Pitbull Stories

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Poor, poor, baby. She came in to the Center as a puppy, but even by this time she was still afraid of everyone coming through. I think she spent most of her days cowering in the back corner of her kennel. I went in to take her photo; she tried to press herself closer to the back wall, gave me the most pitiful of looks, and started shaking worse than a Chihuahua in the middle of a Minnesota snow storm. I spent about 20 minutes just hanging out with her and even then this was the “happiest” photo I was able to capture of her.

I tried to make a point of hanging out with her in her kennel at the end of my Paparazzi shifts. I knew she needed to get used to people to be adopted. Someone did adopt her, although she never did warm up to me. On my last visit she at least didn’t try to push through the back wall to get away from me.

DOMINGO

I like sweet fluffy dogs, like Chow Chows. I know Pit bulls can be sweet, like my friend Tracy’s Sprocket, but they scare me a little. It was my first or second shift as a paparazzo; Domingo had been there a while and he was on the list for a photo shoot. It was time for me to face down another fear and step into the kennel with this powerful animal. And he turned out to be so very calm and sweet.

KESHA

“Pitties” no longer scare me. I look for the mellow ones. This little mix is an absolute sweetheart. She’s short. She’s soft. She is beautiful – aren’t all redheads beautiful? When I stepped into the kennel to take her photo all she wanted to do was lick my fingers. Soft, sweet, Pittie kisses.

I stopped by her kennel to say hello last night and her tail started wagging. Before I knew it her whole back end was wagging. I really meant to go back and cuddle her before I left … I think I’ll swing by this weekend just to sit with her for a moment or fifty.

PITTIE PUPPIES

OMG! And then there was the litter of nine Pit Bull-mix puppies that came in and were living in one kennel together. What utter chaos! The dog bed was right in front of the door and when you’d stand there to look at them they would ALL congregate on the bed. They were so small they all fit, very close, but they all fit.

I couldn’t take it. It was the first time there were puppies there that actually needed some photos taken. I had to go in. I don’t have a photo that can fully express the chaos. I was swarmed. It looked like a feeding frenzy at my feet. They did decide that my Crocs were puppy chew toys and at one point they even started tugging at the strings on my cargo pants.

I never got the chance to sit among them; I probably would have been eaten alive, but I held the smallest, and cutest, one for a little while, well after he flipped out of my grasp a couple of times; he wasn’t “balanced” well for trying to pick up with one hand.