Why I Adopted a Pit Bull Named Zeus

by Jim McBean on September 22, 2009

  • Stumbleupon

Stop Puppy Mills

ZeusAs I’ve mentioned in other posts, I volunteer as a dog walker at my local SPCA. It’s not uncommon for volunteers to become attached to the animals that they volunteer with, and I have my favourites too. On this particular day however, I decided to walk a dog that I hadn’t walked before. There was a pretty little tan coloured female Pit Bull named Breezy that had recently arrived. She seemed nice, so I thought I’d walk her. Once we got outside, I noticed that there were parts hanging from Breezy that made it impossible for this dog to be Breezy at all, this dog was a boy!

He’s a handsome boy, tan in colour with a white stripe on the top of his head and white on his chest. Not a big Pit Bull, but in good shape, lean and muscular, and where there’s muscle there’s strength. This guy would do well in the “tractor trailer pull” event in a strong man competition!

We were both having a good time, I could tell he was, because he was smiling that famous Pit Bull smile. That’s when I noticed that his bottom left canine looked odd. On closer inspection I could see that the tooth was flat on top, no sharp point that a normal tooth would have, and that the flat part of the tooth was blackened. Same thing with the other three canine’s, and,  all of the molars on the top and bottom of his mouth seemed as if they’d had their points removed uniformly. My mind jumped to the whole Michael Vick horror show, and then to thinking that this dog, the one that I was walking right now, might have been prepped to be used as a bait dog by having his teeth filed. In that moment I knew I wanted to adopt this dog.

I don’t know for sure whether or not this dog’s teeth were filed or if somebody had plans to use him as a bait dog in a dog fighting ring. Maybe at some point he had been chewing on a chain or something and that wore his teeth down? It just seems very strange to me that all of the points on all of his teeth have been flattened, and so uniformly. I tried finding some pictures online of bait dogs with their teeth filed, but couldn’t find any.

I met this handsome boy on Thursday September 10th, and the following Thursday Zeus was at home with Sweety and I. The SPCA actually had a name on file for this guy, identified by a tattoo in his ear. The name they had on file was Zeus. I liked that name, so I kept it.

I made the following video this past Friday. Zeus’ and my first time at the ball park together. =]

YouTube Preview Image

  1. Zeus and Bella on the Beach
  2. One Manly Pit Bull
  3. Homeless Princess ~ SPCA Dog Needs A Home
  • Rachel_PawPurrry
    Oh wow...great observation... When I adopted Suede I thought I had a "fetcher". So when she chewed up her last rubber bone I bought her a ball...the one you can put the treats in...not even with treats does she touch the thing....so I bought another rubber "bone"....and realized that when she brings me the bone she isn't interested in fetching...but rather tug-of-war...I LOVE IT!!!
  • Yeah, I took his favourite treat (Tripe Treats), folded it in half (they're kind of bluuy stick shaped), and stuck it in his kong. He tries for about 10 minutes to get it out and if unsuccessful in that time, he gives up. So much for steely Pit Bull determination eh?

    I am thinking his thing is tug-of-war too. It didn't click till now when you mentioned it, but he'll take his kong or his ball and bring it to me, pushing it into me. Sometimes I'll grab the other end of his kong and he tugs and shakes it.

    I bought him one of the huge Booda tug ropes, he destroyed it in about 15 minutes, but he sured loved tugging in that 15 minutes, and I was seriously winded. :/

    May have to figure out another tug activity for him.
  • Since I wrote this post I've come to realize that Zeus' teeth weren't filed. Within a very short time I came to realize that Zeus is VERY ball obsessive. Once he's got it, he doesn't want to give it up, and it's not a possessive thing, he just really loves squishing his ball.

    So more than likely, his previous owners gave him tennis balls which over time wore down his teeth to where they are now.

    The only balls he gets now are the rubbery Chuckit ones.
  • I really enjoyed this piece but more so I LOVED the video of Zeus.....goes to show how ignorant people are of the breed....especially since he is happily playing with other dogs. How big is Zeus?
  • Hi Rachel. Zeus isn't a very big guy, maybe 50lbs or so.

    He's pretty good with most dogs, but seems to not like intact GSD's as I found out a couple of weeks ago. :/
  • Rachel_PawPurrry
    Yeah Suede is about 65-70 lbs and seems to be pretty aloof when it comes to other dogs UNLESS I get upset..so like when an unleashed dog approaches us...I have to try and maintain my cool because the more anxious I get the more anxious she gets...and it's hard because I walk my little Lhasa at the same time and he is pretty assertive..which gets other dogs nutty and then I get nutty then Suede starts to get nutty..Dog I love leashes!
  • Name
    What a beautiful boy! I'm glad to see he found a great home with you. I really appreciate that you have him in a regular flat collar and not the 2" double-thick collar that most people think they need to put their dogs in. It goes to show their ignorance and lack of responsible training on their parts. Give Zeus a hug from me and my 2 dogs.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: