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Burbaby Now

Alfie Lau, Burnaby NowPublished: Saturday, March 14, 2009

In the five years since it started, the HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society has been making headway on educating the public about pit bulls.

While media reports are quick to place blame on the dog when a human is attacked, the society's executive director, Shelagh Begg, waits before she passes judgment. "The biggest misconception about pit bulls is they are human-aggressive," she said. "That's absolutely false. If anything, they are highly tolerant of people and love being around people."



Raising awareness: Kristen Bergum, left, with Koda, and Shelagh Begg, with Dizzy, are part of the HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society. The group is holding an information meeting on Sunday, March 22. The group works to raise awareness about pit bulls and find homes for pit bulls who have been abandoned.





Begg herself would know. She's the owner of three pit bulls: Bailey, 9, a female she got from the SPCA in 2004; Dizzy, 10, a male she got from the SPCA in November 2007; and Mason, 11, a male with severe skin allergies she got from an animal shelter two months ago. "I believed a lot of those media reports, and I was leery of pit bulls at first, but then I met Bailey," she said. Begg was looking for an athletic dog that could keep up with her while she ran, mountain biked and snowshoed, but she also wanted her dog to be "a bit of a couch potato indoors." "And I wanted a dog that was low-maintenance, one I didn't have to groom every six weeks," she said. " Bailey met all those requirements, and Begg couldn't be happier after five years with her pit bull cross.

It's that local information that Begg hopes to impart at an informational session to be held on Sunday, March 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 1 at the Burnaby Lake West Sports Complex. "This is the third time we've had an event like this," said Begg. "The first two we advertised as volunteer meetings, and people got the misconception that we were just trying to get volunteers. This event is about giving people more information." That information will include the answers to these questions:


- What do we mean when we talk about a "pit bull"?

- What is breed-specific legislation, and how does it impact the community?

- What is responsible breeding?

- How do I identify a backyard breeder?

- What is HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society?


The event is open to the public and will be of particular interest to pit bull owners and dog-lovers who want to help educate the public about the true nature of these dogs.

HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society, started in 2004, is a registered, non-profit group of "bullie"-loving owners, rescuers, trainers and fans who match abandoned dogs with homes. Volunteers also provide public education, home foster care, and guidance and support to pit bull owners and local shelters.


Begg said one of the society's major tasks is matching up pit bulls from local shelters with responsible new owners. When they first started, they matched up five pit bulls in the first year, but now they average 50 dog matches annually.

The process begins with local shelters and local chapters of the SPCA calling up HugABull and telling them they may have a pit bull ready to be matched up. The dog is screened as it spends a minimum of 30 days in a foster home. "We want to find out how the dog interacts with other animals like cats, and we get a sense of the dog's personality," said Begg.

At the same time, interested owners have to fill out a three-page application before HugABull representatives conduct a phone interview and do reference checks. "If we approve the new owner, we do a meet-and-greet, and, even if that goes well, there's still another 24-hour period where the owner can change his mind," said Begg. "All in all, it's a really extensive process that can take two or three weeks from beginning to end."

Because HugABull is a non-profit group, owners do have to pay a fee for all this legwork, with prices ranging from $150 to $250 per dog, with puppies costing more. Email to a friend Printer friendly Font:**HugABull concentrates its efforts in B.C., although it did match up a pit bull with an owner in Oregon recently.

When the group isn't matching up pit bulls with new owners, it's educating the public about a breed that often gets a bad rap. "Any time there's a dog attack, there's a rush to say it's a pit bull attack," said Begg. "The first thing I want to know is what breed the dog is. There are a lot of short-haired blocky head dogs (involved in attacks) that aren't pit bulls, but they're called pit bulls. ... I'm not condoning any attack, but I always want to find out what type of dog it is, whether it was socialized and what sort of training the dog received." Begg said owners can train their dogs to "be anything they want them to be," and, while some pit bull owners are guilty of training their dogs for aggressive purposes, the majority are not. "Look at me," she said. "I've got three well-trained pit bulls that are very comfortable around humans.



" For more information, go to http://www.hugabull.com/ or e-mail info@hugabull.com