NEW YORK — On a recent afternoon at a Manhattan animal hospital and adoption center, a pit bull mix called T-Bone, rescued after being tied to a utility pole, gazed out at visitors from his tidy room. Trigger was recuperating from a stab wound, a large incision still visible on his side.
Pert little Melanie had been abandoned at one of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ community veterinary clinics. Tip’s owner had been overwhelmed by six dogs and four cats. Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.
While the Westminster Kennel Club crowns the cream of the canine elite on one of tennis’ most storied courts this week, the ASPCA’s facility across town will be tending to dogs that have had far darker lives.
New York is home to both the United States’ most prestigious dog show and its oldest humane society, the ASPCA. Their histories connect: Some proceeds from the inaugural Westminster show, in 1877, helped the young ASPCA build its first shelter years later.
Westminster, being held 10 miles (16 km) east, feels like worlds away.
“We have different priorities, different visions,” said ASPCA President Matt Bershadker. “The dog shows are focused on breed and composition and movement. And we’re focused on the heart and the inside.”
Westminster stresses that it aims “to create a better world for all dogs,” and the club donates thousands of dollars a year to individual breeds’ rescue groups and to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. Still, the show draws protests every year from animal-rights activists who argue that spotlighting prized purebreds leaves shelter pets in the shadows.
Bershadker, for his part, says ASPCA leaders “don’t have a problem with purebreds, but we want them to be responsibly bred.”
At the adoption center, there’s little reference to breed or might-be breed. Instead, staffers try to characterize dogs by, well, characteristics.
During a recent visit, Sauce (“great on a leash,” in adoption center leader Joel Lopez’s description) was paired with Gordon (“likes hot dogs!”) in the airy, windowed training room.
The two young adult males with gut-twisting histories — Sauce had been stabbed, Gordon starved — were there to learn to play and be around other dogs in a city of shared spaces. They sniffed each other and ran around on leashes, with occasional interventions from staffers when the interactions began to…
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