Ocotber Photo Contest Winner: Super Scrappy by Alan

Scrappy was one of my three favorite dogs of all time. He was very people friendly and loved playing the spring pole. A spring pole is a strong spring (like a garage door spring) hanging from a tree or some type of post. Most Pit Bulls love playing Tug-o-War with the spring. Like a treadmill, some people wrongly assume it is used to train for dog fighting. While this is true, there are many people such as myself who would never fight their dog; but use the spring pole as a means for the dog to enjoy recreation, burn off excess energy and stay healthy. Scrappy is a constant reminder of how fast something can go bad. We live in the country and were preparing to take a trip and Scrappy was coming along for the ride. I didn’t realize that a neighbor who lived behind me had a dog. I let Scrappy off lead and he followed me into the garage to get his crate. As I was moving a couple items to get his crate, he left the garage. I didn’t worry about it because my wife was on the other side of the door and I wrongly assumed she would see him. She was putting the back seat down and he walked right past her unseen. In less than 5 minutes, he ran to the house behind us, got into a fight with the neighbors dog and was shot. The neighbor happened to be a police officer and a jerk that carries a gun. We heard the commotion and ran towards the neighbor’s house just in time to see him shoot Scrappy as he was running away. He died in my wife’s arms. I tell this story often to remind people just how quickly something can go wrong. You must always keep an eye on your dog just as you would a baby. In those few short minutes, I lost something that can never be replaced. It was a tragic mistake that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Scrappy was a great dog and a great friend and we will always love and miss him.