1/4
I also have a foster who is unbelievably strong and tries to bolt after squirrels - a gentle leader has worked WONDERS, as has diligently distracting and rewarding her with high-value treats!
This is an entirely foster-based rescue, not a shelter. Agree with you about shelter issues in the South, but I think the way to deal with pitbull issues is to focus on breed-agnostic dangerous dog regulation/legislation rather than breed restrictions, which, anecdotally at least, contribute significantly to the difficulty in adopting out any dog that even looks like it might be a pit or mix.
Either way, all the pitbulls listed on the Bottle Babies site are currently fostered in a home, like all the other dogs.
In comparison to Texas, there's a shortage of dogs in Michigan, yes. Time Magazine actually did an interesting article on rescue transports a few years back: https://time.com/6144366/dog-adoption-relocation-aspca/ Similarly, Business Insider last year reported that five states including Texas (the others being Florida, North Carolina, California, and Louisiana) account for half of all dog euthanizations in the US: https://www.businessinsider.com/pet-euthanasia-rates-three-year-high-how-to-help-2023-9 Warning you now though that the more you dig into this issue, the more depressing it becomes.
I'm gonna be super upfront - I'm a foster, not in any decisionmaking or administrative capacity for the rescue, and I'm clearly making things worse so I'm gonna bow out of this thread after this. I let my frustration from other stuff spill over here and that's on me. I'm just here to try to get my foster adopted, and between the post and the comment thread there should be plenty of resources for anyone else who shares the same worries in the original comment. It's incorporated as a 501C3, the adoption application is public, and it's just one of many rescues that works on getting animals from Texas to other states; those are the answers I've got.
I was gonna post a cute dog picture as a peace offering to try to break the tension (which, again, is on me for starting) but Reddit won't let me so please imagine the dog in the original post sleeping on her back on a couch, all four paws in the air, with her tongue in a little blep. Trust me, it's real cute.
Definitely reasonable concerns, but I still don't get why you would ask them on an event post instead of googling them - asking the questions here made me think the point was to imply the rescue is a scam, an exclusive mean girls club, and a waste of time respectively. Still, I think I caught you up in the lingering bad taste from "why are you shuttling pit bulls around" guy who posted just before you, so sorry about that.
You can check out the adoption questionnaire if you want to know what factors impact the decisions.
Texas is notorious for a huge population of strays and low rates of neuter/spaying, leading lots of rescues to transport dogs out of Texas to other states. See, for example, this rescue's statement. Hard agree that Michigan has plenty of homeless animals, and I'll also add that I started fostering for this particular rescue because the local shelter *only* had breeds that are restricted in my building, so I literally could not foster for them. Animal overpopulation is a systemic issue that doesn't have a single easy solution (although a good start is to make sure your pets are spayed/neutered), and this is just one way among many of attempting to address it. (Though I recommend also reaching out to your local and state representatives and trying to get them to take action against breed bans.)
I'm trying really hard to take this comment on its face as a genuine inquiry and not just a cynical attempt to start a fight on the internet, in which case I would urge you to spend your time doing better things, like maybe fostering dogs.
In my experience, the conditions are more things like making sure there's a temperament match. Honestly I don't see why hunting would be prohibited. I don't hunt myself but I could see my current foster really enjoying it, mainly from the way she already tries to hunt squirrels on walks š
Michigan-Based Rescue Has Tons of Adoptable Dogs and Is Looking for Adopters or Fosters!Discussion
Bottle Babies Rescue has a ton of adoptable dogs at the moment! If you want to meet some of them in person, there's also an adoption event in Dearborn tomorrow.
Bottle Babies transports dogs up from high-kill shelters in Texas, where there's a significant problem with strays and overcrowded shelters. It's got a lot of puppies, smaller dogs, older dogs - basically anything you could be looking for! Because Bottle Babies is a fully foster-based rescue, all dogs are placed in homes while waiting for adoption - meaning we have a pretty decent idea of their behavior and what you're going to get! Bottle Babies also adopts out to anyone who can make it to the Dearborn/Pontiac area to do a meet-and-greet, meaning anyone from around the state can adopt.
I'm going to selfishly highlight one adoptable dog in particular because she's my foster and it's my post, lol. Maki is a 2 year old female mix of working breeds who's looking for a home that can keep up with her! She would be a great fit for an active retired couple or a family with teenagers (she would do GREAT in a soccer family and loves chasing balls, haha!). She doesn't do well with cats and would only be considered for a home with another dog if the adopter has experience with resource-guarding, since she can get overprotective of her person.
She's a joyful goofball who never met a stranger on a walk she didn't want to cuddle, and although she has a taste for strangers' heels when they come into the house, that only lasts as long as it takes for them to bribe her with a slice of cheese!
In between walks or games of fetch, she's a couch potato. She loves playing with other dogs and does great with kids who are her size or bigger! She's looking for a forever home or another foster, since I'm going to be moving out of state in the next couple of months. Maki will be at the adoption event in Dearborn tomorrow if anyone wants to meet her, and I'm happy to answer any questions about her!
Also, in general, Bottle Babies is always looking for new fosters. Fosters are provided with everything they need to take care of the dogs (food, toys, veterinary care, crates, etc.) and the average length of a foster period is 2-3 weeks, with some outliers like Maki. You can learn more about fostering for Bottle Babies here: https://bottlebabiesrescue.org/become-a-foster/
Adoptable Dogs in Local Rescue
Bottle Babies Rescue has a ton of adoptable dogs at the moment! If you want to meet some of them in person, there's also an adoption event in Dearborn tomorrow.
Bottle Babies transports dogs up from high-kill shelters in Texas, where there's a significant problem with strays and overcrowded shelters. It's got a lot of puppies, smaller dogs, older dogs - basically anything you could be looking for! Because Bottle Babies is a fully foster-based rescue, all dogs are placed in homes while waiting for adoption - meaning we have a pretty decent idea of their behavior and what you're going to get!
I'm going to selfishly highlight one adoptable dog in particular because she's my foster and it's my post, lol. Maki is a 2 year old female mix of working breeds who's looking for a home that can keep up with her! She would be a great fit for an active retired couple or a family with teenagers (she would do GREAT in a soccer family and loves chasing balls, haha!). She doesn't do well with cats and would only be considered for a home with another dog if the adopter has experience with resource-guarding, since she can get overprotective of her person.
She's a joyful goofball who never met a stranger on a walk she didn't want to cuddle, and although she has a taste for strangers' heels when they come into the house, that only lasts as long as it takes for them to bribe her with a slice of cheese!
In between walks or games of fetch, she's a couch potato. She loves playing with other dogs and does great with kids who are her size or bigger! She's looking for a forever home or another foster, since I'm going to be moving out of state in the next couple of months. Maki will be at the adoption event in Dearborn tomorrow if anyone wants to meet her, and I'm happy to answer any questions about her!
Also, in general, Bottle Babies is always looking for new fosters. Fosters are provided with everything they need to take care of the dogs (food, toys, veterinary care, crates, etc.) and the average length of a foster period is 2-3 weeks, with some outliers like Maki. You can learn more about fostering for Bottle Babies here: https://bottlebabiesrescue.org/become-a-foster/
My dog was diagnosed with IMT at around the same age and lived a long, happy life being spoiled out of her mind. Sending you and your dog good vibes!
That makes sense - it would've scared the crap out of me too! But I'm glad to hear it was a relatively minor incident. If inaction would stress you out, you can look at some bite inhibition/soft mouth exercises to work on: https://dogsmith.com/teach-your-puppy-a-soft-mouth/
I'll also say that your dog's ability to put their mouth on another dog without doing more severe harm is honestly kind of heartening to me! That suggests that the bite wasn't the point.
And for what it's worth, my foster dog plays with a local puppy and they spend the entire play session with their mouths around each other's necks and apparently they love it! š
Can I ask if your dog broke the other dog's skin? You mention the other owner wasn't upset, which makes me wonder what the physical damage was. Sometimes things that look intense and traumatic to us aren't as big a deal to dogs, and from what I understand whether there was distinct puncturing of the skin is one of the real dividing lines.
None of this is to minimize the incident or its impact on you! But a look at the dog bite scale might prove instructive - from your description it could be anywhere from a level 2 to a level 4: https://apdt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ian-dunbar-dog-bite-scale.pdf
(Also, I'm not an expert on dog bites so take everything I say with a grain of salt!)
Adding jams or reduced liquids to sponge cake for flavor?Cakes
I'm trying to make flavored sponge cakes: guava, ube, and blue butterfly pea flower. (Well, technically, I want to make layered cupcakes, which is why I'm trying to use the same base recipe; I've played around with layering batters in cupcakes before and it's turned out pretty well. These are in celebration for a friend who just came out as bi, thus the colors.)
I reduced some guava nectar, got ube jam and ube essence, and have blue butterfly pea flower tea that I've previously successfully ground up to make kind of a blue matcha powder, although I could also brew it. The thing is...I don't know if I can just add this stuff? My inclination is to get the ube jam into an ube syrup form, either by watering it down and then reducing it again until it's the same consistency as the reduced guava nectar or maybe mixing it with coconut or condensed milk, and I could do something similar to the blue butterfly tea and make a syrup. But if I'm adding liquid, how does that impact the cooking time? Does the sugar in the syrup still count as sugar for the purposes of the recipe's ratio? Should I add more flour to compensate? Am I on a fool's errand?
For context, I'm looking at a basic genoise recipe using 30g of flour and 30g of sugar for each egg. (Should I not use a sponge recipe?)
To be clear, if, like, the ube layer is a little denser than the other layers, as long as it's all cooked I don't really care. And, yes, I'm aware that I could make one layer of each cake separately instead of doing full cupcakes, but a layer cake would need frosting and honestly...I don't like most frosting. Baker's prerogative.
(And lastly, for the record, I did try this before, but it was a disaster on almost all levels except taste, for reasons including "didn't have access to a kitchen scale" and "didn't actually have enough cupcake tins so just squeezed cupcake liners into a casserole dish and hoped for the best." The layers worked out surprisingly well, though!)
Oh for sure! And to be clear, she's been adopted and returned once, and the person I'm worried I'm downplaying the issues to is myself. Basically I don't know enough about resource guarding to know what's likely to be a sign that it will be easier vs. harder to deal with, and thus whether her playing well with other dogs suggests the resource guarding is easier to deal with.
She definitely resource guards people, and it's definitely worse when she's stressed - she resource guarded me once at an adoption event when she'd been kenneled (and hating it) for a few hours. The adopters were unclear about what kind of resource guarding was happening as well (even though we did tell them ahead of time), and while they were adamant in their opinion that she shouldn't be placed in a home with other dogs, I'm not sure how to weigh that against the lack of real mitigation strategies that they implemented. (Which isn't a knock against them - I think they just figured they could deal with it and didn't realize they didn't actually have a plan.)
She also lived with other dogs for a good long while in a rescue setting, so it sounds like it was at least manageable there. I've also tried to be really upfront with potential adopters, to the point where I kind of get the sense the rescue thinks I'm presenting her as less adoptable than she is...but at the same time they aren't exactly advertising her or getting her name out there, so I don't know. š©
Yeah, my knowledge of resource guarding is from, like, three episodes of It's Me Or the Dog on YouTube, so any advice is welcome, lol. I brought up the diet mainly because it makes sense that she would feel the need to resource guard when she found herself in a situation where she was being under-resourced, so to speak. I personally haven't seen her resource guard food, but there also isn't any competition for it in her current situation and her adopters didn't specify what she was resource gathering.
It's hard to hold out for the ideal situation...and in my case it's also literally not possible because I'm going to be moving. I also didn't mention it in my initial post, but because she has such a high prey drive, she tends to lunge at/try to chase squirrels and chipmunks, and she's big enough that it's getting to the point where I'm starting to have physical consequences from restraining her (foot, ankle, arm, and shoulder pain all on the side where I hold my leash). I don't have a yard so I don't really have any choice but to walk her, and it's become clear the situation is cumulative. Nobody else in the rescue has stepped up to take her, and it's also not a rescue that tends to advertise much honestly, so it's getting really, really hard to stay hopeful, even for three months.
Social resource-guarding dog?
My foster's been listed as needing to be the only pet because she has a high prey drive and was adopted and returned for resource-guarding people against the resident dog. She's also high-energy, but she LOVES other dogs who can handle her energy, to the point where she gets listless and depressed if she goes too long without playing with another dog.
I'm wondering if how well she plays with other dogs makes her more "dog-selective" than "only pet." The adopters who returned her meant well, but didn't do a lot of the steps that are recommended for bringing a resource-guarding dog into a home with an RD; they introduced the dogs immediately off-leash, and only separated them when things started getting rough; that separation, from what I understand, involved letting them sniff each other but didn't involve positive reinforcement training. On top of that, they put her on a diet because she's overweight, which I think might've exacerbated the resource-guarding. (To be clear, I feel like I contributed to both these problems; I think when I talked to the adopters I downplayed the resource-guarding because I live alone and so it hadn't been a problem, and I definitely pointed out that she needed to lose a little weight.)
Am I fooling myself into minimizing her resource guarding because I'm increasingly desperate to see her placed? She hasn't had a single application in three months, and I'm going to be moving in another three months and can't take her with me (we aren't a good fit long-term; she's high-energy and I'm a couch potato who can't afford a fenced-in yard and is getting sick of long walks...). I'm starting to get anxious about what's going to happen to her when I move, but finding the balance between assessing her needs honestly and making sure she doesn't end up in another scenario where she gets returned is tough.
This post was inspired by a five-minute play session with another dog that we met on a walk today that calmed her down more than the forty-five minutes of walking that came before it...
Come out to Griffith Veterinary Hospital in Westland for an open house, including tours, raffles, and adoptable animals from Bottle Babies Rescue! Here's the Facebook event.
I'm gonna give some weird advice: go to YouTube and search for "Victoria stilwell it's me or the dog biting" and watch a bunch of videos. Hopefully that will give you a sense of both what it can look like to live with a dog that's bitey and the amount of effort it takes to address those behaviors. Based on some of your other comments, I would ask the shelter some additional questions - is the dog aggressive on-leash or just bitey at home? Does the dog have a history of resource-guarding a person against another person in the home? Those seem like potentially the two biggest issues - you don't want to be in a situation where the dog starts biting your partner to protect you, for instance.
He was found last night!
Missing dog
AnnArbor