My pitbull that is gentle, loyal, and affectionate

Sadie is short for Marvin Mercedes Jasmin Jade, which we named her during a Super Bowl get-together at my house because we couldn't come up with a name and a lot of people had suggestions. She is an awesome pet with a lot of personality. Kids love her and she is as gentle and loving as can be, even when they jump on her, hit her in the face, pull her tail, steal her toys, and take her food. My niece and nephew have been around her since they were infants, and Sadie has always been very sweet to them no matter what. She is as friendly as can be to everyone, even strangers. Except when we are all sleeping and someone gets close to our house or starts walking toward my bedroom, then she gets protective.

Pit Bulls used to be called "America's Dog" and I can tell why. They are very intelligent, eager to please, affectionate, loyal, fun, energetic, and have more personality than most people I know. Anyone that has ever owned a pitbull, or boxer for that matter, knows that these are great animals and would not hurt a soul unless they were raised and taught to be that way. Even then, a large percentage of pitbulls still won't attack people or fight other dogs.

I bought Sadie for $50 in a WalMart parking lot when I was 18 without really thinking about how much of a responsibility a pet is. Owning a pet and caring for it is very similar to having a child, and it is a lot of work, stress, and joy. I know I couldn't pass up on Sadie even if I had it to do over again, but I would wait until I was a little older and in a better position to have more time to devote to her and a stable home without moving for jobs and college.

When I got Sadie, she fit in the palm of my hand and weighed less than 5 pounds. After we left the Wal-Mart parking lot where we bought her, my girlfriend and I wanted to take her to PetSmart and get her a few things, like food, a toy, treats, collar, etc. I was driving, so Madi was holding her and playing. Out of no where, Madi jerks her hand and yells "Ouch!". Sadie had bit her, which it seems her mouth was constantly moving for the first month haha. I thought it was funny and told her that there is no way that cute little Sadie could have hurt her at all. So to prove my point, I put my finger in Sadie's mouth and to my surprise her tiny teeth were actually quite sharp and it hurt. Lesson learned on my part.

Sadie was very active and fit, but when she would eat her stomach would grow four times its normal size so we had to keep an eye on how much we fed her and what she ate. I lived in an apartment in Austin while I was going to college and Sadie would stay a few weeks with me then a few weeks with Madi. I lived in a nice apartment with white carpet, a little patio with the 4-inch spaced black metal fence, and new white carpet. I liked to give Sadie treats and spoil her. One time I decided she would love a big marrow bone (red on the inside). I figured it would last her a week since she was so small and it was pretty large. I left it with her while I went and grabbed a bite to eat and went to the mall or something, and when I got back the entire bone was almost gone!! Poor Sadie had stomach trouble and my new white carpet ended up with several red stains that were impossible to get out :(

When Sadie would stay with me, I would take her outside and we would run around and play. She really enjoyed being out there, so when I was busy inside, I would leave my patio door open and let her look through the fence since she was obviously too big to get through the rails. I would always check on her every minute or so to make sure nothing happened to her or she wasn't stuck in the fence because she would try sometimes and her fat belly would get stuck. I did this one time and she wasn't there! My heart dropped and I thought I was going to have a panic attack or something, which is very strange because I am very calm and very few things can rattle me or get me upset. I flew out the patio door and hurdled the fence, looking everywhere for Sadie! I looked for five minutes and couldn't find her anywhere, and the road was only a hundred yards from my patio so I was really panicking now. I climb the stairs and look on both floors above me, because sometimes Sadie will climb the stairs (one at a time very slowly, but she would climb them). Finally I call Madi and tell her I lost Sadie. That did not go well at all and she was just as upset as I was, if not way more. I decided it would be a good idea to get her bag of treats and shake it around outside and hope she hears it, because no matter what she is doing she will always quit it and run to me when she hears her bag of treats. I walk down my hallway and turn into my door, and there is Sadie sitting at the front door waiting for me to let her in :) She was smart enough to know that there were two doors and we always go in through the front, and had been there the whole time I was losing my mind searching for her!

When Sadie was a puppy, I took away the bed frame under my bed so it would be easier for her to climb up and down. This still wasn't enough, so I made her little stairs out of pillows and things. She also had a little pink framed "Princess Bed" that Madi decorated with curtains, a pillow, and stuff that she would sleep on for a little while before coming to my bed. After she would trudge up her little stairs, she would walk all over my face and head until she found her spot across my neck. For whatever reason, she loved sleeping on my neck and fit perfectly there. Once or twice a night, I would feel Sadie licking my ear lobes and then biting them until I got up to take her potty. It would tickle, and then hurt but still tickle haha, so I couldn't help but not get upset with her. Everything she did was so adorable, I could never be upset or angry with her.

I had a recliner in my apartment and every time I couldn't find Sadie, she would be under and inside it nibbling on the plastic and edges of the recliner. She teethed for a long time and her poor mouth was just always chomping, even when she didn't have anything in her mouth to chew. She had toys, but went through them like crazy. One of her favorite toys was a hanger. She would pick it up off the ground (a hanger was twice her size at the time) and prance around the house wagging her tail like crazy. Every time I would grab it, she would shake her head and end up tripping over it. She would also get the broom, which was six times her size, and run around the apartment with it. She would always get it stuck in the door ways and I would have to turn it for her to get through to the next room.

Madi works at an animal hospital in our town. I work about 5 miles from our house and she works about 10 miles from home in the same direction as my work. One day I was about to leave work for lunch and got a phone call and my caller i.d. said it was from her work. It was Madi and she was frantic! A dog had been hit by a car and had lost a lot of blood so they couldn't operate on the dog without a transfusion but they were out of blood in their clinic!! Madi volunteered Sadie to be a blood donor and I had to hurry as fast as possible to bring Sadie to give her blood and save the other dog.

So I leave work a little early and hurry home to get Sadie. I made sure she drank some water and let her go to the bathroom before we left. She loves going for car rides and was as happy as could be getting to ride with me. We pulled up to the animal hospital and of course she wanted to sniff around and check everything out, meet all the people at the clinic, and walk around the whole place. Unfortunately, there wasn't time for her to do her usual investigating and socializing. We had to get her to the back room as soon as we got there.

They put her up on a table and held her down so they could shave a spot in her neck to draw the blood (they take blood from the jugular in animals for some reason). After that, I held her still since she is comfortable with me (usually the vet tech does that) and she was extremely nervous and rattled. The doctor had a very hard time finding her jugular and had to stick her several times before getting it, and even then it wasn't in there too good and took a long time to fill up the blood bag. I felt horrible for Sadie and wasn't very happy with the doctor, as you might expect.

Luckily everything else went good and they were able to save the other dog's life because of Sadie's emergency blood donation :) So now she got the new nickname of Super Sadie! They also gave her $50 for her donation, which bought her several treats and toys.

I didn't know it, but Madi had Sadie put on the "emergency call list" for when the clinic is low on blood. This past week (about 3 months after the emergency donation), Super Sadie was summoned to save another life. It went better this time, they didn't even have to shave her neck (which is good because it finally all grew back to normal). They said she did great, probably the best they have ever had because they usually have to sedate dogs to draw their blood.

I don't like Sadie having to go through the trouble and anxiety of being held down and blood being taken out of her jugular, but saving other dogs' lives is a great reward and I know Sadie is proud of it. She also enjoys the treats and toys afterward... Just another day in the life of a Super Hero - Super Sadie :P

These days, her favorite toys are the big green dental bones with the white ends that have little knobs on them and ropes. She loves to tear the cotton out of stuffed animals, or anything with cotton in it. She hasn't torn up anything of mine or Madi's in two years or so, which is great. She never really tore up anything of mine, but she would always go after Madi's stuff when we would leave her alone at home. One time, we left her at the house while we were going to the grocery store or something. We got a few minutes out and realized we forgot something, I think Madi's purse, so we turned around and went back home. When we got there (less than 10 minutes after we left), Sadie had eaten 3 pairs of Madi's shoes, turned over the trash can and drug trash into Madi's room, and ate a shock off of Madi's Nike Shocks. Sadie was already sleeping on the bed when we got there, like nothing happened. She had obviously gone straight to work when we walked out the door and did all that damage in a matter of minutes. Madi was so upset, although I thought it was pretty funny that Sadie was already sleeping after doing all that in such a short amount of time. Sadie has grown up since then and doesn't throw those little tantrums any more, thankfully because I always ended up having to buy Madi more shoes lol.

Sadie still thinks she is the size of a puppy. Every time I sit on the couch, she jumps up and lays in my lap no matter what I am doing or what is in my lap (like my laptop). She even walks around and back and forth on my lap to decide the most comfortable position... Or she is wondering why she isn't fitting right like she used to! As I mentioned earlier, she used to sleep on my neck and fit perfectly. Now, weight 60 pounds and being much larger, she still thinks she fits perfectly and tries to sleep across my neck at night. Sometimes I let her when I am really tired, until I just can't breath anymore and finally ease her off. She is so spoiled though, that even when she knows I'm trying to get up or scoot her over she will not budge on her own.