The other side of the “pitbull” story.
Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.
Today’s WCW title belongs to Jennifer Rosen who’s love for her beloved Pitbull inspired the creation of a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the bully breed find their forever home.
Rosen grew up in Rolling Hills Estates and currently lives in Redondo Beach, CA. After her first Pit Bull, Lady, passed away, she had a strong desire to help other bullies in need. She says it also inspired her to advocate for the breed and for responsible Pit Bull owners everywhere.
In result, she created Bullies and Buddies Rescue, an official non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing Bullies and their other Buddy breeds in Southern California. Through training, love and patience, B&B has come to know and love every dog they have rescued as if they were their own. “They are all angels and we want them to succeed. For this reason, we pledge to never take on more dogs than we can properly care for, exercise, train and re-home,” she says.
Below, Jennifer shares some ways one can help:
Become a foster. Fostering saves lives. We can only save dogs if we have a place for them to crash. At Bullies and Buddies, we rely on fosters to help transition these dogs into their forever home. Our first priority is to place new rescues in foster homes (rather than to board them). Fostering saves the expense of boarding and provides a safe and loving home until they find their forever home!
Become a monthly donor. Even if you can only commit to $5/month that makes a huge difference because it allows us to plan ahead and save more dogs. It costs hundreds of dollars to spay/neuter, vaccinate, and chip just one dog not to mention housing, food, training and additional medical needs. If we have more consistent monthly commitments, we can say "yes" to more dogs who need us most.
She says the best part of rescuing is truly the dogs. “Being able to make a difference in even one life is so rewarding. We are so proud that we have saved over 900 dogs and counting. We just saved 3 more on Monday and the week isn't over yet,” she says.
When asked what she’d like others to know about dogs or adopting, she says, “First, if you have a fear of Pitt Bulls, please reach out or stop by our next adoption event. We'd like to introduce you to some amazing dogs.” Jennifer says that regardless of the type of dog you are looking for, please, please adopt instead of going to a breeder. Also, she says to finally please consider adopting a Pit Bull.
Studies estimate that up to 1 million Pit Bulls are euthanized per year which is 2,800 per day. Some estimates are up to double that number. In the Los Angeles area alone, 200 per day are put to sleep. “They need our help,” she says.
When Jennifer is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family. She says they are her rock and share her love for rescuing dogs. In the next five years, they’d like to continue to focus on the following three areas.
RESCUE
- save the dogs who need us most
- find loving homes for every rescue
- provide medical needs to ensure each dog has a happy, healthy life
AWARENESS
- advocate for the Pit Bull breed to dispel the myths
- provide opportunities for people to interact with Pit Bulls
- share rescue stories to provide positive news for the breed
GROW
- recruit more fosters so we can save more dogs
- develop strategic partnerships so we can reach more people and save more dogs
To learn more about Bullies and Buddies, please follow them on Facebook and Instagram and share the rescued dogs. They post daily updates so you can follow and learn their mission to save lives. So often one of their dogs finds a forever home because someone shared their picture and story.
You can also consider becoming a monthly angel donor and contributing to their cause at www.bulliesandbuddies.com to learn more.
Thank you Jennifer for being a passionate advocate and speaking on behalf of bullies who need our help!
“I am driven to bring awareness to the other side of the "Pit Bull" story - the one most people don't see on the news. I hope to get people to look deeper beyond the "Pit Bull" hype and see how loving and gentle these dogs can be.”
-Jennifer Rosen