More of the dogs and puppies rescued last week from the Pine Bluff Kennels will be getting a second chance at a new life and forever homes in Florida.

More than 100 dogs arrived yesterday at the Broward Humane Society in Dania Beach. The SPCA of Tampa Bay received 100 of them. Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League/Humane Society of the Palm Beaches received 31 of them.

They say the dogs are in better condition then expected but it’s still horrible. They’re dirty, fur matted, some of the dog are matted together, many are dehydrated and malnourished, some have medical problems and birth defects from overbreeding.

“Most of these animals were used specifically for breeding. We’re talking small dogs –yorkshire terriers, chihuahuas, poodles, and sadly, they are breeding animals that are kept for one purpose — to produce puppies. The conditions that the animals were taken out of were horrific,” says Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League Executive Director Joan Radabaugh.

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The idea of being bitten by an aggressive dog is scary for anyone, even dog lovers and dog owners. If you Google ‘dog news’ you will see stories of maulings and bites and attacks. My impression has always been the most dog bites could be attributed to owner negligence or improper training (actually training a dog to be aggressive), victim instigation, or in the case or stray dogs, pack behavior. Dogs can and do bite. Smaller dogs actually dish out the most bites, statistically, but there is seldom much, if any damage, which is why when you hear ‘dog bite news,’ it will most often be larger breeds because the damage they can do is much more significant. Due to a recent study that I read, it looks like I really am not off the mark but there was at least one surprise. Read on for more…

Recently there was a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and published by the Journal of Injury Prevention, looking for the answer to the question, ‘Why do dogs bite?’ They study, encompassing four years of analysis, looked at 111 cases involving 103 dogs that bit children. The data came from a one specific veterinary behavior clinic and looked at bites involving children under the age of 18 and included such data as age, familiarity with the dog and the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Their findings show that what prompts dogs to bite children is generally underlying anxiety, pain and other behavioral or medical problems. This study was not confined to specific breeds, showing that all dog breeds have the potential to bite. The most common triggers, according to the study in the journal Injury Prevention were “guarding of resources and territory.”

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I Found Your Dog Today. . . .

No, he has not been adopted by anyone. Most of us who live out here own as many dogs as we want, those who do not own dogs do so because they choose not to. I know you hoped he would find a good home when you left him out here, but he did not.

When I first saw him, he was miles from the nearest house and he was alone, thirsty, thin and limping from a burr in his paw.

How I wish I could have been you as I stood before him. To see his tail wag and his eyes brighten as he bounded into your arms, knowing you would find him, knowing you had not forgotten him.

To see the forgiveness in his eyes for the suffering and pain he had known in his never-ending quest to find you… but I was not you. And despite all my persuasion, his eyes see a stranger. He did not trust. He would not come. He turned and continued his journey; one he was sure would bring him to you.

He does not understand you are not looking for him. He only knows you are not there, he only knows he must find you.

This is more important than food or water or the stranger who can give him these things.

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