Pit bull friendly shelters in PA - please add more

[valliesong]

www.berksarl.org - The Animal Rescue League of Berks County in Mohnton, PA. Does NOT do temperament testing, and I believe they only work with 501(c)3 rescues, but they do try to give every animal a chance.

www.berkshumane.org - The Humane Society of Berks County in Reading, PA. Does NOT do temperament testing, does NOT list pit bulls on their website, and is lax in screening for homes, but the dogs are still deserving.

www.hillsidespca.com - The Hillside SPCA in Pottsville, PA. I do not know whether they do temperament testing, but staff spends a lot of time with the animals. They are mostly no-kill and give the dogs lots of out-of-kennel time.

www.healthyanimalcenter.org - The Center for Animal Health and Welfare in Easton, PA. (Formerly the SPCA Northampton County.) DOES temperament test and is relatively low-kill. I do not know how much they work with rescues. This is where I adopted my Roscoe.

www.humanesocietyhbg.org - The Humane Society of Harrisburg Area in Harrisburg, PA. DOES temperament test. Due to liability reasons and a decision made by the board, they did have age restrictions on children in the household. I am unsure as to whether this rule is still in place.

www.humaneleague.com - The Humane League of Lancaster County in Lancaster, PA. DOES temperament test and attempts to place dogs in the appropriate home. Will work with rescues. (I used to work here!)

[valliesong]

The Humane Society of Berks County has just started listing available pit bulls on their website.

PACCA/PAWS, Philadelphia PA - www.phillypaws.org - always has a lot of pit bulls in need and is looking for more rescue partners for these dogs.

I don't know anything about these shelters other than they adopt out pit bulls:

Ruth Steinert Memorial SPCA, Minersville PA - www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA18.html
Lehigh County Humane Society, Allentown PA - www.lehighhumane.org
Carbon County Shelter, Nesquehoning PA - www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA80.html
Chester County SPCA, West Chester PA - www.ccspca.org
Delaware County SPCA, Media PA - www.delcospca.org
Bucks County SPCA, Lahaska PA - www.bcspca.org

and

Pennsylvania SPCA (Danville, Philadelphia, Centre Hall, Shippenville, Stroudsburg, Montrose, and Wellsboro PA) - www.pspca.org

[adoptapitbull]

Hillside is a great place. I grew up minutes away and is where I got my first Pit, Maverick. My mom also adopted her pit there as well as her St. Bernard. They're absolutely no-kill and often have dogs living there as residents for years.

Ruth Steinert is a bit tricky. We got my mom's other Pit there as well as her Border mix. There was a big investigation when dead dogs were found in an employee's home. They've since moved to a new location, and I hope whatever issues they had are resolved.

[valliesong]

Ruth Steinert now has a new manager. I don't agree with her on a lot of things (such as vaccination being more important than socialization and making the shelter no-kill) but maybe things will improve.

PS - PAWS no longer runs the Philly animal control, and though they claim to be a "rescue" now, their policies definitely fall more in line with shelters as far as screening, follow up, etc. PSPCA now runs the city shelter, and it is called ACCT.

[ofrn]

I got my pit bull and my rotti/lab at the susquehanna county humane society, in northeast PA. they actually have a nice shelter some older woman left them one million dollars in her will, and they built a new building and got a lot of new supplies with it. I used to volunteer there a lot when i lived up there. There located in Montrose,Pa but i dont think they have a website.

[pittsburgher]

Shelters in Pittsburgh, PA - All these shelters are pit bull friendly. They all have low cost spay/neuter resources and low cost training classes as well as adoption programs. ARL has a low cost clinic as well.

-Animal Rescue League (has city animal control contract, open door, does adoptions, does not do cruelty investigations)
animalrescue.org

-Western PA Humane Society (open door, does cruelty investigations)
wpahumane.org

-Animal Friends (limited admission, does cruelty investigations)
thinkingoutsidethecage.org

Hello Bully is a pit bull rescue and advocacy group in Pittsburgh, PA. Hello bully does free pit bull spays.
hellobully.com

[rudysmom]

Lehigh County Humane Society does not do temperment testing. I took home a male pit, around 1 1/2 yrs old, said he was a sweetheart. Went to the shelter numerous times to interact with him, made it clear to them I have young grandkids. Well he lunged at my grandson without any provocation. When I brought him back, they still had him on the website without mentioning that he is not good with little kids. He was great with adults.