Bully Bash

“I might pick her up after work for a sleep over,” I said to Jessica. “That’s fine, just text me if you decide to, I’ll be here.” Then after work, I texted her, “I forgot I have to pick up Julius, I guess Tora will have to stay in the kennels tonight.”
Her response was simple and yet I still felt crushed. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
I couldn’t let it go and since traffic was light, and I picked up Julius easily, I called our long suffering Shelter Director yet again. “If you’re going to be there for a little longer, we’re on our way.”

She and Tora met me and Julius at the door and we decided to do a brief interaction out front and when it became apparent that the combined 160+ pounds of dog were going to get along, we let them play out in the yard for a few minutes where 8 year old Tora became a bouncy happy spring chicken (or perhaps a cougar with her platonic interest in that young stud gelding).

Familiar pose, different bully.

Satisfied that the Pitty Van would survive the boundless joy of these two, we loaded them up and I headed for home where Asia was already preparing the house with gates and closing Ray off for a while before any introductions could occur. Julius and Tora bounced about the yard and after a bit we decided to do some brief intros with Ray. I put Julius in the garage for a while and Asia and I did some leashed brief meets with the two American Bulldogs. Ray, who has way fewer social skills, seemed eager to meet this buxom beauty, but was somewhat over stimulated (though not nearly to previous degrees) and he did snap at her a couple of times. Tora, in her eternally sunny manner, just ignored Ray’s rudeness. We decided to let Ray decompress for awhile upstairs and after about an hour, he was happy to be downstairs with the rest of us, though behind a gate.

Asia, who is obsessed with Miss M, loves, loves, loves Tora.

So, how did our Bully Bash go? Well, Tora (or Big Girl, Big Mama, Mama as she responds to) was probably the worlds most perfect and appreciative guest. She wore a huge smile on her face the entire evening, and was eager to do anything we asked of her, which mostly consisted of receiving treats and lovings.

Please do not notice the poor condition of our yard.

So if you don’t want an affectionate dog, don’t adopt her. She settled on her mat and helped cook dinner without being a beggar-face, so if you want a rude dog, don’t adopt her. She got along really, really well with Julius (my rock star) and did really well with Ray, so if you aren’t looking for a friendly, mature dog with lots of life to live and lots of love to give, don’t adopt her.



Sweet houseguest

I love how she just found a cozy spot in the kitchen to settle in for the night, but upon learning she would be sleeping with the girls, she just grinned from ear to ear and settled in like the perfect dog she is.

American Bulldogs-Johnson type and Scott type.  Oh, and the AmStaff.

When you first meet this Big Mama, and move to pet her, she lays low on the floor and wiggles her tail, but after about an hour, she was confident and readily accepting of attention and even nudged Julius out of the way (nicely) to get her share of lovings. She is not a resource guarder as well as we can figure, because she and Julius were taking treats together, and he even stuck his big head in her breakfast bowl and she just backed up to let him have a taste. She did really well with the baby and with friends who stopped by and although she is 8, she has so much life and love yet to give. People often say they won the jackpot with certain dogs, but with Tora, you’d be winning the Powerball Mega Millions. So if you don’t want to win the Powerball Mega Millions, don’t adopt her.