Name: Queen - 4-ish y/o
Family Members: Kera & Bill (parents), Emma - 22 y/o (human sister), Baxter (dog brother), Lucy (dog sister) & Gracie (cat sister)
How long has Queen been in the family? 1 year
Professions: Account Executive for a Promotional Products Distributor - Kera, Distribution Manager for same company - Bill (we met at work :) )
Location: Marietta, GA
Nicknames: Queenie, Queener - I really really really dislike her name. She came with it and I tried to change it to Quinn, thought that was a more hip name. I failed the very first day trying to call her something different, so Queen she is!
5 words/phrases that best describe Queen:
- Resource Guarder - takes every single dog toy we own and either puts them all in her bed and won't share, or takes each one out the doggie door in to the yard. One by one, until the toy box is empty and the grass is littered with dog toys.
- Affectionate - LOVES to love people, all people
- Afraid - very timid, she is not use to normal inside of the home things - like ceiling fans.
- Appreciative - she is totally aware that her life has completely changed, for the better.
- On guard - she is always listening and watching everything that is going on all around her, all the time.
What makes Queen unique? Queen does not like food - she is not interested in eating - our food routine is the same each morning and evening. I have to mix kibble with moist food, add some coconut oil, and then normally the liquid from our cat's moist food - so it is super stinky. It all gets mixed together and then I put the same exact bowl on the floor in the same exact spot - I use a spoon and flick half of the food out of the bowl on to the floor, so the bowl is half empty and the floor is covered in food. Then I sit down on the floor right next to the bowl and start hand feeding her small bites of the stinky mess. After a few bites, she will normally start to eat on her own. She will walk away after a few bites most times, other times she will finish it all, if we are lucky. This process can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes up to 30 minutes - just depends on her mood. Many meals, she only eats a little and refuses more. She was completely hand fed for the first 3 months we had her, she was afraid of the bowl and would not eat from the floor. We have come miles but still have many more to go.
Lucky charm
Rescue story: I first noticed Queen when I was driving around a neighborhood close to home looking for anyone who had lost a beautiful blue female Pit Bull I had seen running on North Marietta Parkway. As I was driving around, slowly stopping and asking those walking down the streets nearby if they knew where the dog belonged. I came across a yard that had an old beat up dog pen sitting on the side of the property very close to the road. Inside was a female white and brown Pit Bull - very skinny, super friendly and hungry as could be. I pulled over, and as I was talking to the dog through the pen, the owner came out of his house to see what I was doing. I explained I was trying to find the owner of the blue Pit Bull; he and I started discussing his dog inside the pen. He allowed me to go inside the pen and give treats to his dog Queen. She was so sweet and so hungry. I noticed that she had pups recently, she was dirty and smelly, her nails needed to be trimmed and didn't seem to be in the best of health. I took a chance and asked him if she had ever seen a vet, been spayed or had any shots - he said no. I then asked him if he would allow me to take her to the vet, get her spayed and current on her shots. He agreed. I also asked if I could help him with dog food for her, he declined saying she was fine and he could afford her dog food.
My rescue partner got her an appointment to be spayed and a few weeks later we picked her up. Took her for a much needed bath and brought her to my house to prepare for her spay. She had never been indoors it seemed, every new sound spooked her. She seemed very happy to be indoors in a warm house with a comfy dog bed and toys to play with. She got spayed and we found out she was heartworm positive. I talked to her owner about her staying at my house while she recovered from her surgery so she wouldn't be out in the cold while her stiches were healing. I also broke the news to him about the HW. During the week that Queen was staying at my house I fell in total love with her! She was so sweet and appreciative of everything she had while she was here. I told her owner I wanted to treat her HW's and he said no, it was too expensive. I told him I would cover the costs and after several discussions he finally agreed. This bought me several months - she could stay at my house and recover from her long road of heartworm treatments. My love for Queen increasingly grew over this time and I could not imagine having to send her back to her awful living conditions. My husband also fell completely in love with her - we both knew we had to convince her owner to sign her over to us. Once it was time for her to go back, we contacted her owner and tried to explain to him that we couldn't imagine our home without her and that we wanted to keep her. He refused, he got extremely angry and he demanded we bring her home. We did everything, we begged him but he did not budge. My rescue partner's husband offered to go and talk to the owner to try and help change his mind. I was too close to the situation and could not make a good case for myself. He met with her owner and to our surprise, he was able to get him to sign Queen over to us - forever. My husband and I were so thrilled. We thought we were going to have to give her up and had no idea how we were going to deal with that loss. That day Queen became a forever member of our pack - The Bagwell BowWow's!
Queen's previous home and her first bath!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? My favorite time is bed time. She falls asleep on the couch and when she knows it is time for us to head to bed, she immediately goes and stands at the baby gate in the kitchen. Just waiting to go back to the bedroom to climb up on the bed. She sleeps near the foot of the bed and takes up way more room then she needs. She will not budge, she becomes dead weight and she snores like crazy! I love cuddling with her and I love how she comes over and gently wakes me up in the morning when she feels like I am stirring enough to be awake.
What is life like since you rescued Queen? Life is different since we brought Queen home. We had 3 other dogs in our home before she arrived and we had our routine. All of our dogs got along with one another perfectly fine and there was no need for any crating or separating or anything like that. Once Queen arrived, we had to keep her in a crate for the first few weeks before we could introduce her to our two larger dogs, Baxter and Lucy (Basset Hound mixes). Our small dog Anya, who is only 4 lbs was another story. Queen had never been around tiny dogs (from what her owner told me) and she seemed to be a little too interested in Anya. So I had my Mom take Anya to her house down the street from me. I was worried about Queen and Anya; I didn't want to risk her being injured since she is so small. It has been a year and Anya still lives with my Mom. I am not sure Queen will ever be ok with small dogs and that is ok. I miss Anya terribly but get to see her all the time since they live so close.
We have had to make many adjustments at our house to accommodate Queen, but every one is worth it. We made areas to keep her when we are not home to keep her separated from Baxter and Lucy, just to be careful. She and Lucy are awesome together, but she and Baxter can get hairy at times. It took Baxter almost 6 months to get over being jealous of Queen and although he still seems bothered at times he has really come around. They have gotten rough with one another a few times but Baxter has learned to back off and back down.
Traveling is a little harder for us now, Queen doesn't go to our pet sitters like the other dogs since she hasn't been 100% socialized yet. We have had to hire someone to come and stay at the house with her and I worry like crazy while I am gone. I added wireless cameras to our house so I can see her and what she is doing while I am away from the house. I do work from home, so I am here with the dogs most of the day, which is awesome. We are certainly lucky and so happy to have her here as part of our family. She has brought so much joy and has taught us so much about pit bulls and what we had been missing. She is our first but definitely not our last.
Photographers Note: This family was so much fun to meet and photograph. All the dogs were so adorable and sweet. What I loved the most was when I was sitting on the ground and taking a little break in the photo action; Queen came over to me, sat next to me, leaning against me . As if to say, "yeah, a break is a good idea...I will hang her with you" .
Kera had shared with me during our communications before the shoot that she had recently started a dog rescue called The Bear Project (check out their page on Facebook). Then as I was leaving she was sharing with me all the neighbors in her area that have pit bulls, many of which she placed. (hopefully they will all volunteer here too) I knew this women was a kindred spirit due to her passion for helping animals in her community. It takes a special person....Queen's rescue story is one of my favorites and it just goes to show what we will do to love and support these wonderful dogs.
Regarding Queen's name, as Bill stated during the photo shoot, "it fits her". I would have to agree, this sweet baby went from a life of squalor, to one fit for a queen and her family is true royalty.