Big and strong with a face radiating pure joy, Julian sweeps his tail back and forth in a fast, smooth arc, like a windshield wiper in a gully washer.
But Julian, as happy a dog as you're likely to see, faces life with a couple of huge impediments. He's big. He's black. And that means he's likely to wait far longer to be adopted than a smaller, light-colored dog.
In the world of animal rescue, they call this phenomenon Black Dog Syndrome. For those that spend weeks and months on adoption lists. For the dogs that head off week after week to pet fairs and return unclaimed when they're over.
For Julian, home for now is a dusty property at the edge of a gravel road in Celina, home base for Animal Guardians of America and its leader, Annette Lambert.
Ms. Lambert, soft-spoken and a little shy, speaks passionately for her charges, many of which are rescues from city pounds on their way to being euthanized.
"We have a lot of great dogs out here," she said, "and a preponderance are black dogs, because they're so difficult to adopt out. More...
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But Julian, as happy a dog as you're likely to see, faces life with a couple of huge impediments. He's big. He's black. And that means he's likely to wait far longer to be adopted than a smaller, light-colored dog.
In the world of animal rescue, they call this phenomenon Black Dog Syndrome. For those that spend weeks and months on adoption lists. For the dogs that head off week after week to pet fairs and return unclaimed when they're over.
For Julian, home for now is a dusty property at the edge of a gravel road in Celina, home base for Animal Guardians of America and its leader, Annette Lambert.
Ms. Lambert, soft-spoken and a little shy, speaks passionately for her charges, many of which are rescues from city pounds on their way to being euthanized.
"We have a lot of great dogs out here," she said, "and a preponderance are black dogs, because they're so difficult to adopt out. More...
See also:
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