For the love of a Pit Bull

I have always wanted a pit bull. For years and years I have wanted one but my husband has always said no. I've wanted a tannish one with a brown muzzle. Short and stocky with that big ole head and mouth that splits its face from ear to ear when it breaks out in a smile! Then.... I saw the blue pits. Gorgeous gray blue colors with white markings on them and I was hooked. I was in LOVE for real! I asked my husband and it was NO way, NO how, will we ever own a pit bull, do NOT ever ask me such a stupid thing ever again! He was scared. He was sucked into the frenzy of how the media portrayed pit bulls as evil baby eating machines and he would never, ever, let me own one! So after 10 years of asking every now and then, I just gave up. I do dog rescue and he wouldn't so much as let me rescue one and bring it into my home. He doesn't know of the dozens and dozens I have helped with transports and finding them new forever homes. And I would never tell him for fear he wouldn't let me be involved in dog rescue anymore. Yes, he really despised pit bulls that bad! He wanted nothing to do with them. Not on his property and surely not near his family! So I thought for sure I was screwed and would never get to own a pit bull in my lifetime....

Fast forward to this past Fall/Winter 2010~~I was told of a little blue pit girl just up the road from me that needed a home. I was sad because I knew I couldn't have her but I would help her find a home. I went to meet her and instantly I knew I had to have this dog! She was perfect for me! Maybe if you don't hang out with lots of dogs like I do, you wouldn't understand but there are dogs that you meet that you just KNOW are meant for you...like they were just waiting for you to find them. Well she jumped on my lap and smothered me with kisses and even cried when I stood up so I could breathe because I couldn't catch a breath with her bouncing all over me! lol Then she just sat at my feet and looked and me and we locked eyes and that was IT, we fell in love that second and I knew I had to have her, but how? How would I convince my pit bill phobic husband that she really wasn't going to eat the grand kids and kill our other dogs and cats? This man was scared of pits and nothing I ever said or did to convince him otherwise, would change his stubborn mind.

I decided to sleep on it and a week later I figured out an almost fool proof trick! It just HAD to work! During this week I went over to my friends house a few times and visited this pup, named Tipsy, and we would play and act all silly and I would hear her cry at the door as I walked away. Broke my pea pickin' heart too!
So, we made the "plan".... I would walk with my husband to my friends house to visit because I haven't seen her in like 5 years or more and just found out she lived just up the road from us and I needed to walk a bit and blah blah.... I told my friend not to tell him what breed of dogs she had (3 pits) and if hubby asked, to say something like a lab/boxer mix or something and he would probably fall for it because he really didn't know what a pit bull was anyhow!! And she was to make sure he hears her say that Tipsy is looking for a new home!
So we get there and we're bombarded by the door by an 8 mo old brindle pit and 2 smaller blue pit pups and two kids, ages 3 and 6. Of course the dogs are all over the place wiggling their butts and grabbing toys for us to play with them and licking us 'til they forced us down on the couch so they could suffocate us and hopefully kill us so we could never leave ever again!! LOL
My friend wanted a cigarette so I went outside with her and left hubby with the kids and dogs (terrible I know but all part of the plan). We came back in but just stayed in the kitchen talking and we could see into the living room where the kids, hubby and dogs were and Tipsy was right on my hubby's lap admiring him like he was some sort of God! The look in her eyes was something else. If I only had a camera on me that day, that shot would have been priceless! The plan had been working! She was hooked on him just as bad as she was on me! It didn't take long and hubby was talking to her and petting just her and shooing the other dogs away and then he yells out "Hey, what's this one's name?" I tell him it's Tipsy. He gives me a funny look and says, "That's not a name for a dog!" and he laughed! We left shortly after that and I let it sink it about this dog.

He came home from work a few days later and asked if I wanted to go for a ride.... thinking we were running to the store, I threw on my shoes and jacket and off we went~~~ straight to Tipsy's house!! I panicked! I didn't warn my friend that we were coming over or anything! This was NOT part of the plan!! Oh shit, what the hell was he thinking?? Why were we going THERE! We get up to the door and he explains that he just wants to play with Tipsy, if that would be ok....so we're out back and he say "Hun, I think I really like this dog. She loves me, ya know, like you have that bond with Simon and like you did with Brenna. This is different with her, I can't explain it but it is". Here I am looking at this man crouched down with this pit sitting as close to him as she can possibly get to him and every now and again looking up at him and licking his face with a tiny lil kiss... Priceless, I tell ya! PRICELESS! So he asks me if he could have her and I'm thinking he will hate her guts if he really knew her breed but of course I said yes but I couldn't run around like my head was cut off and jump for joy even though I wanted to! LMAO The plan worked woot woot!! I had my blue pitty baby and hubby thought of it all on his own! hahaha! How perfect could that be? I so love it when a plan comes together!

BUT Here's the clincher....we had her for a OVER a week....more like close to two weeks and he is loving the heck out of 'his' dog. She sleeps in bed with him, goes in the car everywhere with him, eats supper with him, names her Gypsy Rayne, and even sleeps on the recliner with him....
One day he looks across the supper table at me and says: "So, hunny, what breed do you think she is?" I just about choked on my fork! I didn't know wtf to say! Do I tell him the truth and risk him giving her up? Or do I lie and risk his finding out the truth and THEN giving her back? Either way me and the dog are screwed!! I panicked, got up and went into the bathroom.... I was gone like 5 whole minutes and he calls out to ask if I'm alright and I yelled back that indeed I was alright but he may not be..... He opens the bathroom door and looks at me sitting on the sink and asked me why the hell I was sitting there... lol
So we go back to the supper table and I sit down with him and tell him that Gypsy is a pit bull, a true blue, pure bred, American Pit Bull Terrier and the mans face went white....pure frickin' WHITE!!!
He gets up, goes to the living room, with Gypsy hot on his heels of course. He sits in the recliner and Gypsy hops on his lap like usual and lays across him.
I stayed in the kitchen. I didn't wanna hear it. I didn't want to explain this again and again...
I didn't hear anything for the longest time...the table was cleared, dished were done and the floor swept. I dared to venture out to the living room and this is what I found: Click the picture to make it bigger...

Yes he still loves her and yes they still do everything together, although I take care of her the most seeing as though I'm home all day. And I did trick him into getting my pit bull but wouldn't you have? Just look at that face!!
How could you resist this mug??
And still every few weeks he thanks me for showing him the truth about pit bulls. Thank goodness Gypsy is a mellow one and not a hyper one. The destructive side of her is for another story, another time! LOL