[beloveds]

Well, my ex and I wanted to get a dog. I either wanted a German Shepherd or Pit Bull, but she claimed to be deathly afraid of both and wanted a corgi. We settled on a Border Collie as an acceptable breed.

We went to a few herding trials to get to know people, and we were directed towards a breeder who didn't have any puppies, but did a lot of rescue and could most likely point us in the right direction. We contacted her, and she didn't have any dogs available at the time, but she sent us to a sheep rancher in PA, who was fostering a five month old puppy. He was dumped off at a vet clinic with his ABCA-papers (all Scottish working dogs) and his shot records for running around and chewing on things. The rancher was going to keep him, but said that he was stubborn and she didn't have the time to train a stubborn dog.

Here's Mick on the first day we had him:



And he grew up into this:



Then, we decided to get him a friend. So we contacted the same rancher, and she put us in touch with the breeder who originally sent us to her. That's how Beag came about. Beag's parents worked a cattle ranch in AZ, and one of the hands there bought her, but then moved out to PA and decided he didn't have time for a puppy. We got her at four months old.



She grew up into this:



Unfortunately, when I broke up with my ex, she insisted on taking Beag, and I've since found out she gave her away, even though the agreement was that if it came to that, she had to return her to me.

Mick was pretty lonely, and since I was now free to get any breed of dog I wanted, I ended up with Sinead. I originally looked at her rescue listing because it had her listed as a Pit Bull/Shepherd mix, and we had one growing up that was awesome. She was dumped off in the Bronx with a collar, and after sitting outside a building for two days, NYACC picked her up. Nobody came to claim her. I sent them an email saying that I'd foster her if she was okay with cats. She was about 6 hours from being put down at NYACC when I emailed them. They came back saying they'd test her with cats, and at the very least, it'd buy her an extra day. She came back as okay with cats, and once here, her foster quickly became an adoption.

[samanthalueus]

Got Spinner from the shelter - just happened to go through with a friend and saw him and fell in love..

heres his shelter pic


here he is now (we've only had him a few months)


Bandit came to us in very bad shape from a guy we were thinking of getting a pup from but decided not to support BYBs.. Bandit was hurt very bad and they decided they just didnt want to mess with him anymore so called us and told us to take him for free..

heres bandit the day after we got him


heres Bandit now (4-5 weeks later)

[NikkitaZ]

sooo, it'll be a bit long, but here are mine:

JRT bitch - Zazou
this is my first dog... my parents brought her home from a breeder at 3 months old and she has been my dog ever since.
I was about 10 years when we got her and I fell head over heals for this dog. did all of her training myself, and it worked out very well although I say it myself
she is a very smart dog, very loyal and always waiting on me to give her something to do.

@ 10 years old



Beagle bitch - Laika
my mom wanted a second dog, and my dad was trying to convince her to get a bull terriër but needless to say, that never happened
so we got to this puppy mill (bad, I know lol, but hey, it's not my dog!) and she fell in love with Beagles..
so they showed her the dogs they got left, 6 pups that were about 5 weeks and one 6 month old pup.
we finally took the 6 month old pup nobody wanted because if not, she would have been bred on her first heat and kept as a breeding bitch (which basically means getting bred every heat)

Laika @ 8 years old



"Pit Bull" mix - Rokai (RIP)
he was basically thrown in my lap...
it was either I kept him or he'd go straight to the pound...
I was looking for an apbt at the time but I just fell in love with this pup.
had to have him PTS at only 2 years of age because of his severe SA we literally tried everything possible and nothing seemed to keep him relaxed when we were gone... worked for a year and a half with that dog but nothing seemed to work for him
he is my heart dog and I miss him dearly.
there is not one single day I don't think about him. we had such a close bond with each other (probably also due to his SA) that he had with no one and that I never had with any dog... he will forever be the best dog I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

Rokai @ 2 years old



APBT - Shogun
when I still got rokai, I was looking for a breeder where I would eventually get a pup a couple years down the road.
they had a planned breeding that really got my interest and I started talking with the breeder.
when I had Rokai PTS, I felt SO lost... it just wasn't quite "normal" without a dog around 24/7.
I needed that company, I needed that to keep my mind occupied instead of crying my eyes out every day.
so I sent the breeder an e-mail to see if the breeding had taken place, and yes it did.
they had 3 dogs left (I kinda was lucky, they went FAST lol) out of a litter of 11 or 12 (can't remember) 1 male and 2 females.
I decided the male would be best seeing that I got 2 females already, and one being very DA (well, with unknown dogs lol) and dominant.

Dynomite Jr. aka Shogun
still with the breeder




now @ 10 months old (almost lol)




I'm not doing the frenchie, it's not my dog and I don't take care of it neither..

[TravelMan]

Well I was at work and this guy would bring his dogs up to the store all the time. Turned out we became friends and he was a breeder. I loved his 2 males that he brought up to the store. Tyson was so cute. He told me he was having a litter. I was impatiently waiting for a sorrell pup when I got a phone call from him telling me that he had a pup that was a breeder return. The people were moving back to Puerto Rico and couldn't take Odie due to BSL. I called my Dh and told him about it so that night after work at 11pm we went to see Odie. I didn't even have the money yet to get him but the breeder told me it was ok and I could pay him when I could. Hubby and my daughter were with me and they met Tyson and Trinity. We fell in love and paid the breeder in a cpl months after. Odie was 4 mos old. And the breeder and I still talk and let him see Odie when I have time to go to the shows.
Day after we got him, Lil goons Deebo

Odie at 22 mos.

[DoctorQuquriramba]

I got my one and only dog Sasha (Terrier mix) at a local rescue 2 years ago this past April. She was roughly 11 weeks old and was listed as a Jack Russell Terrier/ Wirehair Fox Terrier mix. I don't know why, maybe because her sister had a wire coat. But her official adoption papers said she was a Chihuahua mix. I'm still confused. Whatever she is she is a great dog, all 27lbs of her. Her and her sister were pulled from a local kill shelter at 6 weeks of age the day they were to be put down, their mom was put down before the rescue got there. She is an incredly smart and wonderful dog and I couldn't have asked for a better dog to raise my child around. She is fantastic. We love her so much. There will never be another one like her. She is so calm and patient.

Photos:

Adoption Day:



Recent photos:

[JessicaLin]

We got West from a friend at work who rescued his mom. It was a cold winters night when he came across a homeless guy who asked them (my friend and his buddies) to take his dog because he didn't want her to freeze. He gave the guy $15 dollars for her. Three weeks after he got her home, she gave birth to 9 puppies. West was the runt. The rest was history!

West with his mama. He is on the bottom right with the white belt on


the day we brought him home


West today!

[goldcigarettes]

1. Adam-PBT/LAB mix- stray/rescue/foster failure
2. Laila-APBT-rescue/foster failure
3. Leia-French Bulldog rescue/foster failure
4. Anakin-APBT/AST mix-rescue/foster failure
5. Anika-APBT/AST mix-rescue/foster failure


MY next puppy will be from a Reputable Breeder. (taking a break from shelter/rescue/adoption, etc)

[alanamosteller]

I'm just going to do Scruffy right now, and I'll do Boo and Ace later.

I got Scruffy about 7 years ago. I went to the shelter and she was just leaning on the fence, just staring up at me. It was really an instant connection, once i saw her my mind was made up. She was going to be my dog no matter what... and i gotta tell you, she's been the best damn dog i could ever ask for. She is so well mannered such a great listener and adjusts her behaviour well to different people. She knows not to be too rough with the elderly or small children. I don't know how to explain it but she makes me very proud...Does that sound weird? Being Proud of a dog?

Anyway the shelter said that Scruffy was found tied to a dumpster. I don't see how someone could do that to such a sweet dog


Scruffy when i first adopted her;

Scruffy now;

[wepoiyub]

I adopted my girl Gigi about 6 weeks ago. She's 17 months old. So far, we're a great match! Here are some pics of her at the ranch over memorial day.

[SallyIsNice5]

Buster our coonhound we got from an oops litter in the 'free' ads in the paper. Not much of a story there.

Then at 8 weeks.


Now at 6 years..


Rudy was a rescue. He was given to us at 7 weeks because this lady's son was abusing him.

Rudy then at 7 weeks..


Rudy now at 2 years..


Dixie was also a rescue. I adopted her from the shelter I work at. She was abandoned in an alley at one of the coldest nights of December.

Dixie then at 9 weeks..


Dixie now at 7 months...

[usaneisfiecup]

My son brought Duke home when he was 8 weeks old.. I have to admit my first reaction was "there is no way we're having a pit".. at that point my son said 'well hold him while I go to the store" needless to say.. My son eventually moved out on his own.. and I refused to give up Duke Thank goodness my son didnt listen to my first reaction.. now that I've had a chance to own and love this 4 legged child.. he is our world and I wouldnt own any other breed.. )

[bawayTeen]

Pam you avatar picture is hilarious! Love it!

[investmentonlinev2006x]

I'll start with my oldest, and work my way down the list in order of how they ended up at our house... as best as I can remember the order.

Gizzmo came from a co worker, it was a one and only litter, and he was the last one, cute and fuzzy and the rest is history. He is 12 yrs old.


Next came Maxx, from the local Humane Society. He was about 2 yrs old when I adopted him, and I've had him 11 yrs. He's an old guy now and gets special treatment. He doesn't have to go outside if he doesn't want to and he stays in when it's warm, or cold, or raining. He gets babied a little bit, but he deserves it. You can see in this picture how his front bottom teeth have worn down, they are almost to the gums now.


Mollie was my daughters Christmas present from an old boyfriend 5 yrs ago. The boyfriend is long since gone, but Mollie is going no where! I've told my daughter, when she moves out, Mollie stays behind with Nana.

Baby Mollie


Developing into a beautiful girl...


and all grown up...



Next comes Pokie... he just showed up. Someone must have gotten word to him that Nana's house was a cool place. "He" is actually a "she", but we've always called him a "he", so calling him a "she" just sounds wrong.. people think I'm nuts, but I've always called my cats boys, regardless of whether they were or not... my old cat, Slinky, was called a he, even when he was pregnant... drove my late sister nuts! Pokie is about 6 or 7 yrs old...


Next came Cross, he was at my late sisters horse barn and needed a home. He was so cute and fuzzy!! My daughter named him "Sophia", then we found out he was really a "he", so my son renamed him Cross, because he has cross eyes... his name fits his personality to a T!! Don't let the cute little pose fool you for a second! Cross just turned 4 yrs old in May.


Next, Titus... he was in the Walmart parking lot, and like a dummy, I turned around to get a better look at him... BIG mistake!! He was named after my son's character in the play "The Curious Savage", my son played the part of Titus Savage... So, Titus full name is Titus Savage Douglass. Titus will be 4 yrs old this September.



My daughter calls me on her way home one day, and informs me that she has just picked up a stray puppy from the side of the road. The pups mother had been hit and killed and Meagan would not leave her on the side of the road... so, we ended up with the spastic Zoey! Zoey is about 2 1/2 yrs old.


And finally... the beautiful Bella!! We went to a Pit Bull Bark in The Park Walk in Memphis with NO intentions of getting a dog... but Bella was there for adoption, and my heart melted!!! Papa told me no, and I cried all the way home... little did I know, after we got home, he snuck away to call the rescue and tell them we wanted to adopt her. They did the background check on Monday, and the next Saturday, he told me he was going to work for a few hours.... no big deal, as he did that here and there on Saturdays. He comes back home, tells me our son wrecked his car, and that I need to come look at it. I go to the door, and look, but can see nothing wrong with the car. He takes off my sunglasses, and I look down (I hate the sun and it was really bright that day!), I look down and Bella is sitting at the bottom of the steps in a crate! I'm like, "who's dog?" and he says "That's Bella". I was like, Bella who?? Then it hit me!! This was her first day home.... We adopted her a year ago this past March.


a few weeks later, after some better quality kibble and some tender loving care from Nana....


then....


at the one year anniversary walk of when we adopted her...


and yesterday... doing what she lives to do... attacking the water hose!


(Thanks to Krista for helping this old Nana with the last picture!! )

[Wckcvhsg]

BABYGIRL (APBT) : I was looking for a dog as a companion and friend since I was living on my own for the first time and missed having a dog around me. I went to dogbreedinfo.com and took a ‘find the right dog for you’ quiz/survey and oddly enough APBT turned up! Now, I was one of those ppl who ‘knew’ EVERYthing about pits b/c, well, I watched the news! Duh! But the result puzzled me, so I began doing research, starting with that site. Then I began talking to ppl who rescued them, fostered them, researched MORE sites… and I became so sad by their plight! I wanted to save one! But sadly, at 20 years old, good and responsible rescues had such high demands I wasn’t able to meet them… :-( one day, I was talking about how sad I was that I couldn’t seem to find a pit I could own/rescue @ my waitressing job when a female coworker overheard me and told me her uncle was a ‘breeder’ and since we were *sorta* friends and she knew I was nice and would take care of it, she’d help me get one for a reduced price. (BYB I know I know… *cringe*) I asked some questions and got the feel that her uncle would sell to pretty much anyone who had the money, (yikes!) but I asked if I could meet the sire and dam otherwise I wouldn’t buy… one thing led to another and soon I was meeting the parents in their backyard, looking at conditions (which were surprisingly better than i'd thought they'd be). Both sire & dam were HUGE love bugs, the mom let me handle the pups easily and surprisingly my coworker's uncle told me he’d been ‘breeding’ for years and chose only the ‘gentle stock’ (in his eyes i guess that meant the ones with the sweet dispositions). So I took home Babygirl that afternoon, b/c if I hadn’t taken her, who knows who would’ve gotten a hold of her. It has been one of the greatest choices of my life and I thank God I lucked out with her health and temperament.

@ 4mo (when i finally got a camera):


present, @ 3yrs old:




LOKI (Insane Border Collie WonderMutt):
When Babygirl was about 5-6mo old, my ex and I decided it was time to get a second dog (and by that, I meant I decided, and he didn't argue lol). This time, I was determined to rescue again (Babygirl bein the first dog i'd EVER paid for in my life growing up). So, one day, I decided after dropping my ex at work, to just... stop and take a look at the pound. big mistake! lol. I was so overwhelmed at the sheer # of babies needing homes... So, i went around, looking ONLY for male dogs, ONLY 7mo -2yrs old & med-to-large in size. Ones who no one else would really bother w/. I found 4 older dogs, took their pics via cell phone, and on my way out, I saw this one cage w/ 5 "little" dogs, one of which was 'Abel' a 5mo old ACDmix owner surrender with the big "E" on his card. I took his pic too. and went to bribe the fiance. Out of them all, he fell in love w/ 'Abel'. So I went back. I put in an application - the workers were surprised, NO ONE had shown any interest in him, not even to take him out to play with. but when they saw I had an APBT, the process halted. They put him on a hold for Euth until we could do a meet&greet w/ my girl. After a big long headache, they finally let me adopt him. on my walk to the car w/ 'Abel', i sat down and looked him in the eyes and swore to him, that if he'd love my ex, me and my Babygirl, he'd never EVER want for anything again in his life. To this day he has held me to that bargain - there are only 3 ppl he loves. rofl. he's been my problem child since being dubbed 'Loki' (thank you ex), we've worked through his SA, abandonment issues, abuse issues and trust issues, but today he is a happy, healthy (almost) 3 yr old dog. And I love my little Fuzz Butt.

Loki's mug shot:


first night home:


present, turning 3 on June 13 & weighing in @ approx 13lbs:

[VINPELA]

Love all these stories!

[beloveds]

Alix, too bad you're in TX, I think a Mick/Loki photoshoot would be hilarious.

[Wckcvhsg]

Alix, too bad you're in TX, I think a Mick/Loki photoshoot would be hilarious.

rofl, as do i. well, if you're a permanent resident of NJ, i plan on moving back up there w/in the next year to year and a half. i graduate in feb and just need to save up the $$ to move up there, pay rent and job hunt.

I really like the delran area.

i'd be HAPPY to do a "mini me" pic series then

[beloveds]

rofl, as do i. well, if you're a permanent resident of NJ, i plan on moving back up there w/in the next year to year and a half. i graduate in feb and just need to save up the $$ to move up there, pay rent and job hunt.

I really like the delran area.

i'd be HAPPY to do a "mini me" pic series then

I'm NJ born and raised. I don't forsee myself going anywhere anytime soon.

[Avaindimik]

( Didn't see a current thread on this, but if anyone else does feel free to bump it up here. )

I love to hear these kinds of stories. Mine is long and kind of boring but I can't tell a short story if I tried to. lol

We got our only dog Keoki from an animal shelter about two years ago. He was basically going to get PTS that day or the day after.

We (my sister and I, at 17 and 14, got to "pick" out the dog we wanted) initially knew we wanted a pit bull type dog but we had only one real qualification and that was the dog had to be decent with cats because we had several at that time and always plan on having a few cats at any given time. She secretly wanted a white/ light colored puppy no more than 3 or 4 months old and I just wanted a rescue dog with looks being irrelevant.

So we get into the kennel area and it's totally overwhelming. The dogs are all in an uproar because they want out of the kennels like usual or want to get to the dog next to them, except for one dog in the second kennel. He didn't move at all and was still laying peacefully on his little blanket at the back of his kennel. When I went up to the kennel he walked over sniffed my hand and gave me sad eyes. Pretty much an immediate connection kind of thing where I just knew he would be the right dog and I didn't need to look anymore.

I knew right when I saw him that I was going to get him, but I wanted someone else in my family to say something first. Of course my sister didn't see her dream dog at the shelter (lol) and thought we should try another shelter so I finally spoke up and basically told them that we were getting "Butters" the 5 month old pit mix, pending a cat test of course. They basically agreed with me because they were sick of looking and generally trust my judgment.

Everyone at the shelter seemed to think we were nuts for wanting the dog. I guess they figured we wouldn't be able to handle the dog and his apparent issues, maybe they thought we were going to return him or something. The whole thing was strange. They had no paper work for him at all- just said that he had been seized from outside a property. At first they told us he wasn't neutered and that we couldn't take him home that day, but then they said he was neutered. They also said he had been dewormed already- two nights later he vomited a LIVE worm on my pillow. The staff wasn't able to walk him because he was terrified of being outside and had sores/ fly bites on his footpads and legs. Although he was technically a "puppy" we only had to pay the cheaper adult dog price. They even gave us a 60 day guarantee that if he died because "he may have parvo, but we aren't sure"- we could get another dog for free. Never had I ever heard of something like that.

Like I said- weird. But he passed the cat test with flying colors and he went home with us after being carried to the car- which was easy since he was pretty tiny:


So he came home and surprised everyone by being house trained, crate trained, and learning commands in less than a week. Being able to go for walks and proper socialization for him to feel comfortable in any situation took about two months. Great dog, probably the best dog I have ever owned or will own. SO glad we took a chance with that one. Here he is now:

[Alkanyadela]

That's a great story!

I got Piper from a shelter in my area. We had picked out 3 dogs before her but since we could only take a dog home on a weekend out picks kept getting taken since they didn't hold dogs. Piper was our fourth choice. Come friday when we went to pick her up I was sure she'd be gone too. But she was still there waiting for us.

I didn't know at the time that she was a pitt mix and didn't figure it out for a couple months when I started researching online.

Piper then