Anyways, here's the story as it stands today....and of course a dog pic to accompany it:
When Sugar caught a glimpse of herself in one of the mirrors of her house or in the window where she sat to watch for her humans returning home from wherever it is they went without her, she was always surprised at what she saw, so surprised that sometimes she “woofed” loudly thinking that the beautiful white dog in the reflection must be a stranger on her property. But no, that pretty dog in the glass was always just her, Sugar-dog all silky white fur and soft, floppy ears and smiley face. Sugar knew herself to be a beautiful animal and that’s why she was always confused when stranger humans and stranger dogs were afraid of her. Sugar was the breed of dog humans call a “Pit Bull”. This name strikes fear in the heart of humans everywhere and dogs that Sugar met along her travels were not too fond of it either. At first Sugar thought it was fun that humans and dogs saw her and believed she was tough. Dogs in the dog park went out of their way to avoid Sugar, she never was picked on the way some other dogs were. After a while though, Sugar started to find this lonely and sad, humans wouldn’t pet her, they kept their little human pups, the ones called children, far away from her. Sometimes when they saw Sugar out walking they would get upset and use their loud voices to express their fear. Even Sugar’s own humans, who knew her sweetness and that she would never hurt anyone, had started to respond to the fears of the strangers. They kept Sugar on her leash and inside the house, they never let her wander too far and they kept her away from the human pups, even though they knew that Sugar loved the pups best. She loved to play with them and hug them and kiss them. All of this made Sugar very sad, she didn’t understand why all the humans and even the other dogs would be so afraid of her just because of a label. She didn’t think it was very fair. So, Sugar decided to do something about it. She was going to prove to everyone what a good dog she really was. Sugar was a very obedient dog most of the time. She didn’t enjoy having to disobey her humans in order to prove to everyone else that she was a good dog. But, Sugar was so tired of everyone being afraid of her that she was willing to risk consequences. So, Sugar came up with a plan. She would sneak away from home just long enough to meet some neighbours and change their opinion of her. Sneaking was not very difficult for Sugar to do; the difficulty was trying not to feel guilty about it. Sugar simply walked out of the gate in her yard one afternoon when she heard the sound of a human pup crying. She followed the sound a few houses down until she saw the child lying on the sidewalk with his bicycle lying alongside. The boy was crying so hard that he didn’t even notice Sugar until she was right next to him. Sugar very gently nudged the boy with her nose and he looked up into her brown eyes. He was so scared from his fall off the bike that he forgot to be afraid. Sugar sniffed the boy all over. She was a very sensitive, smart dog and could tell if someone was hurt just by smelling them. Her nose told her that the bone in the boy’s arm was very hurt. Sugar knew where he lived and thought she could help by getting the boy’s mother and bringing her to him. So Sugar licked the tears from the boy’s face, making him giggle a little through his pain and then ran as fast as she could to his house. Sugar couldn’t knock like a human and she couldn’t reach the doorbell so she used her paws to scratch at the front door until the lady opened it. ”What are you doing here? Where is your leash? Where are your owners? You’re not supposed to be wandering around here alone! You’re dangerous!” Sugar wasn’t sure if she was going to keep yelling or just shut the door in her face so she gently tugged on the woman’s pants with her mouth, being careful not to use her teeth. Still the woman was sure that Sugar was trying to bite her and so she screamed. Sugar knew that if she could just get the woman to follow her she would find her son and understand. So, Sugar decided that she had to break a big rule, she would go inside the house without an invitation and, even worse, she would take something from the house and carry it outside so that the lady would follow her. With her sensitive nose, and her love of food, Sugar had smelled something yummy inside since before the door even opened. She dashed passed the woman, following her sniffer into the kitchen where a tasty looking sandwich sat on the table, probably waiting for the hurt boy. This was not easy, Sugar thought back to when she was a puppy and stole food from the table. The trouble she got in! Then she remembered the little boy lying on the road and she did it, she put her front paws up on the tabletop and grabbed the pb&j sandwich from the plate. She ran back out the front door with the sandwich in her mouth. The boy’s mother stood for a second, totally shocked. Sugar was afraid that she wouldn’t follow her. What would Sugar do then? But just then the lady called out “Hey! Bad dog, what do you think you’re doing?” And Sugar was relieved as she headed down the lawn, making sure the lady was following her. Sugar stopped and turned towards the woman, she gently laid the sandwich on the ground and sat down next to it thumping her whip-like tail in a show of good faith. She turned her big brown up eyes up to the woman. They were filled with the hope that the woman would hear her son in the sudden silence when the woman stopped yelling. As they stood at the bottom of the yard, a cry could be clearly heard. Sugar could see that the woman heard the cry and knew it was her son. Now Sugar saw a different kind of fear in her eyes, fear for her son. She tugged the pant leg again and ”woofed” softly. When she got the woman’s attention she started down the street, stopping a few feet down and barking again. The woman came to life and moved towards Sugar slowly, she was confused about the idea of following this mean dog to her crying son. When the woman reached Sugar’s side Sugar reached up and licked her hand softly. This time the woman did look into the brown eyes and saw that she could trust Sugar. Together they ran down the street to her son. “Sammy! What happened? How long have you been lying here?” Sammy tried to reach out to his mother but the pain in his arm stopped him. “Ouch Mommy! I think something’s wrong with my arm.” “Honey, do you think you’ll be okay here while Mommy goes to get the car to take you to the doctor?” Sammy looked very frightened until Sugar stepped up, licked his tear-stained face and sat right next to him. She looked up at Sammy’s mom and thumped her tail. Sammy said, “I think I’ll be okay with Sugar here.” Sammy’s mom looked into Sugar’s soft eyes and knew it would be fine. She ran home to get the car. Sammy reached for Sugar with his good arm and together they sat and waited. When Sammy’s mother returned Sugar waited until Sammy was safely in the car. The lady kneeled down and gave Sugar a hug before Sugar ran home. Sugar was in BIG trouble when she got back home. Her humans had been looking for her all over and gave Sugar a lecture. Sugar felt guilty and walked into the house with her tail between her legs and her head hung low but still the happy warm feelings of having done a good deed was stronger than anything else. She wished she had words to tell them what she had been doing. Later that evening Sammy and his mother arrived at Sugar’s house. They had a basket of treats and toys for Sugar. Sugar’s parents opened the door and looked confused, “Hi Linda, how are you? What’s all this?” Then Sammy stepped out from behind his mother and Sugar’s owner exclaimed “Sammy! What happened to you?” Sugar sat listening. When Sammy’s mother explained what had happened Sugar came out into the doorway. She was so happy to see that Sammy was okay that it was very hard not to jump all over him but she stopped herself and waited for Sammy to bend down and hug her. Sugar’s humans were first confused and then pleased to hear about Sugar’s activities. Sammy and his mother called Sugar a hero. It made Sugar feel embarrassed but also very happy. After that day a lot of things changed for Sugar and her humans. The neighbours came to see her often and they brought their children to play. Sugar was invited for play dates with neighbourhood dogs. Sugar and her humans were very proud of how Sugar had managed to change the way people and animals thought of her and the word “pit bull”.
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