Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 07:33 pm
This covers a topic very dear to me and anyone who loves pets. The Black Dog Syndrome that seriously hurts a black dog or black cats’ chances for adoption.
Some web sites on the Internet insists that it does not exist but talk to anyone connected with animal rescue and they will say it is very real. They say black animals are difficult to photograph for adoption.
And the complaints are all the same. People just do not like them. Black dogs look mean. Black cats are unlucky, and they are not as pretty. Black dogs and cats are the most euthanized at shelters because time runs out for them.
One of my three dogs was a BBD—Big Black Dog. Sasha was part Akita, Chow, and Lab, totally black complete with a black tongue. She was 85 pounds, so this was not a little dog.
So, I have personal experience that the Black Dog Syndrome exists. We got her because she was my stepmom’s dog but no retirement place for my folks would allow her. When visitors and workmen came to our home it was Sasha they feared, even though my Schipperke was the real watchdog. At the dog area of the park, people would call out “Is your dog safe?” as if I would bring an evil or vicious dog to a family park. I even got her a pink collar and leash because she was always mistaken for a male dog.
The myth of the evil black animals started with the Medieval Ages in Europe. Hellhounds, evil minions, demon in animal form, foretellers of doom. The animal- either bird, cat, or dog, -was usually black. Artwork through the ages to this day shows black dogs or cats as menacing and sinister threats of some type.
Europe had the Black Shuck Dog, a creature to be feared and avoided at all costs. The Hellhound, Bargheest, Crossroad dog, minions of Satan. All similar canine types with huge size, incredible speed and glowing eyes. A harbinger of death or disaster.
Horror writers used that instinctive fear and encouraged it. From Edgar Allen Poe to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, black animals are to be feared in their fiction stories.
Associating black dogs with the supernatural was adapted in Hollywood. Apart from the Lost Boys, black dogs such as Great Danes, Rottweilers and Dobermans were the companions and servants of vampires, evil magic users, demons and supernatural beings. The dogs were usually supernatural themselves.
The Doberman Gang had a dog pack being trained to rob a bank. The Omen film series had a Rottweiler as a guardian for Damien Thorne.
Even if the movie was non horror this bias is noted. Heroic film dogs, war dogs or guide dogs for the blind, and family pets depict dogs like German Shepherds or Yellow Labs. Dobermans and Rottweilers are the guard dogs, the attack dogs, the sentries.
Would this black dog by the road still be threatening as a white dog??
Every horror film or Halloween special features a black cat. Even Sabrina the Teenage Witch followed the trend with a black cat familiar called Salem. In the comic books, Salem was an orange tabby. But the unwritten rule of Hollywood dictates, if witchcraft is featured, the cat must be black.
One notable exception was the two Pet Semetary movies. The first one used a British Blue Shorthair and the remake had a tabby Maine Coon Cat.
Doing research for this post I had a startling realization. Look at any photo or painting of several dogs. The lightest dog is front and center, obviously the favored dog. The darker dog is to the side or behind the light dog. Almost every time.
But black cats have it far worse. On the month of October, the black cat is an icon of Halloween along with carved pumpkins and witches on broomsticks. Mystical and magical creatures, they are linked with the occult, witchcraft, black magic, graveyards. They are familiars and evil spirits. They are creatures of the night, of darkness when all creatures prowl.
They are also under attack. They face the threat of animal sacrifice. This is not white magic paganism which prohibits any harm to animals. This is black magic and Satanism. Police do find sites of suspected animal sacrifices.
Notices to keep your pet indoors for Halloween. For the month of October, a hold is placed on black cats for adoption. We talked to two rescue organizations and they said it was true. A person can pay a deposit for the cat and the black cat will be released the day after Halloween.
Or as a less sinister possibility, the cat is selected as a Halloween accessory. Through no fault of his own, he is returned to the shelter after the holiday to be adopted for another home. But this second adoption will be more difficult because the poor cat has been taught a lesson on not to trust a new family.
PETA reported of shelter cats put to sleep 70% of them are black cats or black and white cats.
The RSPCA said visitors walk by a black cat. White cats and colorful tabbies are the animals they want.
How can anyone ignore these beautiful creatures?
But over the past several years, their situation is improving. Time is taken to photograph them, so they show up better. Visitors come to a shelter and will deliberately pick black cats. My sister and I did. The first one was Sami. She loved sitting on the windowsill. We lost our sweet girl to kidney disease, so we got a second black cat from the shelter .He is the one on the right side. His name is Jasper.
Black dogs and cats are being helped by adoption events. Pet organizations, hosted by some business like PetSmart ,and run by volunteers collect animals from several animal shelters to present for adoption. The theme could be pit bulls, senior pets—special needs pets. Adoption events are also held for Blacks- cats and dogs. Usually the adoption fees are much lower than normal.
If you go to a shelter, please look a second time to the black animals up for adoption. The odds are against them. They are not evil creatures to bring you bad luck and death. They are wonderful future pets. They wait, for someone to consider them and give them the home and family they deserve.
All they want is a chance to be noticed. Please give them that chance.
The two German Shepards photoshopped into a single dog was created by Gallowboob and posted in Reddit. The white dog is Kaya and the black dog is Hades
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https://www.blackpearldogs.com/black-dog-syndrome/
https://io9.gizmodo.com/black-dog-syndrome-teaches-us-something-very-important-1575185077
https://petsforliferescue.rescuegroups.org/info/display?PageID=7695