Pit Bull Notes from Seattle

Last summer in July, the same month Anne died, there were two litters of pit bull puppies at the Seattle Animal Shelter. A total of fifteen puppies that spent the first ten weeks of their lives in the shelter. Puppies that were initially being held for animal cruelty cases. The shelter worked hard to get these dogs into foster care once they were legally cleared so that they could get as much socialization as possible to make up for a less than ideal start.

Some how I talked Miguel into bringing one of them home. She was tagged as Number 9 when I checked her out and as we drove her back to our South Park neighborhood, we agreed we should name her after a place.

And what better place to name her after than our local watering hole, Loretta’s. I snapped this photo of our foster puppy as we walked through their front door. Even though it’s No Dogs Allowed, we knew Amy would let us grab a drink and a burger out back by the Airstream and ping pong table.

And if you look into the background of this photo, you’ll notice I captured another element of South Park. A local prostitute who frequents the sidewalk in front of Loretta’s.

I’d led a few Foster Orientation sessions at the Shelter but I was still rusty–Chaney was our last foster so it’d been about 4 years. I rolled up the rugs, had the crate ready, kong balls stuffed, and our resident dogs were safely put away. But I forgot the Nature’s Miracle.

Loretta was home the moment she arrived. Tail wagging-puppy pouncing, chasing bumble bees, eating shoestrings, digging holes.

We took introductions slowly with our two dogs. After a few days of crate-and-rotate, we donned them the Three Amigos. Here’s Loretta with Buffalo and Chaney.

Loretta was only with us a couple of weeks before being adopted–and yes, Miguel wanted to keep her.

It was back-to-the-basics goodness for me.

A reminder that the heart of rescue is sharing your home with an animal in need. A warm bed, a gentle hand, an easy time. It’s where many of us begin, where some of us get lost, and where so many animals need us to be.

Lorretta is now a year old and has turned into a beautiful pit bull with a fantastic, responsible owner. Here she is on the sidelines at a soccer game cheering on her favorite human.

Miguel and I made a trip to Portland for a weekend getaway, and we crossed paths with Mary Anne and Fagen at their home. You’ll remember I took Fagen from a Seattle backyard when she was a few weeks old. It had been almost 2 years since she adopted Fagen from Pit Bull Project.

Mary Anne’s dedication to Fagen was heartwarming…and heartwrenching.

During our visit, we learned how well and how much Mary Anne managed this wonderful dog that was every bit a reflection of her backyard breeding history.

Her knees were bad, and Mary Anne spent thousands of dollars having them fixed. She had skin allergies so Mary Anne fed her a raw, homemade diet. Fagen was increasingly dog aggressive, and Mary Anne consulted numerous expert dog trainers. Her separation anxiety was managed with hours of daily exercise–which wasn’t good for her bad knees. Their backyard was full of kongs, tennis balls, and rope swings, and Mary Anne was excellent at re-directing Fagen away from people and dogs walking past their city fence line. Fagen had also became quite protective of Mary Anne as she matured. She gracefully coached Miguel on approaching and interacting with her throughout the afternoon.

Fagen was now a dog that had we temped her as an adult pit bull, she would have failed. And I still wonder if we failed Mary Anne because we knew Fagen would be a tough dog even when she was a puppy…

I have so much respect for Mary Anne’s fight to do everything right by Fagen. But it couldn’t change the fact that Fagen was brought into this world by people who didn’t care at all about health or temperament.

Mary Anne put Fagen to sleep a year after I took these photos because her health issues continued and her aggressive behavior escalated. This was the kindest thing she could for this creature she’d poured her heart and soul into.

I hold onto these two images of Fagen. Reminders of a human’s unconditional love of a pit bull. A reminder that it was only Mary Anne who would give Fagen her very own chair right next to her.

I imagined I’d be one of those people that grew old with a house full of pets and without a human to share life with. While I think Kurt Vonnegut is a jerk–and I spent a day with him in my 20s so I can say that–I agree with him: The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.

Nevertheless, I posted a personal ad in The Stranger, and the ad concluded with: And you must be comfortable with dogs, lots of dogs. My profile picture was a photograph of me with Buffalo Sky stretched out across my desk at work. 

We both caught someone’s fancy. I met Miguel for the first time at Three Dog Bakery–I was smart enough not to meet strangers in bars so I invited him down to the Pit Bull Project booth one Saturday in 2003. It’s a sugery sweet story–it was Valentine’s Day weekend.

He asked good questions about pit bulls and spent the afternoon meeting dogs and listening to conversations. By the end of that first date, he was answering tourist’s questions about the breed. It wasn’t long before Miguel was hooked on pit bulls.

And it was only a matter of weeks for Buffalo Sky to be hooked on him. This photograph was taken about 2 months later:  She was his dog.

 
We shacked up, and our life included fostering pit bull puppies–every one of which Miguel has wanted to keep. Here’s Blue, Miguel’s first foster.  

And this photograph was taken this past September at Pit Bulls on Parade, an event organized by BullsEye Dog Rescue.  Buffalo and Miguel are an impressive frisbee demo team–not bad for an 7-year old dog.

Here’s another action shot Becky Meigs took at the event: