When my wife Denise and I bought a house in Austin last year, I knew it was time to bring a dog into our family. I never imagined the impact adopting a stray pit bull would have on my life.
- Kimbo spent 3 days at Belton Lake where he walked the trails and played in the water.
Now I’m becoming a pit bull advocate and I spend as much time as possible with Kimbo, which includes taking him to bars and on trips.
When we moved from state to state in pursuit of newspaper jobs, we shared our home with a cat. Now we care for three.
Our ideal dog would need to get along with our cats, have a playful, yet obedient temperament and be laid back enough not to destroy our new house or yard.
Denise gave me two rules: no pit bulls and no white dogs.
- Kimbo’s friend Chloe, a golden doodle, joined him for Love-A-Bull’s third annual Pints for Pits at Shangrila.
“White dogs always look dirty and pit bulls make me nervous,” she said.
“I’m not trying to get an aggressive dog,” I answered.
We had no idea we were stereotyping pit bulls, which in retrospect is absurd.
For one, we know what it’s like to be stereotyped — we both have many tattoos, often dress in black and we’re Hispanic. People sometimes take one look and think they know us.
We also read a lot. We watch PBS and listen to NPR. We’re well-informed animal lovers. At least that’s what we thought before we fell in love with a pit bull.
Winning our hearts
- Kimbo, formerly known as Alfalfa, left Town Lake Animal Center on March 25 to live with Joseph, Denise and Ian.
After spending weeks visiting animal shelters and searching online for the right match, we came across a mother and several small children walking a cute white dog with black spots at Town Lake Animal Center.
As they walked, the kids would hang their arms around his neck and they giggled as they ran circles around him. The dog had a playful gait and his walk turned into a prance as his wagging tail forced his whole body to wiggle.
He was a pit bull.
“Look at how good he is with those kids,” Denise said.
As the group approached the row of kennels where we stood, the mother noticed our interest and stopped in front of us.
- Kimbo made himself at home right away, curling up on the sofa as if he’d lived there all along.
“Wow, what a good dog,” I said. Too bad we didn’t get here sooner, I thought.
The woman told us she brings her children to play with the dogs, but dogs are not allowed where she lives. She asked if we wanted to walk him and I took the leash.
We played in one of the dog runs and we started to fall for him. We wondered how he would do with our cats, so when we saw squirrels and birds in a nearby pen, we walked him over. He eyed them several times, but his glances looked to me more like playful curiosity then malicious intent.
- At first the cats avoided Kimbo, but eventually began sharing a spot in the sun with him.
Two hours later, he was snoring on our sofa.
The white American Staffordshire terrier mix with spotted skin watched our cats with the same wonder we saw in the dog run. When we told him ‘no,’ he backed away from the cats.
A few days later, every time he saw the cats he would suddenly crouch into a play stance — forelegs splayed, hind quarters erect with his tail wagging his body. We knew we’d found our dog.
“It’s like he’s always been with us,” I said to Denise. “He just belongs.”
Kimbo the Market Mutt
We adopted Kimbo, formerly known as Alfalfa, from Town Lake in March. He was estimated to be about 10 months old because he was brought to the shelter as a stray. He’s loving, obedient and attracts a lot of attention.
At first, I didn’t want to call him a pit bull.
- Kimbo loves to do whatever we do, including work in the garden.
When people would ask me what kind of dog I have, I’d tell them Kimbo’s an American Staffordshire terrier mix. I soon realized pit bull isn’t a bad word.
On Kimbo’s first trip to the Cedar Park Farms to Market, his presence drew polar responses. Some people clutched their children away while others guided their pets in a different direction.
It was hard not to take it personally. Couldn’t they see this dog was prancing playfully around, body wiggling? Having several people comment on how beautiful and well behaved Kimbo was made it easier to overlook.
- Kimbo enjoys meeting peole and dogs at the Cedar Park Farms to Market.
When market organizer Carla Jenkins saw Kimbo, she fell to her knees. She kissed and hugged him and wound up laying next to him. The crowd of shoppers had to step over Carla’s hands and feet as she babied Kimbo and took his picture.
Carla turned to me and said, “I think we found our Market Mutt,” an online profile of a friendly dog that visited the market that week.
The market is in a mall parking lot, so Carla was lying on the pavement. Kimbo has that effect on some people.
Training success
What I didn’t know about pit bulls when we adopted Kimbo is they love people.
Kimbo gets so excited when he meets someone new and he never seems to forget which neighbor pet him along our regular walk route. Each time we walk past a particular house, he quickens his pace, wiggles his body and looks expectantly for his friend.
- Kimbo practices a long stay at Gus Garcia Recreation Center. Food, toys and praise make it fun to train him.
Before Kimbo, I had seen well-behaved pit bulls on the TV show “The Dog Whisperer,” but I’m no Cesar Milan. You’d have to be a freak of nature with a canine sixth sense to achieve that, right?
Wrong.
Here’s the secret to dog training success: make him a part of the family, provide consistent discipline and reinforce good behavior with plenty of praise.
These days, Kimbo is attending the free training class Love-A-Bull offers its members. Our goal is for him to join the Pit Crew as a therapy dog.
Becoming an ambassador
In 2005, I attended a Dow Jones News Fund residency at New York University for minority business reporters. Participants would later intern at daily newspapers with few or no Asians, blacks or Hispanics in the newsroom.
Whether we liked it or not, we would be ambassadors for our race, our advisers told us. Many of our future coworkers and readers never had contact with people of color in a professional setting.
- Kimbo practices “watch me,” a command that focuses the dogs eyes on the handler to keep his attention.
I consider Kimbo an ambassador for pit bulls — people will remember his behavior because he is a pit bull.
When I walk with him in public, we regularly drill his obedience commands, especially when others are around.
When we approach an intersection and I say “down.” Kimbo lies down. He watches me as I look both ways. When I say “OK” he gets up and we continue.
People often seem impressed and sometimes ask “Is that a pit bull?”
Now I say: “Yes, he’s a pit bull.”
Tagged: adoption, discrimination, dog, dog training, kimbo, pit bull, therapy dogFiled under: Uncategorized
The article provides a brief history of Love-A-Bull’s founding as well as an overview of the work Pit Crew volunteers do at Gullett, Perez and Blackshear elementary schools and Heart House, a free after school program for children from low-income families.
