posted 01-29-2004 08:19 AM         

11/27/2003
Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:
November 16 was my dog Cairo’s fifth birthday.

Actually, we don’t know his exact birthday because he was a shelter dog that we adopted. My family and I celebrate his adoption date as his birthday. We were told when we went to see him that he was around 2½ years old.

My daughter and I actually went to the shelter to see a litter of puppies that the facility had for adoption.

My daughter went around to the other side of the dog kennels as I was checking out the puppies and happened to see “Monte” renamed by us “Cairo.” He was an American pit bull terrier, quite large and somewhat intimidating to look at.

My daughter decided to put her hands inside his kennel and pet him. He licked her graciously and then bowed his head low to the ground. It was as if he was saying to her, “Thank you for petting me but I know that you are just going to pass me by like everyone else has done for the last 5½ months.”

The Warwick Animal Shelter must have seen something special in Monte/Cairo because he was brought in during the month of June and my family did not adopt him until the month of November. He was scheduled to be euthanized later during the same week that we had come in to see him due to the fact that he was beginning to deteriorate quickly and no homes were in sight.

My daughter called me over to see Cairo and I immediately thought, “Oh my, he looks so sad.” I, too, went over to pet him. Our eyes met and it was love at first sight. He was so noble and kind.

My family and I are no strangers to owning American pit bull terriers. Actually, that is the type of puppy that we had come to the shelter to see.

Our precious dog, Jasmine, was an American Staffordshire terrier. She had passed away earlier that summer of kidney failure. She was only three years old. Our vet came to our home to put her to sleep in our bed where she was the most comfortable with her loving family surrounding her. We took her death extremely hard.

I had purchased Jasmine from a breeder and had decided after her death to get a shelter dog that needed a loving family. I had originally wanted to adopt a puppy that I could mold and train to my liking, however, there was something special about Cairo.

I inquired about him and asked if we could walk him. It was like water skiing. He was terrible on a leash. Still there was just something special about him that neither my daughter nor I could shake. I called my husband and asked if he would mind an older dog instead of a puppy and told him about Cairo. I told him I needed to move fast because he did not have much time left. He had bought all the time he had. My husband agreed to our family adopting him, so we set forth and began the paperwork process. Cairo was now on his way to a new family and new beginning.

It was obvious to us that he had never had any type of obedience training, so we decided to set him up with a trainer that specializes in training “bully breeds.” My husband took an interest in the training classes. Soon, Cairo and my husband had a very special bond in progress. Cairo and my husband had extreme fun and also progressed at a fast rate. They both looked forward to Wednesday night classes. They made friends dog and human alike. On graduation day I cried just like I would have if one of my children were graduating.

My son is great with a camera. He had taken some pictures of my husband and Cairo. They came out so well that I decided to enter one of them in an “Owner Look Alike Contest.” They won first place! Their picture was posted in the Newport Daily News Paper. They had won a $100 gift certificate to a local pet store. We had decided to donate the gift certificate to the shelter that Cairo was housed at since they took such good care of him and gave him a second chance on life.

On November 16 we celebrated the second year we have owned Cairo. Of course, Cairo was modest and wanted a small celebration, but we wanted to give him a birthday party to remember. We took him to PetSmart and bought him the pull toy of his choice. We then bought him a football-shaped Carvel ice cream cake (actually for us to eat but he did not mind) next, a trip to Burger King for a bag of cheese burgers for all of us to share and finally a trip to the Agility rink for Cairo and three of his doggie friends to play a few rounds of agility. He went to bed very, very happy and very, very tired.

Cairo has a zest for life and a personality and style like I have never seen before. He adores children and even sleeps with our cat. I cannot imagine life before adopting Cairo. He is such a joy. Cairo is a true ambassador to his breed.

Cairo has just recently started agility classes and loves jumping and weaving. He is quite good at it for a beginner.

I hope and pray that more people will stop listening to the negative publicity about this wonderful breed of dogs and just give them a chance on life. People would be amazed at how easy it is to fall in love with them. True pit bulls in the correct hands are nothing like the media projects.

Happy birthday, Cairo!

Love your Family XX00XX00