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Animal caretaker at McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center Glenn Lemons, plays with a few of the many black dogs they have at the facility. Many adoption centers are having trouble adopting out black dogs for a variety of reasons. As a result McKamey is cutting their adoption fee for many of the black dogs they have at the facility.
Black dogs might make good pets, but in a shelter setting they don’t find much love.
“We don’t exactly know the cause entirely, but we called it the ‘Black Dog Syndrome,’” said Leighann McCollum, the Nashville director for the Humane Society of the United States. “Black Labs, Rottweilers and all combinations of black dogs have a hard time in shelters.”
“In shelters, black dogs don’t show well,” said Guy Bilyeu, director of the local Humane Educational Society. “It’s almost hard to see them. There are so many animals, and sometimes they just blend in.”
Chattanooga’s McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center is so overrun with black dogs, it’s offering the animals for half-price through today as a part of a holiday adoption drive.
Want to adopt?
The McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center is holding a Holiday Adoption Festival that ends today. It allows the community to adopt black dogs for $50. It’s $75 for other adult dogs. Cats can be adopted for $25. Puppies are available for $125 or two for $200. Visit mckameyanimalcenter.org or call 305-6500.
The Hamilton County Humane Educational Society is holding its Tree of Hope event. Donors pay $100 to purchase an ornament on the society’s Christmas tree and that money is used to provide $10 adoptions to the public. Last year, the society adopted 300 pets through the drive. For more information, visit heschatt.com or call 624-5302.
The Hamilton County Humane Educational Society plans to adopt 80 or more animals of any breed or color for just a $10 application fee. The adoptions are funded through donors who pay the normal $100 adoption fee as part of the society’s Tree of Hope drive. The fee also helps pay for spaying/neutering, vaccinations, food and other items.
Advocates say one reason black dogs don’t adopt as quickly could be that an animal’s color makes it seem mean or is associated with breeds that have reputations as being aggressive: Dobermans and Rottweilers.
“But black Labs are probably the most common breed we see, and they make great family pets,” Mr. Bilyeu said.
But growing up is sometimes hard to do for black Labs, said Dr. Amanda Wojtalik-Courter, director of the McKamey Center.
“Black Labs sometimes carry on puppylike tendencies for longer than other breeds,” she said, “so often they are the ones we see coming back to the shelter because they didn’t work out as pets.”
Mr. Bilyeu and Dr. Wojtalik-Courter said they try any number of tricks to get the pets noticed. At McKamey, for instance, Dr. Wojtalik-Courter has tasked a staff member with helping adopt black dogs.
“We put colorful scarves around their necks and put information on the outside of the runs to help people notice them,” said Chasity Knierim, an animal caretaker at McKamey.
Mr. Bilyeu said simply hanging balloons outside a black dog’s cage can get some extra attention.
But even after all that, of the 100 dogs in the McKamey Center last week, 60 were black. About 30 percent of the dogs at the Humane Educational Society are black.
“We want people to know that black dogs have just as much love to give as any other color dog,” Ms. Knierim said. “Maybe that means we need to highlight them in some way or just tell people what makes them so special.”
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Original Source
Animal caretaker at McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center Glenn Lemons, plays with a few of the many black dogs they have at the facility. Many adoption centers are having trouble adopting out black dogs for a variety of reasons. As a result McKamey is cutting their adoption fee for many of the black dogs they have at the facility.
Black dogs might make good pets, but in a shelter setting they don’t find much love.
“We don’t exactly know the cause entirely, but we called it the ‘Black Dog Syndrome,’” said Leighann McCollum, the Nashville director for the Humane Society of the United States. “Black Labs, Rottweilers and all combinations of black dogs have a hard time in shelters.”
“In shelters, black dogs don’t show well,” said Guy Bilyeu, director of the local Humane Educational Society. “It’s almost hard to see them. There are so many animals, and sometimes they just blend in.”
Chattanooga’s McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center is so overrun with black dogs, it’s offering the animals for half-price through today as a part of a holiday adoption drive.
Want to adopt?
The McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center is holding a Holiday Adoption Festival that ends today. It allows the community to adopt black dogs for $50. It’s $75 for other adult dogs. Cats can be adopted for $25. Puppies are available for $125 or two for $200. Visit mckameyanimalcenter.org or call 305-6500.
The Hamilton County Humane Educational Society is holding its Tree of Hope event. Donors pay $100 to purchase an ornament on the society’s Christmas tree and that money is used to provide $10 adoptions to the public. Last year, the society adopted 300 pets through the drive. For more information, visit heschatt.com or call 624-5302.
The Hamilton County Humane Educational Society plans to adopt 80 or more animals of any breed or color for just a $10 application fee. The adoptions are funded through donors who pay the normal $100 adoption fee as part of the society’s Tree of Hope drive. The fee also helps pay for spaying/neutering, vaccinations, food and other items.
Advocates say one reason black dogs don’t adopt as quickly could be that an animal’s color makes it seem mean or is associated with breeds that have reputations as being aggressive: Dobermans and Rottweilers.
“But black Labs are probably the most common breed we see, and they make great family pets,” Mr. Bilyeu said.
But growing up is sometimes hard to do for black Labs, said Dr. Amanda Wojtalik-Courter, director of the McKamey Center.
“Black Labs sometimes carry on puppylike tendencies for longer than other breeds,” she said, “so often they are the ones we see coming back to the shelter because they didn’t work out as pets.”
Mr. Bilyeu and Dr. Wojtalik-Courter said they try any number of tricks to get the pets noticed. At McKamey, for instance, Dr. Wojtalik-Courter has tasked a staff member with helping adopt black dogs.
“We put colorful scarves around their necks and put information on the outside of the runs to help people notice them,” said Chasity Knierim, an animal caretaker at McKamey.
Mr. Bilyeu said simply hanging balloons outside a black dog’s cage can get some extra attention.
But even after all that, of the 100 dogs in the McKamey Center last week, 60 were black. About 30 percent of the dogs at the Humane Educational Society are black.
“We want people to know that black dogs have just as much love to give as any other color dog,” Ms. Knierim said. “Maybe that means we need to highlight them in some way or just tell people what makes them so special.”
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Original Source
