Hector the therapy dog has big paw-prints to fill - and fills them neatly


Posted on Jun 12, 2009
By Julia Szabo

Comments(3)

 

FetchDog friend Andrew "Roo" Yori reports that Hector the Pit Bull, adopted brother of the famous flying-disc-dog champion Wallace the Pit Bull has cleared yet another hurdle on his journey to become one of America's most accomplished and high-profile Pit Bulls.

 Hector does not possess his brother's breathtaking athletic ability; only rarely does lightning strike twice in the same family. But Hector obviously has many other talents to share, and cultivating those natural gifts is a big part of Roo's mission to steer public perception of Pit Bulls away from widely-held negative stereotypes. While Wallace may leave behind big paw-prints, Hector is doing his utmost to fill them in his own unique way.

Despite impressively inclement weather that Roo describes as "raining sideways some of the time," Hector passed an outdoor temperament test put on by the American Temperament Test Society, a.k.a. ATTS and A Rotta Love Plus, Minnesota's Pit Bull and Rottweiler rescue. This handsome dog, one of the lucky survivors of Michael Vick's notorious Bad Newz Kennel, has to date proudly earned these prestigious letters following his name: CGC (for Canine Good Citizen); TDI (Therapy Dogs International); and now, TT, which signifies that he's been Temperament Tested.

Roo also reports that he and Hector made their first official therapy dog visit last week and, not surprisingly, "Hector rocked it!" The lucky beneficiaries of Hector's TLC were patients of the prestigious Mayo Clinic. "Patients from the area that wanted to meet Hector were brought into the dining room and they formed a  big circle for Hector to go around and have them pet him," Roo says. "If people scratched him just right, he would lean into them. And once he met everybody, he would wait and look out the door for more people to come in and join us. When they did, he would get all wiggly to welcome them into the room. He was a big hit."


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Comments
Great piece Julia! Loved it!
Posted By Roo
on Jun 12, 2009
Thank you for the wonderful piece on Hector. Being the owner of two American Pit Bull Terriers I really appreciate positive stories about the breed. Thank you for reporting on the other side of pit bulls, and showing how rehabilitation can work!
Posted By Meghan
on Jun 15, 2009
this is a test
Posted By Jamie2
on Jun 17, 2009
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