I volunteered at the Burnaby SPCA for two years between one and four days a week. Mostly I did dog walking, coordinating and I also fostered and helped find homes for small animals like degus and guinea pigs. One day a week I brought my son in. Almost every dog we met was fine with him. Almost every dog they killed was just great with him. Mandy was totally kid proof and I never saw any aggression toward anyone. She is just one of the dogs I have seen be killed for no reason.

Sadly many of the dogs I have seen destroyed were perfectly nice dogs who would have been adopted quickly. Mandy was doing really well at Burnaby. The mistake was that she was adopted to a home inexperienced with pit bulls who took her to a training facility which sounds very prejudiced against the breed as well. The people who returned her complained when they saw she was up for adoption again. She was only at the Vancouver SPCA, in its "rehabilitation program" for two weeks or so, and because there are people there who fear the breed she must have felt scared and barked at them. She was destroyed for barking at the wrong people through her kennel.

It is unbelievable and until management changes, I can't go back. I never saw her show any aggression and she was totally kid-proof with my four year old son. We could have found her a really great home. I have a Green Zone dog who is a lab/rottie/? mix and I took him to foster when he would not go in his kennel. When I brought him home, he showed fear of bikes, motorcycles, and some men. He would lunge at them. 110 pounds of lunging dog is a lot to handle! Of course I adopted him, partly because I love him and because I knew if he was ever returned he would have scared somebody and probably been put to sleep.