200 Chihuahuas In Arizona Shelter
 

So sad :(. I'm sure the Chi rescues are overwhelmed too; rarely can any rescues here take any dogs. AZ has always been overwhelmed by Chi's, and sadly it's a chronic issue. In Phoenix metro, 60,000 animals are euthanized every year.

If anyone wants a Chi, I'm willing to help if I can, somehow.

How sad. I hope people will respond and adopt as many as possible.

Wish I were closer...I love a little chi!!! My daughter had one for 17 years!!

That is so sad. I feel like there are always so many chihuahuas in rescue groups and shelters. Poor sweet babies.

The thought that any of them will have to be euthanized makes me so sad. Wish people would be more responcible and yes these puppy mills must be stopped. Wish I were closer to Arizona so I could help. I'm still looking for a smaller type dog to be a friend for my Teasell (Yorkie):(

Well, I called my local shelter about this, hoping they might do an outreach. At the moment, they are swamped with cats, and have 136 dogs available, too (one is an 8 year old Yorkie).

In my area, and many shelters around here, most dogs available are larger breeds/mixes. Some of the Northern shelters do take some of these dogs to take some of the pressure off our shelters. The small dogs, however, are highly adoptable and don't stay long at the shelter. We recently had a lady turn in over 100 small breeds/designer mixes (pups and dogs) and there was a line around the block the first day they were made available for adoption.

Okay, back to the phone call. The Administrator I was talking to did show an interest. She was aware of the Chi problem out West but didn't realize the scale of it. I think I got her to consider taking a second look at it, though, and there's a reason for it.

Our shelter (Humane Society of South Mississippi) is competing for the ASPCA's $100,000 Challenge, so there is a motivation for them to seek out adoptable animals. It may not be the most altruistic motivation, but, whatever it takes to save an animal, right?

Here's a link about the challenge... Save More Lives | ASPCA $100k Challenge

If you look at the link, you'll see the shelters involved in the challenge. If one is your local shelter, you may be able to get them to have an interest in the Chis (not only the ones in the news story) due to the challenge. It couldn't hurt to put a bug in their ear and, who knows, it just may help.

This is so sad. :( I will be praying for a miracle for those little souls.

That's a great idea. I am going to talk to the shelter admin tomorrow when I go in. They have mostly bigger dogs and the small ones do get adopted out quickly. The vet tech there has 6 chihuahua's of her own all rescue's and mostly special needs. I would even offer to go pick some up. I know we have been getting some dogs from southern shelter's and they took in Katrina stray's too.

Great!! I'd love to hear what kind of response you get.

Yup....you're 100% right. So many shelters helped us out after Katrina. I mentioned that to our shelter's Administrator, saying that this would be a good way to pay it forward.

This seems like such a solvable problem. These little dogs are in big demand in some places. All that's needed is to get them there.

How horrible, and since the dogs are only 50 dollars which includes a spay or neuter, I'm afraid people will get them just because they are a "good deal." Like Yorkies, Chihuahua aren't for everyone. Ann, you say this is an ongoing problem, do you know why? Did all these dogs come from one bust?

Nancy, here's a link that may help explain it.

Chihuahua Overpopulation Crisis A Dogs Life Photo

I just googled 'Chihuahua overpopulation in Arizona'. Lots of sites came up.

Thank you, I guess it's even worse in California. What's happening to the Chi's will probably happening to other breeds soon including Yorkies, that's why it's so important not to buy a dog based on some current fad. The article seems to be blaming backyard breeders instead of commercial breeders.

That is so great! Fingers and paws crossed.

Apparently, the Chi popularity went crazy after the Taco Bell commercial years ago (surprise, surprise). Also, I've read they're sooo popular here in AZ (for reasons I don't really want to post, lest they be misunderstood, I can PM you if interested) - and people buy them without realizing they can be complex little dogs (like yorkies, just in different ways).

I think they're so adorable! I especially love long-haired Chi's - they're gorgeous. But, they're all darling to me. :)

I also mentioned to her that having highly adoptable dogs in the shelter would increase traffic and might lead to a good outcome for more of the other dogs there. The Chi problem could be a win/win situation for some shelters. It really seems like there's a fix for this if all parties would network.