Mumma was reading another in a long string of
articles about
the curse of the color black in canine rescue.
It all boils down to this: if you’re a larger dog and your coat color is
black, you’re just about doomed. If you’re
a smaller dog and your coat color is black, you are slightly less doomed than
the larger dog, but still pretty doomed.
It’s insidious and probably goes back to our earliest superstitions. Black has always been associated with bad
things. Witches, devils, darkness, evil,
the bad guy in the Western movies. Black
animals have been considered familiars for all the nasty things that go bump in
the night. We laugh about it but way
deep down it has a hold on us. All the
black dogs and cats waiting for adoption in the shelters can attest to this.
I’m sure you’re shaking your head, no that’s not me. I am fine with black dogs and cats. But ask yourself this, have you ever owned a
black animal? The majority of us will
have to answer no. It’s not that you go
to the shelter or the breeder or wherever and say, I hate black dogs, I’m not
going to adopt one (though some
may actually say this to themselves). You go to the shelter and the light colored
dogs all look prettier than the black dogs.
They look friendlier or friskier.
We’re predisposed to overlook the black dogs without even realizing it.
There are people out there who are doing everything they can
to find homes for the chromatically challenged.
One lady has started a website called
Black Pearl Dogs. It highlights all that is amazing and good
about these dogs. Trying to cut through
the clutter of brain stem evolution and maybe get you to consider the great
dogs underneath that coat color. Please
check this website out and share it with your friends.
Next time you’re at the shelter please stop and take some
time with a black coated dog. Even if he
doesn’t seem as “pretty” as the other dogs.
You’ll find out that they’re all as special and unique, as lively,
frisky, loving and snuggly as all the other dogs. And they’re more in need than the other dogs
since they are more likely to be euthanized or languish for years in the
shelter system without your help. We can
attest first hand that life with a chromatically challenged dog is
wonderful. We know from our experiences
with our own Bat Girl. Besides that,
black goes with everything and everything looks good on a black dog.
Happy Halloween!
