PetSmart doesn't allow "pit bulls"

PetSmart takes heat for excluding pit bulls from doggie day care

Pit_bull_3 Newsday's pet columnist and blogger Denise Flaim writes in a recent post that the pet supplies retailer PetSmart has been the target of online complaints about â??breedistâ?? requirements at its doggie day-care facilities.

Its PetsHotel and Dog Day Camp programs do not welcome any dogs with a bully breed? classification, which it defines as American Pit Bull Terriers, Miniature Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Bull Dogs, Bull Terriers or mixed breeds that have the appearance or characteristics of one of these breeds. It also retains the right to reject individual dogs of any breed.

I will no longer patronize them in any way -- and have written them to tell them so,wrote one irate cross-poster. On the Web site, there is a contact us capability to send an e-mail. I thought a good name for them would be PetStupid, and told them that was what I would call them from now on.

Although I don't like it when a doggy daycare is unfriendly to bullies, it has been my experience that it is good for Elmer if the facility is honest about their ability to work with a bully breed. It would be great if all facilities could hire competent, trustworthy, dog-knowledgable staff like those who work at Elmer's favorite daycare (Barkalounge), however, the number of people who are dog lovers, bully savvy and wanting to work at doggy daycares may not be enough for staffing a large chain daycare like the one PetSmart needs to staff.

The one time that I took Elmer to a doggy daycare that only excluded "purebred" pit bulls he had a very bad experience. It was a facility with doggy-cams and I watched them like a hawk. Elmer is a bit awkward in a new pack situation and he will do sneak-attack-humping. With a little supervision, he's easily distracted from this annoying habit. The staff at this daycare were not providing close supervision after the first 5 minutes in the play area. Within one hour, Elmer had been locked into a single-dog kennel because he was "aggressive" yet I have never seen an ounce of aggression in him. He had been to other doggy daycares where I was told that he needed a little help adjusting to the pack, but that he did well with supervision. The problem with this anti-bully facility was that they didn't want to have to provide adequate supervision for the size of their facility. When I asked if they knew if it was Elmer instigating or if it was possibly one of their regular clients who had decided he or she didn't like Elmer, they couldn't tell me.

Those of us who have a bully breed know that these pets are not for everyone. When rescue groups adopt out pit bulls, they do extensive screening of potential owners, often screening beyond their standard screening for non-bully breeds. When you read websites and magazines about bully ownership, you always see sentences like "Owning a pit bull is not for everyone. Owning a pit bull requires a higher level of dedication and responsibility than is expected or necessary for some other breeds."

This sort of attention, dedication and responsibility may not be present in the staff of a larger "chain" doggy daycare. I think it's a good thing when the facility knows whether or not their staff is up to the challenge closely and carefully supervising bully breed clients to ensure that their time at daycare doesn't result in any unintentional scuffles between clients.

We've all seen news stories where the pitbull owners claim that their pet's attack on a child or other dog was "out of the blue" only to find out that there were many early warning signs of aggression that were ignored. Even bully owners who do not train their dogs for fighting are sometimes unintentionally hurting these breeds by not being realistic about acknowledging and addressing these warning signs. PetSmart and other doggy daycares can't trust that all owners are being honest about the level of dog tolerance a bully has. If they aren't employing dog-savvy staff members who can spot early warning signs of trouble, I think it's best that they acknowledge that these breeds need special care that they can't provide.

The exclusion of bullies from their daycare does not necessarily reflect a global anti-bully attitude within the PetSmart chain. ARPO (the organization for which I am currently fostering) has had quite a few pit puppies adopted through their Saturday PetSmart adoption events. Elmer has always been warmly welcomed by the staff at PetSmart and I have never seen even an ounce of hesitation their part with him.

I will be sending a letter to PetSmart to let them know that I am disappointed in their decision to exclude bully breeds and will be suggesting that if their staff is not dog-savvy enough to watch a bully then I wouldn't ANY dog there because even non-bully's need a level of supervision for which they are apparently unwilling to provided adequate staffing levels. However, I have seen too many pitbulls adopted on a Saturday afternoon at PetSmart to fully boycott the chain.

I hope that each of you who read this will consider that we each need to do what we think is best, whether you choose to completely boycott PetSmart or if you choose to contact them to express your disappointment in their decision to exclude all bully breeds from their daycare facility. We can all have different opinions about what is best -- what matters is that your opinion causes you to do something to defend the bullies you love!!