Give some love to Kif đ This precious boy was purchased from a backyard breeder and contracted parvovirus at a very young age. Kafâs original purchaser did not want to financially commit to the treatments parvo demands, so he was surrendered to @zoesanimalrescue. Kif was very, very sick, but thanks to the rescueâs efforts and love, he made a full recovery â˘â˘ Once Kif found his furever home, he was naturally very anxious. He had been through a lot, but with his new familyâs love he began to warm up and trust them! Now, Kif has cat siblings that he loves and is a sucker for attention! I mean really… could you say no to that face!?! He is an absolute cuddle bug, and he loves going for walks, playing with other dogs, and snackinâ on carrotsđĽ â˘â˘ Kifâs story shows the importance of safe breeding. Not only can dogs contract viruses, such a parvo, in unsafe breeding environments, but they can also be born with serious defects and disabilities that can threaten their lives. Without proper care from a loving family and a veterinarian, they can be at serious risk. To learn more about the importance of rescuing from puppy mills, check out @puppymillrescueteam ⢠đ¸: @copilot_kif
Meet sweet Puddin đž This precious girl came to @spcatexaswith eyes infected so badly from her previous abuse she was completely blind. The infection was causing such excruciating pain, it was a matter of improving her quality of life when deciding to have her eyes removed. â˘â˘ Once Puddin was able to find her furever home, it only took her dahd two hours to find her and fall in love with that precious face. The very next day, Puddin was officially adopted by her new dahd and was given the chance for a new beginning. Puddin now lives in Texas and is one happy girl. She loves cuddling and giving endless kisses. She and her dahd both feel so blessed to have found one another. â˘â˘ Huge shoutout to Puddinâs dahd for giving her the life she deserves. Adopting or fostering a dog with specific needs does not have to be scary. Adaptability, communication, and limitless love can go a long way. There are countless resources out there to support you on your journey. Click the link in @mydearpuddinâs bio to get your Puddin merch!!! A portion of all sales goes to help dogs just like Puddin. â˘â˘ đ¸ @mydearpuddin
Say hello to Ralphie! This sweet boy got the best news ever when he found his forever home 3 weeks ago!! Ralphie was rescued by @dogsaredeservingrescue after being in a shelter. The rescueâs owner fostered this angel for 3 years… Not only was his breed a deterrent for finding a furever home, but Ralphie also happens to be deaf.
This special trait didnât faze Ralphieâs new family at all. They saw his sweet, loving nature and knew he would be the best addition to their family. Ralphie has transitioned into his furever home seamlessly. They work hard with him everyday to adapt to his needs in order to give him the happiest, healthiest life possible.
Since finding his mahm and dahd, Ralphie has let his gentle-natured personality shine. Heâs is a cuddle bug, and he loves meeting new friends. He can melt hearts with just one looks at his smile. His very favorite toy to play with is a frisbee! This sweet boy can jump 2 feet high to catch it!! Adopting or fostering a dog with specific needs does not have to be scary. Adaptability, communication, and limitless love can go a long way. There are countless resources out there to support you on your journey. Check out @deafdogsrock for more info!
I love dogs. Really, I love pitbulls. I love pitbulls because people donât. Their cute big ole noggins donât hurt anything, but I mostly love them because people made an assumption about their breed that I think is dumb and ignorant. As a bully breed owner, I know that is assumption is wrong. The only thing dangerous about my pitbull is her ever so potent gas.
Yet what is so baffling to me is here I am so worried about the discrimination my dog faces, my white privilege blinded me to the fact that HUMAN BEINGS, people with red blood, fear, love, pain just like you and me, face ignorance, assumptions, and relentless violence every single dayâŚ.. because of the way they lookâŚ. Are you kidding me? When did human lives become so devalued? When did violence against anyone, let alone an innocent human being, become the norm in a country that supposedly celebrates being the âLand of the Free.â Because I lucked into to be born with the ârightâ skin tone that I did absolutely nothing to deserve, Iâll never know the oppression and suffocation first hand, but I am damn sure that George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others werenât feeling so âfreeâ when they took their last breath due to the hands of entitlement and false generalizations.
You still donât get it? You still want to cry âlOoTiNg Is WrOnG, hE wAs On DrUgS, i hAvE tHe RiGhT tO dEfEnD, i WaNt A hAiRcUt!â Let me be clear, Karenâshut the hell up. As Kourtney Kardashian once heroically stated, âPEOPLE ARE DYING, KIM.â This is SO much bigger than your right to bear to arms or your need to cover your roots. You cannot tell me you have never once in your life made a mistake. Youâve never once gone over the speed limit? Youâve never had a drunken night with friends? Youâve never in your entire life done something that maybe, just maybe, you shouldnât have? Ok, thatâs what I thought. So now you stopped lying to yourself and stepped off your high horse: Imagine trying to defend yourself in that moment of error. Imagine trying to apologize, attempting to diffuse the situation, to explain⌠but no one will listen. Itâs like your four-years-old again and your mommy is choosing to believe your crotchety old neighbor saying youâre the one that kicked over her garden gnome. She wonât listen to you because youâre just a kid. Then she shoots you. Seems pretty messed up, right?
Do I have your attention now? Take that feeling and put yourself in a scenario where no one will shut the fuck up long enough to listen to you⌠not because youâre a kid⌠because youâre black. Every word that comes out of your mouth angers them more. You want to take the silent approach? Good luck, now youâre failing to obey an officer. That pisses off their ever so controlling, authoritative ego even more. Now youâre in hotter water⌠boiling even.
In this moment, youâre helpless. There is absolutely nothing you can do other than hope you have encountered someone who isnât willing to commit murder over a garden gnome or a possibly fake $20. Someone who wonât pushing you for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone who wonât arrest you for carrying around your skin color. It is out of your control at this point, and even though you have done everything that you can control right, this might very well be your last breath.
He couldnât breathe. He was suffocating. People watching, like it was a show. Four men ignoring his cries. Devaluing his life to the point they disregarded his own awareness of his body. He knew damn well in that moment he was dying. He wasnât dying because he may or may not have been under the influence. It wasnât because he may or may not have used a counterfeit $20 bill. It definitely wasnât because he was resisting arrest. He sure wasnât dying because he posed a threat to absolutely any one. He was dying because he was black. And if you think this isnât going to continue happening, NEWS FLASH: Itâs been happening in silence for hundreds of years. So, yeah, itâs time to raise our voices. Itâs time to recognize that EVERY SINGLE LIFE is as valuable as our own: no matter race, gender, or the size of their bank account. Throw out your entitlement. You live in a world thinking you are so much better than everyone else, but in reality you arenât shit. And when you think you are hot shit because you are white or rich or a male or a doctor or whatever the fuck reason you think you are better than everyone else⌠the only kind of shit you really are is the steaming pile of hot shit that my dog just left in my backyard.
Do better, America. Do better, white people. Do better, human race.
Bo is a 14-year-old hound dog that is blind. Don’t let his age fool you… his years have brought him relentless happiness and perfected howls. He greets me each day with loud and proud âarrrroooooâsâ. This boy knows what âwalkâ is better than anyone.
Walking a blind dog? Youâre probably thinking that seems unnecessary and potentially dangerous. Itâs quite the opposite, really. Bo is a hunting dog. He was trained with his nose. When he lost his sight, his sniffer became stronger.
Bo knows his limitations. He knows that he must rely on me for certain things. When approaching a curb he knows âstepâ means he needs to walk with a high step. He knows âtreeâ means he needs to turn or he risks bonking his head.
While Bo has tackled his loss of sight as a champion, the fear that he has when he walks out onto the sidewalk is inevitable. If a car speeds by too fast, he naturally jumps and runs behind me. God forbid there is a snake hole or a storm drain he isnât expecting… both of our anxieties jump to an extreme level. Not only much Bo rely on me, he must trust me. Trust me with his life. Literally. One wrong move on my end could be catastrophic from him. But he doesnât care. His happy walk howls arenât masking an underlying fear that I will let him down. His howls say âI trust you. I trust we will have a good walk. I trust you will look out for me in all scenarios.â And itâs true. Iâd do anything for him. But how does he know that? Is it a dogs sixth sense? Can he smell âdog peopleâ over âmmm I donât really love animals?â
Thatâs the thing…. He doesnât know. He chooses every single day to trust me. He chooses to not care what the world will throw at him. He chooses to know itâll be okay. He chooses to see positive outcomes. He chooses to do something he loves, despite the risks it might bring. He whole-heartedly sees nothing but unending goodness in the world.
Why? Because he wants to. My question here is: why canât we, as humans, want to, too?
When you think of dog neglect, you probably think of malnourished pitbulls on a chain outside an abandoned trailer. It is the image that comes to mind, and I’d say it is the most heinous type of neglect. But what about the dogs who live in a nice suburban house with a big backyard? The dogs that were once their owner’s world. The dogs whose families outgrew them, as their families grew in number. That’s really not the first image that comes to mind when thinking of neglected animals, huh? As I explained my dream of starting my own non-profit rescue for abused, neglected, and disabled animals, someone once answered, “You want to do that?! Oh honey, when you have kids your priorities will change.”
Insert my obvious shock…
Here’s the thing. When you picked up your animal, whether from a breeder or a rescue, you committed yourself to him or her. They saw forever in you… and you owed them the same. You grew a relationship with them. They learned to trust you, to rely on you. And now that someone else relies on you as well, they are trapped in the dark basement, wasting away their far too few days because someone more important has come along.
They loved you first. They taught you what it is like to be parent… what it is like to care for someone other than yourself. Let’s be honest. You let down the one who trusted you and believed in you the most. The one who showed you all the love in the world before you even knew it existed.
I get it… you’re frustrated, overwhelmed, exhausted. Adding dogs on top of that is just too much. Ok… so let’s find a solution here. The dogs jump too much. Ok, train them not to. They smell. You know what would fix that? A bath. They have too much energy. Great news… doggie daycare is fantastic. I can’t afford it…. you knew animals are a financial commitment going into this.
What I’m trying to say here is that dogs require a lot of love, attention, and money. You will be presented challenges because you own a dog. Traveling? You’re going to have to get a sitter or the kennel. Moving? Hope you don’t own a dog over 40lbs and plan on renting. When you own an animal, life become more than just about yourself. If you want to keep it easy, keep doing whatever you want, whenever you want… don’t get an animal.
When my husband and I look into our future, we look at how our children will enter into our lives with 40+ dogs on our farm. Not at how the dogs will enter theirs. We told these animals forever, just as we told each other.
When you’re ready to settle down and have children… consider your animals, too. They are your family. They have given absolutely everything to you. They deserve that in return. Neglect is neglect. It doesn’t have to look like a chain and malnourishment. If you aren’t prepared to love an animal for 10+ years, no matter what life throws at you, let someone who is ready love that animal.
As I sit in my basement with an ungodly amount of Cheerios and a cold sore that will sell your soul if you look at it directly, I have decided to put my thoughts onto the internet for all to look at from afar and whisper about when I’m not looking. I hope this will reach someone, just one person who needs it. Frankly, maybe that one person is me. It’d be cool if it reaches everyone, but I just hope that this reaches more than no one. Partly because I just paid $48 for this shit.
Anyway, Bully Breeds and Brains. You’re probably thinking that’s super weird, right? I care passionately about very few things in this world, two of which being discrimination and stigmas. One category I happen to care a whole lot about is Bully Breeds: I’m talking all those dogs grouped into the pitbull category: American Staffordshire terrier, American pitbull terrier, Staffordshire Bull terrior, all those dogs that we, as asshole human beings, decided to bully into being generalized as “aggressive breeds.” Yeah that’s right, I’m talking those dogs that you hear about on the news because some cynical cockface put the dog in a bad situation, never gave the animal the devote training and attention they deserve, and was utterly S H O C K E D when the animal reacted poorly. I’m talking those beautiful, THICC, soft-souled dogs that give you absolutely all of themselves, all of their vulnerabilities, sufferings, and fears. All of those things that we, as humans, may not face our entire life. These dogs that will relearn to trust and not discriminate against humans as a whole, even after being helplessly beat to a pulp. Yet we have no problem labeling their breeds and others as a whole. They’ve come to be America’s domestic enemy, but here’s the thing: those dogs had to be taught evil. Then after being taught evil by humans (who by the way can be inherently evil), those same humans labeled them and shat on them and decided to propagandize what horrible “monsters” they are. What!? I mean seriously… Take a step back and look at that again… It’s utter bullshit. They are innocent creatures doing their best in this world. They rely on us… Yet we keep on setting them up for failure.
Before this sparks ya nasty, ignorant comment below, Karen, let me say this: you don’t have to love pitbulls, but you do have to not be an asshole to them. Kinda like your fuckedy neighbor, Bob. You don’t have to love when he goes to check the mail in his boxers with his stretchy skin and hairy nips hanging out when you’re walking with your family, but it is up to you to not be an asshole to him about it. I get the opposing view of bully breeds, and I’ll definitely address that more, but if you want the basic ABC’s as to why pitbulls as a whole are not aggressive and bred to kill, check this out:
Honestly… it’s not that hard. Stop being a judgmental dick. Stereotyping and discrimination suck, and there is WAY too much of it in this world. You know what a great feeling is? A great feeling is knowing you aren’t an asshole. You know how to get there? Stop making generalizations about things you are ignorant to.
So there’s the first half. I’m going to talk your ear off about how fantastic dogs are, especially bully breeds, the stigmas that revolve them, and how they connect with the same shitty stigmas made about other things in this world, such as mental illness.
Did you spot that smooth transition?! You totally missed it, didn’t you!? You were probably wondering about the “brains” that followed the “Bully Breeds” part, huh? There it was friends: Mental illness. Yup. That dark, dark bastard. I’ve coined it “Bully Brains.” They’re brains that bully the ever living fuck out of you and keep coming back for another good ole lunch room bully sesh even though you’ve beat the hell out of it three times already. Struggling with depression, anxiety, and PTSD has become normal to me, especially in the last year and a half. As the pandemic continues to encroach our livelihood, those three silent fuckers press farther and farther into my life.
I wish I could say my twisted, preschool daughter drew this in art class, but in reality I don’t have a daughter, and I drew this six seconds ago. It looked way better in my head. This is what every day in quarantine feels like to me. I’m pushing against this door of overwhelming depression and anxiety trying so hard to get in my brain. It’s getting harder to find the will to try to keep that door closed. I’m wearing out the soles of my shoes, and that door is getting reaaalll heavy on my back. But I’m trying… because tomorrow could be better than today, right? I mean it definitely hasn’t been…. but it could. And I gotta stick around to find out. Might as well stick around with me, huh?
WELP. To wrap it on up in a sandwich, put some cheese on it, toast it up, and take it home, this blog is intended to discuss the generalizations and stigmas in this world, specifically on puppers, mental illness, and maybe how all these things things can overlap. I guess my purpose for this is to talk about shit I’m passionate about and maybe meet some people who can relate. You don’t have to love pitbulls to love this blog, and you don’t have to be clinically diagnosed with depression or anxiety to feel some of this shit in your soul. Just have an open mind, and you might like it here. I like you here, so stick around, my friend.
Thanks for joining me! Please take a moment to stare out into this generic, inspiring ocean scene and reflect on the world’s deepest questions. Here in this blog you’ll find grace. Unlimited amounts of grace to give to yourself. Leave all the judgement you have at the door.. or Google or wherever you came from. That saying probably doesn’t work on the internet, but you know what? I don’t even care because I’m giving myself grace. Telling myself it’s ok to feel sad or anxious or overwhelmed or angry or whatever it may be… because life is really damn hard. People have put stigmas on so many things in the world, telling you what is good and what is bad. Let’s talk about those things… without a concept of good or bad. I’m going to say it… are you ready? Brace yourself. Here it goes… 3, 2, 1. Mental illness is not something to be ashamed of. It is not embarrassing. By grace alone, I hope you begin to see that with me.
Come with me on this journey. Understand there are people out there that feel the same way you do. Give yourself a break, my friend. Stare into this ocean a little more.
Bully Breeds and Brains 