07/26/2025
Many dogs and puppies have gone through our rescue over the last 12 and a half years. Some touch our hearts far more than others. Some end up staying in your life for many years. Here is the story of one of those dogs.
Baby was dumped at the my son's house a little over 11 years ago, by a friend (back yard breeder) of one of his roommates. She was pregnant by her father and 9 months old. My son took on the responsibility of caring for her. After a week, Baby was transferred to the rescue and he fostered her. A couple of weeks later I got a phone call at midnight and all I could hear were a bunch of guys asking when "is she going to have another puppy?", I loaded up the car with the supplies that were already packed and headed over there. When I arrived my son was out front starting to call me. I walked into about 5 or 6 guys in the house one holding the first puppy, I sent the room mate out to get the supplies, told my son to grab the pup and take it to where he wanted her set up. Baby followed her pup and the I proceeded to kick out everyone that did not live there including the back yard breeder, who confronted me and said, "that is my dog". I quickly informed him of the law and since he dumped her at the house and was never heard from over the last three weeks, Baby now belonged to the rescue. I stayed until Baby had her 2nd puppy and showed them what they needed to watch for and left. Baby's litter was a mix of blue, brown/white, white/black pitties and one that looked like his daddy who was a staffordshire. When the puppies were 5 weeks old my son came home to 3 missing puppies, his roommate allowed the BYB to come into the house and he took one, the other 2 ended up at the roommate's parents house. The roommate was kicked out. The BYB's girlfriend started harassing and threatening my son, and he was coached on what to tell her, and that soon stopped. Sometime later Baby got out and was missing overnight, but was found and returned to finish raising her pups. Baby was adopted by my son as well as Zara the staffy. Baby had already gone through enough in her short life at that point. Baby was a fence jumper and got in a little trouble. One night someone had forced open the broken gate and let both Baby and the other dog out and took Zara. So the hunt was on for him, Someone posted him as found on Craigslist, but when we called he said that Zara ran off (Zara was 5 months old then). Zara was found 3 houses down, and I went over to get him. The lady of the house said they didn't want to go door to door, because he was a staffy. She gave her husband a dirty look when I mentioned the Craigslist posting and then no contact as to where he ran off from. But the priceless moment came when they were informed that not only was Zara neutered, but he was also micro-chipped, that guy's mouth about fell to the ground. We figured out it was him that posted the found ad. In the meantime both Baby and the other dog was at PACC someone found them and called animal control who picked them up that night. Both Baby and my son had been through a lot together over the years. A couple of months ago Baby was taken to the vet for a cough and masses were found in her lungs, she was having issues with breathing. An ultrasound showed the masses were primary tumors, a fast moving cancer, and her chest was full of fluid. Over the last several weeks she continued to get worse. This morning another vet visit, because her leg was swollen and draining. Her breathing was labored.
We said good bye to Baby this afternoon, she got lots of kisses. While our hearts ache we take solace in knowing that she found a great home where she was greatly loved.
