Pit Bulls...oooohhhhhh SSSCCAARRY

We ALL have heard about pits,  seen the stats and read stories.  ALL Pit Bulls are to be feared.
Well I am here to tell a different story, one about a little lost pit name Gypsy.

I get a call from Wendy "guess what I have in the car".  I found her on the highway limping and I could not leave her.  This was the picture that was sent to me.   Love at 1s sight.

 We decided to let a friend of our put her in one of her empty kennels until we figured out what to do.  The vet gave her clean bill of health and the limp, well it was an old injury that was not set or tended to so she will forever have a limp.  (insert awwwww's here).

We went to bed that night wondering how we would find her a home.  Got a call at 6am, she was gone. She had dug out of her kennel and could not be found.  We looked for her all day with no luck.  Meantime about 8miles a way at another friends house a stray dog showed up but would not let anyone near her.  She was tan and yep...had a limp.   We moved our search miles down the road but never found her.

Imagine that call two days later at 6am. She was back at the original house just sitting outside the fence. That little dog w/a limp had traveled over 16miles between two of our friends houses, over a mountain, major highway and all had taken place over three days. Boy did she stink!!

What I have learned about pits.....they are sweet, docile, loving, strong and gentle.  They are fiercely  loyal and want nothing more than to be loved and near you.  In the late 1800's they were used as baby sitter due to their nurturing personalities and demeanor.

Gypsy is still at our house(since March).  She is now crate trained, house trained and in great health.  That limp..shh don't tell her she has one, she does not know.  She retrieves like our labs and loves to wrestle. 



We have a red heeler, she tolerates most dogs, but 100% prefers people.  Well she has found a new BFF.  Yep a pit and a heeler...who would have ever thought.



If ever you hear "those" stories remember just like people, good and bad is everywhere, it's not the breed. 

Some are beaten, tortured and forced to be fighters, some end up in life as bait, some are just for breeding and some..well some of them are just big headed smiling goofballs.

Roofs 4 Rover

I don’t know about you but sometimes I think about companies like “Google” or “Victoria’s Secret” and I wonder just exactly where they got the idea for their name.  I know that Wendy’s restaurants are named after the founder, Dave Thomas’s daughter, Wendy, and there are lots of stories behind company names but Roofs4Rover is a pretty straightforward kind of story.

A few months ago, I was on my way to an appointment. As any Tennessean will tell you, it’s pretty dang cold in this neck of the woods during the winter. Well, I passed by a house that was in need of some love and repair and I noticed a little pit bull puppy outside on a concrete slab. The actual temperature on this day was blistering 3 degrees and the little puppy was so cold that she couldn’t put both of her feet on the concrete at the same time. She was shifting back and forth to be able to tolerate the freezing cold slab. It absolutely broke my heart and I could NOT get that image out of my mind! I think that I missed most of what was said at the doctor’s appointment because all I could think about was how miserable that little puppy had to feel. On my way home, I stopped and picked up a dog bed and blankets.  I secretly delivered them and went on my merry way.

Later that evening, I was telling the story to some animal loving friends over dinner and one thing led to another. Before we even made it to dessert, Roofs4Rover was born.

Roofs4Rover is an organization made up of about 6 people who volunteer our time to provide some shelter for needy animals. We pick up doghouses (wooden or plastic) that need some repair. We clean them up, perform necessary repairs, add a few coats of paint and we start looking for some lucky recipients. We started out by purchasing 10 plastic houses and set out to make some deliveries. The owners were a little skeptical on the front end and waited for the catch when we offered them a free doghouse. They were very receptive and grateful once they realize that we truly did not want anything at all from them other than for them to let us give them a doghouse for their pet. Since this all started, we’ve had over 28 doghouses donated and 25 of them have gone to needy animals.  We also throw in some snuggly blankets and a big bag of treats with each delivery.

We aren’t here to judge anyone for not providing shelter for their animals. Times are hard and some folks are doing the best that they can but the money just doesn’t go far. We’ve yet to make a delivery where the animal wasn’t well fed or loved so the houses are just icing on the cake! We delivered a house last weekend and the puppy was so excited that she was crawling in it before we could even get it set down on the ground! THAT is why we do what we do!

I know that we aren’t the only animal lovers out there! So, if any of you are in the Jonesborough, Tennessee area and have some time to kill, we can always use the extra hands. Or, if geography prevents you from participating in the manual labor part of the plan, we happily accept donations. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of every single dollar that you donate goes to housing for the dogs. We have no administrative fees, delivery fees, set-up charges, etc. We have a heart for little souls that can’t help themselves and we like to think this is our small way of giving back.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t share a few pictures of our new friend, Buddy. He’s a 9 year-old lab/golden mix that got his new home right between winter storms and he looks pretty happy to me! We think you’ll agree!

Ashley

Losing Holly (my "heart" dog) was hard.  She was the gentle soul that kept our crazy little pack together.   It took me a long time to get over losing her. I don't really know if you ever actually get over losing a pet. I think that you learn to love new ones but that familiar pang of hurt still hits your heart out of the blue sometimes.

About two months after we lost her, Wendy found an "older" (approx 9yrs old) dog at the rescue place where we got our wild man, Kody.  Wendy showed me picture and I couldn't believe how much she resembled Holly---too much so.  I was not ready.  After another year or so passed, Wendy realized Ashley was still in foster care. I couldn't stand the thought of an old dog needing, and not having, a forever home. I realized that I was ready. 

Ashley had been with Atlanta Squad Dogs for over 2years in their foster system. It impressed me that they NEVER gave up finding her a home.  We decided on a Thursday that we would meet them in Atlanta that Saturday. This would be an 11hr turnaround trip.  We took Kody to give Ashley some company and to see how well that she would interact with other dogs. 

We knew going in she was an older dog and would have issues but we were in for a surprise!
 Wendy and I got there early, so excited to meet the newest member of our family! We walked into Petco and there she was, wagging her tail with all her might.  It was assumed that she was a "breeder" dog and was turn loose because she was found in a park in horrible shape.  She required lots of meds and a surgery to get her back in to adoption shape.

Wendy and I both looked at her, fell in love immediately and thought (quietly to ourselves) "what in God's name have we done??".  She could walk but struggled to get up. Her eyes were cloudy and we wondered if she could even see.  But there was no turning back.  She needed us as much as we needed her.

This was her adoption picture.

First stop was the vet.  We were informed that she was overweight (I know that lots of us can relate to that!), could see just fine, and was probably at least 12yrs old. But, all-in-all, she was in great health! That was a shocker for a dog her age!  

Next stop was the spa.  Our friend, Jen, turned her into a Princess.  Every single person who met her, fell in love.  Us included.

after her spa visit

As the months went she lost weight and even got to the point she was coming upstairs to work with me every day.  She was with out a doubt the happiest dog I had ever met.  She was my goto model for me when I need to shoot stil life.

and one of my all time favorites.

She even atteneded her first prom (ok, it was fundraiser but she did not know that).  Here she is with her date Rocky.

On sunny Saturday in November I decided to start working on the Christmas pictures.  Hers, of course were easy and over in minutes.  I had what I needed.

But for some reason I kept shooting and got one of my favorite pictures of her.

As the cold months approached, I noticed her having trouble breathing and she was falling outside more than usual.  We took her to the vet and discovered that she had cancer.  At her age, treatments were not much of an option.   We decided to let nature take it's course. That was on Monday, November 15th and by Thursday, November 19th we had to let her go. We couldn't stand the thought of her being in pain.  We think that once she heard she was sick, she was just done.

She had lived a full life and was ready to go meet Holly.

In answer to the question "What in God's name have we done?"

What WE did was give a dog a lifetime's worth of love in 10months.

What WE did was take a chance on an old gal and we were so rewarded!  Everyone who met her was.

What WE did was try to make a difference...I think we did.

What SHE did was touch our lives forever!  We miss her every single day.

What SHE did was give me the most amazing picture I have ever taken.