The Story of Bobby and Bella
By Gloria, BOBBY’s mom (and BELLA’s foster mom)…
Bobby was found in the rain on the streets of Cicero in front of a nursing home. My husband was at the nursing home visiting his mother when he saw the dog. When Animal Control arrived, my husband asked what would happen to the dog. The officer said he’d put him down because the town did not allow pit bulls.
Not wanting the dog to be killed, my husband asked if he could take the dog. The officer gave him the leash. He named the dog Bob (aka Bobby). He called me at work and said, “I found a dog!” I asked what kind. At the time, I knew nothing about pit bulls, except what I’d heard in the media.
When he told me it was a pit bull, I said, “NO WAY are you bringing a pit bull home to my babies!” (a Dalmatian and Husky/Shepherd mix). So he took this very frightened dog to Animal Control. From there, Bobby was taken to the Animal Welfare League. My husband kept asking me to just go see him, so reluctantly I went. The people there said no one would adopt pit bulls, and he would spend the rest of his life in a crate, eventually going “cage crazy.”
We said we’d adopt him, with every intention of finding him a home ourselves. We brought our two dogs to meet him and everything went well, so we took him home. After two or three days, he found a home…OURS! He was and still is the sweetest, gentlest dogs I’ve ever met.
We took Bob to obedience training at PetSmart and met a wonderful trainer named Pam. Pam asked us if we’d like to volunteer at Midwest Rescue adoption days. We said “sure.” Then I became a foster mom to baby pit bulls. All our dogs were fine with the puppies, especially Bobby. The puppies loved him so much, it was heartbreaking to give them up when they found their forever homes. Bella was our last foster pup, one of 10 Peke-a-Pits taken in by Midwest Rescue. Bella went on to find her forever home.
We still volunteer for Midwest Rescue. Now, I no longer believe what I hear in the media. Pit bulls are wonderful dogs.
