Pit Boss

Source

Pit Boss is a reality TV show on animal planet. On this show Shorty Rossi and his friends recue and rehab the misunderstood pit bulls. This show can be found on Animal planet on Saturdays at 10 pm (“About”). In an interesting twist the people on this show are little people. They are overcoming obstacles and stereotypes just like the pit bulls. People don’t think of little people as active rescue people who rescue animals and also people do not picture pit bulls as the loving dogs they can be.

Shorty runs a pit bull rescue team called Shorty’s Rescue. Shorty grew up in a rough neighborhood where his passion for rescue the misunderstood pit bulls began. He got his first pit bull at 14 (“Pit”.)After getting involved in crime and gang related activity, Shorty ended up in jail. After that Shorty decided to dedicate his life to rescuing pit bulls and making a better life for them. His organization recues pit bulls and fosters them until they are adopted (“Pit”). In his own words, "Pit bulls have a bad rap," says Shorty, "though they don’t deserve it at all. It’s what people have done to these pits or how they have trained them that caused this horrible misperception. Pit bulls are beautiful and energetic dogs that make wonderful companions and have the ability to bring out the best in just about any one – the elderly, children, the handicapped, and yes... even the little people of this world!" (“Pit”).

This is my personal Pit Bull success story of my boyfriend's dog, a pit mix named Roscoe! He is a reformed dog. He is one of the sweetest most gentle lovable dogs ever! His rough and scary exterior frightened me at first but his lovable personality makes him the ideal pet!

Julia

Pit Bulls as therapy dogs in nursing homes!

Hershey Source

Never in a million years would I picture a pit bull as a therapy dog or a dog that would be found in a nursing home.

Recently this has been happening. The full story of Hershey can be found here. She is a beautiful pit bull who was rescued from spending 24/7 in a crate. She was used as a puppy mill and tossed out to die. She was rescued and rehabilitated. After a long process she became a loving friendly dog. She was certified to become a therapy dog and now she visits nursing homes. Her certification allows her to visit the nursing home patients alongside her trainer.  She brings smiles and joy to so many people. A dog like this can be just the companion these people need. Hershey knows when people just need the comfort of a loving friend during their time of sickness or even loneliness. Although her breed is misunderstood, stories like Hershey’s raise the awareness that pit bulls are sweet dogs.


To become certified as a therapy dog, your dog must have all it’s current vaccines and yearly veterinarian checkups. You must have the information on your dog from the AKC or American Kennel Club. To learn more visit Therapy Dogs International.

And for your viewing pleasure and a visual representation of the caring and compassionate side to pit bulls please enjoy this clip from Pit Boss.

To learn more about Pit Boss read my recent post here.

Julia