I have a pretty fantastic story to tell. I have hit hard times, but my life has also been touched by some amazing people.

I was found wandering the streets in Crescent City, CA with my little friend, a Rat Terrier. The problem is that the town is small and they only have a small animal pound—my odds of finding a home were slim there. After staying there for 4 months, a kind lady that works there made lots of calls and sent lots of emails and found a place for me to go where my chances would be much higher—she really wanted me to find myself a forever family. But I was so stressed out from the 8 hour ride to go to another shelter near Salem that I was in absolutely no mood to make new friends! I was asked to meet some other dogs so they could see if liked other dogs and frankly, I was just in a bad mood from all my confusion and worry from my long ride. I wish I would have been nicer but I was a little snappy and that sealed my fate there just a couple days after I arrived. Well, the shelter people there said I could not stay…that I had to either go back to Crescent City or possibly to this place called Born Again Pit Bull Rescue (hey, I did like the sound of that place, I admit!), or I’d be euthanized—GULP.

Just a week later and I was off to my BAPBR Pit Stop with this super duper wonderful lady who became my foster mom ! I have lots of foster siblings and human foster siblings and I couldn’t be happier–unless of course I found my own forever home, that is. I am one of those very grateful dogs who just knows that I’m here because of the kindness of a few pretty incredible people who intervened. Oh and…remember when I said that shelter didn’t think I liked other dogs? I live with a WHOLE BUNCH of other dogs and I really love them—I really was just stressed out. We got started with lots of manners training right away so that my foster mom could ensure that I was going to be a perfectly behaved girl for the family that will end up adopting me.

So that takes me to just a week or so ago—when my foster mom/trainer took me through my Canine Good Citizenship certification test and guess what! I PASSED!

Here’s what I had to learn and prove that I could do or handle really, really well:

1. Accept a friendly stranger

2. Sit politely for petting
3. Have a good appearance and grooming – accept the judge grooming me for a minute

4. Go out for a short walk on a loose lead
5. Walk through a crowd
6. Sit and lie down on command and stay in place

7. Come when called
8. Have a positive reaction to another dog

9. Ignore distractions
10. Have a 3 minute supervised separation from my foster mom and just wait (this last one is so hard, but I can do it!)

My foster mom says that I’m just a great dog and I believe her because she’s a professional dog trainer and she would know!

Beauty is 3 years old and currently looking for a family to call her own. How many opportunities come up where you can adopt a CGC dog who comes with all these great attributes and built-in manners? Click here to learn more about Beauty and how to adopt her.

Have you heard the news?  Scooter is famous!  She was just featured on Channel 6, KOIN local news in Portland, for the transformation she is going through.

On Wednesday, February 22, 2012, she made the 11 o’clock news – and now she is accepting applications for a forever family.  It turns out people couldn’t resist her adorable charm!

Scooter was used by her former owner as a “weapon” to rob a father and son on the East Bank Esplanade last summer.  The man made a show of pulling on her leash as if he was holding her back and the pair gave up their goods.  The man was arrested and Scooter was transferred to Multnomah County Animal Services where she stayed for seven months, while the team there searched for the appropriate local rescue organization who had the resources to take her in and work on her training.  They found her to be very sweet and highly adoptable, but knew any group who took her into their program would need to go the extra distance to prove to people that she is just a great family dog.

Born Again Pit Bull Rescue was asked to do just that and we absolutely stepped up before the question was even finished being asked!  This is just what our organization’s mission is founded upon—giving dogs a second chance.  We view every dog as an individual and when we met Scooter, we knew it was the right thing to do for her.

This darling gal has not disappointed!  Scooter is currently living with a professional dog trainer while she awaits her future family and she’s making the best of her time there.  She is currently training to become a Canine Good Citizen and that accomplishment isn’t far off—she is already that well behaved.  She will test in the next couple of weeks to hopefully become certified.

Her foster mom had this to say about Scooter:  “She’s a pal – she is very much tied to you. If you are going somewhere, she’s going with you.  She hates to be separated from you.  She will do anything if you ask nicely.  Everyone who meets who says she is beautiful and sweet and she loves to give them kisses.  She loves to play with other dogs, toys and with people.”

Watch Scooter’s “Access Doggywood” video here:

Up next in Scooter’s future, depending on how long she is in her Pit Stop, her foster mom plans to work on getting Scooter to become a certified therapy dog.  Talk about a complete turnaround for this girl’s reputation!  We couldn’t be happier for Scooter—there are so many great things on the horizon for her, including a loving home.

To help offset the cost of training, classes and testing, we’re collecting donations to help Scooter become a breed ambassador.  Every little bit helps!  http://bapbr.chipin.com/scooter

Doesn’t she sound tempting?  Click here to learn more about the home Scooter is looking for.

 

Sometimes we find ourselves fantasizing about what we’d do if we won the lottery.  C’mon—you know you’ve done it, too!  All the ways our life would change…sigh.  Seems like a real pipe dream.  We’re pretty sure, though, that Josephine (Josie, Jo Jo Bean, Josephina Bobina) would tell us all about what’s it’s really like to hit the jack pot if she could speak English.

She’s had a rags-to-riches journey in the past couple of months.  Josie came to BAPBR, and to Oregon, back in December, through our work with S.T.A.R.T. on a bus from a high-euthanasia shelter in North Central Los Angeles on Christmas eve.  She’d come to them as a stray dog and when her short time was up there, we were contacted to see if we had a place for her here in Portland.

The timing worked out, we had the right foster home to fit her needs, and off she went—the first step in her transformation.

She arrived in Portland after a 24 hour bus ride in early January.  Josie was covered in fleas and had obviously been suffering from severe flea allergies for years. We also discovered she had very little of her teeth left—from chewing on herself and her fur for years because of all her itchiness.  Can you imagine feeling like that for years?  Josie was also extremely underweight and had a rough, un-shiny coat due to poor nutrition.  After a vet exam, we also learned that this tea cup of a pit bull type dog had probably had several back-to-back litters of pups in her life, had been hit by a car at some point (due to a small patch on her back leg where no fur will grow) and was also a little bit older than anyone had estimated.

See how tiny she is compared to a more regular-sized pit bull type dog?  Kind of makes you want to pick her up like a baby and cradle her in your arms…

Well this girl clearly had a hard life up till now..but boy has her life changed!  Josie is now flea-free, no longer itching and chewing on her poor skin, her hair has grown back and she’s so glossy.  She absolutely loves cuddling with her foster parents in her Pit Stop, as well as her six other foster brothers and sisters.  She is currently living with cats and chickens, too, which she likes to say a respectful “hello” to, but doesn’t bother them beyond that.

Josie’s new favorite things in life are:

1)  Living in a warm home and getting two reliable and delicious meals per day

2)  Curling up on any open dog bed in whatever room she’s hanging out in—or snuggling up to someone else in said dog bed if it’s occupied already

3)  Going for car rides with her foster parents

4)  Playing fetch with the myriad of toys in the house

5)  Snuggling her foster family in a Tempur-Pedic bed at night

6)  Going on outings to strut her stuff and enjoying all the pets and praise from the people who seem to flock out of the woodwork to her

 Meet Josie, our sweet “elderbelle” who is about 8 years old and quite a lady!

This purdy girl is looking to strike it even richer by finding her Forever Family to keep her winning streak alive—she’s just the EASIEST girl to integrate into a home, she’s so well-mannered and friendly.  To learn more about Josie, click here and see if you’re the one for her.

 

If I were a human, I’d be a juggler.  Or a softball player.  Or a tennis player.  Wait, no, I’d be a collector!  A collector of balls, that is!

I’m Annaball Annabelle and I love me some (Chuck-it) balls.  I’m not sure you understand the level of my love.  I L-O-V-E playing with my balls.  Let me count the ways…

1. If I could run faster, I could chase down even more balls, even more fasterer!

1. I wish I had a bigger mouth to hold more of my favorite loved ones in.

1. I lose my mind a little, I’ll admit, when someone throws one of My Precious’ for me…I love to run up all stealthy like and then POUNCE on it at the end!

1. When I feel like one’s getting away from me, nuh uh, I take charge! I love ‘em too much to let even one escape my charms!

1. You can watch me in action below, aren’t I great at this?  I’m a professional!   



I’m just a super fun and mellow girl and only playful for short spurts—I’ve been on my Pit Stop for a while now and my foster mom and I can’t figure out why no one has wanted to make me their ball girl yet.  Clearly I’m quite dedicated!  I work really, really hard at my job.

Foster mom says I’m really easy-going and would fit in in just about any cat-free home…here’s me asking you with my eyes…adopt me and make me your forever girl?



To learn more about Annabelle and fill out an adoption application, click here.