Houdini : Our Pit Bull

Hey guys! I've been a very very busy bee because my little sister is getting married in less than a month and I threw her her Bridal Shower yesterday! Oh I am soo excited to share it with you guys! It turned out great! Unfortunately I got there late (because I'm the kind of person who can't seem to make it to anything on time) AND none of my help were there to help me decorate so I got it done right as everyone was showing up so I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of my own. Once I get them all round up I'll post them here, but for now here's the post I've been working on when I had some free time. It's the story behind our pit bull!

Just about two years ago we went to visit some of Phillip's family in Texarkana. His cousin was staying with some of his family on this huge plot of land that had horses, a pond and few pit bulls. We came over to shoot some guns in his field and that's when we met Houdini, our pit bull, for the first time. He and another pit were living outside without food or water anywhere in sight and were covered in mange. These poor babies were so bad off that much of their hair had fallen off and they were covered in sores and dirt. I silently cursed the asshole that could allow this to happen and followed the boys out into the field to fire off some rounds (this was also my first day to shoot a gun!). Houdini, or Bruiser at the time, followed us out as well and was begging for affection. Even miserable and mistreated this poor thing had no hate in him at all. I kept carefully petting him and telling him we would take him home and get him fixed up and fed and give him what he deserved. At this point I was mainly joking. We had been talking about wanting to rescue a pit bull for a little while then, but I never imagined this would happen. After we shot through the ammo we started heading back to the house. And this is when we met the aforementioned asshole. He got out of his big suped up truck with this beautiful groomed pit bull following him. I was pretty upset before, but this really pissed me off. Why does this dog get to be not only taken care of but spoiled, while these other two have to suffer and fight to live outside. I was outraged! But me being the introvert that I am and being around his family I held my tongue. Until the owner of the dogs came into the house saying " I wish someone would take these damn dogs!" and I looked at Phillip (who gave me the silent confirmation I needed) and I told him we'd take the black one. And that was that, on our way out of town we picked him up. He was so starved that when we stopped for gas he ate our road snacks before we got back to the car and drank two bottles of water at a rest stop.

(This is the first picture I ever took of him, it's at the gas station we stopped at before we left town. Doesn't he already look like our dog?)

We didn't have a collar or anything but he didn't try and run away, he didn't cause any problems in the car either. He just laid patiently in the back seat on the two hour ride home while we tried coming up with his name. It took us nearly the whole two hours to come up with it. They were calling him Bruiser, which is a testament to how well they knew him, that had to be changed. We wanted a good powerful name that fit his personality. There were a few names we really liked but sounded too mean. We kept asking him about the names and we think he liked Houdini too; he was answering to his new name by the second day.

Our yard at the time had a gated fence that neither of our little dogs never got out of, but Houdini managed to get it open the second day we had him. We had left the house to go to the store and we left him in the backyard. When we got home the gate was wide open and Houdini was laying by the door on our front porch. I knew from then on that he was definitely ours and was going to end up being a great dog. And I was right; he's a perfect fit.

He loves to go on walks and explore. We walk the neighborhood quite a bit and he just walks by my side.

Sometimes the boy comes with us!

He's a great trail finder! He has found little trails that lead to creeks on several occasions while walking around the neighborhood. Like us, He'd rather be out walking in nature than in the neighborhood. With him there is nothing left unseen: he wants to walk down every road, see the end of the creek or the other side of the mountain view or the other side of the pier haha.

He also loves being a Mtn. Doo. That's what we call him when we are going to or on a mountain (one of his nicknames is Doodle, which is where the "Doo" comes from), if you ask him if he wants to be a Mtn. Doo he gets all excited and goes to his leash. Once we get to the top he just loves sitting with me and the boy and watching everything that's going on below us.

He is definitely our dog and I am so thankful for him and all that he has taught us. He's got this protective stance that he does where he goes to sit down beside me while I'm standing and swings his but around till it hits my legs and he stands up straight as close to me as he can get and it just melts my heart. He is always by my side, he even follows me through out the house. The only time he's not in the same room is if he's checking out the backyard from the bedroom window. When I get out of the shower he's there laying on the other side of the door. "I got ya girl, ain't nothing going to get you ever!" 

The love that radiates from him is truly amazing.

It's such a shame that the law would rather him be "humanely destroyed" just because he's a pit bull. I have met many many pit bulls and I have yet to meet one that is anything more than a big o baby. I hope that one day this stigma will be lifted and everyone can see what a blessing these dogs can really be.