National Pit Bull Awareness Month: A Story about Coming Together to Rescue One Sweet Pitbull
October is National Pitbull Awareness Month. Let's celebrate bully breed dogs and help to fight the negative stereotypes and myths that still surround these amazing dogs (myths such as they are aggressive, they have “locking jaws”, they are more likely to attack or bite, etc.). In fact, bully breed dogs consistently score high on temperament tests and make great family dogs because of their gentleness, sweetness, and loyalty!
This month, Vital Vet is sharing a story of how we helped bring one Pitbull to her new forever home in North Carolina to live with some of our marketing team.
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Pibble. Pittie. House Hippo. Whatever you call them, we love them and wanted another.
My husband and I had adopted a “bully breed dog” (She’s likely a mix of American Staffordshire Terrier and maybe Lab) about three and a half years ago, and she completely won over us and our families, who had previously been nervous about these types of dogs.
Lou is exactly why people who advocate for pitties are so passionate about them – she's goofy, silly, sweet, incredibly gentle, and loves to smush up against her family as tight as she can as often as possible. When we were finally ready to adopt a second dog after losing our senior Black Lab two years ago, we only wanted to adopt another Pitbull as a sibling to Lou.
We began the search for the perfect dog for our family. The requirements were that they had to be good with girl dogs, good with cats, and had to be relatively calm in the house, as we both work from home.
Turns out, that was somewhat of a challenge with the rescue organizations near us. Some were too interested in cats to be a good fit, others preferred to be an only dog or to be in a house with a boy dog, and some had an abundance of happy puppy energy that wouldn’t have been the right fit for us.
Enter Vital Vet. We work with Vital Vet on marketing, and they are extremely connected in the animal space. We knew they might be able to connect us with a pittie who really needed a home. Apart from their work with veterinary professionals and rehab specialists, Vital Vet founder Ilaria Borghese’s brother is the co-founder and president of Animal Aid USA and helped Ilaria rescue her pittie, Asher.
Ilaria reached out to her connections at Animal Aid USA, and they in turn reached out to their connections. Those connections led us to Voice 4 the Voiceless – V4V.
V4V, based in Hinesville, GA, had rescued a blue-nosed grey and white Pitbull who had had a very rough start to her life. A compassionate UPS driver found her while driving her route, dumped on the side of the road, starved, barely able to stand.
The UPS driver took her to V4V, fearing that if she didn’t get help right then, she might not make it through the night. When she arrived at V4V, she weighed about 38 lbs., when she should be closer to 50!
Long story short, we fell in love with this girl and welcomed her into our home. This little girl, now named Patch, is the perfect example of the resiliency of dogs and of the incredible heart that Pitbulls are truly known for. Despite not knowing much love before she was rescued, Patch loves everyone she meets and is already best friends with her pittie sister, Lou, and her cat sister, Nugget.
During Pitbull Awareness Month, learn for yourself how these sweet dogs want nothing more than to be loved – just like all dogs!
Author: Kelly Winget, Director of Content, Exec Cast