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Big Mac Adoption Update

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A very touching update from Mac’s mom. We are so very happy that our boy has found his perfect match and home! Our hearts are full of joy for him.

Mac and Nikki

Mac & Nikki

I adopted Mac on November 4th, 2010, and my life has been an adventure every day since. Mac is a positive energy that brings joy, happiness, and cheer to everyone he meets. Mac’s very energetic greetings, mixed with the fastest largest tongue in the west, ensure that everyone he says“hello” to feels the love. Since Mac became part of my life we have been through a lot.  He kept me company while studying for my graduate classes, sat through me writing my thesis and graduating from my masters program.

Mom, are you done studying yet??

We just moved into our first house together. Des Moines is offering us a new house, new town, and new adventures! Mac is enjoying all of the window watching he gets to do now that he is on the ground level. He also loves the backyard he gets to romp around in.

Mac’s loving attitude and positive energy has changed my life for the better in so many ways. He reminds me to be a happy and joyful person. He also reminds me to let the small things go and focus on the positive and/or squeaky things in life. I could not have asked for a better four legged furry partner in crime

My favorite tidbit about Mac, is that when gets very excited he rolls on to his back and does what has now become known as the “reindeer”. He holds one arm straight up in the air and bends the other, and my brother and I both thought the first time we saw it, that it looked like the light up reindeer at Christmas time when they get tipped over.

Sleepy Baby

Why adoption…

Big Kiss

Many people ask me if I have had Mac since he was a puppy, I tell them sadly I was not blessed with knowing this loving boy since he was a baby, but I adopted him as a young adult. I work currently as a veterinary technician and spend a lot of time around dogs and cats. It makes me sad to realize how many people buy pets without the knowledge, financial support, or ability to take care of them. There are too many pets who need homes to justify me buying a puppy of any kind, when I know adoption is an option.

I have also been asked by many people why a bully breed? My response is simple, I love them. There big eyes, strong personalities, and smiles melt my heart. Yes, they occasionally need a little extra work in the sense of obedience training and working with their rare stubborn streaks. However, their undivided love and adoration is equal to none.

In working as a veterinary technician, I feel dogs pick their owners as much as owners pick their dogs. It is important to find the breed, type of personality, size, energy level that matches what an owner is looking for. If you want a bundle of energy, that loves you unconditionally, that loves to play and will keep you on your toes with adventures, then a bully breed is for you!

Mac & Nikki

Leonidas update

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The Little Brown Puppy.

He arrived with two little hind stumps. He was a feisty little guy, squirmy, energetic, and his tail never stopped wagging. This little brown puppy was a survivor.

He was saved twice from an almost certain death.

In his first brush, two boys hung him over a fence as bait for another dog. The dog ripped off parts of his hind limbs: the majority of his left hind leg, then the foot of his right leg, leaving a mangled stump. Witnesses later grabbed the tiny brown puppy and took him to the shelter. Once there, they re-told the shocking story of what they witnessed, but pleaded to remain anonymous.

The shelter that should have been his safe haven and the beginning of his new life was actually his second brush with death. Because the shelter was in a city with breed specific legislation, it has a no-adopt policy on pit bull type dogs and euthanizes nearly all who come through its doors.

Had it not been for the efforts of some of the shelter staff, a local bully breed rescue, and the people who risked everything to save him from the men who so cruelly and intentionally tortured this tiny little dog, he would not have been long for this world.

He was only four weeks old. He weighed less than ten pounds.

While it took months to get his health into a manageable state, the little brown puppy quickly adapted to life with only two front feet. He braved every obstacle, cuddled and played with his new brothers and sisters-still, all the while, his tail never stopped wagging. His strength, courage and tenacity called for a strong name – “Leonidas.”

His namesake, King Leonidas of Sparta, stood against impossible odds at the battle of Thermopylae. Seriously outmanned by the Persians, King Leonidas and his soldiers sacrificed their lives to cover the retreat of the rest of the Greek army. His courage and resolution helped the Greeks to live and fight another day, and may have saved the very existence of a fledgling idea in the world at the time – democracy. This puppy certainly deserved a strong name from a strong man.

No one has ever been held accountable for what they did to Leo.

Read about Leo now: Leonidas

Fergus a/k/a Rudy update

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After being adopted over 1 year ago Fergus is loving life with his forever doggy dad. He makes new friends, dog and human, on a weekly basis and on multiple occasions has shown people, who were weary of bully breeds, just how amazingly sweet the breed can be. He has three best friends who are also bully breeds that he regularly plays with. He has learned to catch tennis balls although the returning them part is still in progress. Fergus has also learned all his commands with nothing more than a hand motion. Fergus loves his daily walks especially when he gets to wear his back pack, giving him a job to do. He also enjoys going drives in his dad’s Jeep with the top off and wind blowing through his floppy jowls. He even got to go in the pool this summer where he became a good swimmer even though it was pretty much in order to get out of the pool faster. Fergus has found his very happy forever home and hopes you can help some of his friend’s find one too!



Daisy Mae Update

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Hi Everybody at MABBR,

It’s been a while since I’ve written to you about the Wonderful English Bull Terrier Daisy Mae which you all so graciously allowed me to adopt back in January 2007, so I thought I would give you the update….

Daisy and I are still in Love and she is the bright light in my life! She will be turning 6 years old Sept. 14 and she really is doing great! She weighs right around 50 Lbs. and is in good health overall, but she is starting to show some signs of displaysia or perhaps the start of some arthritus at this point in her life. We regularly get outside daily several times a day to run and chase her basketball which I roll off the roof or just bounce off the patio. She gets plenty of excersize everyday and loves to come inside and lay down panting in front of the cold air vent until she takes a nap. I had to get her away from her beloved cheap squeekies as she was tearing them open after a while and ingesting some of the fibers inside which ultimately made her sick until I finally figured out what she was doing, so only tuff squeekies from then on and only until I feel she can tear them open – then it’s the trash for them. She loves small basketballs and footballs and she actually has a knack for playing soccer. I really want to get a video camera so I can show you all how much fun she has playing ball and to keep the video for myself as I know one day she will be gone. I really hate to think that day will come as I just Love the heck out of this kid! She still has a comical personality and makes me smile and laugh everyday.

Since my last update a couple of years ago, Daisy has been to the vet regularly 2 times a year for shot updates and overall health checks. I did have to bring her in last year for constipation and ended up giving her an enema myself to save costs. It did the trick and she has had no more problems in that regard. My job also disappeared back in May 2009 and I had to relocate us to another home. I chose a home specifically for her needs as well as mine and found a large house with a fully fenced in back yard. We have trees with squirrels which she loves to chase as well as the occasional rabbit. She actually caught one a couple of years ago. She still has that very intense hunter instinct and will often go into hunting mode if I shake my fist like I have something in it. Daisy spends most of the time inside the house with me and has the run of the whole house. I haven’t had to put her in her kennel in over 3 years. She is still pretty skittish though, especially around 4th of July and New Years when everyone is blowing up fireworks, so I just stay home with her and watch a movie or something. I have had a few girlfiriends that Daisy absolutely loved, but – we were never able to live together because Daisy will not accept their dogs. Daisy thinks she is a person and will not get friendly with another dog, so I guess it’s just her and me until the end, which really is okay in the long run.

I am including some pics of Daisy taken just today. She still acts like a puppy when playing, but can’t wait to go to be every night with me. She has the whole top of the bed while I am under the covers and we go to sleep every night just like any normal couple – well, almost. I sing her lullabys that I make up and she is usually snoring within a few minutes. She really is the Love and Light in my life, and I Thank You all from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to adopt her.

Thanks from the both of us!

Always Your Friends,
Mario and Daisy Mae Militello