Forget the pound, give me some Knuckles

June 10, 2014

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So last Friday, Priceless Pets sent me and fellow Pittie Crew member, Terra, to a high kill shelter to evaluate a senior pit bull named Knuckles. I wasn’t really given any information on him which is actually the way I like it. Usually when you first meet these dogs, they’re SO excited to see you. It’s almost like they know why you’re there and these dogs (especially the pitties) usually know how to impress an evaluator!

When they first brought Knuckles out, something was different about him. He was interested in everything BUT us. It probably didn’t help that this high kill shelter we were at had a makeshift play area and the dog wasn’t allowed to be off leash. First off, how am I supposed to give this dog a proper evaluation on a short leash and second, how the hell does this high kill shelter with the fancy lobby NOT have a play area??? Anyways, that’s a different blog for a different day….

As I was trying to evaluate this dog, an employee there had let us know that this was the first time in over a MONTH that Knuckles had been out of his kennel. No walks, no love…for over a month. Aside from that, I found out that he had been hit by a car and THEN his owner dumped him at the shelter. Poor guy. I walked him over to the corner of the “play area” knelt down beside him without making eye contact and he gave me a big kiss on my face then went back to not paying attention. How could I blame him? This guy hadn’t been out of his kennel for a month and didn’t know what to do with himself. He finally took a treat from me and
showed zero signs of food aggression. He passed every single test but just didn’t seem interested. Terra and I decided he did well enough. We set him up to be pulled that following Monday.

When we came to pick up Knuckles yesterday he was a totally different dog. He saw us and gave us this look as if to say, “Hey!!! You guys are back! Now let’s get out of here! Now!” He looked genuinely excited to see us and gave us all lots of lovin’!

The first place we took him to before he went to, The Orphanage, was the park. He looked soooo happy to feel grass again. We put a long line on him and let him chase a ball. Not only did Knuckles fetch it but he brought it back and knew the “drop it” command! We had Drew’s foster with us, a 6 month old pittie named, Tara. He was so gentle with her and at one point even fetched the ball and dropped it at her feet so she could play with it. After about 15 minutes of playing, Knuckles was spent and all he wanted to do was lay with us in the grass. We took him back to, The Orphanage, and set up his new room where he will stay until he finds his forever home…

So even after being locked up in a tiny kennel for over a month, getting hit by a car and getting dumped by his owner, Knuckles never held a grudge to us humans. In true pit bull fashion, he was loving and looking to please US after all he’s been through. Knuckles is amazing and I’m glad he’ll never have to wait a month to take a walk ever again and I love knowing he will never have to worry about being put to sleep for being homeless or because of his breed. Welcome to the Priceless Pets Pittie Crew, Knuckles!