Names: Bobby (1.5 y/o male) & Layla (1 y/o female)
Family Members: Samantha (Mom), Christopher (Dad), Craig (brother- 4 y/o), Dominic (brother- 2 y/o), Zoe (pit bull hound mix - 5 y/o), Shiloh (rescued pitbull - 6 y/o), 4 cats (Pipkin, Cleo, Frankie, & Amelia Pond) and various reptiles.
Location: Hampton, GA.
Nicknames: Bobby - Bobby Brown, Big Head
Layla - Laylay
Bobby
Layla
5 of the best words/phrases that describe Bobby & Layla:
Bobby:
- Strong silent type
- Intelligent
- Calm
- Protective
- Lap dog
Layla:
- Exuberant
- Full of Life
- Loves everything with a beating heart
- Wiggly
- Breed Ambassador
What makes Bobby & Layla unique? The first week when I was fostering Bobby, I made my two year old a cup of milk and approached him with the cup and the gallon of milk. Bobby would not let me get past him to my own son until he inspected every cubic inch of that milk jug and deemed it would not harm the baby.
Layla's unique trait is her resilience. (once you get to her rescue story, you will understand why)
Bobby's sweet face.
Layla in play mode.
Rescue Story: Bobby was on death row at Fulton County Animal Services. He was found tied to a porch with a short leash, no food or water, a torn up neck and broken teeth. He was labeled dog aggressive and heartworm positive. I offered to temporarily foster him for two weeks and pick him up from the shelter just to save his life. He was scheduled for euthanasia the day I picked him up. The lady that pulled him in her name said she would take him in two weeks time. Money was donated to cover his heartworm treatment. Well, two weeks passed and many excuses later, I decided I would foster Bobby until he found his forever home because he had some pretty bad behavioral issues (extremely dog reactive). I ended up having to raise the money again for his heartworm treatment because it conveniently disappeared. It took a full month to introduce him slowly to Layla, Zoe and Shiloh properly. He now gets along with them all very well, and Layla is the love of his life. We have to be careful when we go outside, because he goes crazy snarling and jumping when he sees a loose dog. We are trying to come up with the money for a professional behaviorist or trainer to assess him and assist us with correcting this. We never planned to adopt him , but at this point, we are (quite happily) stuck with him.
Layla was found on the side of a rural highway. She was extremely emaciated, covered in bleeding wounds, and too scared to do more then crawl on her belly. I immediately rushed her to the vet , thinking she had been hit by a car. Turned out she was covered in chemical burns, starved, beaten and had 4 different intestinal parasites. The vet estimated her to be a 6 month old pit bull and she only weighed 18lbs. A wonderful rescue in Barnesville allowed me to put her under their account for discounted vet care, and family/friends donated directly to the vet for her initial medical expenses. At first, she had to eat 6 tiny meals per day or she would just vomit the food back up. Her intestines were permanently messed up from the parasites and the starvation. She slowly gained her physical health back, got spayed and vaccinated. Even more slowly she gained mental health. She is now a gorgeous, loving, well-adjusted member of our family. Her 4 year old human brother taught her how to properly fetch. She can be a little too hyper and rough sometimes, but she loves every member of the family dearly and we decided that she had found her forever home with us.
Bobby's before shot
Layla's rescue
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Bobby loves to curl up with me on a blanket in the yard and read a good book. We also love to go hiking in a place called Cochran Mills. There is a secluded waterfall at the top where the dogs can play off leash in the water, we have a blast.
What is life like since you rescued Bobby & Layla? Bobby has learned what it feels like to have a blanket to sleep on, meals are guaranteed, and air conditioning is awesome. He's become my right hand man, my "ride or die"companion and protector. He wants to know where I am at all times and loves nothing more than to plop all 70lbs of himself into my lap. He has learned other dogs can be lovely friends and that he doesn't need to defend himself from them. He's slowly making progress and we hope that one day he will also be a well adjusted member of the family.
Layla's life is much improved from what I assume her previous life was. She has been a lot of work, with house training and basic obedience. Sometimes she doesn't listen well and she causes a lot of extra work for me. However, I wouldn't trade her for the world. She has brightened my life considerably and I can't imagine our family without her.
Photographers note: First I want to say that Sam made the decision to only showcase Bobby and Layla for Shine A Light, even though she has two other dogs that would qualify. She thought these two would be the best behaved for the photo shoot.
We conducted this shoot in the parking fields around Atlanta Motor Speedway, it was an extremely hot day as you can probably tell from the pups and all the tongue pictures. To see these two beautiful dogs, you would never guess what was in their past. They were both so sweet and their physical appearances 100% improved from their rescue photos. Bobby is just this big sweet lug with a bit of a stubborn streak and Layla is the beautiful joyous puppy that is just happy happy happy. Everyone was so patient and well behaved, both dogs and kids. Another great example of a family that did not give up on these wonderful dogs and look what fantastic family members they have become.