Shelby

Where do i begin my story of our Shelby Lee! It is like writing a book from the end to the beginning! My wife and i were not looking for a dog as our last 2 dogs a Chocolate Lab and a Chocolate Spaniel had gone to the happy hunting grounds. The lab, Abraham Lincoln 4 years ago and then Sassy the spaniel 1 year after.They were a big part of our lives and are in our memories and photos. As i was saying we weren't looking! A friend/coworker mentioned to me one day about a dog her son had but was not able to give it the attention it should have because he was made to work so many hours and wondered if we were interested in adopting his dog? I told her we were not looking but i would mention this to my wife, but we were not looking! She also mentioned that it happened to be a Pit Bull and knew that my daughter had one and i had talked how much i loved her dog! Backing up here a little, when my daughter told us she was getting a Pit Bull puppy we went right through the roof! We had to put our foot down and say, no way are you getting that breed of a dog, period! Well she was in her early 20's and did it anyway! Kids! Well Niko James was and is one of the nicest dogs i have ever know. He is such a gentleman of a dog and even though he is still with my daughter, age is starting to catch up with him at 14 years old. Now back to Shelby. To my surprise my wife said that we could go take a look at the dog and as it was a 2 year old and well behaved it was worth a look but with stipulations, 1-tell her we will come and see the dog and then we would go home and think about it first before deciding,2-Her son must okay this 100%,3-when and if we do take her it would just be a trial to see if she liked us as well, and then if we all agreed we would then cross the bridge to having her.
So we went to visit this dog at my coworker/friends home way out in the boonies. When we arrived we were greeted at the door by two Golden Labs, mother and daughter i think, but no other dog was around. After our hello's around the corner comes this beautiful Pit Bull, Shelby! She was just so nice and let us touch her and never barked at all then she just laid down on the floor as nice as can be.I took a few photos and the coworker/friend told us that Shelby always barked whenever someone came over but she hadn't this time.As we left for home we were just kicking ourselves for not taking her with us for an overnight stay, just to see how she would do. As we were driving home just a short way down the road my wife Toni and i saw this lone tree just standing out so strong against the winters wind, cold and snow! So dynamic were the steel grey skies, the drifted snow, and the aged exposed roots. The link will bring you to the image i produced of this amazing moment. I named this piece 'Strength and Hope" , in memory of our past dogs and the strength to take a chance once again. Shelby will have been with us now 2 years in February of this year and even though she has her quirks she is a friendly, loving, sweet animal that has become a part of our family. Remember, "To Thy Own Self Be True"! Thomas Young