Kirby turns 5 today! He slept in this morning, and when I woke him up to tell him Happy Birthday, he quickly popped his head out to make sure he heard me correctly!
Kirby came to me back in July of 2019 as a ‘Behavioral Foster’; he was (MIS)labeled as aggressive, and I was asked if I would work with him on curbing that behavior. When Scout and I went down to meet him, we figured out that he’s not aggressive, he just didn’t have any manners. He wasn’t trying to eat Scout, he just wanted to play so badly, and kept jumping all over her. He came to my house the next day, and by the end of day two he was happily lazing around with the other dogs, content to just ‘be’.
A few weeks later he had to go to the vet for an issue with his back knees; he had ‘trick kneecaps’ that would fall out of place, on both hind legs, and surgery was required to correct those. For the next 24 weeks, he was on crate rest, having has surgery on one knee, waiting for it to heal, then having surgery on the other. He didn’t care much for crate rest, but he obliged, and we got through it.
As soon as he was released from the crate rest, he celebrated by running all around the house, then a car ride to the dog park, where he ran, jumped, tumbled, rolled, and generally celebrated all things and smells for over two hours before finally plopping down in front of me to rest.
Not long after that I moved to a different county, and the rules for fostering changed, so I was given a choice; send him back to the shelter (with the Animal Control officers that had previously labeled him as aggressive, and wanted him back so they could put him down), or, I could adopt him…
I made the decision about five seconds later, and on October 31st, 2019, I officially adopted Kirby, making him my second dog, my first foster fail, and the most annoying thing in the world to Scout.
We’ve been through a lot together, I’ve taught him a lot, and he’s taught me a lot, and together we’ve caused a lot of people to reconsider the idea that all ‘dogs with boxy heads are pit bulls and are violent’ (Spoiler, they’re not, and Pit Bull isn’t a breed, he’s a rapper).
Happy 5th Birthday to Kirby, and here’s to very many more!