SEATTLE - He’s got a reputation, but he’s not living up to it. And that’s a
good thing. Neville the pit bull is working the ferry lines at Seattle’s
Coleman Dock.

He isn’t supposed to be here. Neville was on death row in Canada until an
escape worthy of a spy novel got him across the border and into the K-9 work
force. Today he protects the people who almost failed him.

“He’s the kind of dog who would take a bullet for you,” said Neville’s
handler, Trooper David Dixon. “And there are people like me who had a bad
idea of pit bulls in the past that may change their mind and love them
because they’re great.”

“He’s so sweet. I love it when you pet him and he just smashes up against
you. You feel the love,” said Diana Cameron, who works at the espresso stand
on the dock.

And after five years and 21 actual finds of weapons or explosives, Neville
prepares to hang up his badge for good. He is scheduled to retire in
September.

Neville was the first pit bull on explosives patrol for the Washington State
Patrol. And he’s helped pave the way for four others to follow in his
footsteps.

WSP currently has five pit bulls working narcotics or explosives. But
Trooper Dixon says it’s not so much about the breed as it is the sniffer and
the disposition. Neville has a nose that knows and the temperament of a
dedicated officer. Not to mention his success has helped booster the
reputation of a breed known more to be fighters than crime fighters.

Trooper Dixon estimates that Neville does detection work on 150,000 vehicles
a year. One dog’s life was spared to benefit the lives of countless others.

Breed-specific laws target even heroic pit bulls

By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

When the deadly cottonmouth snake struck out at “her” children, Dixie never hesitated. The dog pushed the children aside, putting her 50-pound body between them and the snake. Dixie saved Frank Humphries, 9, and his 7-year-old twin siblings, Katie and Codi. But the venomous snake inflicted two bites on the face of the 16-month-old dog.

Valerie Humphries of Fayetteville, Ga., — the children’s mother and Dixie’s co-owner — killed the snake with an ax and rushed the dog to veterinarian Francoise Tyler. “Seeing Dixie’s unconscious body in the arms of that doctor was one of the worst things I’ve ever been through,” Humphries said. “Dr. Tyler had to keep her for several days, hooked up to intravenous antibiotics.”

Then the vet nominated Dixie for the Hero Dog category in a contest sponsored by the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association. Dixie won over 300 nominated dogs and this month is being inducted into the Georgia Animal Hall of Fame.

Now here comes one of the cheapest writing tricks in the book — the “O’Henry ending”:

Dixie is a pit bull.

The breed of a hero-dog shouldn’t matter, really. But it does matter because this is a breed of dog that is feared, hated and reviled by so many people, including many who call themselves animal lovers.

Many individuals and organizations, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are trying to outlaw this breed. They can’t stop at merely despising pit bulls and related breeds, including American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers. They want to outlaw pit bulls, even those owned by loving, responsible dog owners. Even child-loving life-savers like Dixie.

Dixie is reason enough to rail against breed-specific legislation — laws that target an entire breed. Other breeds are under siege all over the country, especially rottweilers. Proposed legislation in other parts of the country target an ever-growing list of breeds, including boxers, Siberian huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Akitas, chow chows, German shepherds and Doberman pinschers.

Call me pro-choice on dog ownership. I think people who love dogs should be free to own as many dogs as we can take care of — as long as we are loving, responsible owners and the dogs create no problems and pose no threat to people, property and other animals. We have the right to buy a pure-bred from a responsible breeder or to rescue a homeless mixed-breed from a shelter. And we should certainly be able to love the breed of our choice.

Blueberry Hero Dog

Text and photos from the CNN story.

A Pitbull named Blueberry is credited with saving her owner from two armed attackers. Authorities in Indiana, say the dog pounced on the intruders as they opened fire, Blueberrys legs and jaw were broken but she kept up the attack. The intruders fled and at last word, were still on the loose.

Veterinarians at Perdue University were able to patch up Blueberry. They also say her unborn puppies are going to be ok.

By SUSAN WRIGHT (susan.wright@news-jrnl.com)

HOLLY HILL - Barbara Tollison’s pit bull Buddy has become her hero.

The dog, who’s lived with her more than two years, helped save both Tollison and her sister from a fire that erupted early last Wednesday in her Pine Ridge Road home.

Tollison says she calls Buddy her “56-pound Chihuahua” because he acts more like timid lap dog than a dog that’s known as a fighting breed. The morning of the fire, Tollison says, she woke up at 4:30 a.m. to see off Pete Blount, who shares the house with her, as he headed for work. Then she went back to bed.

Barely half an hour later, she says, she awoke and smelled smoke. She quickly explored the house and discovered the fire already ablaze in Blount’s bedroom. She ran to wake up her sister, Jane Ellol, who was visiting from Connecticut, and ran outside.

Buddy followed her. Then, Buddy ran back inside and straight to Ellol’s bedroom, where she was still struggling to get out. Tollison says Ellol has arthritis and can’t move very quickly when she first gets up. Then, she became disoriented in the unfamiliar house, in the smoke.

“He was whining real loud in her room for her. He was with her the whole time. I ran back in and when I got a hold of her, I pulled her out the door. She said she felt like a wet noodle. He came out right behind her,” Tollison says.

While she says she doesn’t remember exactly what woke her up and saved their lives that morning, she’s convinced it was Buddy because there was no other noise in the house.

“He kind of aroused me, that’s the only thing I can think of that got me up,” she says.

Once he’d gotten the family out, Tollison said, Buddy ran down the road, clearly terrified, and disappeared.

She called Blount, who returned from work as the firemen were dousing the fire in the house and they both frantically looked for Buddy, but they couldn’t find him.

About five hours later, she recalls, a sheriff’s car approached and she somehow knew Buddy was inside before she could even see the dog.

Volusia County sheriff’s deputy Richard Hansard had searched for the dog in the neighborhood and then driven to the Halifax Humane Society to look for the animal. As it happens, someone in the area had picked up Buddy and taken him to the shelter. Because Buddy had the required license and tags, the shelter was able to identify the dog they had in custody and turn him over to Hansard, who took Buddy back home to his very grateful family, Tollison said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said Hansard has been recommended for a citation for going beyond the call of duty in finding and returning Buddy.

Tollison said it will take 10 weeks to make the house livable again. Meanwhile, she’s living in an apartment and Buddy is living in an Ormond Beach boarding kennel. And, she says, when they do get back home, Buddy will be treated like the hero she’s sure he is.

“I’m going to get him a jeweled collar and just treat him like royalty,” she said.

Heroic Pit Bull: Dog Finds Help For Injured Neighbor

By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

Move over Lassie. A pit bull terrier has shown Auburn’s Jim Roach that heroic dog deeds don’t just happen in the movies or on TV.

Roach fell from a 12-foot-high ladder while picking peaches last month on his rural Mount Vernon Road property. Dazed and unable to move because of his injuries, he soon found renter Jeanne Davis’ two-year-old pit bull Gabby hovering over him and
barking.

“I was unconscious pretty much,” Roach said Tuesday. “I remember a dog licking the side of my face and standing by me and barking and barking and barking.”

But nobody came. That’s when Gabby did the heroically unexpected and went for help.

About 100 yards away and not able to see or hear Roach, Davis heard Gabby furiously barking and thought perhaps someone had entered the property. But Roach’s dog, also nearby, wasn’t barking.

Soon after she first noticed the barking, Gabby emerged.

“She’s barking and then she looks at me and runs back,” Davis said. “It’s kind of like something Lassie would do.”

So Davis followed Gabby. She found her landlord injured and moaning in pain near the pruning ladder.

“I walked over to where he was and Gabby stopped barking,” Davis said.

With Roach immobilized on the ground, a California Highway Patrol helicopter was dispatched to transport the seriously injured college instructor to Roseville Medical Center’s trauma unit for emergency treatment.

Roach, a College of San Mateo instructor, said doctors diagnosed multiple injuries from the fall, including a fractured clavicle, four broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae, and bleeding on the brain.

A towel wrapped around his head, Jason Williams-style, probably saved his life when his head hit the ground, Roach said.

Roach said he spent a week in hospital. One of the first visitors after discharge was Gabby. He said the two now seem to have formed a strong bond as a result of the rescue.

A psychology instructor, Roach said that the incident is a good example of the more endearing side of pit bulls that doesn’t receive media attention.

“I’ve never felt they’ve been given a fair shake,” he said. “They’re just a terrier.”

Davis said Gabby was abused before she adopted her. She’s been training the dog to become less apprehensive around people.

“A lot of people said to put her down, that she’s going to do something bad,” Davis said. “I’m so proud of my dog.”

A LITTLE over five years ago, my husband and I heard of this “loser” dog needing a home, loser because he was a pitbull that ‘wouldn’t fight!’ We had two dogs at the time, a Rottie and an Amstaff, so we weren’t looking for another dog, but something made us call these people to find out about Norton. The owner said thanks but they’d already found a home for him.

Two days later we got a call from this person saying Norton had been returned and would we like to see him. We loaded our dogs into the car and told ourselves that we were just going to look but it would be a good idea to see if there was a chance all the dogs would get along. I won’t go into the horror we saw or the condition that Norton was in but we knew immediately that we couldn’t leave this 6-month-old pup there.

His scars weren’t just physical, he suffered from severe separation anxiety as well. Norton could not be left alone, he would eat his way out of any enclosure or room he was left in. He had to be with people or he panicked. We were lucky enough to be able to have my husband take him to work every day but on the rare occasion we had to leave him alone he had to be heavily tranquilized. We tried all sorts of training and meds but nothing worked.

We resigned ourselves to the fact that wherever we went, Norton came too, then tragedy struck. Our Amstaff, Hillary, passed away. We were devastated, but it was worse for Norton - he lost a very important member of his pack. The separation anxiety got worse, he followed us everywhere.

He took to sleeping in our walk in closet as long as the door was open and he could see us in bed. We knew our Rottie was aging and Norton needed a pal. Well, I’ll be honest, I needed another Amstaff, not to replace Hillary in my heart, but to help fill the void her death had created. I found a beautiful Amstaff pup at Barberycoast Kennels in Nova Scotia. I was still reeling from the loss of my precious pup so I knew how Norton must be feeling. Maybe a pup would be good for him and make him feel he had a larger pack to depend on. Little did I know that we would lose our rottie three weeks after our perfect Haley came to live with us. I’m so grateful that we found Haley, she filled my aching heart with love and Norton’s life with joy.

You could see the love of life in his eyes for the first time. He had a true companion.

During all of this our city passed a bylaw restricting pitbulls but allowing pedigreed Amstaffs (go figure!). We would be allowed to keep Norton if he could pass a ‘Good Citizenship’ test (same as a temperament test). Norton may have his problems but temperament isn’t one of them, he passed with flying colours, after all, we were there so he felt safe. He was ‘grandfathered’ and the only restriction is that he had to wear a large tag saying “restricted” on it. Oh, he also had to be neutered and microchipped but we had already done that when we got him.

One night about a month after we got our new pup Haley, I got up to go to the bathroom, making sure the bedroom door was shut behind me so that Haley wouldn’t wander out and have an accident on the carpet. While I was in the bathroom I was bitten by a spider. I was on medication at the time and it inhibited my body from producing any antihistamines, so I went into anaphylactic shock. My throat closed and I got very light headed, I felt like I was being put under anesethic. I couldn’t make it out of the bathroom and I couldn’t make a sound. For some unknown reason, Norton got up from his bed in the closet and went over to my sleeping husband and kept pushing him with him nose until Barrie woke up.

When Barrie saw how upset Norton was and that I wasn’t there he went looking for me and found me almost unconscious. He called the paramedics and by the time they arrived I had stopped breathing. I spent two days in intensive care and a week at home recovering from a simple non-poisonous bite.

To this day I don’t know how Norton knew one of his pack was in trouble but I do know that I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for him. We had rescued him from a ‘bad home’ and he took returning the favour very seriously. Norton was inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame this year for his heroic act. We received a beautiful oil portrait of Norton from Purina and Norton got a medal and a year’s supply of dog food. He had a wonderful time for the three days we were in Toronto with him, he had his own stretch limo to take him to the TV studios and awards banquet and he was allowed into all the restaurants we were taken to.

The Toronto Humane Society also honoured him in May, he received another medal and a gift certificate for a month’s worth of treats. Of course he shares with Haley, he literally allows her to take food out of his mouth.

Boy, for a restricted dog he sure is a good ambassador for his breed.

As for his breeding, I don’t have a pedigree for him so who knows, all I know is that he’s my hero and I owe him my life.Time, love, and Haley have done wonders for his separation anxiety, we can now leave him home with Haley for 4 or 5 hours without causing him stress and it’s getting longer all the time.

Life without Norton? I don’t want to even think about it. When the time comes I’ll deal with it the best I can, but until then I spend every day loving him. Everyday is a precious gift he gave me.