Emma, Linneus, ME

Hi! My name is Emma. I’m one lucky girl! My early history is pretty much a blur.

I was ‘owned’ by someone who locked me in a hot car, so hot the police had to break in and rescue me. They took me to a kill shelter. Frying pan into the fire! I was only about 7 months old!

The shelter was a scary place. I was virtually invisible to people looking to take home something fluffy or anything but a pit bull. I lost track of the days and of how many familiar doggie voices went silent forever when no one was visiting to adopt. I was giving up hope. Then one day a special lady with the Humane Society of Clarksville took me home!

A real home where I was loved and able to play with other dogs without cages between us! My foster peeps took good care of me for about a year, but we all knew this wasn’t my final stop. I went to adoption events, but always returned to my foster home and playmates; I was Pit Bull in an area inundated with unwanted Pit Bulls.

One day foster mom took me on a road trip. She lifted her camera at me, sitting there in the co-pilot seat; I looked right into the lens and hoped my forever Mom out there would see the love in my eyes.

Foster mom shared it with her Humane Society who shared it with another rescue in Tennessee where it was seen by a volunteer of yet another rescue in Maine. Guess what?

Yes! My forever Mom knew I was talking directly to her! Come get me! I didn’t know it at the time, but phone calls & emails were being exchanged, references called; within the hour of seeing me, forever Mom & Dad had their bags packed and were pacing with anticipation; a couple hours later, it was confirmed they could come get me!

At four-thirty the next morning, they were on the road, driving through a spring snowstorm, coming 1,500 miles from northern Maine to Clarksville, TN, just to adopt me! 🙂

Two days later, I met my forever family! Like we’ve belonged to each other forever! Mom said she had big plans for me. Being loved by my own family is big enough for me. But Mom had another volunteer career, with Maine’s first animal-assisted therapy organization called Silent Sidekicks.

Yes, the once virtually invisible little Pit Bull is very visible and has a wonderful career bringing smiles and comfort to everyone I meet!

The best part is, I am Pit Bull and as a Sidekick, I am able to spread the good word about bully breeds by showing people how much unconditional love and comfort I could give those I meet from young children in schools and libraries to the elderly in nursing homes, hospice and homebound and every one of every age in between!

I am Emma the Sidekick, proud to be a Pit Bull and especially proud of and grateful for the people who find dogs like me and rescue/foster/adopt us!

Love,
Emma

Parent: Darlene