Sharona's Corner- My pit bull story

Awhile back I started a feature called "Sharona's Corner" for the blog. I want to use Sharona's Corner as a place where I can highlight information about pit bulls and their awesomeness. Sometimes I think it is strange that as an adult I am so attached to one type of dog, as I truly have never met a dog I didn't like. Indeed, this blog stars my other dog, a shih-tzu (what do you get when you cross a pit bull and a shih-tzu? A bull-shit...hahaha!)!

Growing up we mostly had beagles and when I was about 10 years old we got Sam, a shetland sheepdog. As a quiet, bookworm type of girl, our new addition was just the type of dog I needed. I trained Sam to do tricks (Using hot dogs and cheese slices! Needless to say Sam was a little chubby) and I wrote short stories about her heroics (She saved families from burning buildings and got the key to the city in one). When I decided to get my first dog as an adult, I automatically gravitated to a shetland sheepdog and adopted Daisy, a beautiful, but absolutely crazy, adult sheltie (one day I will do a post all about Daisy because it really is a story worthy of it's own post). I had Daisy, who I still think was/is one of my true soul mates, for 5 years before she succumbed to stomach cancer. After her death, I decided I would wait a very long time to get another dog. I wasn't foolish enough to think I would never want another dog, but I knew I needed a lot of time to recover from the loss of Daisy.

Enter Sharona. After some time had passed but well before I thought I was ready for another dog, my sister in law called me one day to ask if I would consider letting her dog, Sharona, live with me temporarily, or perhaps even permanently-- because Sharona simply could not get along with one of her other dogs. I don't think she finished the question before I said yes. When I had Daisy, I had a roommate that also had a dog, a black and white pit bull named Lucy. I fell in love with Lucy, as did Daisy- and of course I already knew Sharona was a love bug with a goofy personality. Once I had Sharona, what I didn't anticipate was that I would develop this fierce desire to fight the the pit bull reputation as a vicious, evil dog. I think that once you have had a dog nearly melt into you as they lay down to snuggle with you, a dog that will hug you, kiss you,  and snorf (it's a technical term, look it up) in your ear, you simply cannot fathom that other folks look at your dog as a vicious beast about to devour their children.

Evil? No. Sleepy? Yes

I recently began reading "The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption." I have to admit that I have had the book for months and months...just waiting to get up the intestinal fortitude to slog through what I knew would be at the very least a tough read. For a softie like me I assumed I would be weeping openly through most of the book.  

I am only about half way through the book so I don't want to give anything away or to write anything that would be considered a review, but I am actually learning a lot from the book. Obviously, the subject is horrendous and truly distasteful, but I like learning about what it took to rescue and get justice for the dogs in this case. It's actually heartening to read their stories and to have the dogs portrayed as the victims and not perpetrators of evil. So far, no tears (mind you, I am only half way finished!).

I look forward to completing the book. Has anyone else read it? What did you take away from it? I am feeling my white hot hatred of Michael Vick being reignited, but I don't know quite what I should do to channel that energy...any suggestions?

As usual on Saturdays, we are participating in the Pet Blogger Hop. Go ahead, hop around and meet some new blogs. I promise, you'll like it...