It was in late August 2008 when our 12 year old Black Lab/Beagle mix ‘Captain Midnight’ died.  Naturally, my wife, son and I were all heartbroken.  For the next week the quietness in the house from his absence felt eerie.  We had always had a dog since 1981 and we all knew we wanted to fill that void as soon as possible so we began to search for a new companion. Looking online, we found a puppy that looked like the spitting image of our beloved Midnight, coincidentally from the same shelter that Midnight came from.  In the picture, his markings were almost identical, from the white markings on his muzzle and paws, the white on his chest and the white at the end of his tail.  He was listed as part Black Lab and part Hound.  The Black Lab part was easy to see but I didn’t know too much about Hounds. He was the runt of a 4-puppy litter of 2 males and 2 females, born on the 4th of July.  We decided on the name ‘Sparky’ for him.  From the first moment I held him, I knew this pup was special.  There was just something about him that gave me that feeling.  Little did I know the lessons he would teach us about love, acceptance, faith, determination and healing, among others. About a week after we brought him home I was walking Sparky down the street when we were approaching a young gentleman from the other direction. “Cute puppy” he exclaimed as he bent over to pet him.  “Is he a Pit Bull?”  My jaw dropped as I quickly came back with “I hope not!”  That really got me thinking so I researched Pit Bulls online, looking at the pictures and sure enough you could tell by his head and jaw that he was part Pit.  All I had ever heard about Pit Bulls were that they were one of the most dangerous dogs around.  ‘Great!’ I thought, ‘what did we get ourselves into now?’ In training him I read up on the characteristics of Pit Bulls in order to try and understand him.  Pits are fun, energetic, strong, intelligent, athletic, loving, loyal, determined and eager to please, and Sparky was no exception.  They are also very affectionate and require a lot of exercise and attention.  Sparky responded well to training and my wife and son also socialized him with humans and other dogs at dog obedience classes. Sparky loves to run and let me tell you, he’s one fast dog!  Every once in a while he’ll go flying through the house and then its watch out!  He stands at knee height and with his solid muscular build (all 85 lbs. of him) we have to be careful as he doesn’t realize how strong he is when he runs into us!  Although we have a small fenced-in back yard he loves to run laps around our old picnic table as well as leaping up to the top of the table, standing and playing ‘the King’, scouting out the neighborhood. Two years ago this month on February 11th 2011 was the worse day of my life.  My Mom had been ill and bedridden in a nursing home for 10 years and had gone through 2 heart attacks, several TIAs and on top of that she had many complications from having Type 2 diabetes for the last 40+ years of her life. She was taken by ambulance once more to the hospital and the nurse called me and told me she was unconscious and didn’t have much time.  I went down to be with her and called my half-brother in Albany to let him know.  I stayed the day with her until my brother arrived, then went home briefly to let Sparky out in the back yard.  We had gotten snow for almost a month straight with no end in sight, and the gate in the backyard could not be shut. I brought Sparky out back to let him run, standing to block the entrance.  Sparky took two fast laps around the picnic table and what happened next I will never forget for the rest of my life.  As he came around for the third time, he veered off course full speed towards the entrance, leaping over a pile of snow right past me before I could react.  He ran full speed up our driveway directly toward the street with me screaming for him to stop.  An SUV was coming up the street and due to the height of the snow banks and not being able to see him, hit him in the hindquarters.  As I saw him under the wheels, horror gripped me as I couldn’t believe this was happening on top of my Mom’s condition. I figured he was gone as I lost sight of him for a split second on the other side of the vehicle.  About 2 seconds later, which felt like an eternity, almost like a ghost he came from the back side of the SUV.  He seemed okay at first as he kept turning his head back to the SUV, barking at it as he headed toward me.  I saw he was bloodied and limping and grabbed him up and brought him inside.  The people in the SUV came to the door and were very upset but I reassured them he’d be okay (he took the bumper off their vehicle on impact).  We cleaned him up as best as we could and I called the veterinarian right away and they told us to bring him in.  After bringing him over they told us he would have to stay overnight so they could clean him up and examine him.  I left the vet’s and headed back to the hospital, and my Mom passed on about an hour later. The next day we had to go over to the nursing home to clean out my Mom’s room.  I was exhausted from grieving and everything that had happened on the previous day.  I knew my Mom was in a better place and was no longer suffering but it all was too overwhelming.  She had been very popular at the home and many of the staff had grown so attached to her.  She was known to them as ‘Big Mama’ and they were all in mourning for her.  As we were moving her last belongings out, my cell phone rang-it was the vet’s calling and the news was not good.  They told me Sparky had a severe fracture in his left hip and a fracture in his right side as well as some open wounds from the accident.  They could not do the surgery there and recommended that he be sent to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (2 hours away), estimating the cost to be around $3,000 to $5,000. They also told us there would be no guarantee that the surgery would be successful.  The cost was much more than we could afford so I asked about his chances of recovering on his own.  They said we could try but if he couldn’t get around that maybe we should consider putting him down, and that he be confined to his kennel for the first week to limit him from doing any more damage.  They were going to keep him for one more night before he could be released.  I asked if I could come over to visit him and they agreed. Sparky was so glad to see me, and started crying out from the moment he heard my voice in the reception area.  I went back to the kennel he was in and knelt beside him, petting and stroking him for reassurance.  I don’t know why I said it but I told him he would be okay, even though I really didn’t believe it at the time.  It was hard to leave him as he wanted to go with me, but I told him I’d be back tomorrow to bring him home. After leaving, I went out and bought him a bigger kennel for home as well as two large dog pillows.  His old kennel was kept out in the kitchen and I knew the newer one wouldn’t fit so I set it up in our dining room just behind the side door so he could be closer to us. The next day I went back out to the vet’s to pick him up.  They gave me antibiotics for the wounds he had and pain meds, and the total bill was around $500.  He was so happy to see me and I picked him up and carried him out to my truck.  When we got home I placed him in his new kennel.  I knew it would be hard on him not being able to get around but we all kept him company as much as we could, kneeling down to visit with him.  We had to keep changing the pillows under him, removing the covers to wash when they got soiled.  I was a basket case by now, between the grief for my Mom, his injuries, and the guilt I felt over him getting away from me and getting hit.  It was one of the hardest times in my life to get through. After the first week we started leaving the kennel door open, blocking off everywhere in the house except for the kitchen where we laid papers down for him to relieve himself.  Luckily we had paper trained him as a pup to go there and he had no problem remembering.  Even though he was getting around on three legs as best as he could it was very hard to watch him.  Sadly, I discussed with my wife that maybe we should think about putting him down but she said she wanted to see how he progressed for another week.  Later that day he managed to push one of the chairs aside we had set up to block him off with, and hobbled over to ‘his’ chair back in our den, an old worn out recliner that we were thinking of tossing.  Somehow he managed to hop up into it on his own.  We were amazed by his determination, and from that point forward all of our thoughts and prayers were directed toward seeing that he recover as best as he could. He managed to get around the house and after about 3 weeks, I took him outside.  I walked him a short distance to the corner and back and even though he was still only using three legs he was showing progress.  Little by little he healed and within 6 months we were back to walking our old ‘beat’ through my old childhood neighborhood, approximately ½ mile.  Not much longer after that he regained the strength in his rear legs to jump back upon the picnic table, and the feistiness and love for life had returned.  He became the loveable rascal that he was, grabbing anything he could in his mouth and coming up to show us and make us chase after him around the house as well as reaching up on the table and bar going after any food he saw. I really truly believe that my Mom had a lot to do with his healing.  Every time I went to visit her in the nursing home I would tell her what a great dog he was.  I wanted to bring him there for a visit but he still had a lot of ‘puppy’ in him, as he still does to this day.  I think her spirit was involved with his recovery as well as the fact that he was determined to get better for us, never giving up. Now two years later Sparky is doing great.  When he was back to snuff I made a vow that I would walk him more often, as before I would usually bring him out back and play with him and let him run.  We’ve now walked a one mile route 2-3 times a day 7 days a week since last May.  It’s been good for both of us as I know from the arthritis in my knees that it’s best to keep moving and active.  Before he got hurt I had turned into a couch potato, now I’m 25 lbs. lighter from last summer and plan on losing another 25 this year, and he actually lost 3 lbs. since we started our daily routine.   I’m still amazed at all the lessons this dog has taught us, but I think the biggest lesson was to never give up hope.  And never judge a dog’s breed based on what you’ve heard-it all depends on how they’re raised ]]>