I have always been an animal lover and inherited this trait from my nature-loving father. We lived in a rural Wisconsin town that had more bars than churches and a staggering population of roughly 600 people. Being a daddy's girl I followed him everywhere, whether it was to his friends' farms or out in the woods. He taught me to have respect for animals and to take care of them just as though they were humans.
When I was in the first grade my dad had surprised me with a pup. He was an eight-week-old Springer Spaniel mix, a mutt, and I named him Jasper. This dog was my best friend up until my second year of college when his health declined and had to be humanely euthanized. Throughout his lifetime, Jasper was a naughty, lazy, and loving pup. He was part of our family, sharing beds and even sometimes conversations with all of us. After his passing I promised him I would never own another pup, but then one day I realized that he wouldn't want that at all...
During my third year of college I decided that I wanted to adopt another pup and my fiance agreed that he wanted to as well. We went to a local shelter and looked at the dogs within the enclosures, I felt bad for every single on of them. They were just sitting there wanting to be loved by someone, anyone. If it were up to me I would have taken all of them with me but I knew that would lead to me starring in an episode of Animal Planet's Confessions: Animal Hoarding. So we continued to look through the kennels, we passed a Dachshund, Beagle mix, and even a droopy-eyed Basset hound.
But, it wasn't until I came up to a terrified and shaking, eight-week-old brindle pup that I knew this was my dog. He was a American Staffordshire Terrier mix or otherwise popularly known as a "Pit Bull" mix. The breed didn't have an effect on me like the other families that walk right passed him with out giving him a second chance by pulling their children quickly away from the glass. I sat down right in front of him and put my hand on the glass so he could try and feel the warmth of my skin. Since that day I never looked back and had an everlasting love for this misunderstood breed.
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| This is my fur-baby, Jeter (aka: J Crew, Muttley Crue, Derek J. Muttley Crue) |
