• Volunteer at your local shelter or rescue: All shelters, rescues and humane societies need help. Whether you are walking a dog, cleaning kennels, or doing laundry, help is always needed.

• Financially: If you can’t physically help, then donate money. Every rescue and shelter needs money. We all have vet bills, food bills, collars, leashes, vaccinations and many other things that we need to purchase. Many rescues are recognized non-profit entities and their members do not get paid. They do not have large bank accounts. They survive by donations from people who want to help homeless animals find their permanent homes.

• Be a witness: Tell others where you got your dog. Tell people that adopting a dog is saving a life. If you adopted a very nice, well behaved Pit Bull, tell people that it is a Pit Bull, not a terrier mix. Telling and showing people that you own a nice Pit Bull is one of our best defenses. Take every opportunity to educate people about the Pit Bull dog and its good qualities.

• Foster Homes: So, you want to help? One of the most generous, helpful, yet low cost ways to help homeless animals in need is to provide a safe and loving environment for a homeless dog while he waits for his forever home. Taking a dog into your home saves lives. Some dogs are just not suited for shelter life. When dogs can not adjust to a shelter, they have to be humanely put to sleep. Most shelters, or rescues provide everything for the pet, you provide the love, and training, and care.

• Alter your pet: Pet over population is a huge crisis. Every four seconds an animal is put to sleep in this country. Altering our pets is the only way to help end the pet over population problem. Encourage others to do the same.

10 Reasons to Have your Pet Spayed or Neutered:

1. Just one litter and then we'll have Fluffy spayed.
---Studies show that virtually the entire pet overpopulation problem stems from the "just one litter" mentality.

2. My dog doesn't run wild, so he doesn't need to be fixed.
---There is no guarantee that your dog won't get loose at some time or another.

3. We always find "good" homes for the puppies.
---Are your "good" homes going to be equally, or possibly, more irresponsible than you (e.g. not spaying or neutering the dog and letting it outside--thinking of the dog as a disposable pet)? And what about all those puppies/dogs (and kittens/cats) already in shelters waiting for good homes?

4. I want my children to witness the miracle of birth.
---Are you then going to take your children to the pound to watch those puppies be euthanized so they can witness the tragedy of death? Seventy-five percent of animals that end up in shelters in this country are euthanized. Ask yourself where your puppies will end up when you can't find homes for them all.

As far as learning about birth, go to your local library; there are books and videos about the miracle of birth.

5. My dog is so cute and unique; there should be more of her.
---Have you been to your local animal shelter lately? They are filled with cute and unique dogs--most with only a few days left to live.

6. It's not natural.
---There hasn't been anything "natural" about dogs since we domesticated them and began to develop breeds thousands of years ago.

7. I just couldn't look my dog in the eye if I had him castrated.
---You're anthropomorphizing (i.e. giving the dog human feelings). Your dog doesn't have a sense of gender in the way that humans do.

8. A female dog or cat should have at least one litter for health reasons.
---Actually, even allowing a dog or cat to go into her first heat increases her risk of getting mammory cancer later in life. This argument is indefensible medically and ethically.

9. Neutering my dog will make him fat and lazy.
---Too much food and not enough exercise make a dog fat and lazy.

10. Fixing my pet will change his/her personality.
---THE PRIMARY INFLUENCE ON AN ANIMAL'S PERSONALITY IS THE KINDNESS AND CARE WITH WHICH IT IS RAISED.