Bentley, Progress Report

First, a little background information. After we lost our previous dog, Maggie, it took us a long time to even consider getting another dog. That decision process has its own story, but I won’t go into it now. Suffice it to say, at our ages, we decided we didn’t want to go the whole puppy route; instead, we wanted to give a senior dog a good home, one that might not have as good a chance at adoption. Bentley had been in the pound and foster system for a while, originally in the Charlotte, NC area, but was moved several times. One morning, we drove to Greensboro, NC, to see him at his current foster home.

When we arrived, our first view of him was of him tied to a small tree alone in the front yard. He was a little thin but healthy, very alert, and immediately friendly and loving. Long story short, while I was talking to his foster mother, Bonnie was walking Bentley on a leash, and when she opened our car’s back door to get something, he leaped in. I guess we looked safe, and they were so anxious to get a 7-9-year-old American Pitbull Terrier male dog a home that the foster mom said we could take him with us, and she would follow up and handle the paperwork. I rode in the back seat with Bentley in my lap as we drove home.

I think he was a runner when we first got him over a year ago. My first attempts to walk him were more sled-dog style than anything else. With effort comes reward, and I’m happy to report that we took him to a park with remote soccer fields and let him off leash last week; he stayed close and kept checking in with us. He’s still totally reactive to other dogs and has a quick bark that’s at least twice as loud as his size would suggest, but beneath it all, he’s a 60+-pound lap dog who can’t get or give enough love. Oh, and stubborn — I did mention stubborn, didn’t I? 🙄