My First Rescue

Mama was my first rescue. 

She was an adorable, sweet red nosed pit bull. I found her walking behind my fence. When I opened the gate, she danced right in like she owned the place. She had no collar, so we gave her some food and water. She was skinny and very eager to eat. I noticed as I pet her that she had some scratches and long unkempt toenails. I waited for an owner, but no one seemed to be searching the neighborhood for her. So I took her to my vet where we discovered she had no microchip. We gave her dewormer and some flea medicine so that it would be safe for me to take her home to my dog Luna. 

That night, the owner was calling for her, so I gave her back. When I returned her, the lady's boyfriend started yelling at her and went to hit her, and she cowered. I went home concerned but I was afraid to get too involved.


Every couple of days, Mama would be right back in my yard. It happened at least five times. The last time this happened, it was the middle of the night, and it had been a month since she had been to my house, so I gave her more Frontline flea protection and I let her sleep with me in the guest bedroom while my boyfriend slept with Luna in my bed. 


The next day I offered Mama's owners $100 for Mama and they excepted it. I was suppose to get her the next day, but it turned out that she had escaped her owner's yard again and was on someones porch, frightened and scared. The people whose porch she was on didn't know what to do with a strange dog, and they decided to call animal control. Mama's owner told us in the morning that she had been taken to the Pound. She said she was moving and couldn't help me get Mama out of the pound because it was her boyfriends dog, and since animal control had been called before, the paper work was in his name.

I figured she would find a good home at the pound, but I called to check on her and see how she was doing, to make sure she was going to be adopted. They said the pound was full, they had no kennels left at the adoption center and as a result she would be put down in seven days if she was not claimed. 


I didn't know what to do, so I waited as long as I could as her execution date approached, but no one was coming to pick her up and with no other options, I went to bail her out. Since she had been there a few days, the fee had gone up to $160. Mama's owner gave me her boyfriends I.D. and I found someone to pose as her boyfriend. We tried to find a pit bull adoption agency to take her such as Annabelle's Second Chance (http://www.ascpbr.com/Home.html ) but they were full and in desperate need of foster homes, So I asked Dr. Driscoll, the vet that I work for at Six Forks Animal Hospital ( 919-847-5854 they offer full veterinary services and they also accept SPCA spay and neuter vouchers.) if he knew anyone locally that could help. He referred me to  Paige Burris a well known pit bull rescuer in Raleigh NC, Check her work out at:

(http://www.thepositivepitbull.org and find her on facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Positive-Pit-Bull/282575600129) 


Paige's rescue was full and my landlord would not allow a second dog in my home at the time. The best we could find was the upstairs neighbors of Mama's original owners.  I told him I would give him all the help I could but he took advantage of the offer and was constantly hitting me up for food and money for her. He refused to provide food, toys or medical care with his money, and was constantly asking me for mine, but I had had no other option because pit bulls are so hard to get adopted. People who want them usually have landlords who don't want to risk the liability of having dogs that they have been seen portrayed in the media so negatively.

While I was away in California, the guy called and said that the land lord wouldn't let him keep Mama after all, even though she had been living in his house for four months. I begged him to hold on to her for just three days until I got back, but when I got back, she was gone. He apparently had given her to a guy named "Berry" who's last name was a mystery and had no contact for him. I was so heart broken at the time and had no place to put her even if I found her that I resigned myself for the time...but that isn't the end of this story!