Sonny Ray, Pasadena, CA

My name is Sonny Ray. My dad once saw me when I was little puppy right next to my little brother who he picked for a friend. I remembered this scene. I was all alone right after they left.

Eight months gone by and I met a special lady friend named Dolores. After meeting with Dolores I was relocated to new city called Asuza, CA. New home, new people. I was kinda excited to meet my new family but when I got there, they just threw me in the back-yard where there was nothing but a bit of water.

I didn’t eat, play, dig…not even one step outside the yard. I wasn’t even walked to see the other side of life.

The “Woof” on the street was that my special lady friend Dolores wasn’t taking care of my children right. She was too young to have these kids so each puppy started to passed away one by one. My dad was called by his younger sister Jessica to try to save my kids. He has a good heart and tried to save my kids.

He named the first Sonny but Sonny was too frail to take in any antibiotics—Sonny had an inch wound near his belly. My dad took Sonny to a near-by hospital where they just gave him a little too much. The next morning my dad’s eyes opened to discover Sonny had passed.

To overcome his sadness, my dad went back to the litter of my kids and there was one left. He named my second kid Sonny as well. My dad did everything he could for the next 22 days. On the 22nd day, my dad was feeding him and Sonny was sucking the milk so fast that it went through his nose and infected his lungs.

Sonny was on Life Support for 3 days and my dad really didn’t have enough money for this procedure to go on. He had no choice—he even borrowed money from friends but that wasn’t the case. He tried so hard to save my kid’s life. He cried to the doctor and told him he has to pull the plug. My dad was holding Sonny while he was praying and every beat of my dads heart was filled with emotion and seconds later, Sonny stop breathing.

My dad went in a phase of depression. A couple of months go by and my dad got a phone call from his sister Jessica. She tells him about me; That there is this 13-month old blue fawn pitbull and his name his “Bling.” (Oh, I forgot to mention that he gave me a name when I got to this “So-called New Life.”) She told him that “Bling” was the father of the puppies he tried to save.

So, my dad again went with his heart. Little did he know before he arrived that I was the same puppy he’d seen 13 months ago. My dad came through the gate and I rushed him with kisses and licks and the next thing you know, he’s on the ground in shock with tears streaming down his face.

My dad realized that this was the same puppy that he saw because he recognized the striking of my neck which  in his eyes looks like a ” Lighting Ray.” That’s why they call me Sonny Ray.

Months later we are back staying at a friends house in Venice, CA, and I have always wondered why my dad always wore sunglasses. I thought I’d mock him. So I did. I took them off him while he looked at me in strange way. Later on, he just gave in and picked up the sunglasses and put them on me and I didn’t hesitate to take them off. I walked, ran, I even hiked with sunglasses. The vet told my dad the sunglasses are actually better for my eyes because I do have light eyes.

My dad started coming up with ideas left to right and discovered that although I was a misunderstood breed but yet spreading the Best Free Medicine: Laughter. My dad thought of ways to giveback to the world and healing as many people as possible. My dad and I were meant to be together and for purpose. Our purpose is help and be happy.

Today we are making a difference one smile at at time and will continue to do that as long as we live. My dad started doing research on pit-bulls and discovered that my breed actually had a positive reputation once. I could go on but it seems to me that we are very misunderstood because of what People have done to us. I just don’t get it: We are being banned and placed on death row because of bad people’s faults.

This is why I, Sonny Ray, will continue to do what I do best and that’s make a difference one smile at time. You can follow my adventures on Instagram! 🙂

Parent: Josh