Of dog days

The previous shelter I've worked at was a county center, very rich and always under capacity. The policy there was much different. Because they simply didn't keep dangerous dogs around, volunteers weren't trained at all. Here, you're working with 90% pits and pit mixes, some dogs are aggressive, some have previously bitten people. You have to be much more aware; thus the extra training. The conditions are worse; at the county shelter each dog gets to go out at least twice a day. At the city, once a day, if they're lucky. Cages get cleaned twice a day in the county, maybe once a day in the city. Capacity-wise, city's holding over 70 dogs at full capacity, county has maybe 12-15 with space for again as many. 

I love pits, probably my favourite breed. They're extremely athletic, good natured and generally love people. They need to be socialized early and screened for aggression  because of their breeding. But barring all that; they're great family dogs. A pit has pretty remarkable jaw structure; their jaw locks in place. Additionally their jaw muscles are twice as developed as other dogs. You'll see the trademark pit triangular face; the muscles around the jaw are so thick they give the head a triangular shape. A normal dogs' jaw muscles attach at the temples, a pits wrap around the head and attach close to the opposite ear, giving the head an extra set of bulges. The amount of force all that muscle is able to generate is legendary! Pits are generally very smart and are easy to train; and because they love people, they work extra hard to please the owners.

Today, I got to hug a couple of dogs and for a time, things very pretty good! But then I had to put them back in their filthy cages and walk away. I left with feces smeared on my jeans. I suppose its symbolic of something. I've since scrubbed the jeans clean. Mostly.