Gator is an adventurer.

He lived with a family before, but they weren’t around enough to suit Gator. Gator is also a pit bull. That term strikes fear into some people, but that is due to misinformation. In fact that term isn’t even a breed of dog: just a label hung on any dog with a short, muscular build and blocky head. Through this, and breed specific legislation, much harm is done in the name of ignorance. The proper name for this dog is Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and they are historically superb family dogs. At one time they were called Nanny Dogs, not Pit Bull, and were the favored choice as a companion animal for a family’s children. But I digress.

Being a Staffie, Gator needs a lot of attention and affection. He is happy to give the same, as well. He apparently wasn’t getting that where he was living and be broke out of his fencing and went adventuring.

Near where he lived was a hospital. Gator found the hospital and found that if he approached the E.R. doors, they’d open for him. So he trotted in, sat down by the admissions desk and gave the receptionist his biggest smile.

The staff loved on him for a bit, then got him into a room and called animal control to come pick him up and get him back home.

His owner retrieved him (paying a fine for his being a “dog at large”), fixed the fencing and put him back inside. Things were okay for a while. Then Gator got lonely again and decided to go visit his new friends at the hospital.

They laughed when he again came trotting in with his big goofy grin, “Hi ladies, I’m back! Pet me?”

Once again they contained him and called animal control.

In all, this scene was repeated FIVE times over an unspecified period of time. He was becoming a regular!

After the fifth time, the owner gave up, admitted he could not control Gator, and surrendered him to the local shelter. The shelter set about finding a rescue that would take him in so he would not end up being destroyed.

Steele Away Home Canine Foster and Rescue (Website, Facebook) accepted him and Amy drove a long ways to pick him up and bring him back to one of their foster homes. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any more luck in containing him than his former owner had and the foster mom called Amy to come help retrieve her escapee.

Amy arrived, stepped out of her vehicle and asked where Gator was last seen. At that moment a blur galloped out of the nearby woods and leaped into her car, perched in the passenger seat and said, “Let’s RIDE!”

Gator LOVES to ride!

They both laughed at the easy resolution of that problem!

Amy called me, explained the situation, and asked if we could take him in. Our foster care facility is sometimes called The Rock because of our heightened security measures. These have been developed over the years we’ve been doing this with the help of Blondie Bear (aka Houdini, who is a pit/lab mix) who would find and exploit any weakness in our containment. Once we were able to keep her in, we could keep anyone in!

Gator has been with us since late November (a little over a month at this writing) and has settled in nicely. We make sure he gets lots of attention and several exercise/free-play periods every day and he seems content to stay here with us. He is no longer testing the fences. In fact after his play time, he RACES back up the hill to the door of the house, eager to go inside to his room where he can be with all his friends.

Gator’s a good boy, he just needs lots of affection and exercise.

More on Gator:

• Gator the Goof (video)
• Assorted posts on Facebook