Name: Niko (6-ish y/o) & Molly (4-ish y/o)
Family Members: Taylor & Dodd, our son Jordan, who has Autism and is 24…
Bogey our Boxer is about 9 maybe (he’s from AAU, formerly
Patrick), Bitty the meanest cat in America is about 6, Boo the cat is 5, Graciebelle the cat is about 3…and Hobie Cat is about 2.
How long have Niko & Molly been in the family? Niko has been in the family 3 years & Molly about 2.5 years
Professions: Dodd is a Locations Manager for TV/Movies. Taylor is former model & Locations Scout for shows.
Location: Cumming, GA.
Nicknames: Niko: Ham-hock, Chunky Monkey, Shark Week & Doodamahoney (me-speak for “you are my honey” don’t ask, lol)
Molly: Mol, MolMol, Mol-ster, Crazy Train, Molly the Backyard Raptor
5 words/phrases that best describe Niko & Molly?
Niko:
- Soooooo Lazy
- Goofy
- Kind-hearted
- Snuggly
- Kitten Loving (LOVES Cats)
Molly:
- Molly is GAME ON. Every single day. She is showin’ up, with JOY and
ENTHUSIASM…BEING YOUR DOG, with like, everything she has! I
wish I had a fraction of her energy. - She will play ball until she falls over dead.
- She is devoted and protective, you are not sneaking up on us…ever.
- She has a ridiculously shrill bark…she may be famous for it even.
- She has a very soft and snuggly side when she finally, and I do mean finally
takes a nap.
What makes Niko & Molly unique? Probably Niko’s total lack of prey drive, he loves all small creatures and has raised 3 kittens. We once paid money at a dog lure course and he didn’t even notice the lure going….he was too busy visiting with the guy running the course. He is also SUPER overly people friendly too…like, go-home-with-a-complete-stranger friendly. Zero stranger-danger. For Molly it's her ball catching skills and sheer speed is just a phenomenon! Seriously, I need to get her out competing…she likes to catch all things, she will catch a Frisbee too but she just prefers a ball. The Chuckit has saved my life. I want to kiss those people.
Heart shaped nose & heart shaped head for a boy who is all heart!
Game On for Molly!
Hangin in the pack!
Rescue Stories:: I had just lost my first Pit bull, my beloved little Rowdy…we lost him to IMHA at UGA vet hospital in 7 of the worst days of my life. this form of anemia is very deadly and we fought it as hard as we could, but we could not save him. I never thought that I would ever stop crying, but then my husband said to me…”someone is out there, right now, looking for you…” and I went to my computer and saw Nikolaia at Clayton County Animal Control. His sad face, his worried eyes, his ribs showing through his dull coat…he was a staff favorite it said, but he was on the euthanasia list unless a foster could be found, he had just a couple days left. So I decided to temp foster this big boy for two weeks, he was scheduled to go to a rescue up North. I think I foster failed on day 2. He was the biggest chicken I had ever seen. It was like once he had a home, he was NOT going to leave it, no need to go outdoors at all, nope. He was scared of so many things…and to this day he really does prefer a good cuddle on the couch to a walk out where there might be scary loud cars and trucks. For Niko, the best thing about going outside on a walk is getting to meet new people, that’s his reward for braving the big scary vehicles. He’s a lazy, sunbathing, chunky, love bug…quite possibly the most perfect dog ever.
Molly's story starts when e were living in Monroe, and I was walking Bogey and Niko
through our little downtown park when we found her. She was clearly out on her own for a while, no collar, skinny and covered in debris and something that smelled dead…you could smell her by just standing near her. People said she had been in the park a while and
had seen her have a few near misses with passing cars but she would not come to anyone. She came to us, she liked the boys, they liked her, but I was alone and had to walk home to drop them off before I could come back and maybe try to help her; I just could not leave her there. We did not need another dog, we had never had three dogs before, it felt like a lot because we are a special needs family. So we reported her to our Animal Control. We listed her on their online database, we made posters and flyers and plastered the town with them, we listed her on social media to try to find her people; in the meantime, she went to the vet for a checkup. She was not spayed, she was covered in fleas and ancient ticks, she was young but
very high heartworm positive. We had her fixed, we started fast-kill treatment for the heart worms and I just figured that if we found her people, that they were just going to get her back in much better health because I could not do nothing. Her people were never found,we were now her people. We never saw ourselves as a three dog family but here we are. Molly brings a high energy level to our house, true, but also lot of running, playing and
shenanigans. She is a one-woman exercise program for our lazy boys and our primary squirrel look-out…with her second-in-command, Bogey, close at her heels. Niko has zero prey drive,
possibly less than zero, it’s hard to say. Molly rules our house, but the boys don’t mind. She loves her 4 cats, which is a surprise forsuch a game dog, but then again, dogs are surprising, right? I think she was meant to find us…we were missing shenanigans, clearly, lol.
Niko scared in the shelter.
Molly sitting shot gun on the way to her eventual forever home!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? We go to lots of festivals (our dogs LOVE to festival) and on lots of dog walks, we like to be good ambassadors for bully breed babies
so we are out there, letting people meet us and our dogs! Molly gained a lot of confidence from our festival-king, Niko…no one loves to meet-n-geet more than him. She learned from the best. Niko is loved by so many in our town, including the Police Chief. When I have Niko out with me, Niko is alllll that I can do, he usually has a crowd of people and children around him and he absolutely LOVES that. I joke that I am his staff, he’d sign autographs if he only had a thumb. Of course with Molly we also PLAY. BALL. All the time. Work…play ball.
Clean…play ball. Cook…play ball. Stop whatever you are doing…AND
PLAY BALL.
The social opportunities at the pit bull walks we attend are really great for our
son with Autism too, Jordan’s Autistic “enthusiasm” is animals and he loves to go and participate. It’s a very welcoming place for him and we are grateful. We have honestly made so many friends because of our dogs, the pit bull community is filled with very bighearted
and kind people.
What is life like since you rescued Niko & Molly? Our life is happy.... we are super-busy, there is always stuff to do with 3 dogs and 4 cats. My Roomba and I are usually working side by side to keep
up, Niko helped heal our heart from our loss and I think we helped heal some of his “wounds” as well. We mostly cannot imagine a life before him and we are so grateful that we saw his face that day and followed our hearts to pay the love forward. Adopting Niko has been a blessing.
We are also happy and very proud to be ambassadors for Pit bulls when we are out in the community with Niko, helping others to learn by actually meeting one and interacting with one…we are helping to change hearts, and we feel good about that. Niko gets lots of extra pets…and he feels great about that! I’d say that Molly keeps us moving and Niko keeps us snuggling…wethink it’s a good balance.
She smells sooooooo much better these days too, lol.
Photographers Notes: This was a really fun shoot. I have gotten to know Taylor through the Atlanta area pit bull community so this felt like coming over to a friends house and just taking a few photos. In typical Georgia fashion for July, it was a humid day but Taylor had actually set up fans outside to keep us all cool and keep the bugs away...it was pretty fantastic! Taking photos of Niko and Molly, exactly matched up with how they are described above. Molly was Go-Go-Go and just wanted to play ball, Niko was content to lay on the patio furniture and relax. In fairness to Niko, he is on restriction due to a knee injury but pretty sure he wasn't going to last too long up against his energetic sister!
I espcially love this family does everything they can to change perceptions on a daily basis with their pups and use their sweet demeanor's to win over many! Seriously, Niko is just about the biggest ham...not sure how anyone could resist that sweet face!