Animal Tales: Pittie Posse sees the possibilities

Britt Bolnick was on her honeymoon when she turned to her husband and claimed: “Hey, you know what would be definitely fun? Let us start out a pit bull rescue.”

As honeymoon conversations went, this a single was unusual. Her new partner was not fazed.

“He agreed!”  she said.

Britt Bolnick, founder of the Pittie Posse canine rescue, with Baxter Bean, the pet Pittie Posse employed for its logo. Submitted image

About 4 1/2 yrs afterwards, the Pittie Posse rescues canines from substantial-destroy shelters in other states, finds foster and adoptive households for pet dogs in want, educates the public about bully breeds, and runs a roving pet pantry that provides food and other things to pet owners in need across the state, including individuals in Auburn.

When it is named the Pittie Posse, the group rescues all bully breeds, which include pit bulls, bullmastiffs, bull dogs and terriers. Its pet pantry is open to all pets, which includes cats.

It is shut to Bolnick’s dream, but there are a couple of points lacking: Extra donations so she can assist additional folks. And a developing.

Now, the rescue is doing the job by means of a scattered array of foster households.

“It’s undoubtedly a 2021 target that we have some room to put canines exactly where we have a leisurely amount of money of time to do the job with them and coach them,” she stated. “Because a large amount of the puppies that men and women say are exhibiting habits challenges, it’s either situational — there’s a little something happening in the dwelling that’s not Ok for the canine — or it is a lack of coaching and comprehending the dog’s requires.”

Bolnick usually desired to operate a canine rescue, even as a youngster. But her aim became pit bulls right after she rescued her to start with 1 off the streets of New York 20 several years back. His name was Boo Radley.

“I simply call him my gateway pit bull,” she mentioned. “I didn’t know anything at all about pit bulls then. … and he just actually taught me about the breed and the plight of pit bull-variety canines. I’ve often been a sucker for the underdog and the perceived monster, and pit bulls are definitely that.”

Her husband, Todd Sullivan, was into the doggy rescue concept but considerably less into pit bulls. Probably they could focus on a distinctive breed?

“I built him observe all the stuff on Michael Vick and expended a couple months educating him,” she reported. “Now he’ll generally say, ‘I completely get it. These pet dogs are awesome.’”

So awesome that they have a few of their personal, in addition a extended-term foster.

When the few lives in Saco, the rescue functions all in excess of the point out. A single of its every month pet pantry stops is at the 1st Universalist Church on Nice Street in Auburn, the place a person connected with a Lewiston sponsored housing intricate not long ago approached Bolnick.

The sophisticated has 300 aged inhabitants with 200 to 250 animals that require meals. Could the pantry support every single thirty day period?

The pantry has mainly relied on unique donors providing a handful of luggage of meals or a little bit of cash. To offer 300 households with foodstuff, the Pittie Posse would will need a a great deal greater donor.

But nevertheless.

“I stated yes,” Bolnick said. “My basic philosophy in life is if I’m emotion named to do a little something, I say of course to start with and then I figure it out.”

Britt Bolnick brings foods to pet proprietors in need to have across Maine, including an impending stop in Auburn on Feb. 13. Submitted picture

The rescue introduced people families a truckload of food items two weeks in the past. It hopes to convey yet another truckload or two when it returns to Auburn for its regular open up pantry on Feb. 13. Pittie Posse is now looking for a huge donor to support.

“Our hearts actually damage for elderly individuals,” she explained. “When they are shut in at this place, their animals are seriously their only source of companionship, and to have this pressure and scarcity all-around feeding them should be intolerable.”

Bolnick also hopes to get a personal loan this yr for a developing where the rescue can home pet dogs in want of instruction. The Pittie Posse receives 10 to 15 requests for help a 7 days from family members who want to find a new property for their doggy with behavioral troubles, but the rescue has to say no to most of them since their foster houses just cannot tackle dogs with huge troubles. It kills Bolnick each individual time she has to say no.

“Most are probably wonderful puppies, they’re just in conditions that are not a good healthy for them,” she stated. “So these puppies are possibly getting bounced on Facebook for free of charge or they’re winding up in shelters and they are getting put down for the reason that they’re not presenting perfectly in a shelter setting.”

Her dream was to start out a rescue. Now her desire is to help as quite a few puppies and their households as achievable.

“Supporting each individual other correct now is extra critical than at any time,” she mentioned.

Animal Tales is a recurring Solar Journal element about animals and their persons. Have an concept for Animal Tales? Connect with Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or e-mail her at [email protected].

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