Left to right – top row... Anthony Dollabh, Ashlee Jordaan, Lerato Ntelele, Michelle Pearce, Nicole Jack, Tarryn Oldewage, Teagan Pearce
Left to right – bottom row... Patricia Bowton with Ghost, Maddison Pearce, Justine Reynolds with Hogan, and Jasmine Van Zyl (Hogan's mom)
Written by Nicole Jack – Founder of SerendiPitty Rescue
Professional photography by Peach Studios
SerendiPitty Rescue was started because there was great need for a Pit Bull-specific organisation in KwaZulu-Natal, and from our passion for a VERY misunderstood breed.
SerendiPitty got its name based on the meaning of serendipity: “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”; “a fortunate stroke of serendipity”. Adding another “t” to make it SerendiPitty was because of the breed we chose to rescue, often nicknamed “pitty”. We hope that, whenever we rescue a dog, it will be just that: serendipity.
As hard as having this responsibility on us may be, it’s harder to see a breed that we love being persecuted. We appreciate the opportunity to educate potential adopters. We work to help get our dogs a better life going forward and are proud to have had so many special dogs come through our rescue. They’ve changed our lives as much as we changed theirs.
What we do
At SerendiPitty, we are 100% committed to the needs of the breed and focused on ethical and responsible rescue and homing, as well as education about the breed.
Most dogs are surrendered to us because of a change in circumstances. Financially, the person’s situation has changed. Or a family member has passed away. Commonly, people are emigrating and cannot take their pet. But sometimes we get a call and go out – in those cases we often see cruelty, as was the case with Nox, and Jasper, and Hogan and Pebbles. Their living conditions were terrible.
With all the recent negativity towards the breed, we’ve had an increase in calls and surrenders too.
The good news is we’ve also had a lot of calls for advice on how to keep their pets safe. We advise that the dogs never be visible from the road, with no access to front yards, and they should sleep indoors only, never outside.
As responsible rehoming is a crucial part of our work, we have a strict process if anyone is to adopt from us. People must apply and fill in an adoption application. Only if we’re happy with the application will we proceed with a home inspection, and only if we’re 100% happy with that will we proceed with the adoption. We’d rather lose a potential adoption than set a dog up to fail and place people in a difficult situation.
We get to know every dog in our care and aim to place them into homes where they’re suited. Some as only dogs, some with others. Some with children, some not. Sometimes not every dog should be homed – it depends on their temperament and how suitable the home is for that specific dog.
Common issues also occur when people don’t research the breed or basic canine behaviour. For example, getting littermates or dogs too close in age, especially when younger, can cause littermate syndrome, which isn’t something you can train out of a dog.
We try our best to educate potential adopters. We refer to trainers where possible – we believe training for both dogs and owners is imperative. Training should be completely force-free and with a qualified behaviourist who knows the breed.
In addition, every dog we have in our care is vet checked, vaccinated, microchipped and sterilised. This is part of our contract and our commitment to the breed. We have some incredible vets with whom we work closely to ensure there’s no reason why our dogs shouldn’t receive vet care whilst in our care.
Speaking up for the dogs
These dogs deserve a chance to speak up too. So many of the horror headlines are there to grab the attention of the reader, but many articles are based on a bias and don’t always share the whole story.
If further research is done, the dogs involved were more often than not abused, neglected, chained, or caged; or the owner didn’t research the breed and provide the right training and care. Many weren’t even Pit Bulls at all!
Unfortunately, backyard breeding is a massive issue here as dogs are bred with no thought to temperament; there’s no control and there are too many dogs ending up in bad situations, which leads to further behavioural problems. Modifying any breed to the extent that these dogs are through indiscriminate breeding is guaranteed to result in an issue somewhere down the line.
The bottom line is that, before a home brings in any breed – Pit Bulls, Pit Bull-type dogs or otherwise – they must research and understand their needs, how to train them, how to handle behaviour, etcetera.
I’ve chosen to work with a breed I know. Love. Trust. I’ve chosen a dog that I’ve researched and worked with for years. I see both sides. I don’t believe any dog deserves to be judged based on its breed, rather on the individual dog’s temperament. Just like each person, each dog deserves a chance to be loved in a happy, safe environment.
No dogs go without
As you can imagine, all of this is an expensive exercise. Nothing is cheap or free. We do as much fundraising as we can manage in between our full-time work. It’s as time-consuming as a full-time job, but it’s not our paying work – we’re all volunteers. We have to fund this organisation so that no dogs in our care ever go without.
We’re fortunate to have some incredible volunteers who help us at fundraising events and even foster, where possible, which in turn means saving more lives. We also rent kennels. During the recent floods, we lost a big portion of the kennels we rent. But with some epic fundraising, we were able to assist the kennel owner with rebuilding a portion, and in the process, some of the dogs in kennels actually found amazing homes with the people who’d opted to foster them.
We also sell branded clothing to help us raise funds and get our name out there to generate interest in the organisation and, of course, our adoptables.
At SerendiPitty Rescue, we believe that, with all of the darkness in the world, we can always shed a little light.
You can help!
There’s always something you can do help, starting by following SerendiPitty on Facebook @SerendiPittyRescue.
If anyone would like to consider fostering or adopting, please email serendipittyrescue@gmail.com or WhatsApp 0027 83 780 1664 to apply to start the adoption process.
There’s also always a need for funds for things such as vet bills, kennelling, food, and staff, and donations are greatly appreciated. We’re a registered NPC and PBO, and, as such, are able to issue section 18A certificates to donors and sponsors, both private and corporate, to claim donations back from SARS.
We’re also grateful for any donations of treats, toys and other goodies for our pups in kennels. Please contact Nicole for donations and drop-off points available in Durban.
SerendiPitty banking detail:
Serendipitty Coastal Powerbreed Rescue NPC
First National Bank
Account: 62778779474
Branch Code: 220127
Special doggy mentions...
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Hogan Hogan was removed from a property, along with two other dogs. His owner was a drug addict who’d disappear for weeks at a time and the dogs were kept in very bad conditions. |
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Pebbles Pebbles is Hogan’s daughter and has been in our care since she was five days old. |
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Ghost We had to take Ghost and her brother from her previous owner. The condition we agreed upon was no money (which the owner had requested), but we agreed to sterilise Ghost’s mom and provide dog food. Her brother was rehomed, but Ghost is still up for adoption. |
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Blossom and Buttercup Blossom and Buttercup are sisters that were discovered by a Good Samaritan who went to do a job at their previous home. When he saw the pups and their appalling conditions, he agreed to take no payment for his work but wanted both pups, which he then surrendered to us to rehome. |
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Paxton Paxton was surrendered due to the owner fearing he might be in danger with all the negativity towards Pit Bulls. |
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Jasper Jasper was a Sunday-afternoon rescue. He was found on the street, covered in wounds old and new – we surmised that he’d been fought. However, he’s been adopted by a lovely family. |
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Holly Holly was surrendered by a family that could no longer look after her. |
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Nox Nox was shot with a pellet gun and tied up with wire before being handed over to us. |
