Write On ~ Creative Writing Services

Posted by Lisa Manyon for Niko Manyon www.writeoncreative.com/blog 

Hey. I’m Niko. I want to tell you my story because it’s pretty cool. My birth parents are Bo and Ninners. I was born in Tri Cities, Washington and my parents were rescued by a volunteer organization there. Lisa found me on petfinder.com and she had to fill out a potential adopitive parent form to make sure the Manyon home was a good fit for me. Once that was done, and by the way the Manyon home passed with flying colors, (whatever that means), Lisa was able to arrange a time to meet me. Anyway, how cool is it that Lisa took the time to do paperwork and find me just so she could give me a good home?

When I was only about four weeks old, Lisa and John drove all the way from Idaho to meet me and my siblings. They also brought my mom, Ninners, some bones and biscuits and she really liked that. We were living with at a rescue foster home at the time.

I was too young to leave my mom, so, the Manyon’s had to come back and pick me up after I was 6 weeks old. In fact, they drove all the way back from Idaho to get me and my sister Zoe.

I have to tell you that so far, living with the Manyon’s has been an adventure. First they picked me and my sister up from my foster home outside of Kennewick, Washington, where coincidentally (big word, I know. Lisa taught it to me) our kind are banned (keep reading to learn more about the bad rap our breed has). Then they took us to a bed and breakfast in Oregon along the wildlife preserve portion of the Rogue River. The picture above is of me and Zoe and Lisa at a rest stop in Oregon. We were so tiny that we both fit in her lap.

Finally we ended up in Northern California where I got to meet my human grandparents (Lisa’s parents) and Zoe (that’s my sister) found her new home. She was actaully a birthday present for Lisa’s dad. We spent about a week there hanging out and playing and then John, Lisa and me drove home. On the way, we stopped by the Yakima Valley in Washgington to pick up some wine (Lisa really likes wine) at Eaton Hill Winery and meet some more of my human family.

Once we were back in Idaho, I discovered my home at the Manyon’s and it’s great. I have a huge backyard, my own beds and basically, I’m really spoiled. Well, not too spoiled because Lisa read Cesar Milan’s book and she’s pretty good about teaching me manners (although I’d really like to go for more walks and I keep trying to remind her that Cesar says we should go every day. Some dog’s owners, I tell you!!!). Plus, John’s teaching me to catch biscuits. It makes me feel really good knowing that they love me so much and because they feed me quality food and take time to play with me, I’m really growing fast. Here I am at about 3, 4 and 6 months old.

Now I’m 9 months old and probalby about 75 pounds. I’m sure Lisa will post some new pictures soon. I’m super tall. So, tall that I can reach the top of the stove and the other night a really nice guy brought a pizza to the house. While John and Lisa were watching TV I helped myself to a slice. Apparently, I’m not supposed to do that. Who knew?  It smelled good and was within jaws reach.

Well, anyway, that’s my story. Oh, and by the way, in case you couldn’t tell. I’m an American Staffordshire Terrier. More commonly known as a pit bull. You might not be able to tell because my ears and tail aren’t docked. That was part of the adoption agreement and not something Lisa would have done to me anyway. That’s because Lisa is an animal lover and she especially likes pit bulls. She tells me she’s really fed up with all the media hype about our breed and isn’t happy that we get a bad rap when it really boils down to bad owners. Plus, she says the only dog that ever attacked her was black lab and they’re supposed to be really friendly.

In fact, you should have seen her after she read an Associated Press article in the newspaper the other day. She found out that in Lane County, Oregon in the past seven months, more than 330 pit bulls have arrived at animal shelters and only 37 have been adopted. Tom Howard is the Lane County Animal Regulation Authority agency supervisor and he says there’s a big misconception about pit bulls and that they really are good dogs. Jill Buckley, director of legislative services for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York City says, rather than the breed, it’s the owner’s behavior that is most important in determining dog’s behavior.

Lisa couldn’t agree more and she’s going to help spread the word to find homes for the puppies. But she did say that just with any breed, you want to have some background on the bloodline and history of how the dog was treated by previous owners if it’s not a puppy. And, she stressed to never leave any dog unattended with children. If you want to adopt a pit bull, contact http://www.co.lane.or.us/Animals/ and to learn more about responsible pet ownership, please check out Cesar Milan’s books and videos here http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/ Be sure to check your local animal contol ordinances to make sure it’s okay to have a pit pull in your area. It’s true, we aren’t allowed in some places and that’s why I’m glad there are people like Lisa out there who really love us.

I sure hope those other dogs find homes as nice as mine. Thanks for listening to my story.  

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 11:55 am and is filed under Niko's Corner ~. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.