Name: Nikko - 3 y/o
Family Members: Chris & Deidre
How long has Nikko been in the family? 2 years and 5 months
Professions: Deidre is a massage therapist and student (Nikko comes to work with her) and Chris is in Sales for the Restaurant industry.
Location: Kennesaw, GA
Nicknames: Buddy, Buds, Lil Boy, Handsome Devil, Mamma's Boy
5 words/phrases that best describe Nikko:
- Exuberant
- "The Leaper"
- Focused
- Determined
- Sweetest Boy
What makes Nikko unique? Nikko has this game that he likes to play, we call it "getting his tags". He loves to jerk around and leap trying to get his name tags in his mouth. Once he does, he has this coy way of looking at you, trying to entice you into playing with him. Usually some reindeer leaping goes along with the chase to get you interested. He is quite the flirt. It has become a game at my office that the other therapists use to get their clients to open up to him.
Nikko loves his tennis balls.
Rescue Story: I had been trying to convince my husband to let me get a 2nd dog for about a year. Our 14 y/o Beagle mix, Kymbol was not getting any younger! He took Kymbol to our vet, who runs The Homeless Pet Foundation, for her senior visit. Apparently Chris mentioned that we might want to get another dog before we were desperately saddened with losing Kymbol. We had friends who we dog sat for and felt that a "pit" would be a wonderful addition and we hoped to save one from a rescue.
A wonderful person named Paige came out and talked to Chris. She relayed a story about this pitiful puppy they had gotten in with parvo. The vet only gave him a 10% chance of survival. Apparently his owners could not afford the treatment for his care and Paige was able to convince them to surrender him. Once Nikko had become healthy from the parvo and subsequent pneumonia, it came time for them to find him a forever home. Paige was fostering him and wasn't able to list him on their website because the previous owners were wanting to adopt him back, only paying an adoption fee. This meant that Nikko did not have the same shot at rescue that the others may have had. He was approx. 6 months old at the time.
She brought him out for Chris to meet him and he loved him. I got a call at work on Valentine's Day (Kymbol's vet visit day) and Chris asked if I could come with him to see a puppy the next day. LOTS of jumping around on my end of the phone, with a very calm "Sure I would love that". The next day we took Kymbol there to meet him, as a family. When he came out, he was jumping and leaping and running around, just so happy. I couldn't believe he had ever been sick. He had this gorgeous tuxedo coat with a black heart on his chest (the day after Valentine's Day), which I thought was a sign that he was ours.
Since adopting him this poor guy has had a time of it. We think that due to the parvo as a puppy and his weakened immune system, he is and will continue to have some health concerns. He came home with a terrible case of mange that took a while to treat, then dew claws that kept splitting. The claws had to be cauterized then removed. Once he recovered from those, he became injured with a medial luxating patella. It took months for the surgery and physical therapy to get him to a point that he wasn't completely restricted on activity. I am sure all pit owners know how hard that was. He recovered like a champ. I am lucky to have him with me during the day, to watch and take care of him. He has had another surgery due to a metal staple getting embedded in his paw, which meant more restriction.
I am happy to say that today he is happy and healthy. We have spent so much time with him, the trainers, friends and family to keep him socialized but due to his surgeries , etc. he hasn't had a lot of time with four legged friends; that is next on our agenda!
Nikko's adoption day!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Prior to Nikko's knee surgery, we were training him to jump hurdles, which he loved. Today we are aware that Nikko suffers from arthritis already in the knee that was operated on, so now our favorite time together is hiking. Kennesaw Mountain is only a few miles from our house and he LOVES getting out, going for walks and rides in the car. He also loves to chase his treat ball around but we have to limit that activity due to his knee.
Our local Starbucks is our favorite stop if we walk from home. They love him there and he has become quite popular with "talking" to the drive-thru speaker.
What is life like since you rescued Nikko? I like to think that Nikko won the lottery. We spend a lot of time with him, as do my clients (who bring him treats). He gets to spend his days being an office greeter, petted often, sleeps in the bed and travels with us when he can. I am not sure that financially we were ready to take on this little boy and his medical challenges, but we committed to it and all his "issues" have brought us closer to him.
We needed him when Kymbol passed away (6mths after adopting Nikko). His joy and exuberance got us through a lot of heartache. We got him, a Staffordshire terrier, or pit bull, whatever you want to call him because we felt that we could raise an Ambassador of the breed. Working with trainers at Tenasity, whose training dog is also a pit bull; we knew we could be responsible, loving, caring pet owners. What we became are crazy dog people (or my husband claims that is me) who love the breed and take every opportunity to let people get to know him. In all the years we have had dogs, he is by far the most affectionate, loving, cuddler we have ever had, and we called Kymbol perfect. He has a smile that will light up a room and a presence that makes life seems so much less stressful.
I could go on talking about him forever.....
Photographers Note: I had such a great time meeting Deidre, Chris and Nikko. We chatted for a bit in their living room, telling dog stories and letting Nikko get comfortable, which didn't take long. He was ready for his time in the spot light. We walked out to their HUGE backyard and he had a ball running around and doing a little showing off before it was time to get to business. Exuberance is the perfect word for this handsome boy....on top of that, he is extremely well trained. He will do anything for a well placed treat and his focus is unwavering. He was so much fun to photograph, I had a heck of a time choosing the final options for their story. What I thought was really funny is that when he gets a fresh tennis ball, he needs to immediately go to work and puncture that fresh ball with his teeth, which is what he was working on in the photo above as well as one of the outtakes posted on Instagram. He was very serious about this task and before you know it, you hear that quiet pop and some air escaping...task accomplished.
I really appreciate how serious this family takes their role of being responsible and good dog owners. We know this is something any dog owner should be but it's particularly important when you are dealing with dogs who are overcoming misconceptions.
Crazy dog person....pretty sure if we had more of those out there that own pit bulls, these dogs wouldn't be where they are today. So here's to those Crazy Dog People...pretty sure we have more then a few following this page! :)