From Fighter To Lover
This a great story about what a lot of love and patience can do to turn around a dog that was used in dogfighting. Hector was one of Michael Vick’s dogs, he has recently been adopted and is now a certified therapy dog.
Hector, owned by Andrew Yori of Rochester, was recently certified as a therapy dog by TDI. He is a 4-year-old pit bull who spent the first part of his life as part of Michael Vick’s dog-fighting operation in Virginia. Rescued in 2007, Hector moved to Rochester in June of last year.
Hector still bears scars from his fights, but he has settled happily into his new peaceful life.
“He’s a big goofy dog,” Yori said.
Pit bulls are a very resilient breed.
“Not a lot of dogs could go through what he did and still come out OK,” Yori said.
Hector’s attitude seems to be, “It’s behind me, let’s go forward and have a good time.”
Yori and Hector are just waiting for the completion of some paperwork, then they will start visiting nursing homes. This is a dog that most deemed unadoptable, or not worth saving, but because he was given a chance, he’ll now give back to society by sharing his love with others in need.
Check out BadRap Blog and see some adorable pictures, and I mean adorable, of Hector with Oakland shelter volunteer and NFL player Jarrod Cooper. In the photo shoot Cooper is holding Hector who basically turns into a big marshmallow.
Kudos to Cooper for volunteering at the Oakland shelter, and for showing what a dog loving NFL player looks like.
*Pic of Yori and Hector courtesy Postbulletin.com
We met Hector and his new furamily at Pit Bull Awareness Day in Milwaukee, WI last October. He has got to be one of the biggest babies that I’ve ever seen. His new owner was holding him on his back in his arms and I was rubbing his belly while Hector gave me kisses on the face:)
Give Hector a paws up, he and the other Vick dogs are living, loving proof that the bully breeds are not born victious dogs, and even if they are trained with enough love and patience, they can be the loving animals that God intended them to be. I am so proud of all of these dogs, the beat the odds. Just wish People would change their minds about these breeds. And that all state will pass new laws to prevent them from dying just because of their breed. Such law (s) should become federal and not just state.
YES YES YES this is what I like to read about,the good thing about this WONDERFUL Family oriented breed and they LOVE people.The Bully breed are my favorite breeds of all I don’t own one right now But I will soon.I just love them SOOOO much and I wish the news would stop reporting stories about them half of them are not even Pit Bulls though they say that they are.
I know of a wonderful Handsome Big Blue American Staffordshire Terrier looking for a home in Vancouver WA to see a picture of him and more info check out his page,Here is his dogster ID 961505
Thanks for posting this! Hector is doing great, and his actions speak very loudly for the breed everywhere. More to come from this handsome Pit Bull. Stay tuned……
Roo and Hector
I am so glad that Hector can finally have a happy life with humans who love him. No dog should be banned on the basis of breed. If that happens, no breed will be safe. I’m sure Hector will be a great therapy dog.
This story does my heart good!!! I have followed the tale of these abused pups from the start and I was so happy when cooler heads prevailed and allowed these wonderful dogs to be evaluated for placement. The people who worked so hard to make this happen are heros and they proved-once again- there are no bad dogs only bad people.
Miracles happen everyday, just give them a chance. Just goes to show how forgiving and loving an abused dog can be after all it has been through. Too bad we can’t say the same about humans.
THIS just shows how IGNORANT the BSL is…..when are those ognorant people going to stop killing dogs because of the breedm they need to euthanize the people that trian the poor innocent animals to fight and save and rehabilitate the dogs….AMEN!