Thousands of stray Chihuahuas roam Bay Area neighborhoods (San Jose, Oakland: gated, live)

[JD59]

On Friday afternoon, a little brown Chihuahua trotted purposefully down an East Oakland residential street - wearing a collar, looking very determined but with no owner in sight.

Animal control officials said the pooch is probably one of the thousands of stray Chihuahuas wandering neighborhoods from San Jose to Vallejo, victims of overbreeding and negligent owners. In fact, stray Chihuahuas comprise the majority of dogs in local shelters and are frequent sights at vacant lots, parks and sidewalks.

Thousands of stray Chihuahuas roam Bay Area neighborhoods - SFGate

[DoggieMatic]

Same problem with pit bulls.

A lot of hispanics want & have chihuahuas, but get them from some backyard breeder at a flea market for $20 or get a free one from some relative or neighbor. They don't invest the thought, time or $$ to get the animal licensed, vaccinated, socialized, or trained. Some of the behavior is funny/cute at first, but then as they grow tired of it, the animal is relegated to the yard. If it barks too much, it bites an obnoxious kid, or a young kid is allowed unsupervised play with the small, delicate dog & the dog gets trampled & a leg broken ((at least a $1500 yet bill, more if it's a puppy & the bones are still growing), the dog either is dumped ('accidentaly' leaving the back yard fence open, then when the dog is gone, pretending that some nice person probably took it in & will give it a nice home) or if the people actually have a tiny shred of decency, they'll generously donate 30 minutes of their time to drop the dog off at the shelter or have animal control come pick it up. It'll usually be KILLED, because thanks to the former owners, it's not socialized & is aggressive, in-addition to the shelters already being overwhelmed. Most shelters charge an owner surrender fee, so the people will say they found the dog stray, when it's obviously bonded to them despite their poor care of it. "The so-called "no-kill" shelters will refuse to accept the dog because of it's issues, and they'll suggest it be taken to the same 'kill' shelter that they denigrate for being a 'kill' shelter.

Ditto for pitbull( mixes) & black people. In that case they often like pit bulls because they can intimidate other people if they walk their dog down the street (with one of those big, stupid heavy chains on it), or the dog is kept in the yard for 'protection."

With both ethnic groups, neutering a dog often isn't done out of a cultural priority on being 'macho' in-addition to just simply not being enthusiastic about paying for it.

Now heck yes, plenty of minorities love their dogs & are wonderful pet owners. Heck yes, I've seen plenty of irresponsible white trash in my 18 years of dog rescue work too.

It might not be 'politically correct,' but you're getting an honest answer of exactly why there's a high percentage of Chihuahua/mixes & Pit Bull/mixes that are stray & at shelters in 'urban' areas. Shelters & the media can't be blunt about the root causes like I am willing to be. Sorry if you don't like the truth, but don't blame me for it. Chihuahua/Pitbull strays are mostly related to the same cultural/societal issues that cause most 'urban' communities to have lots of crime, blight, and 'social-assistance' recipients. If I'm 'racist' for stating this, are local Animal Care & Control, & rescue groups also 'racist' for targeting these same population classes with free spay/neuter & vaccination clinics? Nope -- they know intimately well where the major problem lies & thus they target that area, just like I'm targeting that population in this posting.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

This drew my attention because several years ago, in Southern California, my spouse found that a live chihuahua had been placed in our trashcan! On a brighter note, we adopted a chihuahua mix dog from the Humane Society 6 years ago, and she's a great little pup.

[NorCal Dude]

My favorite are the folks that think that these things should be allowed to roam around freely like feral cats.

[Tulemutt]

Jeepers creepers. When I read the thread title I thought this was gonna be a review of a new Hollywood 'B' horror flick!

What a downer!