'Pit Bulls & Parolees' Season 16, Episode 5 Recap: Second chances for pets and prisoners in face of lost hope
The mission statement of Tia Torres and everyone who works at the Villalobos Rescue Center is of second chances - for misunderstood pit bulls, and those who have fun afoul of the criminal justice system. Everyone can use a second chance, but in this episode, the Villalobos team gives the pets under their care what may have been their last chances, underlining just how important and wide ranging their work as a rescue shelter is.
As always, the episode was split into three separate segments. The first saw Tia Torres drive out to help with an overcrowded animal shelter. Meeting with Sonya, who runs Animal Control in a country rural home, Tia was struck by just how difficult conditions could be there. Shelters like that do not have the option of turning pets away, meaning that Animal Control was well over capacity and unable to take on new pets without having to euthanize the ones the least likely to survive. As a way of helping out, Tia drove up to rescue an emaciated hound named Augustus. However, once there, one thing led to another, and Tia went home with not just one dog, but four. As if that wasn't enough, she returned to take a video of the shelter for social media, to encourage her followers to drive down to the country rural to make some rescue adoptions.
Speaking of adoptions, a couple from Indiana named Shelly and Lee dropped into Villalobos in search of a new pet. Having put down their last dog of 12 years, Lola, just last Thanksgiving, the couple are hoping to adopt another rescue, with their hearts set on a pit bull. Mariah brought out several options, including a few dogs that might be familiar to 'Pit Bulls & Parollees' viewers - Marbles, the dog brought in from Kuwait, and Jessica, who had been abused by her previous owners and left tied to a gate. Though Shelly and Lee loved Marbles' energy, their heart went out to the shy, timid, but ultimately sweet Jessica. It was her they chose to adopt, being willing to have the patience necessary to support a dog who is so shy. It turns out to have been the best decision for all concerned, as Jessica's timidness makes her a hard sell for potential adopters, but once she was at Shelly and Lee's home, Jessica immediately settled in like it was meant to be.
Lastly, after finding a high-breed Count Corso Mastiff tied to their gate, Mariah and Earl take her in, give her some Villalobos love and care, realizing that her high pedigree means she ought to spend as little time in a kennel as possible. It's Tia's idea to enroll the dog - whom they named Pagan - in the prison pet program, where prisoners volunteer to train pets to help them find a new home all the faster. The prisoners get to spend some time with the dogs, and the dogs learn to socialize with people - the prison pet program is a win all around. Not all rescue stories have happy endings, but in this case, the Villalobos Rescue Center managed to swoop in and offer pets and people alike the one last chance they needed, and a more fitting end could not have been made up. All in a day's work for Tia and her Villalobos family.
The next episode of 'Pit Bulls & Parolees' will air on Saturday, August 29, on Animal Planet.