More than a million dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. Many are pit bulls or other bully breeds, which are often stereotyped as vicious and sometimes outlawed by local government.

Alex Castiglione is working to change all that.

When Alex visited a shelter after losing his beloved bully, Chops, he noticed all of the unadopted dogs were bully breeds. Soon after, he and his wife founded Barbells for Bullies, a nonprofit organization raising funds and awareness for animal rescues all over the country, with an emphasis on bully breeds.

He and Sean talk about what motivated him to start his organization, the prevailing misconceptions about bully breeds and what people can do in their own communities to help local shelters and rescues.

Links:

Barbells for Bullies
Free Tools

Contact:

Instagram: @barbellsforbullies
[email protected]
[email protected]

Timeline:

1:39 – Alex's first CrossFit workout: "I was not prepared."
2:40 – How he fell in love with bully breeds.
4:36 – Stigma surrounding bully breeds.
5:58 – Founding Barbells for Bullies.
8:18 – CrossFit + bullies = a perfect match.
9:11 – From one 80-athlete competition in 2016 to 12 events in 10 cities in 2018.
10:36 – Managing growth and scalability.
13:26 – What Barbells for Bullies has done so far.
15:59 – There's no such thing as bad dogs; there are only bad owners.
17:21 – PAW-tners in fitness and advocacy.
19:30 – The Underdog Fund: taking dogs off death row.
21:02 – The future of Barbells for Bullies: More partners, more events and more dogs saved.
25:00 – What people can do to help.
28:44 – What keeps Alex motivated to grow Barbells for Bullies while also working full time and attending graduate school.