Bully Paws mixes charity and puppies on Ball Circle

By ALEXA ALLEN

Ball Circle buzzed last week as puppies invaded campus for charity. For a donation of $1, students could get their picture taken, with funds raised going toward helping the Bully Paws organization.

Bully Paws is a non-profit organization founded to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home pit bull type dogs from across the east coast. Bully Paws saves pits and pit mixes from being euthanized in animal control shelters. The dogs are then placed in the Bully Paws shelter or foster homes.

The non-profit shelter is run by volunteers solely, and one of the goals of the organization is to abolish the negative views of the pit bull breed.

Many county shelters across Virginia and Maryland will not allow certain breeds to be adopted, and often this results in pit bulls being euthanized. However, Bully Paws networked with shelters in order to get these dogs adopted into loving homes.

Before any dog is accepted into the program, they must first undergo a thorough screening process to ensure that the dogs that go into shelters have the best chances of adoption

Even when the shelter is bursting at the seams, all potential adopters undergo a complete application process, including reference checks and home visits to make sure that the dog they are adopting will be the right dog for them.

Foster families are also an alternative that provides a safe and loving home for dogs until they can be adopted. In some cases, a warm, cozy bed to sleep in and a guaranteed meal every day are some of the things the stray dogs get to experience for the first time.

All supplies are provided for foster parents by the Bully Paws organization.

Many dogs that come through the shelter need serious and expensive medical attention. Senior dogs and strays are often in need of the most medical care, all of which is paid for through fundraising and donations to the Bully Paws organization.

Having so many dogs in their shelter and foster programs is a great financial burden, which is why fundraising events are so important to them. Every dollar that was donated through the PUParazzi event made a difference.