding pups. She’s living the good life in foster care and will be looking for a forever home soon.

Maui and others would like to say THANK YOU to the wonderful people who contributed to our sponsorship program over the last months, including our three newest sponsors:

Mike D’Antoni, HugABull Angel to Rosie the American Bulldog
Erin Wells, HugABull Angel to Griffen
Andrea Sheppard, HugABull Helper to Julie

Here are two current acoptables looking for some sponsorship love…

Oakley is destined to grow into a fabulous, active and extremely handsome guy. We know this because he already has the handsome part down! His foster home is working with him on basic obedience and channelling his exuberance into behaviour as lovely as he is. He would appreciate a sponsor to help with the vet expenses that come with being a young dog, and possibly some training to help with his manners.

And we finish with Z for Zayda, who is showing signs of hereditary hip displasia at a young age, a likely result of irresponsible breeding. A sponsor would help with the vet costs and supplements so she can run and play like the young pup she is.

For more information on our sponsorship program, visit our website. And remember that any of the dogs on our Adoptables page are eligible for sponsorship too!

Rescue is tough work, but there are some really fun parts. Like naming dogs, especially when they come in litters of adorable puppies like these!

But in the interest of raising money for the many vet visits, shots, and bags of puppy food that will be coming our way, we’ve decided to put this fun into fundraising. For a donation of $5, you can enter into our puppy naming draw!

From now until Sunday at 7pm, everyone who donates a minimum of $5 through the link below will be entered into the draw. At 7:01 on Sunday we’ll draw one name, and the winner will get to name all seven puppies (five girls, two boys)! The winner and their selected names will be announced on our blog along with accompanying puppy photos.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Please note: we all strive to be breed ambassadors and represent the positive qualities of our dogs, so we prefer to avoid “tough guy” names. We reserve the right to screen names if they may be found offensive.

Annabelle is one very lucky shelter dog. In her rocky journey to a forever home, she’s hit many roadbumps, but her winning personality won her many supporters along the way, and their actions have paid off. Annabelle was adopted by her foster home last week!

This mixy little lady was found abandoned and taken in by a small, under-resourced shelter in Terrace. While the shelter staff did everything they could, slow adoption rates and breed stigma meant she wasn’t getting out of the shelter, and they were running out of space. Staff and volunteers put the word out into the community, did some fundraising, and ultimately contacted HugABull. We all hoped that as a friendly, young, healthy, dog-social pup, she’d have much better adoption prospects in the Vancouver area. Her team of supporters got her on a plane and into our foster care program.

Annabelle settled into her foster home, and was booked for her routine spay at the end of January. Sadly, something went very wrong. After her surgery, she began bleeding profusely due to a suspected clotting disorder and was unable to stabilize: our vet estimated her survival chances at 50/50. She was rushed to an emergency clinic and given blood transfusions as we all waited to see if she would last through the night. She did, but more interventions were necessary, and the vet bills were mounting into the thousands. We turned to our community and put a plea for donations on our Facebook page. Our community came forward, as did many of her fans in Terrace. Almost $2000 was raised, which covered close to half of the total costs.

Shaky but stable, Annabelle went home to recover through the month of February. She was listed on our adoptables page and received a few applications but when the time came to meet families, her foster family realized that she was already where she was meant to be. They couldn’t stand the thought of coming in and not having Annabelle’s little front-feet tap dance to greet them.

As you can see, Annabelle looks very comfy and happy with her adoption outcome. She is working on lots of fun new tricks, like “downward dog” and chasing her tail on command. She loves having company over, nibbling on guests’ toes and soliciting treats and attention with her “cute face.” Her dad even helps her keep her fans updated through her very own Facebook page.

From all of us, thank you to everyone who volunteered, donated, and networked to give this Northern gal the happy ending she deserves!

As most of you know, HugABull has no paid staff. All our work – from paying bills to filing adoption forms to shelter visits to website development to fundraisers and so much more – is done by volunteers. These volunteers all balance their HugABull duties with full-time work, family, and other life commitments. This is why we’re often struggling to keep up with the volume of work and the tremendous need out there.

With this in mind, we ask for your understanding and support during an especially lean time ahead. Our director of events and community outreach, Kristen Neratini, will be taking a leave of absence for a minimum of three months due to a family matter. Unfortunately, this means we will be unable to participate in the Vancouver Pet Expo on March 3 & 4. It also means that our Cookbook Launch, scheduled for March 18, will be postponed until later in the year. (The cookbook will still be printed and available for sale by that date though – stay tuned for details).

We hope that by summertime Kristen will be ready to resume her work showcasing HugABull in the community and bringing together rescue supporters for the fun events we love. In the meantime HugABull will still be active in our rescue work, online, on Facebook, and in whatever advocacy opportunities that arise.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions or if you are interested in volunteering!

Guest post by Kim Walters, proud guardian to two great pit bulls, one of whom (Bruce, pictured below) is an Ontario refugee. 

On August 29, 2005, the Ontario Dog Owners Liability Act (DOLA) was amended to include Bill 132, aka the ‘pit bull ban’. This amendment was approved despite overwhelming expert testimony against breed specific legislation (BSL), and once passed, it became illegal to own a pit bull, American Staffordshire Terrier, or dog that has “an appearance and physical characteristics substantially similar to those dogs” in Ontario.

Pit bulls residing in Ontario prior to the ban were ‘grandfathered in’, but are required to be muzzled and leashed at all times. The only options for pit bulls not grandfathered are out-of-province adoption, a laboratory, or euthanasia.

To date, countless dogs have been euthanized due to the ban. Many of those dogs were not even ‘pit bulls’, since any medium-sized, short-haired dog in Ontario is at risk of being seized due to the “guilty until proven innocent” nature of this law (like boxer crosses, American Bulldogs and Labrador Retrievers). The onus of proving that a dog is not a pit bull lies with the owner of the dog.

In December 2011, PC MPP Randy Hillier, NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo, and LIB MPP Kim Craitor introduced Bill 16, or Hershey’s Bill, which calls to repeal BSL in Ontario. The second reading of the Bill is on February 23rd. If Bill 16 doesn’t pass second reading or if the government doesn’t call it for third reading, BSL will continue in Ontario. So what can British Columbians do to support this incredibly important Bill?

• Sign the petition on Randy Hillier’s website.

• Write to Ontario MPPs and encourage them to support this Bill (a list of MPPs and their contact information can be found here). While it’s easy to get emotional about this issue, try to focus on the points that will compel MPPs to look past the media hype around pit bulls. For example,
  • BSL has never been proven to be effective at decreasing bite rates or increasing public safety, anywhere.
  • Include some points about real pit bull bite statistics and temperament testing.
  • Point out that since the ban, bite rates in Ontario have actually increased!
  • Draw attention to the huge cost to Ontario tax payers to enforce this law and to go through lengthy court battles with owners trying to get their dogs back.
  • Talk about Calgary’s excellent animal control bylaws that target negligent owners as a better example of how to increase public safety and reduce bite rates – Calgary has the lowest bite rate per capita in Canada at zero cost to the tax payer, and they have no BSL!
  • For more information and stats, visit the BSL section of HugABull’s resources page.

• Also write to Randy Hillier, Cheri DiNovo, and Kim Craitor to thank them for their efforts in tabling this Bill!

• If you have family members in Ontario, talk to them about the ban and what it means for them as citizens and tax payers. Do they know that the ban is province wide? Do they know that any stray dog that resembles a pit bull can be euthanized, no questions asked? Do they know that their lab mix could be at risk of being seized and euthanized if their neighbour decides they don’t like the dog and phones animal control to complain about their ‘pit bull’? In my experience, most Ontario residents have no idea that the ban is as severe as it is, or that it applies to the entire province.  

• Encourage your Ontario friends and family to show their support and attend the rally to support this Bill on February 23rd, 11:30 to 2:30 at Queen’s Park. Details are here: http://supporthersheysbill.com/

What a start to 2012! We have been so busy with dogs, planning for the next year, putting together the cookbook, and preparing to apply for our charitable tax status (fingers crossed!) that our January Foster Roster is coming a wee bit late. But rest assured the dogs need your help as much as ever.

Thank you to our current sponsors:

HugABull Angel - Crossroads Naturopathic and Alex Barron/Reefquest Expeditions

And Delaine and Werner and their pup Sweetheart, one of our foster foster families, in memory of their lovely, late Daisy (right) who passed away last week. They wished to pay tribute to her memory by sponsoring a senior in need, our Lulu.

HugABull Heroes -  Rosalia Querouz

Kevin Lott who sponsored Brandi in loving memory of his dog, Scoobie. 

And big thanks to everyone who donated to Annabelle, helping her through a sudden and serious medical emergency. Stay tuned to our blog for an update on her condition and a special thank you to everyone who sponsored her.

A few dogs that need some love for Valentine’s Day…

If Ozzy was a celebrity, he’d be a George Clooney for sure. Rarely do you see a dog so swoonable. He’s six years old, snuggly, sweet, and good with dogs. He has a wonderful foster home that works on his separation and leash manners, takes him on long group hikes, and makes video tributes for his many fans. Check out his YouTube video!

Rosie is a little shy due to some not-so-great treatment in her past but ridiculously cuddly once she gets to know you. She has  great house manners and loves to “tell” you it’s walk time by showing you her leash. She is currently working on her leash manners and polite intros with other dogs.