Pit bull – Leona

So Leona – we call her Sweet Pea. Or Sweet Pea Lee. She’s around 4 years old. Buckle up for this wild ride of a story! Leona has been handed tragedies and just the wrong cards of life. MABBR was asked to help her find a home because the shelter she came from is located in a city that is weary of adopting pit bulls, but Leona is just so sweet! Here we go:

Leona’s Timeline:

Leona came to a shelter initially as a stray, found emaciated and dehydrated. Shelter got her fat, adopted her out to a family, she was returned for being “growly” around children. Back at the shelter, she stopped eating and went to their Puppies for Parole Program. Had a best friend that was a 10lb rat terrier. P4P was shut down when Covid happened so back to the shelter she went.

She stopped eating again, became barrier reactive, and that’s where her current foster mom came in. Her foster brought her home, put some meat back on her bones. She was barrier reactive through doors of the house and through her kennel. Her foster tried intros after a few months but she gives mixed signals. So Leona was deemed best as one dog only home at the time. She was adopted and then her adopter passed away very suddenly after about 4 months in his home.

She came back to her foster again in March 2022 and has been with them since. THEN she broke her leg in her foster’s backyard somehow. (It was a nice day and the back door propped open so she could go in and out as she pleased in the back yard…Was barking at something and by the time her foster got to the back door she was yelping and dragging/holding her back leg) So then came the surgery/vet stay/healing process. Her leg may never fully recover. It hasn’t yet. It’s quite gimpy but she will put weight on it, though unstable.

The shelter that Leona was being fostered at reached out to MABBR in November of 2022 and Leona is officially a MABBR dog, but still being fostered with her previous foster!

About Leona according to her long term foster:

Other dogs: She has made leaps and bounds with barrier reactivity. She DOES get along with the foster’s short bully mix and she acts like she wants to play with any smaller fosters through the kennel. She has been allowed to play with foster puppies as well. She’s great at playing gently and correcting gently when it comes to them. She has corrected her dog foster sibling (Ro). Her foster says “it was a quick correction and simply just communication. And to be honest, Ro is a BAD about wanting all the toys for himself and guarding them. He tried to take the one she had in her mouth and she just gave him a little bark sass, understandably so. We do not normally openly feed but she’s been around food bowls and had treats with him around and completely fine”

People: She doesn’t know any strangers. She loves all and wants their attention. Toddlers are probably a no, just because she’s big and silly and has zero boundaries with love. She will barrel right through them. She a big girl. Probably 70-80lbs. As far as resource guarding with people – no. Not at all, she is a big love that just wants attention from her humans.

Cats: no cats for her as she has a high prey drive.

Other behavior: She IS growly but it’s grumbles with toys. She’s a talker. Her foster assumes that’s what was going on with the first adopters and they didn’t know any better. She talks with toys in her mouth. She LOVES to burrow and snuggle. She HATES being cold. She doesn’t want to be outside. She does her business and wants right back in. She is such a LOVE. She was a favorite at the vet office because even though she went in there to have shots or people mess with her leg, she was so excited and happy for the attention.