TONYA'S STORY

Tonya languished in a shelter for nearly six months, and her time was running out.  She lay in her cage all day, growing more and more depressed.  If someone stopped to pet her, she would cuddle against them through the bars, whining pitifully -- it was enough to steal anyone's heart.  However, the moment another dog walked by, she would turn into a snarling beast.  It was obvious that she had been fought, and no one wanted to adopt a pit bull with serious dog-aggression issues.  For-tunately, our founder saw through the fearsome appearance and defensive rage, and decided to take on the challenge of saving this otherwise affectionate dog.  She adopted Tonya and made arrangements for her to stay in a temporarily dogless household.

When Tonya was first introduced to Phantom, she immediately stiffened and lunged at his crate.  After 20 minutes of careful positive training, however, Tonya began to calm down, and her rage turned to curiosity.  She appeared to be confused that this "opponent" did not want to attack her.  A few days later, when the two were again cautiously brought together, Tonya lowered herself into a play bow and pawed at Phantom -- a complete turnaround!  Over the next few weeks, the two enjoyed plenty of supervised play sessions.  The occasional spats grew fewer and farther between, although the two pestered each other like bratty siblings.  When Niquita re-entered the household, there was concern about how the two females would get along... not to worry!  After the initial tension dissipated, Niqui appointed herself Tonya's "big sister" and the official mediator when playtime got a bit too rough.

Meanwhile, in a strange twist of "small-world-isn't-it" fate, a family member recognized Tonya as the littermate of his own pit bull.  He put her new Mommy in touch with the breeders who had sold her, and her sad history was revealed.  Born of ADBA-registered parents with famous bloodlines, Tonya had been sold to a man who had concealed his intentions to fight her.  The abuse to which she was subjected in her young life included a broken hip, allegedly caused by her owner slamming her against a wall.  When her breeders heard of her plight, they attempted to reclaim her, to no avail.  When she ran away and landed in the animal shelter, the staff wisely refused to release her to her former owner; however, the fight training she had received nearly ruined her chances of adoption.  Her breeders attempted to rescue her, but could not provide sufficient proof to convince the shelter officials to release her to them, either.  Convinced that their sweet pup would die there, they were overjoyed to hear that she had survived, and now lived in a safe and loving home.

Tonya was lucky enough to enjoy the same love and care lavished on Phantom and Niquita.  She continued to receive training to overcome her mistrust of other dogs, and made tremendous progress.  In fact, her Mommy hoped to one day enroll her in an animal therapy program, where her abundant affection for humans could be put to good use.

Sadly, Tonya's fight training had begun at a very early age, and had been conducted in a brutal manner which we refer to as "trigger training."  She had been forced to attack cats as a warm-up for the fight ring, and the scent of cat blood became the "trigger" which would drive her into a fighting frenzy.  The scent would evoke an "attack or be killed" reflex.  One day, while sniffing beneath the bushes in the back yard, Tonya and Niquita came across the site of a fight that had taken place between two cats irresponsibly allowed to run loose in the neighborhood.  The smell of feline blood, paired with Niquita's closeness, triggered the reflex that had been beaten into Tonya from puppyhood.  She turned on Niquita in a vicious attack.  The dogs were separated with great difficulty, leaving both with bloody but not life-threatening injuries.

With great sorrow, we made the difficult and painful decision to have Tonya euthanized.  Although she was no threat to humans, she was a danger to other animals, even those she loved.  Rehoming her to a dogles household was not an option, as a routine trip to the veterinarian could have ended in tragedy.  Had the attack been on another person's dog, she would have suffered the same fate of euthanasia; we decided it was far better for her to drift off in the arms of people who deeply loved her than to die alone among strangers.  So with heaviness of heart, we cradled our poor Tonya in loving arms as she made her peaceful exit from this cruel world.  The last words she heard were our affirmations of love.

Each day, we miss our sweet puppy angel.  Still, we thank God that we were able to save this dear creature from a life of pain and fury in the pits and give her a year of happy life to make up for her brutal beginnings.  More than ever before, we are determined to battle the evils of dog fighting.  Had Tonya been spared the wicked practice of trigger training, she would have been the perfect pet.  Sweet and gentle with humans, she deserved better than the short life she was granted here on earth.  We pray that more people out there are willing to step up to the challenge of saving these dogs from the horrors they face for the sake of gambling and sick entertainment.

If Tonya's story has touched your heart, or made you angry, please join our cause.  Write your city officials and your congressman, and tell them more needs to be done to battle the "sport" of dogfighting.  Please, please do not let Tonya's death be in vain.