Beaner, Murphysboro, IL
Hi! I’m Beaner. I didn’t have a good life start in life. I was on a chain in a yard with no food, shelter, or water. All I had was fleas, ticks, and every now and then, I’d get kicked.
My previous owners are felons and had been arrested numerous time. They lived in a trailer and me, my brother and my mom were on chains outside. My mom is chained closest to the trailer, then my brother, and then me. My owners would throw out their garbage and that was our food. My mom got enough to keep from starving, but my brother and me couldn’t because we were chained too far so we were skin and bones.
I had been so hungry I wore my teeth down trying to eat rocks, my chain, ANYTHING to stop the hunger. My owners did feed me one thing: Meth! They tried to make me mean and of course it didn’t work. (They aren’t so smart!)
Then my owners got arrested and somehow me and my sibling slipped out of our chains and made it to a neighboring house. We were so happy we got out we ran into the arms of some new people. As it turned these are police officers. They took us inside and made a phone call.
The phone call was to a 911 dispatcher. The officers know this dispatcher helps out dogs whenever needed. Numerous times, after getting off work, she’d gone to a residence and picked up a dog, or taken food to a dog that someone called in to the police department as having no food. The officers asked her if she would be interested in taking me in. This is the first pit bull she have ever had the opportunity to be around, and she wasn’t so sure. You know, she thought us pit bulls might kill them all in the night.
But when the officers went to her house and showed me to her, what she saw was a scrap of a pup, no hair, scabs all over, and every single bone protruded out of my tiny body. I was COVERED with fleas and I was too weak to be very active. But she noticed my TAIL! It NEVER stopped wagging!
She stole me out of their arms and went straight to the bathtub with me. From that moment on, she becomes my mama! My brother was lucky too, he found a home with another law enforcement friend.
I was about 7 months old when I met my mama. I weighed 21 lbs (I should’ve weighed about 45 lbs). When my mama took me to the vet, the vet said they could TRY to save me because I was so emaciated that my body may not be able to process the food. On top of that, I had huge patches of hair missing and was heartworms positive.
I immediately became my mama’s standard poodle’s shadow. Whatever Agadore did, I did, including pottying outside. From day one, I NEVER once had an accident on the house. My mama was surprised that a pup like me, who only knew a chain outside with no food or shelter, did everything right, as if I knew I wasn’t gonna mess a good thing up!
My road to recovery was long: My knee kept giving me fits so I had tightrope surgery to get it fixed. My teeth were worn down to the gum and it was painful so I went to the University of Illinois to have several teeth pulled. Now I no longer have any canines and only about a dozen teeth left.
Never once did I ever offer up so much as a growl during all this. I’ve lived with my mama for 4 years now. Besides my big brother, Agadore, I have a mountain cur for a little sister. We all get along great!
I’m such a lovebug and snuggler now. I live to have people pet me. I’d rather be petted than eat. I LOVE my kids (well, they’re my mama’s grandkids), especially KTBug! She’s my favorite person in the whole world! KTBug has hydrocephalus and gets headaches at times so when she has one, I lay next to her and stay with her until she feels better. As KTBug gets older, she has fewer headaches but I’m still her buddy.
I used to be afraid of almost everything. Now, the only thing that scares me is getting my nails trimmed! The ONLY time I had EVER been aggressive was when my mama and I were out hiking and a tall jogger came running at us. I thought he was gonna hurt us so I growled and snarled until what I thought was a threat was gone.
The only thing I attack now is my tennis balls. My mama says I’m not a monster; The man who had me as a puppy is.
Parent: Donna