Happy pet stories

romanigypsyeyes
Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:36:23 +0000

After we lost our dog, Mia, after 12 years we swore that we would be a one-dog family from now on (we had another dog, Izzy, at the time). Izzy was a rescued pit and we formed a close bond with the people who rescued her.

A few months after Mia died, the same people showed up on our front porch with a 6 month old pit bull. Her face was mutilated and she had something like 50 stitches. They begged us to take her because they didn’t have the room and she would be put down if they took her to a shelter. We couldn’t say no. A few months later, Izzy passed away and we were down to just Cleo (the new rescued pup).

We instantly noticed that Cleo picked up on tricks and training right away. We decided to train her to be a therapy dog and she has since been certified. She still has the scars from her young days as a bait dog and that makes it really easy for kids in hospitals to bond with her (especially those who have been in accidents and have scars).

Not only is she a therapy dog, but we are also using her to change the face of pit bulls in America. We brought her in when our city wanted to ban pits and the measure was voted down (and we got a promise from the mayor that said he would never sign a “doggie racism” bill).

She is just a great dog and an inspiration that you can become anything, no matter where you come from :).

Oh, and everyone loves her. I’m having a get together this week with my college friends (who are coming in from all over the state) and the first thing that almost all of them asked was “Is Cleo going to be there?!”