Pit Bull Notes from Seattle

Today I made some new friends and visited some old friends. I support a handful of the foster parents at the Seattle Animal Shelter, and Jen, a long-time shelter volunteer, is fostering her first dog, Hoops.

I tagged along for a meet-n-greet with potential adopters this morning. The couple meeting Hoops has been looking for the right dog for a long while. They briefly met Hoops a couple of months ago, and they’ve been patiently waiting to meet her again–Hoops is recovering from her knee surgery to correct a luxating patella in her left leg.

Hoops is such a happy girl, and the very nice couple beamed with excitement about the prospect of taking her home. I was struck by how these two lovely people had taken a shine to her. They’ve met many dogs that need homes, and they decided today that Hoops is their girl. Hoops is one lucky girl to have scored such wonderful humans.

After the meet-n-greet, I drove to South Seattle. It’s been almost two years since Anne died, and I haven’t seen Gaye Davies, her best friend, in almost a year and a half. Anne had many dogs but Merlin was her heart. He was her go-to dog, and when she died at home, she was found curled up with Merlin. Gaye took in Anne’s beautiful, blue brindle pit bull and has cared for him since.

I picked up sandwiches from Both Ways Cafe, drove past Ideal Pet Stop where I first met Anne, and spent the afternoon on Gaye’s back porch enjoying her and her dogs, including Merlin.

Gaye and I don’t see each other often enough, and we pick up right where we left off. No bad feelings for not seeing each other for so long. No awkward silences because we’re running out of things to talk about. Instead, we tripped over each other’s words because there’s so much to say, and we laughed about the fact we were bouncing from topic-to-topic, story-to-story.

Merlin was very happy to see me. He’s nearly an old man at 9 years old. Grey muzzle. Thick waist. Weepy eyes. He lounged in the sun in between bouts of the zoomies. Here he is with Gaye and a photo of him napping in the doorway.

All four pit bulls in Gaye’s house are rescues with heartwarming stories, and there’s nothing I’d rather do on a Sunday. Here are some of the photos from today.

This is Touch. She came to Gaye through someone who knew she helped dogs at just 4 weeks old. The puppy was malnourished, full of worms, and had an infected abscess on her belly. Gaye reminded me of Anne’s response 4 years ago when Gaye reached out for help: This dog has had such a bad start, and there are just way more pit bulls than there are good homes. The kindest thing you can do is to put the dog to sleep. Gaye wouldn’t have it so she nursed the puppy back to health. She named her Touch because she touched her heart. And that’s one of the many reasons I love Gaye.

Gaye sent me home with a bottle of Garnacha, a warm heart, and promises to see each other soon. And as the day started to wind down, I caught this glimpse of Gigi with our dogs, Buffalo and Chaney. It was a better than good Sunday.