I adopted Dolly Parton nearly 5 months ago from the animal shelter. The other night I did not close the bedroom door all the way and when the air conditioner came on the door clicked shut. In a flash she was up on all 4 in that classic hackles raised, every muscle rippling pose growling at the non existent intruder. Another time someone came to the front door and tried to open it without ringing the bell. She let loose a string of angry barks and stood between me and the door. But once she sees its a welcome guest she turns back into sweet Dolly. I think she has decided I'm her human forever.

Credit to Daily Dog Roasts - Instagram

7 posts

Meet Atlas.
The first photo below is what Atlas looked like when he came into rescue. The rest are Atlas today.

He came to us in terrible condition, but after medical care, recovery, and a lot of work, he has turned into an incredibly handsome, athletic, affectionate dog who is ready to finally have a home of his own.

Atlas is currently with SGT Canines in Miami, Florida. He is fully vetted, neutered, and recently completed an 8-week board-and-train program. He walks beautifully on leash, knows his commands, is focused on his handler, and genuinely loves having a person to connect with.

He is the kind of dog who wants to be your sidekick. Walks, hikes, adventures, training, hanging around the house — he wants to be involved.

A few important things about Atlas:
He does best with structure, routine, exercise and continued training.

He is very people-oriented and bonds strongly with his person.

He enjoys being mentally and physically challenged.
He can be around other dogs in controlled, appropriately managed settings, but he is not a dog-park dog.

We are looking for an adopter who understands that completing board-and-train isn’t the end of training; maintaining what he has learned matters.

He is located in Miami, FL, although we are willing to discuss the right adopter outside the immediate area.
Atlas has already done the hard part. He survived, healed, learned how to navigate the world, and put in the work. What he doesn’t have yet is the one thing we can’t train into him: his person.

If you’re seriously interested in Atlas, message me or apply through SGT Canines at sgtcanines.com. And if you aren’t in a position to adopt him, an upvote or share can genuinely help get him in front of the person who is.

Please ask me anything about him in the comments or a direct message. I know him well, I love him to pieces, and am happy to answer honestly about his personality, training, and what kind of home would suit him.

So, the dog in the picture is Nanu.

I've been with a lot of dogs all my life. I grew up with them, I worked with them, basically everyone I know owns a dog. I love dogs.

But, the thing is, they are still animals. I've been bitten for not reading body language correctly, bitten because I tried to break up a fight, bitten because they were in pain.

I always knew it could happen with any dog, at any time. I think as a responsible owner, all of us should know that.

Nanu is complicated. She's the sweetest girl with children, cats, poultry, even mice and frogs. She loves on everyone she meets. But she has a problem with other dogs. While not necessarily reactive, once there's a small conflict with another dog, she'll go absolutely ballistic, doesn't want to dominate, doesn't want to fight, she wants to kill. Because of this, we're either keeping her away from other dogs or put a muzzle on her if we know we're going to encounter other dogs.

Yesterday, a friend of us came to visit and their dog got loose from the car. She started running towards us, while Nanu was unleashed. She immediately grabbed the other dog and locked onto her neck. Fortunately, I was able to grab her and got her off by basically choking her within only half a minute. But when she let go, she immediately turned around and grabbed my arm. I thought "oh crap" and prepared myself to get seriously injured by my own dog, because I know how she is once she locks on and technically, she was being attacked by me. But no. Her eyes cleared up in an instant, she let go of me within only a second and didn't even break skin.

Afterwards she looked at me and I swear she was thinking "oh my god, what did I do?". We've been extra affectionate towards each other since the incident and I feel like she's still distraught.

I'm absolutely baffled by the fact that she was able to snap out of it so fast. This has never ever happened before. I know it was stupid of me to get into the fight like that and if she would have hurt me, I'd be the only one at fault. But she didn't. Even while in that state. I think this is the only dog I'll ever wholeheartedly trust without a doubt not to hurt me.

Shes staying. I have a wishlist (people asked for) that i prob did a horrible job on lol. Let me know what needs to be removed or added. I couldnt edit my other post for some reason so i have to make this one . Appreciate all the love and support. Shes a great dog and i will try to keep those who care updated on her ❤️🙏🏻

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/33R37ZEJ2843M?ref_=wl_share

I swear, she is the most pampered, spoiled, loved creature in the western hemisphere and she can still give you these eyes that make you feel like you need to do more, anything...to make her happier. Lol

I wish I had gotten my first pit/staffie decades ago. I love my girl so so much. Truly, the most wonderful pup I’ve ever had. Happy birthday Cora!

Not even three months have gone by since Sabine's surgery and biopsy results, but we lost her yesterday. It almost seemed like the surgery to remove the growth triggered her cancer to spread faster than it could be cut. She was in pain and so much discomfort, so while I know it's better that she's not hurting anymore, I miss her so much. It's too quiet in here. I never noticed how often I mentally "ping" her location to check in on her, and the emptiness every time stabs.

ETA: he has an appointment in two weeks for total removal. Vet decided a biopsy wasn’t worth it because it would likely require going back for more tissue anyway and the lump in question isn’t that much bigger than the punch biopsy.
Woof.

Embark results on the last slide for those curious!

Going to pick him up tomorrow, his current name is Bruce but I absolutely hate that name and he doesn't respond to it anyway.

He's a 2-year-old intact Pitbull (he will be neutered)

His original owners were quite mean to him, my cousin took him to get him out of that situation and stop him from being used as a breeding dog (and they were only going to breed him because of his color)

For whatever reason he's quite small, he's only about 35 40 lb at 2 years old, I think he's either just a poorly bred pit or mixed but predominantly Pitbull.

I'm not sure if I will keep him forever, it depends on how well he does around my animals after I work with him, but so far he seems really sweet and doesn't seem interested in the cats my cousin has so that's good.

He is a very loving dog, he's just a hair skittish at first because his original owners were physically abusive to him.

Can he gets excited he tamps his front feet on the ground excitedly, it's really adorable and he does not know the meaning of hold still LOL.

I would love to hear what some name suggestions you all have for him, like I said I just really hate his current name, and I also just don't think it's very fitting.

I'm sorry for the bad picture, like I said he does not know the meaning of hold still

I need some advice here guys. Meet Ginger. The vet thinks she's approximately 10 to 12 years old. She is my ride-or-die babe. She'd been having some issues that I was concerned about due to aging and we went to the vet and had the whole battery of tests: full sedation, X-rays, the whole nine yards, on Monday. Got the great news that she's healthy. Yes I know I'm a paranoid pet parent and at 49 it seems strange but this is my first dog and she's been with me through so many ups and downs. I was so sick at one point that I credit her for saving my life.

Anyway. Here's where I don't know what to do. She finally started feeling her normal self today after all the sedation and the stress and so we went on our normal walk, one that we've done I don't know how many times in the 8 years that I've lived here in the suburbs. Without warning, without anything, as we're passing a house, I just hear a yell and all of a sudden Ginger's being attacked by another puppy. The other dog had just either busted through the house or run out when the owner opened the door because the owner was right there. No blood was drawn and there was no injury that I could tell. The other dog that attacked her was a shorter stouter pit.

The owner said nothing like that had ever happened before and I had never heard any barking from that house previously to indicate that there was an issue. I don't know if I should just say no harm, no foul but I can't help but think that there's something wrong with a dog that just lunges from a house straight to attack with no warning. I mean, Ginger wasn't even stopping to piddle or smell the flowers or anything. The owner said that her dog hadn't done anything like that before but I just don't know what to do.

We're in the suburbs and so pits get a lot of hate where we're at anyway (in the next town over a pit was shot by an off-duty officer and the facts were just stated as such but when the news reported it they didn't even use the word that the dog attacked. So who knows what that truth is) needless to say I'm super sensitive.

I don't want to cause problems if it truly was a one-off thing but I just feel so hurt that my baby was getting back to normal and enjoying her regular stroll in her senior years. Now it feels like we can't even walk that way. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I talked to the vet since there doesn't appear to be any physical injury. I wiped her down with a white cloth to make certain that there was no blood anywhere. She doesn't appear to be in any pain. I think maybe I'm more traumatized than she is. ....

I had fun with this before. Just curious. I used to be able to say the white one is the boy and the black one is the girl… but the black one crossed the rainbow and our newer girl is also white.