WHAT A REMARKABLE DOG STORY
SOME OF YOU REMEMBER THAT I WAS ATTACKED IN THE DOG PARK OF THE WAGGING TAIL BY A PIT BULL OWNED BY THE IRRESPONSIBLE BOYFRIEND OF A TENANT OF MINE. THE DOG RACED TOWARD ME (THANKFULLY NOT MY CUSTOMER WITH WHOM I WAS STANDING) BIT MY BUTT AS I TURNED MY BACK TO HIM, THEN TORE MY LEFT ARM OPEN JUST AS THE OWNER WAS GRABBING FOR HIS COLLAR. IT WAS A TERRIBLY TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE BUT I NEVER SHUNNED AWAY FROM PIT BULLS AS A BREED, DESPITE OTHER MORE HORRIFIC STORIES I HAVE BEEN TOLD. MY WONDERFUL NEICE, SAMANTHA, WHO PASSED AWAY A YEAR AGO, HAD A DARLING FEMALE PIT WHO GREW UP WITH HER CHILDREN. THERE ARE AN ABUNDANCE OF GOOD ONES I KNOW.
THE FOLLOWING STORY IS FROM READER’S DIGEST (ONE OF MY FAVORITE READING OPTIONS ALONG WITH GOOD OLD DAYS.) …..
When James White, a 43-year-old security agent from Rohnert Park, California, snagged the pit bull puppy in 2018, Darby was just another four-legged lug; young, friendly, playful, strong as an ox. Then in the summer of 2019, came Darby’s fate with destiny.
White was fishing in Northern California’s Bodega Bay. He left Darby, then a year old and 100 pounds, to chill in the parked car, windows down, while he cast his line a few yards away. The fish weren’t biting, White recalls, until, suddenly, they were. At first, White, thought he had hooked a stingray. But as he reeled it in, he realized It was a sevengill shark, about six feet long. Not uncommon, but still dangerous. “Their teeth are gnarly,” White says. He brought it close and carefully unhooked it, expecting it to swim away. It didn’t. The shark clamped down on his ankle. Suddenly there was blood everywhere. He yelled for help thinking that the fishermen down the beach could hear him. But they did not seem aware of White’s dilemma. Fortunately for White, Darby did.
Darby hurled himself out of the car and down the embankment toward the water. He ran right up to the shark and sank his teeth into its gills. “That made the shark bite down harder,” White says. Darby backed off, then regrouped and latched on to the shark’s tail. The shark released its grip and White managed to push it into shallow water, where it swam off. “The whole thing took less than a minute,” White says-but it left plenty of damage. He was able to stop the bleeding and get to a hospital where he learned that the shark had punctured and nearly severed an artery. That would have been the end of the story had it not gone viral. White was contacted by NBC News and CNN and that is when the emails and cash offers for Darby started pouring in, even from Russia. But the dog was not for sale. He had another job to do.
At the time of the attack, James and Darby lived with his parents, James Sr. and Pam. When Pam passed away in early 2022, Darby and James Sr. became inseparable. Being James Sr.’s best buddy became Darby’s greatest gift to the family. “We were worried. Sometimes when one parent goes, the other can get really depressed. But I know that Darby’s here, so I don’t worry,” says White of his dog. Today, White’s shark bite is long healed, but Darby (aka the House Hippo) is a bigger hero than ever.
“Pit bulls have a bad reputation, but they’ll give their life to save yours,” White says. “Someone could offer me a million dollars for him, and I wouldn’t take it.”
Spoil yourself and your pets for the holiday. Don’t stress out. And when you layer up against the cold, do so for your canine buddies. (The name of the dog featured last issue, is Pebbles, properly attired.)
