Miss Popularity

I am a middle child.  I have one sister who is a year older and one sister who is two years younger.  My sisters have always been my closest friends.  They've also always been more outgoing than me.  They were both cheerleaders in college, and had large groups of friends growing up.  I was more of a loner.  So often when there is more than one dog around, I tend to gravitate to the shyest of the bunch.  Or in cases where their behavior is the same, I often feel a stronger connection with the less "popular" dog.  I am a bit surprised that in the case of my foster puppies, there has been such a large difference in popularity.  Although they look almost identical and act almost identical (nicknames not withstanding), Venture has received a lot more interest than Zoe at last weekend's adoption events and online.  So far Venture has received three adoption inquiries at events and two online applications.  Zoe has not received any inquiries or applications.  And although I am pretty sure that Zoe would not mind being less popular than her sister, I've still decided not to tell her.  She'll find out soon enough how hard it is to be a black pit bull mix dog in this world. 


Venture, aka "Miss Popularity"



Zoe

 There is a lot of work to be done in educating people about pit bulls. During last weekend's adoption event, one potential adopter came up to us oohing and aahing over the puppies, but stating that she was looking for an adult that would be a good cuddle companion. We suggested a couple of possibilities, and one of them was a pit bull. When we showed her a picture of the dog, she immediately backed away and firmly stated "I do NOT want any pit bulls". I may have sounded a bit smug as I pointed out that the puppies she was so crazy about were pit bull mixes. Most people, me included, change their mind about pit bulls after they actually meet them and spend some time with them. In this case, the lady couldn't believe the puppies were part pit bull because they didn't act like her idea of a pit bull. I wish she understood that pit bulls can be some of the best cuddle companions out there. Right now, Venture and Zoe are young enough and cute enough that they will hopefully be easy to adopt out. But for all the black pit bull mix dogs in the shelters that are no longer 9 or 10 week old puppies, being a pit bull mix, and being black on top of it, is enough to cause an almost immediate death sentence. I hope that Zoe and Venture will continue to change people's minds about pit bulls as they grow up.