‘Pit bull’ rescue finds home for itself

Adoption center’s new central location meets needs for breeds

Volunteer Bill Armaline of Maumee trains his ‘pit-bull’ mix foster dog at The Lucas County Pit Crew’s new Training and Adoption Center in Sylvania Township. The rescue group recently leased its first building.

The Blade/Amy E. Voigt
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Volunteer Bill Armaline of Maumee trains his ‘pit-bull’ mix foster dog at The Lucas County Pit Crew’s new Training and Adoption Center in Sylvania Township. The rescue group recently leased its first building.

An all-volunteer “pit bull” rescue is celebrating a major milestone with the lease of its first building.

The Lucas County Pit Crew’s new Training and Adoption Center is the organization’s first centralized location for its rescue operations. Jean Keating, executive director, said the facility in the Sylvania Business Plaza, 8432 W. Central Ave., has been used every day since the group got its keys April 4.

“Our program has grown so much in the last year and a half to two years that it’s been really difficult to do as many classes, meet-and-greets, adoptions, and all those types of things without a place of our own,” she said.

The group will hold an open house from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday with light refreshments and information about the Pit Crew. Several adoptable dogs will be there as well.

PHOTO GALLERY: Lucas County Pit Crew's new center

The majority of the 2,000-square-foot space is an open area, which Ms. Keating said is perfect for training programs, dog-safety classes, and play sessions for the organization’s foster dogs. It also has a lobby, an office, a conference room, and a storage area.

“Before, we had to just go where we were able to use some space, but it requires a lot of moving stuff around,” Ms. Keating said. “All of our stuff was stored in people’s homes, so it was really time-consuming to go from place to place getting what we needed.”

The new training and adoption center is a 2,000-square-foot space in an open area that is good for training programs, dog-safety classes, and play sessions for the organization’s foster dogs. It also has a lobby, an office, a conference room, and a storage area.

Pit Crew volunteer Amy Roth helped with the search and found the new space.

“We started looking casually last winter and weren’t having much luck finding what we needed,” she said. “So we held off, then started looking again this winter. We got really intense searching for it about six weeks ago.”

Part of the trouble in finding the right place was needing the open area inside, as well as a space within the organization’s limited budget.

“We looked all over the city of Toledo and in all different places,” Ms. Keating said. “Anything we could find that we really liked, we weren’t able to negotiate the right price.”

It also needed a green area nearby for dogs to relieve themselves, and the owners had to be comfortable with dogs inside.

“A lot of office spaces are surrounded by concrete and asphalt and on busy streets, and that just doesn’t work for us,” Ms. Roth said. “And we heard ‘no dogs’ more than we heard anything else.”

The space is being spruced up with fresh paint and other small improvements.

“It kind of all fell into place,” Ms. Roth said. “We’re all really excited to have our own space.”

Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.