In this long line of kennels Chewy is by far one of the best behaved. A beautiful chocolate lab he’s eager for attention, eyes and ears perked for the faintest sight of fingers coming through the grate for a scratch. He’s eager to please, acting out commands of “sit” and “down” instantaneously, even when given from complete strangers such as us.
His partner in the kennel is more subdued. Kyra, a yellow lab, is untrained and spends much of her time ignoring us, watching Chewy’s tail wag uncontrollably.
Then again, perhaps she knows she doesn’t have to try to impress us. The sign says that she’s been adopted, even though she’s quite a bit older than Chewy.
On a larger scale situations like these are drawing the attention of shelters and animal activists across the country. They argue that black animals, dogs as well as cats, linger on in shelters long after their lighter-colored counterparts and are euthanized at a much higher rate, especially the larger breeds. They even have a name for the phenomenon: Big Black Dog Syndrome, or BBDS for short.
But why would such a problem exist in the first place? One of the explanations is that darker animals tend to be negatively stereotyped in superstition and pop-culture, the image of the growling Doberman or hissing black cat of so many movies and shows sticking irrevocably in the back of the adopter’s mind.
Mary Jo Spring, executive director of the forty-three year-old Hermitage Cat Shelter, acknowledges that some adopters might balk at black cats due to superstition. “Certainly black cats do seem to stay in the shelter for a longer time,” she muses. “Sometimes we really need to talk them up to get them adopted.”
But she doesn’t believe that is the only reason. “It’s the exotic cats that go first, the flashier Siamese or the ones with blue eyes, the black cats just seem to blend into the crowd.”
This reason seems more plausible, and for dogs as well as cats. In the generally poorly-lit, crowded world of shelters lighter animals simply appear more flashy and noticeable. This is only compounded by the fact that there are generally more darker animals in the population, meaning that the lighter ones are all the more noticeable against the dark crowd.
Jenny Rose, the Community Relations Manager for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona tends to agree. “On average animals whose coats are darker do have longer stays at the Humane Society,” she says. “We’re not sure why this is, but one explanation could be that darker animals have a tendency to blend in with their surroundings much easier than lighter-colored animals.”
“Often they simply get overlooked when potential adopters visit our kennels,” she explains.
In order to avoid this situation the adoption kennels at the Humane Society have been painted teal in order to help the darker-colored animals stand out more. Their cat kennels have gotten an even bigger upgrade, from the traditional stainless steel cages to individual white plastic kennels that really help to show off the darker cats. But the issue seems a bit more complicated than just the color of their coats.
Justin Gallick has volunteered at the humane society for eight years now and isn’t sure that there really is a correlation at all. “I have friends in shelters elsewhere who say that a black dog coming in is a death sentence but here there are so many animals coming in and out that it doesn’t seem to make a difference,” he explains. “Really, it’s the large mixed breed males that tend to stay the longest.”
The same mixed opinions are also apparent at Pima County Animal Control. The friendly ARF volunteers were eager to talk about the issue, especially Bonny and Kevin Hartnett. They have been fostering for over seven years now and just recently ran into a problem getting one of their fosterlings adopted.
“Jeff, he was the cutest, sweetest little black dog,” Bonny recalled, her smile wide. “Usually small dogs go quickly, but no one seemed to want him.”
They kept trying for most of the summer but while they were able to find homes for all of their other fosters they eventually decided just to keep Jeff themselves. They don’t regret their choice but now have less room for new fosters.
It’s not just Jeff though, they’ve noticed similar problems with other foster homes. “Whenever you have a group of puppies the lighter ones always go first,” Kevin explained.
But in general the animals that stay the longest here aren’t differentiated by their shade. They explained that the real great finds were the ones no one was looking at, the same dogs that Justin mentioned staying longer at the Humane Society: the mutts.
“They’re such a good buy,” Bonny lamented. “They have better genes than the purebreds and not as many problems, but so many people look down on them.”
It’s these larger mixed breeds that linger on in the kennels here, and even though a large proportion of them do have darker coats are they still here because of their hue or because they don’t fit the particular breed that potential adopters are looking for? As we walk down the halls with the volunteers numerous noses poke out from between the bars, begging for some attention. But even sadder are those who no longer care who walks by, who barely even bother with their food, the ones that have lost hope of ever being out of the kennel that encloses them.
It’s these dogs that desperately need to be noticed for the wonderful pets they can be, no matter their hue or breed, that much is certain. So next time you think about adopting, spend a little time looking at the animals that aren’t as flashy, as noticeable.
And like as not, you’ll find a diamond in the rough.