Dogs
Former bait pitbull who never had anything to call his own carries security blanket for comfort
These dogs just want to be loved.
Emma Shallcross
05.13.21

Bub the pit bull had a difficult start to life.

When he first arrived at the shelter, he was incredibly underweight and covered in infections. His previous owners had used him as a bait dog in a dogfighting ring, so not only was he physically scarred, but things had taken a toll on him emotionally as well.

For these reasons, Bub was put on the top of the kill list at the shelter, until somebody came forward and adopted him with minutes to spare.

Sadly, Bub still wasn’t about to have his happy ending.

His new owner didn’t have much time for Bub, and the sweet pittie spent hours locked away in a garage, neglected. It was a far cry from the life he so badly needed and deserved.

Thankfully, this arrangement didn’t last long, before Bub ended up being adopted by a woman called Katharine. An avid dog-lover, Katharine had no plans to subject Bub to any more emotional or physical abuse.

It broke her heart to see how much his suffering had already affected him.

“He had come from some really traumatic situations, so he was extremely shut down and just not acting like a normal dog,” Katharine told The Dodo. “It was really awful to see, and all I wanted was for him to start showing his happiness.”

Katharine and her partner were incredibly patient and vowed to take things slow in order to let Bub come out of his shell in his own time.

Poor Bub had separation anxiety, so Katharine decided to start crate training him to help him feel relaxed while there was no one at home. Bub’s crate came with some super comfortable pillows and blankets – and that’s where Bub’s blanket obsession began.

“One day I did the usual routine of letting him out of his crate in the morning,” Katharine recalled. “He came out, then turned around and went right back in, grabbed his blanket, and dragged it out. He was just smiling and wagging his whole body, and snorting like a little pig.”

Bub did a lap around the house with the blanket, all the while smiling and wagging his tail.

Katharine believed that Bub’s blanket was not only a comfort to him but also an expression of his happiness.

“He was so happy he couldn’t express it on his own,” Katharine said. “He needed to get a prop to show us- or present us with some kind of gift.”

From that moment on, the blanket became a ritual whenever Katharine returned home. Even when Bub no longer needed his crate, as the front door opened and Katharine arrived, he would grab whatever was close to him and do a parade out of happiness.

Shoes, toys, and pillows were some of the things that Bub would present to his owner.

When he saw how happy it made Katharine to see him happy, Bub was even more determined to present her with his random gifts. Katharine began to film the adorable moments, and Bub loved to play up for the camera.

When the family got another pit bull called Simon, who was also rescued from a kill shelter, the pair hit it off straight away. And it wasn’t long before Simon started to copy Bub too!

Fueled by the attention Bub was getting, Simon quickly caught on that he needed to present Katharine with a gift, as well.

As Katharine walks through her front door, she is now greeted by two excitable, gift-bearing pit bulls. And to think, these two happy dogs were nearly put down!

Katharine is so glad that she took a chance on Bub and Simon, and wants to change the way that the world sees pit bulls.

“I have become a huge bully breed advocate since adopting these two dogs,” she said. “They see these two dogs that, you know, could look terrifying from the outside, just wiggling and carrying toys in their mouth like innocent little puppies.”

We absolutely agree! Take a look at Bub and Simon’s adorable story below.

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