Name: Baxter (3 y/o) & Cadence (2 y/o)
Family Members: Parent: Bill and Lee, Children: Will/17 yrs, Henry 15 yrs, Brandon 12 yrs. Other Pets: Sophia (aka Lucifer) 6yrs, Yoda 10yrs, Oscar 10 yrs, Chester (cat) 8yrs Frank (cat) 5yrs
How long have Baxter & Cadence been in the family? Baxter for 2.5 years and Cadence a little over a year.
Professions: Lee - Office Manager for Pediatric Dental Office, Bill - Controller for the R/D department at Novelis
Location: Johns Creek, GA.
Nicknames: Baxter: Muppet or Big B
Cadence: Cady or sometimes we call her KiKaw which is just a silly name that we made up, we are not even sure who said it first.
5 of the best words/phrases that describe Baxter & Cady?
Baxter:
- Loyal
- Friendly but reserved
- Needs his people and relies on us to help him navigate this world
- Can be anxious but through our work with a balanced trainer and spending time at his daycare he has become a much more secure guy.
- His new found security came from a stronger relationship with his family. He knows that no matter what comes up we will always have his back.
Cady:
- Happy
- Pure Joy
- Fun loving
- Comical
- Overgrown Toddler
What makes Baxter & Cady unique? Baxter has a funny posture to his zoomie that we call his butt run. He tucks his back end under and does this funny run all about the backyard or in the house. Baxter also has a wicked under-bite that always just slays us.
Cady has a donkey call. When she has decided that she has had enough of her crate she pushes her nose and lip into the crate door and makes the heehaw donkey call. I have tried for the entire time that we have had her to get it captured on video or photo but she stops as soon as she sees me. But it makes me smile each time I hear it.
Cady loves her frisbee
Baxter has a special bond with his human big brother.
Rescue Stories: I was working on a donation from a Cuban restaurant in Johns Creek for my oldest son's football teams fundraiser. I went up to meet the restaurant manager and he was climbing out of the dumpster behind the restaurant pulling out three very small cat carriers. Once opened, out came these pitiful looking little puppies. They ended up being 6 month old puppies and they were just stuffed in the crates and thrown in the garbage. They were dehydrated and hungry and very sad creatures. I am not sure what made me but I just knew that I was leaving with those kids. I had no idea what I was going to do but I knew they were coming home with me. I had zero experience with pit bulls or bully breeds but nothing about these kids scared me, they just needed someone to care and look out for them after they had been failed so badly. Bringing them home I began to get a taste for the prejudice that exists with these dogs. I had a neighbor flip out on me, declare them to be dangerous and they needed to get out of the neighborhood. The funny thing is that this neighbor would be the one that connects me with the individual, that would eventually connect me with the rescue group that not only helped me with placing one of the three dogs but that would slowly but effectively drag me into the world of life with a bully. In an effort to get these three dogs out of the neighborhood this neighbor connected me with Fiona and she in turn introduced me to Bullseye Rescue and Carla. Because I was willing to vet these dogs and to foster them, Bullseye was able to help me to find the most amazing home for Carter, one of the pups. Layla the only girl, went to a very sweet family that is connected to our family and I get to keep an eye on her as she thrives. The real joke is that my neighbor and former friend in her effort to get these dogs out of her hair, she introduced me to the very organization that would show me how to appreciate and respect these dogs because we fell in love with the third and final one we named Baxter. He was the weakest and the saddest of the three. He was missing a portion of his hair and was severely dehydrated and suffered from malnutrition. We nursed him back to health and we are the luckiest family to have him in our lives. We also became a foster family for Bullseye and would not change one turn in our path to this place.
Cady came to us as a foster through Bullseye Rescue. She had been returned, was in boarding and we had just had our last puppy foster adopted. Bullseye posted a need to bust her out of boarding and we answered the call. We were told that she had some bratty puppy type behavior and needed a stable place to land that would help her with manners. You see she had been returned for being aggressive and the reality was just so far from the truth. For the most part families will adopt or purchase dogs and these dogs will require very little investment from their families aside from food, affection and medical care. They will live out their lives and all will be mostly happy. However, Cady is not one of those dogs, she requires that her family be present in her life each and every day. She requires no less than a deep and solid relationship with her people. She is the perfect family dog but she requires total immersion by her family and each day you must be willing to guide, direct and provide a stable environment for her. Absent of that guidance she can be mischievous and will find her own way, which may involve making poor decisions ie. chewed shoes or counter surfing etc. We provide her with structure, training and consistent discipline and she has blossomed into the most perfect family member. She makes her brother Baxter braver since she has never meet a stranger and loves to experience new places and people. We have committed to being a strong leader for her and she has repaid our efforts with unconditional love. What more could we ask for from her? After having her as a foster for over a year and two additional bounce backs in that year, we made her ours and we became her forevers and could not be happier!
Baxter after coming home with his siblings.
Cady's first day in her foster home, which would become her forever home!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? My husband and I love to take long walks in our area with Baxter & Cady to get a coffee on Saturday morning. Baxter is a pretty chill guy and we love to snuggle on the couch and watch movies. When we are feeling more active, we will pack Baxter & Cady's backpacks and go on day hikes with friends and their dogs. We travel to lacrosse tournaments most summers and both dogs tag along with us to each destination.
What is life like since you rescued Baxter & Cady? I know that on the surface it would appear that Baxter was the biggest winner in this scenario but the truth is that while we have lost a friend or two and a couple of family members will not come over to our house because of him, we are the biggest winners. He is a love and we are better people and dog owners because of him. Plus we feel like we have expanded our family being apart of the Bullseye crew.
Our life is rich with love and we could not be happier that Cady is a part of our lives. These bully dogs are amazing and we have sought out the education and support in order to give them the very best of lives. Having a dog such as this is a blessing but they require an environment that provides them with strong leadership and you have to be willing to sacrifice to provide them what they need. It is not different with any other working or sporting dog. However, if you are prepared and willing to make the sacrifice of time and leave your ego out of the equation and make it about what is best for them….. oh how they will enrich your life and return the investment two fold.
Photographers Note: As you can tell from the family photo, these folks have a full house. Not pictured here is their foster Remi (photos on the Shine A Light ATL Facebook page) and their 2 cats. So there is a lot going on and yet everything seems to be pretty darn balanced and running smoothly, at least from an outsider's perspective. It was really so impressive to see how much they work with their pups on training and structure, doing the same for their foster pup as well. Such a wonderful family and am so happy they are one of the many foster families out there helping dogs find their forever homes.
Now for those of us who own pit bulls and pit bull mixes we know that generally they are really some of the friendliest dogs to people and as Lee stated have never met a stranger, which is definitely Cady to a T. Then there was sweet Baxter, who at first just sat all tucked up within himself and trembled as he looked at me. I didn't push it with him, I let him make his own decisions. He eventually made the decision I wasn't so bad and warmed up, all the while checking back into his secure spots with his family, especially Will the oldest son. Cady was racing around the yard, playing frisbee and not a care in the world. Baxter was more tentative and reserved. When he came right up to me when I was sitting on the steps, solo no family encouragement or guide, got right in my face for a little snuggle, that is truly one of the best feelings.