The Show: Sad Pibbles and Happy Tails

[gesundheit]

On 1/10/2017 at 7:21 PM, halopub said:

Villalobos shared a Christmas pic of a grown Yahtzee. It doesn't indicate anything about how Jasmine has adjusted, but that they would post the pic is an encouraging sign that the adoption is sticking.

Norma Rae got adopted!

Thank you so much for sharing those! That's GREAT news!

[Bronzedog]

OK. I'm a bit confused about the elderly dog that ended up back with them.  The adopter is out of town dealing with her sick father.  Check.  But, the dog was left with a boyfriend who allegedly looked for the dog but gave up.  However, now that they know where the dog is, they don't want him?  And, how'd he end up in Mississippi?  The story doesn't pass the smell test.

 The hounds were adorable together.  

Edited January 15, 2017 by Bronzedog
Autocorrect

[dbell1]

Poor Melfi. Those people didn't deserve her. At best scenario, she waddled off to Mississippi on a road trip. But I'm willing to bet the bf dumped her far from home hoping he was done with her. And the disconnected number?  Neighbor said she'd only left town "a few days prior for work", but then the sick father text came in? Totally shady and too many conflicting stories.

When VRC dogs get loose, and the owners contact the rescue, the word goes out over social media. This woman couldn't take the time to call them or have someone else contact them? Bull. Good thing that poor dog was chipped.

[GreyBunny]

That whole story doesn't pass the sniff test.  It sounds like the adopter didn't even care to ask if the dog was okay or sick or injured.  

I bet one or both of them drove the dog to Mississippi and dumped it.

[gesundheit]

I mean I guess I can understand being at one's wit's end with a terminal family member across the country, but not bothering to tell Villalobos is just really depressing. Melfi seems like a big lovebug couch potato. If I didn't already have a dog (Melfi's a no-other-animals adoptee) and a horrible breed restriction in my building I'd be right on that. I felt for Tia with her exasperation about how there's just nothing more they can do to ensure an adopter means it for good, no matter what.

Glad they're focusing on other parolees and their job training after Mike disappeared.

[blondiek237]

So confused.  So the owner needed to go out of town to deal with family and left the dog with her boyfriend.  Then the dog got away from him and ended up in that shelter in Mississipi, and my question is, why did she not want it back?????  There has to be more to the story.

[nitrofishblue]

I am a long time volunteer at the local SPCA. I should write a book about all the tall tales people tell when dropping off a pet. Some would make you so raging mad. I bite my tongue and am thankful they brought their pet to the shelter instead of dumping it.

[Bronzedog]

Since I'm a cynic and a bit of a bitch, I thought the delay in getting back to Villalobos by the former owner of Melfi was because they needed to come up with a sob story to make them sound less bad about dumping the dog.

[SunnyBeBe]

People have all kinds of issues, but, the dog appeared to be under exercised.  They said the owner's boyfriend said that he got out of the crate.  Some people leave their dog in a crate for too long, imo.  I'm glad that he did get away, if that is the case.

 I was confused as to why the Villalobos staff acted like they were taking Melfi from some hellhole at the ASPCA.  It looked like a very nice, bright and clean facility and much better than what they have.  And, they would not be putting the dog down, since it had a chip and people were coming to get him.  They acted like they had to get out the door quick, like they might catch something.  Odd, imo. 

I don't know if Villalobos has this requirement or not, but, the NO kill rescue where my cousin adopted a cat, had it in their contract that if you could not care for the pet for any reason, you were to return him to their facility.  You were not to find a home for the cat yourself, but return it.  Maybe, Tia didn't feel that allowing boyfriend to get him back was wise. I agree. 

[zxy556575]

The other couple who ended up adopting two more hounds to keep their first one company were goofy to me. Not in any way uncaring, but kind of mindlessly collecting animals in an attempt to "cheer up" a dog who simply seemed naturally quiet if not timid.

I was a little surprised that everyone a VRC immediately recognized Melfi from her photo, fattened up and all. I know the staff are in almost daily contact with their animals, but there have been hundreds of them over the years.

[Pfj99]

I would have thought that VRC would require adopters to return the dog to VRC if things didn't work out, no matter the reason.  Since Melfi had Ben adopted locally, it would have been easy for the adopter or the boyfriend to return Melfi.  If  the sick father story was really true, I bet Tia would have been willing to keep Melfi on a temporary basis until the adopter's life settled down.

I agree with those of you who say the story doesn't pass the smell test.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Pfj99
My autocorrect wanted the dog's name to be Melli.

[halopub]

Quote

Not in any way uncaring, but kind of mindlessly collecting animals in an attempt to "cheer up" a dog who simply seemed naturally quiet if not timid.

Wasn't the dog not naturally quiet, though? I thought they mentioned that she greeted every dog she encountered on walks. Also, wasn't Loretta the hound who visited the elementary school with Norma Rae but got too overexcited?

Edited January 16, 2017 by halopub
Forgot to add quote

[SunnyBeBe]

I thought that Loretta seemed sedate. Maybe, that's her nature or maybe she's depressed. I wondered if she needed some medication.  lol  I know, but, sometimes it is needed.  I never really saw the spark that they saw with the first  hound they adopted to keep her amused.  I suspect the second one was really for the first one to have a playmate.  lol She just didn't seem that active.  I hope they checked her for arthritis. 

[jnymph]

My feeling is Loretta's personality is just shy in new environments; as the couple mentioned she was more outgoing on their familiar walks.   My dog is the same way, so I understood.  

I wonder what the real story is in regards to Melfi ?  What a sweet dog.   She sure seemed happy with her Villalobos family, which made me feel better about her. 
 

[Bronzedog]

I thought it was really sweet that the couple was so concerned with Loretta's happiness that they were willing to get another dog.  And then, towards the end of the show the woman got choked up talking about the two dogs together.

[Bastet]

I love that they wound up with three hounds.  From zero dogs to three in a matter of months. 

Melfi's owner's story would have been plausible had Melfi turned up in a local shelter, but how did Melfi get an hour away?  I know dogs can roam, but I'm suspicious it's more like "boyfriend dumped her" than "she got out and boyfriend couldn't find her." 

Loretta makes me think of Loretta Lynn, and I initially thought Bo Bandy's name was Moe Bandy, so I was cracking up at the thought of two dogs with country singers' names living together.  (And the third one they adopted is named after a country singer, but I'm blanking on the name - and I just watched this last night, too! - so ultimately they did end up with two country singer names.)  At one point when Holler and Loretta were at the door, butts to the camera, their tails were wagging in synch.  It was so cute!

It was nice to see a focus on Joe, as I really got a good vibe off of him in the episode when he was hired, and I've liked the little glimpses we've seen since; nice to hear he's become a real go-to guy.  I liked the way Tia handled his guilt over the dog fight -- showed him a technique he can try, but also assured him he did nothing wrong.  It's funny that stray dogs showed up in the VRC parking lot, like, "Hey, we hear this is a place we can get help."

Edited January 17, 2017 by Bastet

[jnymph]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

 

It was nice to see a focus on Joe, as I really got a good vibe off of him in the episode when he was hired, and I've liked the little glimpses we've seen since; nice to hear he's become a real go-to guy.  I liked the way Tia handled his guilt over the dog fight -- showed him a technique he can try, but also assured him he did nothing wrong.  It's funny that stray dogs showed up in the VRC parking lot, like, "Hey, we hear this is a place we can get help."

Forgot to comment on Joe.   I really like the fact he seems to be very open and honest with Tia.  Seems like a great guy to have at Villalobos.

My previous dog was attacked by a stray dog while I was out walking him, and it's no joke.  My dog fought back viciously and the stray backed off;  but damn it scared the sh*t out of me!   My dog ended up injuring the stray and even thought it backed down; it kept lingering around...... as if it was ready to strike again.     Luckily I was able to get him/her away from us by yelling really aggressively at it  "GET OUTTA HERE"; while frantically waving my arms at it.  Scary (and sad too)  because then I knew there was an injured stray roaming out there, and who knows what else it could have attacked.  I reported it and all that, but nothing ever came of it. : (   

[GreyBunny]

On 1/17/2017 at 11:28 AM, Bastet said:

I love that they wound up with three hounds.  From zero dogs to three in a matter of months

Me too.  I have a hound and know first-hand that hounds are super social and like being around other hounds.  They seemed like the perfect couple to have three goofy hunting dogs.  

Either the BF dumped Melfi in Mississippi or Penny did it herself on the way up to Illinois.  I suspect she did it herself.

[Diane M]

Although there's no way I would have a pit bull, I do respect Tia and her team for the work they do.  I wonder what they charge people who adopt their dogs.  Certainly they must have to pay expenses when the girls travel across states to deliver them.  On an old show I watched today, two of the girls traveled by plane to deliver a poodle to a lady in Boston.  

[Bastet]

Pre-scheduled coincidence, or nice burn by Animal Planet -- the old episode on right before the new one was the one where Melfi was adopted.

I appreciate Tia's "one thing at a time" approach with Puppy's owners, but I'm really disappointed if that vet truly didn't even broach the subject of "Would you like him neutered while he's under?" with the owners.

I remember Spot's owners, and really liked them.  Sad that it seemed to be a Carrie Fisher/Debbie Reynolds situation with them passing away, and that there was no one else in the family/friends circle to take him, but hopefully he'll be making people happy as a therapy dog soon.

Because of Space Camp, "Jinx" is on my mental list of potential cat names, even though I usually use human names, so I was rooting for him.  I thought they were going to go with the younger dog, so I was happy.

Quote

Although there's no way I would have a pit bull, I do respect Tia and her team for the work they do.  I wonder what they charge people who adopt their dogs.  Certainly they must have to pay expenses when the girls travel across states to deliver them.  On an old show I watched today, two of the girls traveled by plane to deliver a poodle to a lady in Boston.  

The adoption fee is $200.  Any trip you see on the show is covered by production, not VRC.  Their normal (off-camera) procedure for non-local home checks/adoptions is not to make a trip for one dog, but to group them together, one trip to one area with several dogs.  They used to have out-of-town adopters pick up the tab (split among the group) for the travel costs, but so many adopters balked at the total cost that now they eat it in order to adopt out more dogs; they take in approximately 60 per month and adopt out 30-40 per month on average, so they're always in an uphill battle to find homes.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Bastet

[zxy556575]

Dang. I have more questions about the couple who adopted Jinx and their indoor park house than anything dog-related.

[walnutqueen]

It was so nice to see Mr. Wilson again, and to know he's also being trained as a therapy/assistance dog,  Spot is in good hands,

Jinx found a beautiful home - that atrium was spectacular, and the back yard was huuuuge,

[zxy556575]

I didn't totally understand Sui's situation with his family being separated, but he's such a decent, sincere person and him being so emotional and grateful to Tia got to me. I'm sure he'll continue pushing forward in his life.

The NJ adopters who took Black were adorable. It was great to see them both immediately bond with the dog.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Lord Donia

[Bastet]

Sui has been second to Earl as my favorite since the moment we met him, so I'll be sad not to see him anymore, but I'm happy things are working out for him.  It was nice to see how appreciative he was of Tia and Earl giving him a chance.  I remember so well the pride on Earl's face when Tia told him she was impressed with the work ethic Sui (whom Earl had recommended) was showing in his first days, and the pride on Sui's when Earl passed that along.

Black is so cute.  And his owners seem so excited to have him. 

I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes special that aired before this one, too.  I love Grumpy Old Man Arnold and am glad he's okay.  And, of course, Jethro.  I'd seen a lot of that footage via a friend emailing me links from Tia's Facebook page, but it was fun to see his antics again. 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Bastet

[jnymph]

On 1/22/2017 at 9:56 AM, walnutqueen said:

It was so nice to see Mr. Wilson again, and to know he's also being trained as a therapy/assistance dog,  Spot is in good hands,

Jinx found a beautiful home - that atrium was spectacular, and the back yard was huuuuge,

My heart exploded upon seeing MR WILSON !!!  So happy to see him in a wonderful environment.  

Spot & Ms Jinx too. : )

[gesundheit]

So delighted Black finally got a home! Hard to lose Sui. I feel like we just lost Country Matt! I understand he needs to be with his family, though. It just made me sad that all his dog buddies won't have him around anymore.

[Rlb8031]

On 1/29/2017 at 8:00 AM, Lord Donia said:

I didn't totally understand Sui's situation with his family being separated, but he's such a decent, sincere person and him being so emotional and grateful to Tia got to me. I'm sure he'll continue pushing forward in his life.

The NJ adopters who took Black were adorable. It was great to see them both immediately bond with the dog.

As I understood, Sui's wife (who was originally from VA) decided that she wanted to have her youngest delivered by the same doctor that delivered her other three children so she took the older kids and relocated to VA for the last portion of her pregnancy. The kids were enrolled in school in VA and the plan was the entire family would come back to LA after the baby was born and Sui was able to send them money to return. Evidently, he wasn't able to put together enough to pay for them to come back and then his oldest daughter got beat up in school by a boy. He decided that rather than wait, he wanted to return to VA to deal with the issues with his daughter and help his wife with the new baby rather than waiting another 3, 4, or 5 months until he had enough cash and the kids could be taken out of school again.

[dbell1]

So, there are no obstetricians in New Orleans?  It was super confusing the way it was explained. Why pull your children out of school in one state so you can go have your baby delivered in another? I'm baffled. And I love Sui, he's been a favorite of mine since he came on staff. Always seemed like a hard working good guy. 

They didn't show what happened with Sui's dog. I guess he got the family car and came back down? Very strange episode.

[GreyBunny]

On ‎1‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 8:58 PM, dbell1 said:

So, there are no obstetricians in New Orleans?  It was super confusing the way it was explained. Why pull your children out of school in one state so you can go have your baby delivered in another?

No kidding.  I get that some women will want to keep an obstetrician that they like, but disrupting your entire family - forcing the children to move and change schools and separating them from their father and ultimately forcing the father to quit his job and move - just so the doctor you want can help you pop out a kid?  Either something else is going on or this woman is high-maintenance to a psycho degree.  If I were Sui I would have told her if she wants to crap out a kid in Virginia, fine, but the kids are staying in NOLA with me and she can rejoin the family when she decides they're important again.

[halopub]

I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

1. Louisiana has a number of deficient zones for healthcare access, including for its low income population.
2. Huge parts of the nation lack adequate OB-GYN coverage. It's a high stress surgical specialty that requires high malpractice insurance premiums. The shortage is only going to get worse.
3. Louisiana has the third highest infant mortality rates in the country plus a high rate of premature births. (Virginia is somewhere in the middle.)
4. At the wife's age - they have a highschooler - it's likely she also had a high risk pregnancy. Coagulation issues, gestational diabetes, hypertension are all possibilities. At her age, I appreciate why she'd want to go with a physician she trusted.
5. Child privacy and all, we don't know if there were additional reasons why Sui's wife wanted the kids with her back in their home state.

I get that the story line is confusing, but just because Sui is on the show does not entitle us to know the reasoning behind his wife's medical decision.

[Missy Vixen]

On 11/30/2016 at 0:56 PM, Rlb8031 said:

Given what we've seen of their homes and lifestyles I'd completely buy that the vast majority of the money goes back to the animals and that they put most of the money from their outside ventures (the bar, merchandising, training classes, and various other one off projects) back into the rescue as well. 

 

Tia has posted on her FB page and the rescue's page that the kids are not living it up on the show money. They get a salary (which isn't large) and they work every day of the year at the rescue. She also explained the family has a friend that's a tattoo artist who's doing their tattoos for free. Tia's currently selling her cabin to pay for the continuing lawsuit involving a former volunteer and said there is a small chance the rescue will have to close if the plaintiff in the case gets a large damage award, despite the fact Tia had nothing to do with the incident personally.

[walnutqueen]

On 01/21/2017 at 7:14 PM, Bastet said:

The adoption fee is $200.  Any trip you see on the show is covered by production, not VRC.  Their normal (off-camera) procedure for non-local home checks/adoptions is not to make a trip for one dog, but to group them together, one trip to one area with several dogs.  They used to have out-of-town adopters pick up the tab (split among the group) for the travel costs, but so many adopters balked at the total cost that now they eat it in order to adopt out more dogs; they take in approximately 60 per month and adopt out 30-40 per month on average, so they're always in an uphill battle to find homes.

So, this means they are accumulating 20-30 dogs a month, or 240-360 dogs a year???  How is this possible or in any way sustainable?

[zxy556575]

1 hour ago, Missy Vixen said:

Tia has posted on her FB page and the rescue's page that the kids are not living it up on the show money. They get a salary (which isn't large) and they work every day of the year at the rescue. She also explained the family has a friend that's a tattoo artist who's doing their tattoos for free. Tia's currently selling her cabin to pay for the continuing lawsuit involving a former volunteer and said there is a small chance the rescue will have to close if the plaintiff in the case gets a large damage award, despite the fact Tia had nothing to do with the incident personally.

The fact that she has to continually explain herself is really sad to me since everything the poor woman does is scrutinized and criticized. Her kids' tattoos, for crissake?

I hadn't heard about a lawsuit. Is it this one for a rape charge against one of the workers?

17 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

So, this means they are accumulating 20-30 dogs a month, or 240-360 dogs a year??? How is this possible or in any way sustainable?

Damn. VRC is a no-kill shelter, not an unlimited one. Tia was practically in tears at the thought of their new rescue possibly being pregnant. Every shelter has limits, even huge ones like Best Friends in Utah. But turning away people who try to drop off their animals or not rescuing the ones roaming the streets means those animals would likely be condemned to more suffering and death, which we know Tia couldn't bear. The entire situation is horrible.

[GreyBunny]

7 hours ago, halopub said:

I get that the story line is confusing, but just because Sui is on the show does not entitle us to know the reasoning behind his wife's medical decision.

Whatever appears on the show is fair game for speculation, and it's a little precious to permanently uproot the entire family just to squeeze out a kid with no explanation beyond that she likes the doctor.

19 minutes ago, Lord Donia said:

VRC is a no-kill shelter, not an unlimited one

I wonder how many dogs are being warehoused there that are unadoptable.  The original idea behind no-kill shelters was that they are no-kill for adoptable animals.  Those with more serious medical problems, behavior problems, and bite histories that preclude them from getting a home were still put down so kennel space and resources could be used for finding adoptable animals homes.

[Bronzedog]

I think a few seasons ago, when they had a vicious dog that no one could get close to (I don't remember how they caught it or how they fed it), Tia acknowledged that they could not save or rehabilitate all the dogs.  I think that particular dog was euthanized.  But they tried to work with it for a long time before the decision was made.

Edited February 5, 2017 by Bronzedog

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, GreyBunny said:

I wonder how many dogs are being warehoused there that are unadoptable.  The original idea behind no-kill shelters was that they are no-kill for adoptable animals.

They're not a no-kill shelter (as has been explicitly stated on the show).  Tia has said several times there are dogs who are not adoptable but who can lead good lives as "lifers" (and they have a relatively small number of those), and there are also those who are simply wired wrong or otherwise cannot be saved; in those cases, they opt to euthanize as it's the most humane choice given the mental anguish the dog lives with.

[halopub]

3 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

Whatever appears on the show is fair game for speculation, and it's a little precious to permanently uproot the entire family just to squeeze out a kid with no explanation beyond that she likes the doctor.

Crap out, squeeze out? Unless Sui and his wife had their first in their mid teens, I doubt the most recent pregnancy was that routine. Probably "geriatric." 

I do appreciate that the story was vague and unclear - they left a lot of room for thorough speculation by just saying she wanted to go to her previous doc. But it's easy for me to imagine why she wouldn't want to have the baby in New Orleans. Louisiana is not an ideal place to give birth unless you have excellent private insurance. There may have also been an issue with the kids that would warrant them staying with their mom and grandmother over New Orleans. We don't know and unsurprisingly I haven't seen Sui answer those questions.

There is the flip side to consider - didn't she move the whole family to Louisiana because Sui got arrested, incarcerated and then paroled there?

Edited February 5, 2017 by halopub
Wordiness

[Maharincess]

I completely understand wanting to give birth with a familiar Dr, especially if its a high risk pregnancy. What I don't understand is why they all had to move back permanently.  It is really confusing and I would like to know the true story but just because they're on TV doesn't mean they owe us any explanations if they don't want to give them.  They do have the right to privacy.  I don't think we're entitled to know everything just because they have a TV show.  

Just my opinion. 

[Rlb8031]

Both Sui and his wife are from VA and his mom still lives there. To me, deciding to give birth in a place well known to you, with a support system that can assist in helping oUT with the other kids makes sense. Even without  knowing the details it's clear that Sui and the rest of the VRC  staff work long days. Maybe they didn't want the oldest child to have to take on as much responsibility. Maybe they wanted to allow her to finish high school with their childhood friends. Whatever the reasons, I don't begrudge them their right to decide what was best for their family. Certainly, I wouldn't expect anyone to make a decision as important as where to give birth to a child based upon how random viewers of a TV show feel about it. 

Edited February 5, 2017 by Rlb8031
auto correct sucks

[jnymph]

On 2/4/2017 at 11:02 PM, Bastet said:

They're not a no-kill shelter (as has been explicitly stated on the show).  Tia has said several times there are dogs who are not adoptable but who can lead good lives as "lifers" (and they have a relatively small number of those), and there are also those who are simply wired wrong or otherwise cannot be saved; in those cases, they opt to euthanize as it's the most humane choice given the mental anguish the dog lives with.

Yes, if I recall correctly, Tia explained this after the case of the poor large (rott mix?) dog that was abandoned in a crate by the RR tracks (they named the dog after the lady helping, but the name escapes me)   Tia said she wished Animal Control was able to relinquish the dog to her so she could give the dog a few days to see if it would settle down, then at that time she could properly evaluate it's demeanor.  But for whatever reasons they could or would not do that and AC euthanized the dog.   Tia then gave the explanation that BASTET describes in the above quote. 

Poor dog.  I am so very sad that she did not have a fair chance.  Put thru that terrifying ordeal just to be judged immediately.  : ( 

[EyewatchTV211]

8 hours ago, jnymph said:

Yes, if I recall correctly, Tia explained this after the case of the poor large (rott mix?) dog that was abandoned in a crate by the RR tracks (they named the dog after the lady helping, but the name escapes me)   Tia said she wished Animal Control was able to relinquish the dog to her so she could give the dog a few days to see if it would settle down, then at that time she could properly evaluate it's demeanor.  But for whatever reasons they could or would not do that and AC euthanized the dog.   Tia then gave the explanation that BASTET describes in the above quote. 

Poor dog.  I am so very sad that she did not have a fair chance.  Put thru that terrifying ordeal just to be judged immediately.  : ( 

I think she made similar comments when she was invited to tour a prison where the inmates trained shelter dogs. One of the inmates was working with a dog that sounded like it had that mental anguish, and the inmate was the only one the dog responded well to.

[Bastet]

She explained it during at least one episode in the Agua Dulce era, too.

[Eater of Worlds]

If either Norma Rae's original adopters or Tia bothered to read anything about service dogs, they would have realized that hounds are almost never used as service dogs.  Neither scent hounds (like Norma Rae) or sighthounds are generally used, though I did find one place that trains greyhounds as service dogs.  The reason is that the hounds are so responsive to what they smell or what they see that that instinct to go after the smell or what they see usually overrides anything else.  The general rule for a hound is not to let them off leash in unfenced areas, because they like to take off to chase and they often won't com back until they exhaust the scent or the sight.  Which makes them really shitty for the expectations put on a service dog, which is to always respond and to always do what they are trained to do, because hounds generally just don't care about much other than their smells/sights.  Adopting Norma Rae and expecting her to be anything but  a hound was really unfortunate.

[Rlb8031]

I saw on VRC's Facebook page that the owner of the Chihuahua, Pizza (the guy who got mugged while visiting NO from Virginia) was killed in an accident while trying to hop a train. Pizza was with him and was uninjured but ran away. VRC put out a notice to folks to keep an eye out for the dog as the guy's family was devastated and wanted to bring Pizza home. Tia posted an update today that Pizza was found and taken to a shelter 100 miles away from where the accident occurred! She said the family was making arrangements to bring him home ASAP. 

Sad ending to that story. 

[Bastet]

I remember Pizza's rescue and reunion with his owner very well; they adored each other.  It's sad to learn of the owner's death, but I'm glad at least that Pizza was once again found and will be back with his owner's family.

Per a news article, the owner (Keenan) and a few friends hopped a freight train in Austin, intending to ride it to Dallas.  When the train slowed down in someplace called Lacy Lakeview, the guys decided to get off in search of food; Keenan was the last one off and, because everything was slick from rain, he slipped and fell and the train ran him over; he died at the scene.

Apparently (per a post by VRC), the theory for how Pizza was found so far away (in Ft. Worth) from the accident site is that Pizza was still on the train when Keenan fell, and didn't jump off until the train was approaching the Ft. Worth station.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Bastet

[jnymph]

21 hours ago, Bastet said:

I remember Pizza's rescue and reunion with his owner very well; they adored each other.  It's sad to learn of the owner's death, but I'm glad at least that Pizza was once again found and will be back with his owner's family.

Per a news article, the owner (Keenan) and a few friends hopped a freight train in Austin, intending to ride it to Dallas.  When the train slowed down in someplace called Lacy Lakeview, the guys decided to get off in search of food; Keenan was the last one off and, because everything was slick from rain, he slipped and fell and the train ran him over; he died at the scene.

Apparently (per a post by VRC), the theory for how Pizza was found so far away (in Ft. Worth) from the accident site is that Pizza was still on the train when Keenan fell, and didn't jump off until the train was approaching the Ft. Worth station.

Wow, what a sad (and I have to say crazy) story ! 

[holly4755]

I have a scent hound and can attest that it is not responsive when it smells something. the smell is all. I had collies (border, sheltie) before and they are far more trainable.  

I used to volunteer (had to stop, physical problems) for a shelter that was good with interviewing prospective owners, didn't do home inspections but the interviewers were pretty experienced in judging the sincerity of adopters,  Had to be careful in this area because between Newark and Passaic NJ, lots of dog fighting around here.  Most dogs up for adoption in the area are pit bull mixes.  They had to euthanize some, even though they did not want to, first they are evaluated over time, and were kept  in a special area only serviced by experienced trainers, most of those dogs did not make it. Eventually this organization was forced out of the building owned by the town and replaced by a for profit group that would kill dogs a few days if they did not get adopted, the town was upset that the volunteer group kept too many dogs for too long.  I was particularly fond of a pit bull/great dane mix  that needed a lot of hugs, it would stand up, put its front paws on your shoulders and rest it head on top of your head, it was pretty old and they gave up on trying to adopt it out, it was in it's teens which is old for such a big dog, so they were letting it live it's life out but the town wanted it put to sleep.  I was supposed to only walk dogs up to 60 pounds, but I would take this gentle giant out.. it mostly loved being outside and lying in the grass but it had to be early in the morning, before most kids were out playing, did not want to learn how it was around children. .

 Anyway, when I watch this,  I am always amazed at the effort put into each animal, It was hard enough for us to walk every dog twice a day and we had probably 50 or 60 dogs at a time and 5 full time workers and then a bunch of us volunteers, who had to be trained and monitored.  

[RealityCheck]

I just saw a promo for Pitbulls and Parolees, season 9 announcing it will premiere Saturday August 5 at 9PM with a 2 hour episode.

[jnymph]

19 hours ago, RealityCheck said:

I just saw a promo for Pitbulls and Parolees, season 9 announcing it will premiere Saturday August 5 at 9PM with a 2 hour episode.

YAY!  Thank you for posting this ! 

[chenoa333]

On 7/9/2017 at 2:35 PM, RealityCheck said:

I just saw a promo for Pitbulls and Parolees, season 9 announcing it will premiere Saturday August 5 at 9PM with a 2 hour episode.

I hope it's an uplifting 2 hour premier. After that they can get into the horrors of animal rescue which most of us posters here know all too well.  I just want a happy beginning!