Happy 10th Birthday, Petey!

In July 2000, as a volunteer at the LaGrange-Troup County Animal Shelter in LaGrange, GA, I walked into the shelter one Saturday morning.  As usual, the first thing I did was walk down the aisle in the dog area to see who was new.  The first new face I saw that morning was in the first pen on my left.  He was sitting there, holding up his right front leg, wagging his tail, with the happiest little expression on his face.  Even though he was injured, he still managed to be happy.  The short story is that we saw something special in him, found a way to raise money for his medical expenses, found a great veterinarian to do the surgery for a reduced price, and saved this sweet little guy.  He was originally going to be a foster at my home while he recuperated from his surgery.  But as soon as the first potential adopters showed an interest in him, I knew from the way it made my heart hurt, that he was mine.  I already had 2 dogs:  Cole, my black Labrador Retriever, who was 2 years old at the time and my first baby; and Asha, whom I had just adopted in February on the FIRST day I ever volunteered at the shelter.  {She totally knew a sucker when she saw one!}  So I really didn't need, nor could I afford, another dog.  But I couldn't resist him.

So here we are, almost 10 years since I met him for the first time.  He has been a great dog.  I was reluctant to adopt a Pit Bull at first because I knew absolutely nothing about the breed.  But I tried to educate myself and worked hard to make sure he was socialized as much as possible.  He always got along very well with Cole and Asha.  Actually, they are the ones who picked on him at times.  Now, he's not around other dogs much since Cole died almost 2.5 years ago and Asha died almost 2 years ago.  So he doesn't really do very well with some dogs now ~ it seems to depend on the breed and the personality or attitude of the other dog.  But I can handle that.  He loves all people.  He loves Fenn and Boone and is very patient with them.  And they love him, too.  He loves to play frisbee, play with his ball {well, what's left of it}, give hugs, receive hugs, and play pretend tackle with his daddy.  He is a great ambassador for the Pit Bull breed.  It is a breed I have come to love and respect, and a breed which is still widely misunderstood by most people.  Pit Bulls don't deserve the reputation they have because most of the problems stem from bad owners and bad breeders.  Sadly, Petey most likely came from one of those bad owners or breeders.  Over the years, I have found out the reason his fang teeth are filed down to the point of not having a sharp point is probably because he was going to be used as a 'bait dog' to train other Pit Bulls to fight.  I think he probably was pinpointed as one of the more non-aggressive pups in the litter and, therefore, chosen to be a bait dog.  We don't know how he ended up where he was when animal control picked him up, but it's a good thing he ended up there because he probably wouldn't be alive today.

I have included a couple of photos I took this morning of him and a few photos taken of him at the shelter in July 2000.  In that 2nd photo up there, that's what I saw when I walked into the shelter that morning!  Could you resist that face???
Sorry about the quality of those photos.  They're actually photos that were printed from the computer on plain paper (not photo paper).  Then I took those and scanned them so I could include them here.  I hope I still have those photos on a disk somewhere because they're priceless to me.

Happy 10th Birthday, Petey!  We love you very much!