I reached out to Joe Dwyer, who co-authored Shelby’s Grace with his beloved rescued pit bull Shelby, and got to chat on the phone. What an awesome guy!

He’s a certified Dog Trainer and a passionate animal rights advocate, and while volunteering at the Bloomfield Animal Shelter, he met Shelby. Shelby was an abandoned pup, injured, chained to a gas station, and was left to die. Joe welcomed her to his family, which includes Spartacus (another rescue).

Shelby now goes with Joe to schools in the tri-state area, like at PS 14 in Queens as seen here and the Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, to help fight bullying. Just like how you profile a pit bull as a menacing breed, bullying is the same type of profiling. So Joe and Shelby work to advocate and fight against abuse, cruelty, stereotyping, profiling, discrimination and bullying against animals and humans. In doing so, they also get to educate people on what an amazing breed Pit Bulls really are.

Go to her beautiful photos & story