Meet Jack, the 4 year old American Pit Bull Terrier found abandoned in Brooklyn and quickly placed on the Euthanasia list at the shelter. Jack was an older male black bully breed that no one wanted.... but with the compassion of volunteers, the power of social media, and the strong will of my amazing friend Nanette from Waggintrain rescue, Jack was pulled off death row and was safely transported to a kennel to rest and recover. I was currently fostering a dog who could not be with other dogs, but Jack caught my eye as a boy who would be a tough one to place, as older Pit Bulls are. It wasn't long before Nanette was able to call on me to take Jack into my home, get to know him, train what needed to be train, and determine what kind of home he would be best suited to. He arrived on a rainy and cold night in March on a Mayor's Alliance Van (amazing group of drivers, woot-woot!) and immediately counter-surfed my entire kitchen with enourmous muddy paws, scared my cats into hiding, and made my husband shake his head in amazement at his presence and musculature. The photos we had of him were taken when he was emaciated after many moons on the streets, but clearly the kennel life had given him back his strength and restored him back to what an APBT should look like.
I loved Jack's 80 pounds of muscle for the next 8 months and watched too many people grab their kids, cross the street, and basically tense up around when Jack was with me and I knew he deserved better than this. Breed prejudice is a fact and my community fell victim to the hype. He was nothing but a gentle giant in our family, and accepted training to make him a real ambassador for his breed. When we received NO applications for him, I figured he was going to be with us for the long term..........But an awesome guy named Shane from Maine sent us an email after seeing Jack's photo and reading my notes on him. As Nanette loves to say, "We hit the jackpot with this guy Shane!!" It was a few phone conversations later and Shane and Jack pulled out of my driveway together headed for a 100 acre farm in Maine. I cried for days until I got this email from Shane....then I cried some more but tears of JOY that this long journey had connected a dog and human like fate intended....Good BOY Jack. Here is an email one week after Jack arrived: Makes me smile everytime I read it....
"One week later and Jack is doing great! He seems very happy and nobody would ever guess he just moved here. I took him to a harvest party friday night on a friends farm where we had a brick oven pizza oven set up outside and everyone was making pizzas with all our harvested food. The party was indoors and outside, there were kids, chickens, dogs all running around and Jack was off leash and running around all evening with no problems at all. People were so surprised that i had not raised him from a puppy the way he was so well behaved and comfortable. He is a natural charmer and loves attention and while he is very opportunistic when it comes to food, he still looks cute when he steals pizza slices. He is doing very well with the little things like waiting in the car while i'm in the grocery store etc and really seems to love all the time he is getting off leash running around. He is so much fun to hang out with that all my friends keep asking to spend time with him. He REALLY loves tug of war and is in love with the old tire swing in the back yard He is such an AWESOME dog." -Shane.
"Dogs are not our whole lives, but make our lives whole"
