Saving a dog.
You know those dog videos everywhere you look? I saw one of a shelter dog being given a brief walk, then returned to his kennel. It really stuck with me. That dog needed much more.
I looked up the rescue and learned that they had a sleepover program. Like kids do, but with dogs. My husband and I decided to give this needy pup a weekend vacation.
This wasn’t how we planned it though.
Our beloved black lab died suddenly just before the sleepover and three days after his 11th birthday. We were devastated, heartbroken, having trouble believing that the happy dog I just took to the park, the one who was sitting on the couch at 7 p.m. was dead by 8 p.m. That’s what cancer of the blood vessels will do, the emergency vet told us.
I couldn’t save our family dog, but maybe I could help save this one.
We decide to go through with the dog date. The shelter has mostly bully breeds. I knew very little about them except that they were “aggressive”, dangerous even. When I went to pick up the dog, I asked what they knew about him, and the answer was “nothing”, so part of the value of taking him home, of being a foster, is that now he would have a profile rather than being one of hundreds of dogs, many of whom looked very similar. They said his name was Ronin.
Ronin darted out of the shelter not stopping until we reached the car. It had the feel of a prison break. I texted my husband not to do anything too suddenly and to be calm when we got home. I felt like I had a loaded gun.
When we got home Ronin jumped out of the car. He was very scared. Deuces’ pad was still on the floor and Ronin went right to it and laid down. He exhaled a giant sigh.
We learned on the first day that he is fully trained in all commands. Someone obviously loved this dog to take the time to train him to this degree. He is too worried to eat, but he takes food out of my hand so gently. I started to love him dangerously hard.
At the end of the sleepover period, we can’t give him up. We also can’t keep him . We have been renting a house for four years, and there is a “no aggressive breed” in our rental clause.
There was zero about this dog that was aggressive. I sent for a DNA test online. I’m hoping he’s a labrodoodle, or at least a boxer. Turns out he’s an almost purebred American Staffordshire Terrier down to his great-grandparents. Doesn’t matter though, in the eyes of the world, he’s a dangerous pit bull.
This is Ronin .
His goal is to please us. He’s beautiful with a fun, playful personalty. He asks for very little. His favorite things are to lay in the sun, ride in the car and catch a ball. He loves to be close to his person, preferably with his head in their lap or on their shoulder. He’s the sweetest being imaginable!
He’s looking for love and wears his heart on his sleeve. Everyone who meets him feels that this is a special dog. A dilemma is developing. My husband put it perfectly: “We’re going to have our heart broken twice”. First our lab. Then Ronin.”
We want to get him adopted without having to return him to the shelter.We haven’t stopped crying or mourning our lab and probably never will, but at least now we have a mission that’s possible. We’ll keep Ronin until we find a permanent home. I put up flyers at vets, pet stores, posts on Instagram and Facebook. I tell everyone I know about him.
This is where I see what a deal breaker the word “pitbull” is.
I try to find out the circumstances of his being at the shelter. That information is only available at the point of adoption. I learned a lot about pit bull breeds though. What we’ve all heard: they are aggressive, unpredictable, and you never know when they might snap.
Nothing could be further from the truth: they are loving, loyal, and live to please their human. Also they are unbelievably funny and playful. The American Kennel Club describes AmStaffs as “confident, smart and good-natured”.
Just as we are considering that perhaps this is our next dog, I got a call from someone who saw one of the flyers I posted. She is a neighbor and a teacher, and one of her students showed the flyer to her father.
After the whole family came over, it was decided that we would move ahead toward a new home for Ronin. For about a month, the potential new father came every other day in the evening to walk Ronin and each time he returned him , we sat and talked at length. Finally Ronin went over for a three night weekend sleepover which went great.
By the time the handoff occurred, we didn’t feel as down as I thought we might. We felt like Ronin was comfortable and happy with his new family, and that he wouldn’t feel abandoned, but would rather feel landed.
People still ask about Ronin. You don’t forget a being like him. If we didn’t meet him so close to the death of our dog, we would have worked out a way to keep him.
I got a call recently from the shelter asking if I could help a dog who was deteriorating in her kennel neither eating nor sleeping, a year old female. She had obviously recently given birth.
She arrived at our home terrified and feisty. She was so hungry that she ate a dozen muffins. We paid for liability insurance. She’s staying.
Today, she’s sweet and loved. She’s our dog and her name is Little Girl.
