BC SPCA impacted by dog discrimination

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Dog discrimination?

More black dogs have ended up in BC shelters recently because people in the Prairies tend to prefer other colours.

Lorie Chortyk with the SPCA says at least  four dogs ended up at a Vancouver Island Dogs Rescue Society because people in Saskatchewan didn’t want them.

She wishes people would see beyond colour.

“The personality and the temperament. When we do our adoption counseling it really is like a dating service. We want to find the personalities that really mesh together to make a good life-long bond. Appearances are only skin deep,” explains Chortyk.

She says all black animals end up being in shelters longer than their lighter counterparts.

“We usually have at least a third of our animals, a third-to-a-half which are black.”

So what is the problem with these black dogs?

“I don’t know if superstition plays any role. We always adopt these animals, it’s not like they don’t find homes… but I don’t know if people are just attracted to lighter coloured animals because of their markings,” adds Chortyk.

Some shelters in the US are known to even label large dark-mixed-breeds which have been passed over by other adopters as “BBD”, or Big Black Dog.

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