[Purple]

Rescued pit bull had been headed to Utah, but he took a detour into woman's heart

Sunday, July 01, 2007
By RON COLQUITT Staff Reporter

Spencer the pit bull, discovered a year ago starved and dragging a 10-foot chain through a midtown Mobile neighborhood, is living the good life these days in Tennessee, his caretaker said.
"He's a healthy boy now," said Jessica Huggins.
Spencer's not in Utah, where Mobile city officials thought he was being sent after a heavily publicized court case about his fate.
Huggins, 26, said Spencer lives with her and several other dogs at her home in Jasper, Tenn., near Chattanooga.
Spencer's surprise trip to Tennessee started on Hunter Avenue in Mobile late in May 2006.
That day, city workers were called to pick up the wandering dog that was so emaciated he could walk between the bars of a wrought-iron fence. They took him to the Mobile Animal Shelter, which has a policy of euthanizing pit bulls because they are considered too dangerous to adopt out.
Many pit bulls are bred and trained for fighting.
All that was known about the dog was his apparent name: The leather collar around his neck had "Spencer" stenciled on it. No one came forward to try to claim him, possibly for fear of being accused of cruelty.
Media reports about Spencer and his scheduled euthanization prompted an outcry from the public, sparking a court case on his behalf.
Under an agreement announced last June 17 by Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, the dog was handed over to the Best Friends Animal Society in southern Utah. Best Friends runs a no-kill retreat for cats, dogs and other animals on several thousand acres.
Jones said that the outcome was "the best solution."
As part of the agreement, Best Friends lawyer Russ Mead released Mobile from any liability for Spencer.
"Spencer will become a Best Friends dog, which means we will take full responsibility for him for the rest of his life. He will always have a home at our sanctuary," Mead wrote in a letter to Mobile Animal Shelter Director Bill Fassbender.
Last week, Jones told a Press-Register reporter that he was unaware Spencer had ended up in Tennessee. But he said, "If he has a good home and the dog is not being euthanized, that was our purpose, to keep the dog from being euthanized. And if he has a good home, then I think that's best for everyone."
The mayor said he wasn't angry about the turn of events and saw no reason to renew the court case. "Of course, we don't have any way to enforce the agreement other than that they said they would make sure the dog has a nice home," he said.
Mead said last week that Huggins has been a volunteer at Best Friends for years and is well-respected.
Huggins came to Mobile, Mead said, with the intent of booking a flight for her and Spencer to the resort in Utah, but the dog was in such bad condition that it was not safe for him to be caged and put on a plane.
Instead, she took Spencer to her home in Tennessee to nurse him to health, Mead said. Best Friends paid for the dog's veterinary care.
"We checked on him every couple of weeks," Mead said. "If he needed medical attention, we paid for it.
"Jessica (Huggins) bonded with him, fell in love with him, and he fell in love with her. They are buddies," Mead said. "They bonded, and he turned into a perfect dog. She is with him, and we are comfortable with that."
Mead said that if something goes wrong and Huggins cannot keep Spencer, he will always have a home at the animal sanctuary in Utah.
Huggins said her drive to Tennessee with Spencer took about eight hours. She said she put the dog in a crate and on a bed of blankets to make him more comfortable. "The blankets were soft. He took a deep breath and sighed," she said.
"When I stopped to take a nap on the way back, I took him out of the crate, and he took a nap beside me."
Spencer weighed about 40 pounds at the time, but he now weighs a healthy 65 pounds, Huggins said. He has also been neutered.
At this point, Huggins said, she is providing only a temporary home for Spencer while a Memphis group called the Hearts of Gold Pit Rescue tries to find him a permanent place. But, she said, she would gladly keep him if the group has no success.
Huggins said that when she picked Spencer up in Mobile, he was suffering from heartworms and a "horrible upper respiratory" problem.
Huggins said that she was once mauled by a mastiff dog she was caring for, but she does not consider mastiffs or pit bulls to be dangerous breeds. "It's the individual dog, not the breed," she said.
Spencer has not shown aggressiveness toward people, but he does become aggressive around other male dogs, Huggins said.
"It took him nearly a month for me to get him over being scared," Huggins said of Spencer. "To this day, he has never growled at or barked at a stranger, and I'm still working on his confidence.
"He is just content to be rubbed and is so affectionate. He didn't know what affection was at first, and he didn't know what to do. He is totally different now and is absolutely wonderful."

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregiste...880.xml&coll=3

[HighVoltageAPBT]

Interesting. If the "hearts of gold pit rescue" in Memphis is the same one I am thinking that is named the same thing and ALSO from Memphis they have been DNA'd all up and down the east coast. And are not allowed to pull from many shelters. I know they are barred from pulling from all three of my local shelters, and have heard they are not allowed to pull from most others as well.

[jhuggins]

I don't appreciate any assumptions being made about Hearts of Gold. Hearts of Gold is based in Memphis, but has a wonderful reputation. I don't know what shelters you are referring to as your local shelters, and as far as being DNA'd up the east coast-there are more than enough Pit Bulls in the state of TN without us going anywhere else. Yes, Spencer came from AL but was supposed to go to Best Friends in Utah. It would be appreciated in the future if you could verify your information before causing harm to a rescue's reputation that other's might not otherwise know about.

[MercisMom]

Originally Posted by HighVoltageAPBT Interesting. If the "hearts of gold pit rescue" in Memphis is the same one I am thinking that is named the same thing and ALSO from Memphis they have been DNA'd all up and down the east coast. And are not allowed to pull from many shelters. I know they are barred from pulling from all three of my local shelters, and have heard they are not allowed to pull from most others as well.

Hello HighVoltageAPBT:

I was not aware that I was DNA'ed in any shelter in this country. This is the first I have heard of this. Would you provide me the names of all of the shelters that I cannot pull from? And also, what is your name? Thanking you in advance for the information.

Donna Velez
Hearts of Gold Pit Rescue
Memphis, Tennessee