Interesting start to the day

[detlef]

So, pretty much every morning I take my dogs to a nearby park to run in the woods. This morning, my wife joined and, as we were pulling into the parking lot, there was a small brown dog sitting at attention, locked in the middle of a soccer field. When we all got out of the car and approached the fence, he came running over, very coy, tail between his legs, and plopped down on the ground right across the fence from us. He was a young, pretty skinny pit. Seemed pretty much pure breed. No collar.

 

While my wife engaged him, I ran with our two dogs over to a guy who was working out on another field and asked him if the dog was his. It wasn't. Meanwhile, the dog managed to squeeze underneath a gate and was out with us. Super docile. He'd run up to you and then instantly curl up in a ball at your feet. None the less, we were still a bit nervous. Not for ourselves, obviously because of how he was acting towards us, but about our dogs. They're both girls, and old enough that they're not afraid to let the boys know when they've had enough of getting their coochies sniffed. And let's just say this young, un-fixed guy was all about their coochies. My fear was that one of them would snap at him and inspire some of the dog v dog aggression the breed is infamous for. None the less, they seemed to just run away from him more than anything and the few times they growled or what-not, he seemed to get the clue and back off.

 

I didn't have my phone with me so I tossed him in the car to run back home and get it, also look up and see if I could find a local pit rescue on-line. The guy was so cute and smart. Eventually, he hopped up into the passengers seat and just sat there looking around. I fed him a bowl of food, tried to find phone numbers for pit rescues to no avail and went back to the park. We called the APS only to find that they weren't open yet. However, my wife is a volunteer there and said that we could likely get in anyway. So, into the car with all of them. Again, more trepidation given the close quarters. We dropped our girls off at home and ran him to the shelter where they thankfully took him in.

 

It's an interesting emotion. There's dozens of dogs down there, many of whom have the same story as this guy. Only this guy was found by us, so I have a particular attachment to him. We can't take him and, frankly, don't train our dogs carefully enough that I would feel comfortable having a pit anyway. All the stories about the lovable pit that hauls off one day and mauls a kid being explained by the fact that the owners failed to impart the specific pecking order in the house needed to keep a breed like that in line. Our dogs do whatever the hell they want, but that just manifests itself in less severe ways.

 

None the less, were there ever a poster child for the kind of pit for people who want to change the rep of the breed, this guy certainly seems to be that. I was sort of sad to see him go and am still trying to contact local pit rescues to facilitate a home for him.

Edited May 24, 2010 by detlef

[tazinib1]

Good for you man. I can say without haste that the majority of out there would shooed him away, let alone engage the pup. Too bad you couldn't keep him/her but I give you mad props for at least giving the pooch a better chance of finding a good home by guiding it to the right people.

[detlef]

Good for you man. I can say without haste that the majority of out there would shooed him away, let alone engage the pup. Too bad you couldn't keep him/her but I give you mad props for at least giving the pooch a better chance of finding a good home by guiding it to the right people.

Well, hopefully. Good news part 1 is that our shelter does accept pits. Good news part 2 is that my wife is familiar enough with the process there to know that this guy will certainly pass the evaluation process where they determine whether or not he's "adoptable". So, that means he'll be there for a while before they'd have to put him down. Hopefully long enough for one of the local rescues to find him.