Years ago while working home health I had a patient in the city of south Houston. She lived in a duplex. In the other half of the duplex lived a piece of crap (POC) guy that was a rumored drug dealer. This guy had a red and white male pit bull that he kept on a chain in the front yard. According to my patient he was trying to make the dog mean.
One day when I went to see my patient the dog was standing up with his paws on the white picket fence that separated the two halves of the duplex yard. I walked over and let him smell my hand and petted him on the head. When I walked away he started to whine. My patient told me when the POC owner comes home the dog whines to be petted and the POC guy hits him.
On Easter weekend it poured all day. On Monday I went to see that same patient. Normally I didn’t see her on Mondays but that week I did. When I got there the dog was chained up on a car port at a different neighbors house. My patient and her boy friend said the POC dog owner was in jail. The man had a lady living there with him that was supposed to be taking care of the dog. On Easter Sunday the dog was left chained out in the rain with no food or water so the neighbors moved him down two houses where he would be dry. No one in the neighborhood could afford to take care of him so they called the pound to have him picked up. At the time it was automatic euthanize for pit bull type breeds and mixes. I decided to go out and see how he acted with me. He got all excited and was jumping and barking and popping the end of the chain. He was also trying to bite my hand. I wasn’t real sure about him. I decided to try again. Same thing jumping and barking trying to bite my hand. But I approached him and went within his reach. He opened his mouth and put it over my hand but he barely even let his teeth touch my hand. That’s when I knew I would be going back to take him home. Told the patients boyfriend I would be coming back around 9 pm and when I got there to load the dog and we would go. When I got him in the car I could only drive about two miles because I couldn’t drive with him. Its kinda hard with a 70 lb dog in your lap. Literally in my lap. So I made him move to the passenger seat and took him home. We introduced him to all the other dogs and decided to name him after one of the greek gods. That’s when Brownie became Zeus.
My patients boyfriend told me later that when the POC dude got out of jail he asked about Brownie. The boyfriend told him the pound came and got him. The POC dude asked the boyfriend if they had already put him to sleep. The boyfriend said yes. That was the end of that bad life.
Over the years we called him Zeus, Zeus the titty baby, but we mostly called him Bubby.
As most bully breeds, he was vicious and would kill you…by giving slobbery kisses with his foul breath or laying on you with his 80 lb self. We found out over time he couldn’t be kenneled. He just wasn’t having it. He didn’t like being in one and left alone. After he tore his way out of one of the plastic coated wire kennels and tore up his mouth trying to get out of a reinforced one, we just stopped crating him.
Zeus loved everyone but his master was Alex. Even after Alex went in the army, when he would come home you couldn’t drag Zeus away from him. We decided it was best with Zeus’ intolerance to cold and his advancing age that he would just stay with me. As much as Alex wanted Zeus with him, he made the best decision for his buddy.
I cannot think of a better bully ambassador than Zeus. With all the incorrect thoughts and beliefs out there about bully breeds, he squashed them with ease and a big ole slobbery kiss. He was an abused and unsocialized dog for the first one to two years of his life. That is an estimate because we don’t know how old he was when we got him. The vet estimated 1-2 yrs. An abused pit. They are vicious right? He was really vicious when he was laying on his stomach on the floor to play with our 4 lb dog Gracie. He was so vicious he bit and acted aggressive not ONE TIME EVER IN THE 10 YEARS WE HAD HIM!!!
I won’t lie, he wasn’t fond of other big dogs. That was fear and not being socialized early. That could happen with any breed.
He lived his life with one goal, that was to be with someone and to get some love. He wouldn’t let you get away with not petting him. He would nudge your hand or strategically wiggle his head under your hand to remind you that you should be petting him.
Being a pet owner is a commitment that we take very seriously. Because of all the misinformed people in the world we lived where we could have Bubby with us. If bully breeds were not allowed then we looked elsewhere.
The last year Bubby’s health started to decline. He had allergies, chronic bronchitis, a bad knee and hip. The last two weeks he didn’t feel good and his eating decreased. Sure wasn’t expecting him to cross the rainbow bridge while we were on our trip to NE Texas. I didn’t want to leave him home with someone since he didn’t feel good. In a way I am happy I didn’t. He spent his last day and evening laid up in the car on Dylan and got some good love at my sister and nieces house. I am thinking he passed in his sleep dreaming about a big steak and chewing on one of his peanut butter calf hooves.
We love you Bubby.
Thanks for being the best example of the fabulous bully breeds.
My kids and I hope that just one person may read Bubby’s story and think twice about the incorrect info out there about this breed. He squashed the misconception easily about pit bull breeds being mean and aggressive. Of all the dogs on the planet, he should have been aggressive and mean, but he was nothing but a lovable, big Bubby to everyone that knew him.