A Bellingham partnership uses free community yoga to change perceptions of pit bulls and find them loving homes.
A soft summer breeze sweeps across Zuanich Point Park as more than 60 people roll out yoga mats under the open sky. On Thursday evenings, the lawn becomes home to Bellingham Treehouse Yoga, where founder Lacy Kemp leads a free community class that’s as welcoming to dogs as it is to humans.
The evening’s class features some very special (and very adoptable) guests: Mr. Rhett, Bella and Chunky Thunderpants — three pit bulls from The Pittie Project PNW, a foster and adoption initiative dedicated to finding forever homes for pit bulls and bully breeds. Kemp has partnered with the Pittie Project for the past two years, using her playful, dog-friendly classes to raise awareness and shift perceptions around these often-misunderstood dogs.
The guest stars fit right in. As yogis settle into their mats, dogs of all ages and sizes find their own versions of bliss — some bouncing excitedly at the sight of their owner’s downward dog (clearly an invitation to play), others sprawling peacefully across their owners chests during shavasana.
Stigmas against bully breeds
“Bully breeds are really susceptible to a lot of misunderstandings,” Kemp said. “They look tough, they look big, they look intimidating, but I’ve seen chihuahuas that are equally as vicious as a pit bull.”
It’s a perception that Kemp believes has real consequences.
“There’s a lot of bad press around pit bulls,” Kemp said. “But if you look at all the statistics around aggressive dogs, they’re not any more aggressive than any other dog.”
Kemp recognizes that there are instances where pit bulls can be aggressive — just like any other breed — but what’s often lacking from these conversations is the context surrounding the behavior. Was the dog in a situation where it may feel intimidated or threatened? Is it trained? Are children climbing on it? These questions are rarely asked when pit bulls are involved.
“You don’t ever hear about how incredibly caring and wonderful they are,” Kemp said. “They are really, really good companion dogs. They make great therapy dogs.”
The need
The Pit Bull Coalition lays out some sobering statistics that reveal just how deep the challenges run for bully breeds, which encompasses any pit bull mix, such as American Bully, American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and others.
Let’s break it down.
There are just under 90 million dogs in the U.S., and about 4.5 million of them — roughly 5% — are considered bully breeds. In 2023, 3.2 million dogs entered shelters across North America. Of those, more than 700,000 — or about 22% — were bully breeds.
Still with me? It gets worse.
Roughly 450,000 of those sheltered dogs were euthanized. Nearly 180,000 of them — about 40% — were pit bulls.
These numbers are a big part of why Ashley Georgia, co-founder of The Pittie Project PNW, started the organization in the first place. It began with Socrates, a pit bull who had spent four years in New York shelters. The original mission? Rescue Socrates and find homes for 10 pit bulls in 10 months.
But it didn’t take long to realize the need was much bigger than 10 dogs.
“Ignorance is bliss,” Georgia said. Once they started forming partnerships with shelters across the country, they began to see how many dogs — especially pit bulls — were being euthanized simply because shelters had no more space.
She describes how overwhelming it can be to walk through shelters and see the lists of dogs scheduled for euthanasia, many of whom are otherwise healthy and adoptable. The team has learned to stay focused on those that meet their program requirements, prioritizing dogs that are dog-friendly.
Like Socrates, many of the dogs they rescue struggle with stranger danger or resource guarding — issues that are often exacerbated by years spent in confinement.
“Think about what state of mind that would probably put you in being in a cell like that for years and people being scared of you,” Georgia said. “Only one person is walking you, and if that person doesn’t come that day, you don’t get out of that place at all.”
To help these dogs transition into foster care and eventually adoptive homes, the Pittie Project uses a variety of decompression strategies. That includes structured playgroups that pair low-confidence dogs with more confident ones, guided “pack hikes” around Lake Whatcom and consistent behavioral training.
“If you think about putting a person in that and what that does to your state of mind — and then we blame the dog for having poor behavior, but we don’t take any accountability for what we caused,” Georgia said.
Now five years in, the Pittie Project has rescued and rehomed more than 800 bully breeds — and counting.
Fostering through The Pittie Project PNW
The partnership between Bellingham Treehouse Yoga and the Pittie Project began almost by accident. A few years ago, Kemp’s partner, knowing her affection for bully breeds, made a donation to the Pittie Project in her name as a Christmas gift. It was the first time Kemp had heard of the organization, and with a dog-loving audience already attending her classes, she reached out to see if they’d be interested in showcasing adoptable and foster dogs at yoga.
Heather Spore was one of the first Treehouse Yoga attendees to open her home to a dog in need. After one of their dogs had died, Spore and her husband considered bringing a new dog into the family. Fostering, she said, felt like a low-pressure way to test whether they were ready. That’s when Luna entered their lives — a small cattle dog–pit bull mix rescued from Texas.
“It felt really great to support that project and participate in such a valuable mission,” Spore said. “We were able to contribute to saving a dog and giving them a place to land for a little while so they could find their forever home. I would hands down foster again, either with the Pittie Project or another organization.”
When Luna met her foster family, she had very sensitive paws, was underweight and needed a loving and caring environment to decompress.
One of Spore’s favorite parts of fostering Luna was helping her decompress and come out of her shell. She did this by treating her like any other dog: playing fetch together.
“She wasn’t great at bringing the ball back, but she sure loved to chase it,” Spore said with a laugh.
Watching Luna shed her anxiety and learn how to play was beautiful. “She needed some time to decompress, and to see her play for the first time and really have fun, it was just so heartwarming and really stuck with me,” Spore said.
Luna stayed with Spore and her husband for about two months before she was adopted. Although it was hard to part ways, Luna left her foster family with something.
“One of the best things that Luna gave us was a willingness to adopt our own pittie mix,” Spore said.
Shortly after Luna’s adoption, the couple welcomed another rescue into their home — an American bully–cattle dog–border collie mix from a different organization.
While fostering may feel like a small act in the face of a much larger issue, Kemp believes the impact is far-reaching.
“Every dog that you foster, you are literally saving two dogs’ lives because you’re taking a foster and you’re making space for another one to come in from the shelter,” she said.
Housing restrictions
Georgia is hopeful that, in the Pacific Northwest, stigmas and misconceptions about bully breeds are starting to shift. But on a national level, she believes there’s still plenty of work to be done to make adoption more accessible.
In 2019, Washington passed a bill setting strict guidelines for when breed-based regulations are allowed. Still, many renters and homeowners face housing insurance policies that explicitly prohibit bully breeds from living on the property.
“A lot of (housing) insurance policies will not cover specifically bully breed dogs,” Georgia said. “I’m hoping that starts changing. It used to be housing in general but I do feel that is, especially in the Pacific Northwest and BC, taking a different route.”
She credits this shift in attitude to growing awareness that breed-specific legislation hasn’t actually reduced incidents involving bully breeds.
“It’s not really the breed, it’s the people,” she said.
On top of these barriers, both Georgia and Kemp have noticed a troubling attitude toward owners who return their dogs to shelters when ownership is no longer convenient. Many of these dogs don’t even have behavioral problems, yet returning them traps the animals back in the shelter cycle — sometimes facing the threat of euthanasia.
Kemp says people reach out to her on social media at least twice a week, hoping to surrender their dogs — knowing she has a soft spot for them. She believes dog ownership should be taken as seriously as parenting.
A personal connection
For Kemp, this work is personal. Her pit bull, Hans, came into her life through the Pittie Project — she met him at the first partnership class.
“There were four or five dogs, and all the other ones were very social, wanting to meet people, kind of yipping and barking, and Hans is sitting still kind of by himself, like a wallflower,” Kemp said.
Staff told Kemp that Hans had been in the shelter for six weeks. Despite being friendly and well-trained, no one had shown interest in him.
“I just had this weird curiosity, kind of like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, I’ll go for the tree that looks weird and nobody else wants.”
It didn’t take long for Kemp to fall in love with Hans and begin fostering him alongside her current dog, Roscoe.
“My dog was really old and really sick, and the first night (Hans) met my dog, he curled up on Roscoe’s bed and just put his head on his back,” Kemp said. “My dog passed away two weeks later, and Hans was glued to him the whole time. He was the most loving hospice dog.”
In the past year alone, Kemp has fostered 10 more dogs through the Pittie Project. Her own journey toward loving the breed began about 20 years ago at a mountain biking event, when a fellow rider brought two massive, goofy pit bulls who leaned in for petting at every chance.
“That was the first time I was ever like, these dogs are really sweet.”
Over the years, those encounters became more frequent, and her affection for the breed grew.
“Every time I would meet one, I just couldn’t get over how happy their big smiles are, and their big tongues and their giant heads are just hilarious to me,” Kemp said. “They’re the most disproportionate dogs out there,” Kemp said.
Yoga for all: a welcoming space
Kemp’s decision to keep her classes free of charge and accessible to everyone of all skill levels is a very conscious one.
“Everything is so expensive, and I don’t understand why just feeling good should have to cost you so much money,” she said. “I wanted it to just be a place where anybody could show up and not have to stress about how they’re going to pay for class.”
She’s glad that her classes have become a space where, especially older adults, can show up and meet new people that already have at least one shared interest: yoga.
“They say that nothing in life is free, and I want there to be something,” Kemp said. “Yes, it costs time and it costs your fuel or your bike ride there, but you don’t even have to have a yoga mat to come to the outdoor classes. You can show up in your freaking jeans.”
Although her fun, slightly chaotic at times, and dog-focused classes might not be what comes to mind to everyone looking to do yoga, Kemp wouldn’t change a thing.
“People like it because it is so grassroots,” Kemp said. “It’s like, we might get kicked out of the park tonight, I don’t know. I like to joke and call it ‘chaos yoga,’ because every class is weird.”
It’s this unique and slightly weird environment that has become a safe space for many people.
“If they want to come here and just lie down and cry all day long, I want them to feel safe doing that,” Kemp said. “I get a lot of people telling me that they’ve had a hard time in life, and this is the thing that they come to that just brings them a little bit of solace.”
Learning from dogs
In many ways, Kemp believes that there’s a lot humans could learn from our furry companions when it comes to our often quick to label and stigmatize things.
“Dogs aren’t biased,” Kemp said. “They see your dog, and they’re like, ‘dude, let’s play!’”
Dogs, she added, are central to her philosophy of teaching yoga. Unlike humans, dogs don’t worry about status or savings or the future. They just want to eat, run, get pets and be near the people they love.
Wellness, to Kemp, is rooted in presence and simplifying what’s most important in life — and few creatures embody that better than dogs.
Purpose through community
For Kemp, she sees her yoga classes and helping the Pittie Project as a form of community service, both of which keep her accountable, but admittedly, it can be a heavy responsibility to carry at times.
“It’s important for the community that I keep doing (yoga), just like it’s important to show up and keep working with these dogs,” Kemp said. “They’re gonna die if no one’s helping them.”
Although it’s a service that can feel heavy at times, it fulfills what she feels is her purpose: connecting people.
“Everybody thinks I’m doing this really nice thing for the community, but honestly, the community’s doing a really nice thing for me by being here,” Kemp said.
Roscoe’s legacy
Until he died two years ago, Roscoe was a regular at every Treehouse Yoga class. He’d settle beside Kemp’s mat and stay there quietly — until the very end, when she’d guide the class to take one final breath in and out. Without fail, Roscoe would let out a little howl.
A rescue dog himself, Roscoe helped shape the spirit of the space Kemp has built — one that welcomes both people and pups in need of connection.
“He would love to know that (the dogs) were going someplace meaningful, and they’re participating in these classes that he helped build,” Kemp said. “I sort of feel like we built it together.”
— By Sophie Cadran