Huntington shelter trainer makes pit bulls adoptable

From his looks and behavior, Jordan, a 4-year-old pit bull terrier mix with a shiny brindle coat that features a splash of white fur on his chest, is the perfect pet -- well-behaved, follows orders, calm, loving.

But that wasn't the case about a year ago, when he arrived at the Town of Huntington animal shelter, a fearful, defensive and potentially unadoptable dog.

But earlier this summer, after about six weeks working with Christian Papa, a certified dog trainer and a consultant at the shelter in East Northport, Jordan is on track to be adopted.

"With Jordan, it was about working with him every day for an hour, giving him the positive attention he needed to get him into a better state of mind," Papa said. "When we train dogs, it's patience and consistency; and you need to have patience in order to be consistent. Everything dogs know is a learned behavior."

About a year ago, Jerry Mosca, the shelter's supervisor, approached town officials with the idea of hiring Papa, a dog whisperer of sorts, to work with the shelter's dogs, especially dogs that are all or part pit bull, to help them become more adoptable.

"Christian comes in about five hours a day, five days a week and works with all the dogs on things like basic obedience, walking well on a lead; and he does the assessments on all the new dogs that come in," Mosca said.

He added Papa also comes in on the weekend on his own time to teach volunteers his dog training techniques, which reiterate structure, rules and boundaries. "The volunteers are an integral part of and have been very receptive to the program as well," Mosca said.

Town officials said Papa is paid $30 an hour and while it's too soon to tell if adoption numbers are up, part of the goal of the program was to stem the return of dogs that had been adopted from the shelter.

Right now the shelter has about 40 dogs, 25 of which are all or part pit bull. Towns across Long Island have struggled to place pit bulls in particular because of concern that the animals might be too aggressive. Papa said the breed has been unfairly maligned and that these dogs actually make loving, loyal and wonderful additions to the family.

"It's what people do to pit bulls, unfortunately," Papa said. "They are not born aggressive. Pit bulls are a very powerful breed that have been utilized to do certain things and perform some negative behaviors. They can be strong-willed, but they have a willingness to please their owners and make fantastic pets."

Mosca and Papa hope to have continued success stories like Jordan. "What we're trying to achieve here is setting these dogs up with the structure and some basic obedience so when they go into homes they are already half way there," Papa said. "It's up to the people that adopt them to continue with that, but we are trying to give them as much as they can to leave here so they don't come back."

For information about adopting, call the shelter at 631-754-8722.

Dogs in Town Animal Shelters

Babylon: 55 dogs, 43 pit bulls.

Brookhaven: 180 dogs, 140 pit bulls

Hempstead: 135, 97 are pit bull/pit bull mix

Islip: 80 dogs, 65 dogs are pit bulls or pit bull mixes.

Long Beach: 14 dogs, 4 pit bull mixes

North Hempstead: 30 dogs, 21 of which are pit bulls.

Oyster Bay: 31 dogs, 19 are pit mixes

Smithtown: 17 dogs. Of those, 7 are pit bulls.

Southampton: 63 dogs, 28 are pit bulls or pit bull mix.

Southold: 25 dogs, 14 are pit bulls or pit bull mix.

Shelter Island and East Hampton town do not have shelters.

Southampton and Southold have shelters which are run by private groups which have contracts with the town.

Riverhead: 23 dogs, including 10 pit bull mixes and 8 pure pits.