Tails in the 'Hood

Tails in the 'Hood began as a collaborative effort between two Atlanta area pit bull rescue groups, Atlanta Underdog Initiative and Friends to the Forlorn. They initially approached the owners and offered free dog food and vaccines. They formed a relationship with the owners before approaching them about spaying and neutering their dogs.

November 21, 2010

What a great weekend!! I headed out to meet Ami from Atlanta Underdog Initiative, her friend Drew and our new friend Tracy Bishop, who is a contributor to The Stubby Dog project. Tracy wanted to see what Tails in the ‘Hood is all about. I got to Ami's and we all jumped in the truck. A few days ago, while Ami was on the way to work, she came across a man walking a beautiful pit bull. Ami rolled down the window to her car and complimented the man on having a beautiful pit. The man said she needed a home. Ami had to go to work, so she called her husband David and had David go speak to the man. It turns out the man has six dogs and needs some help as he is in between jobs. We went over and spoke with him today. The man's name is Jermaine. We provided him with some great food and we are scheduling appointments to get some of his dogs fixed. It was a great day, but wait, it gets better.

While we were talking with Jermaine, he mentioned that there is a female pit roaming the block with 5 or six puppies in tow. He says the dog comes and knocks over his garbage looking for food. Jermaine described where the dog lived. Of course Ami knew who the owner was, good old Earl and his pit bulls. Every heat and there's a litter! Ami has been helping Earl by providing him with food for his pits for a while now, but she could never get him to fix his dogs. We decided to take a ride to go visit Earl and brought him some dog food. He was very appreciative. Ami asked him if he’s ready to get his dog fixed yet and he said he is as soon as the pups are old enough and Momma dog dries out. We are taking her in to get spayed in a few weeks. Wait, it gets better!

Remember the last video from Tails in the ‘Hood? We brought a crate and dog food to Kevin who attended the Atlanta Bully Education Rally. He had the pregnant blue pup in the yard. We decided to go check up on him and the pups. Kevin wasn’t home, but his mom was. We were just in time, as they were running out of dog food, so we left a few bags of food with her.

Kevin was up at the store with his dog, Lady. His mom told us that she hadn’t had the pups yet. His big male, Rocky, broke off his lead and ran away and they have not found him yet. As we drove away, we spotted Kevin walking Lady. We stopped the truck and got out to see them. Lady either wasn’t pregnant, or she lost the pups, because it has been to long for her not to have given birth. What a blessing! We pulled over to talk with Kevin. Guess what? We are scheduling an appointment for Lady to get fixed this week. Can you feel me? Can the day get better than that? I was so happy, I gave Kevin a Friends to The Forlorn Pitbull Rescue T shirt for free. That’s a big deal, because my mother bought hers! I don’t give these to just anyone. We are going to get Kevin and Lady some more food and teach him how to take care of her the right way.

Now we were on a roll. We went after Fletcher, Kevin's friend who is about 14 and a hustler. He breeds his pit bulls every chance he gets. We drove up to his house but he wasn’t home. We dropped off some food with his grandfather. As we were backing out of the parking spot I noticed Fletcher by the neighbor’s house across the street. Ami called out to him and he vanished. He knew why we were there. Fletcher, we are coming for you, buddy. You can run, but you can’t hide forever.