Saturday, September 27, 2008

The story of a pitbull

Mornin' ya'll,

Cavuto woke me up at 5:30 this morning. How sweet.

I did NOT watch the Presidential debate last night. I think I was scarred for life when I went to visit my dad during Watergate. Boring political shows make me revert to days and days of Nixon on a grainy t.v. ,repeatedly saying boring stuff. I just don't have the attention span for it.
I count on my husband to tell me the highlights .(If there are any)

Yesterday I was a lazy slug . I thrift shopped , ate lunch and took a 3 hour nap. Yes, exciting , I know:)

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you always put the boat up this early? There's still good weather days. What happened to your pit? aj


AJ, No I do not usually put the boat up this early. But the water has been cold for quite some time and I have tons of work to do and don't really have time to be lounging around on the boat. AND...this time I had the chance to have help. I have NEVER had help doing that before.It was a chance I couldn't pass up.
I will get to the story of my pit in a minute here.



Blogger Brad said...Is that a Paulsbo T-shirt I spy on that little man? It sure looks like Washington in the background.

Good eye Brad! yes that is a Poulsbo shirt. And yes, that is my beautiful yard in Washington the background.

We lived in Poulsbo for 6 months while I looked at houses. We eventually found one in Port Orchard.My last husband was a union carpenter out there. He worked on the floating bridges and the Museum (the one with the brick arches) I LOVED it there. Seattle is my favorite city!


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Ok now "what happened to my pit?"

I will have to start at the beginning here. Ok.

When I first moved in with my last husband he had a pitbull. Her parents had been fancy pedigreed dogs. The breeders were friends of his. This puppy got parvo when she was very young.They were going to put her to sleep but Tommy offered to take her. He managed to nurse her back to health and gave her the hideous name, Shithead.


When I first met her she was about a year old. I pulled up into the yard in my old Ford station wagon, complete with faded wood paneling and one blue door. (the rest of the car was white)
Imagine my shock when this 60 pound pitbull jumps right through my window and into my lap.
It was love at first sight ,for HER. I was a little bit afraid of her.
I had never been around a pitbull before. I had just heard the horror stories.


She had previously been chained up ,outside like a dog! Well, not on MY watch. Once we were all living in our new house it quickly became apparent that she had the soul of a poodle. She was a total foo foo in a mean body.She slept with the kids, she sat in my lap and she went through a phase where she chewed up everything in her path ,including my sons eyeglasses.
We tried to change her name ,since my kids were not allowed to say "Shithead" They called her "spithead" for a while but it did not fit her at all. "Girl" became her name ....and evolved into "Grull"


One day my husband had left for work and the kids had just left on the school bus .It was just her and I in the living room. She stood up and a puppy fell out. She grabbed it and jumped up on the couch. What the hell to do? Was I going to stick my arm in the path of a pitbull (that I barely knew)and her newborn to remove them from my couch? Um, hell no....I didn't have the nerve to try it. She stayed on my couch and continued to have puppies all day. 12 of them.
I had never seen a dog give birth before. And let me just say.....it was a whole lot messier and grosser than a cat.


Eventually I got to know her so well , I could practically read her mind. She became MY dog. There was nothing to fear from her. She even loved our cats.




She was the perfect dog. Except for that Houdini thing. She was the best escape artist EVER.

She refused to stay in the yard.

Once I had left her in the truck while I went in the library. I look down and see this dog in the library .
"aww, how funny , there's a dog in here"

Then I realize it is HER!


Another time the dog pound knocks at my door with a red pit on a leash and says "Is this your dog?"
I actually said "No, she's in the house. I just saw her 2 seconds ago."
It WAS her. She had snuck out the window.


We moved from Calif. to Washington state. Our yard had an entire acre of grass and woods. My husband fenced the whole thing so the dogs could be loose.(we kept one of her puppies at this point ,Star)
Well, Grull did not appreciate her fenced acre. She constantly got loose.Once I went upstairs and watched her from the window ,while Tommy called her. She was climbing over the fence just like a kid.
So, bad girl had to be on a chain while she was outside. One time her chain was tied to a railroad tie. My neighbor knocked on my door one day and said "I think I have something that belongs to
you."
HER! She had drug that railroad tie about a block down the street to his house.


Ok, fast forward a few years. My husband has died. After 6 months ,I move to Florida where my sister Soul lives. I drive out there ,pulling a trailer with 2 pitbulls, 4 cats and 3 kids.
(that's a whole 'nother story)


I rent a house a few blocks from Soul and try to put my life back together.I had a fenced yard.And a dog kennel. But naturally MY dogs will NOT stay in the yard OR the kennel.
All they did was escape and go sit in their own front yard. But my neighbors did not take it lightly. They were literally calling the police on me EVERY day . "Oooh! there are vicious pit bulls loose in our neighborhood."


Well, in case you didn't know......they will put you in jail for that.As refreshing as a vacation in jail would have been, I had 3 kids to take care of.

So desperate measures had to be taken. We found a new home for Star. But Grull was way too spoiled , loved and was also 9 years old.

There was no WAY I could ever get rid of her. So I put her on a plane and sent her to California to my friend Desert Dirt Diva ,who lived out in the desert.I sent her dog support. And Grull continued to be loved and spoiled in the way she had become accustomed:)

By the time I was in a place where I could have gotten her back I couldn't bring myself to take her away from Vicki and her kids. They LOVED her too much now.

So she stayed with Vicki , she continued her Houdini ways and she was finally hit by a car and killed when she was about 14. She died doing what she loved best, defying boundaries and running free like the bad girl we all loved.

Pass me a tissue please.

I hope each of you will know a dog as special in your lifetime.

Have a great day!

Luv me

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How sad! It was good you had such a good friend that would take her. All my peks were special; so hard to give up when they died. 3 all died when they were 10. Rocky is another story. He's our son. Recently Rachael (who just sat on the couch) said 'Rocky is in my way'. I said 'move to the chair'. I just bought a bumper sticker that says 'All my children have paws'. Love it! auntie j

Wesley said...

I think it needs to be said that Star was also a wonderful dog! She was wild and untamed her whole life, until Stez and I took her up to the Shutzhund meeting. She instantly, and I mean instantly learned to heel and sit as soon as she saw the other dogs doing it. She was really smart, and had tons of untapped potential. After seeing the well-behaved dogs at the meeting, I used to put her on a leash and walk her around the back yard. When I stopped, she would sit. When I pivoted, she stayed at my side. When I took a step, she started walking. One day, I will own another dog like her!

Of course, she was even more of a Houdini than her loving mother!

Golden To Silver Val said...

My wonderful dog, Heidi, was a toy Manchester terrier (8 lbs), who lived to be 14. I can't even begin to tell you how fabulous she was and what a perfect dog. No bad habits at all. When she died I cried for days and days. I've had many dogs since but never have found one to equal her. She and the cat (who lived to be 17) were raised together and when she died, the cat mourned her...for days she would walk from room to room searching for her, crying that special sad meow that only cats can do. They were both very special pets and I feel so honored that I was blessed with them.

Anonymous said...

It is so nice to know that Smocha is a lover of dogs as well as cats. A lot of peeps are not like that - it is one or the other. We love both. Our sheperd/collie mix, Brandy, was raised with our gray tabby cat, Kit. In the winter when the floor was cold Kit would curl up in the hollow of Brandy's tummy and they would sleep for hours that way. We have pictures. Ah yes, would love to hear the story of the trip all the way across the bloody country with 3 kids and all those animals. You need to write a book. G5

Jamie said...

I couldn't read the end of your story, it's just the way I am. I cannot take sad animal stories-they truly upset me. I know that's really stupid, but I have learned to live with it. However, I know you loved her, and I'm sure that whatever happened to her, she had a good life after you came into it and knew she was loved. What more could a dog (or a cat) ask for?

Happy Sunday Smocha. Hugs. :)

SOUL said...

well, thanks for the early sunday tearjerker--- always love to start my day this way :))

they were both good doggies.

an (like my midnight)-- no one else would have given her the love that you and your fam--and DD, and hers did.

funny how it works that way.

happy sunday--
i'm gonna go sit with my sushit-- now.

desert dirt diva said...

Now that i'm in tears... she was the best, now pass the tissues...
and very loved...