The Hounds Grounds

09/05/2026

If you care about dogs, the people that love them, both human and animal rights — you need to read this.

This week Austin American-Statesman broke a story that took the animal welfare community by storm.

This isn’t new to some of us. We’ve seen it before, and it keeps happening in Austin — dogs paying with their lives under a policy that ignores the facts, while regular people are often left to litigate life-or-death cases without a lawyer.

Sometimes advocacy work is quiet and behind the scenes. But at some point, the need to get loud happens.

This is one of those times.

It’s time to take *reasonable* action to help support further change for Austin dogs.

We implore you to read the post in full and use your own voice and your own words to request that:

1. AAS Animal Protection engage its legal counsel to enter into an agreement with Mr. Lilly to release Major back to him under reasonable conditions and to take whatever legal action necessary to vacate the lower court’s order of euthanasia and approve the conditional release.
2. AAS shelter director to personally review how SBI determinations are being made under her Animal Protection’s oversight, including exactly what instructions are being given to the City and County Attorney’s office about when euthanasia is sought, and to ask whether that practice reflects the discretion the statute actually provides.

Contact emails:

Shelter Director:
[email protected]

Austin City Assistant Manager (that oversees AAS):
[email protected]

Travis County Commissioners (Travis county partially funds Austin Animal Protection):
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

If you’re an Austin resident, look up what district you’re in and also email your district council member.

This isn’t just about one dog. It’s about your dogs, our dogs, all dogs in Austin.

But for today, we fight for Major.

The city *can* do the right thing, if they so choose. The ball is squarely in their court now.



** No AI was used in the making of this post and we are happy to cite our sources and provide any receipts. 🧾

09/01/2026

08/13/2026

A day in the life of Sammy’s diet ❤️❤️
Only the best for my SamBam 🐕‍🦺

08/10/2026

Please help if you can
Repost from Orange County Pit Bull Rescue
He is the sweetest most special boy.

WE WEREN’T EVEN LOOKING FOR THIS.💔

Gary is only 5 years old!!!!!! 😢

He went in for an abdominal ultrasound because we wanted to make absolutely sure we weren’t missing anything… and during the ultrasound, they found something completely unexpected.

A possible mass located inside the left ventricle of his heart. 💔

This was a completely incidental finding. We weren’t looking for anything involving his heart (no prior heart murmur and we’ve done a chest xray), and right now, we don’t know exactly what we’re seeing or what it means for our sweet boy.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Gary also had two growths removed, with one sent out for biopsy.

Our vet is consulting with a cardiologist about the necessary next steps, and we should know more this week.

So now we wait. And hope. And try not to let our minds run away with all the possibilities. 🥺

Gary’s medical expenses this week are $950 (invoice is in the video), and any help is incredibly appreciated. 🤎

♥️ Zelle: [email protected]

♥️ Venmo: Orange County Pit Bull Rescue — under the Business tab

♥️ PayPal: [email protected]

Please keep our Gare Bear in your thoughts. 🤎🐾

Right now, there are a lot of questions and not enough answers. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

07/10/2026

Lucy and Board and Train, Daisy having some fun burning some physical energy which helps Daisy take in and retain information during training.

06/28/2026

Fun with Storm. ❤️

#16+yearsexperience

06/26/2026

When the cat is obsessed with the dog. Chubba in love with Board and Train, Willow.

#16+yearsexperience