Pitbulls and Children ...Continued...

Rocco and I are working hard daily to improve humans beliefs about pit bulls.

The two boys in the pictures are ages one and three years old. 

 

Rocco had never met these two boys before this summer day when we all walked to the park. He walked calmly next to the boys on the way to the park.

 

These boys do not have a dog of their own and have not spent much time around dogs. Rocco was extremely perceptive of their needs and listened to them very well.

sweet boys

Why don't you ever see images like this on the news or in the paper?

Pitbulls and children

I will take this time while Rocco is on bed rest to discuss some common issues effecting bully breeds.

I am certain everyone is familiar with the media's 

 portrayal of pit bulls.

However, I have met hundreds of pit-bulls over the years and most of them are more like

 OR

 

OR EVEN

Split

All of Rocco's hoop jumping and piano playing is finally catching up with him.

 His dew claws are split and bandaged to prevent infection.  

 His modern life had taken a dreadfully boring turn while we wait for this to heal.

LD

Rocco lives with a small old dog named Little Dog

We often call her LD

Rococo Gold

Welcome

Rocco was living in a small town animal shelter with very little space and money and a lot of dogs. This shelter has one of the highest euthanize rates in the state due to their lack of funding/space and pitbulls are often the first to go. I went to the shelter to find one who I could foster and adopt out. I only planned to take one, however upon my arrival a pitbull puppy which shared a kennel with Rocco tested positive for Parvo and both dogs were to be  euthanized within the hour to prevent it from spreading. I'm a big softy so I took both dogs home. 

The puppy quickly recovered and Rocco never showed any symptoms. I adopted the puppy out pretty easily. Rocco however, was another story.

 It was pretty clear early on that he was a neurotic mess. He was a year old dog who had spend 99% of his puppy years in a crate while his previous owner worked 12hour days. When he wasn't busy lunging at other dogs or spinning in circles he passed time by chasing reflections, shadows and leaves. Poor guy needed a lot of structure and exercise to keep it together.

This how Rocco the dog and went from being the captain of the Hot Mess Express to a balanced dog.