From People Weekly Magazine Edition April 26, 1999 The "Animal" chronicle, Page 117
Posted on 02/12/2010 8:02:33 PM PST by Porterville
From People Weekly Magazine Edition April 26, 1999 The "Animal" chronicle, Page 117
"He's a little ball of fire" says U.S. Customs officer J.J. Trevino of Popsicle (Receiving a significant Seizure medal in March)
During an arrest two years ago, Buffalo policeman Ron Clark, Jr. opened an abandoned freezer on a known drug dealer's back porch and found a bulging black garbage bag. "I poked my flashlight at it," he recalls, "and it started moving. My worst fear was that it was a baby." In fact, it was a puppy, a pit bull who would be known as Popsicle and -- in a lovely ironic twist-- would gain fame for sniffing out the kind of bad guy that nearly killed him.
One year ago, Popsicle helped the feds seize 3,075 pounds of cocaine from a pineapple-laden truck at the Mexican border-the biggest drug bust ever at the Hidalgo, Texas, port of entry. "It's astounding the obstacles this dog has overcome," says US Customs Service Commissioner Raymond W. Kelley.
The Pitbull Puppy was skin and bones when he arrived at the Animal Hospital. When Officer Clark found the wounded, blood-caked animal who had apparently been used in pit bull fights, he was undernourished, hypothermic and near death.
"He was in bad shape, but I was drawn to him," says SPCA adoption counselor Shannon Willie, who name the pup Popsicle. Alas, people who visited the shelter looking to adopt a puppy were put off by his breed's reputation. They would take one look at the pit bull and walk away.
When Popsicle regained his strength, the shelter contacted US Customs canine-enforcement officer Sally Barr. It was a long shot, but maybe he would qualify for the dog training school in Front Royal, VA.
Of 500 dogs Barr has tested in the last three years, only 4 have made the cut. "You want a dog that plays a terrific tug-of-war," says Barr. Popsicle did, and in February 1998 he graduated at the top of his class and became a celebrated alumnus two months later by detecting the record contraband cache under a tractor-trailer.
"You have to imagine him," says US Customs canine handler J.J. Trevino ,"on his hind legs, barking, trying to reach up to the bottom of the truck."
Back in Buffalo, where the bad guy eventually got off with probation for animal cruelty, Ron Clark remains awed by Popsicle's comeback. "I still don't know why I opened that refrigerator," says Clark. "But it feel like it was meant to be."
Pitbulls are very intelligent.
Now I will have nightmares about what was done to Popsicle. Why do I read these threads before going to bed?!?
Thank the Lord good people out number the sick and twisted.
Go Popsicle!
Why are people drawn to pitbulls, I mean they’re not exactly the prettiest dogs out there?
Our shelter has two pits that have been there for a year, they are two of our nicest dogs, but everyone passes them by because of the breed.
Ping
The Pitbull Puppy was skin and bones when he arrived at the Animal Hospital.
The story threw me a curve (referring to the US Customs Commissioner) until I realized it was from 1999.
Furniture?
Snugglebugs?
To defend their homes from marauding chuhuahuas?
Wow, that a pitbull? Aren’t you worried that it might kill that little kid and or chihuahua?
Low class people like this dog’s previous owner get them to force them to fight or because the dog somehow makes them tougher. But go back to the 1930s Lil’ Rascals. Petey the dog was a pit bull.
Ya wanna quit posting your pit-bull threads in Activism?
That older girl looks like a Lab but she has more prick ears than a Lab?
sure, no problem
Here's the aftermath:
Oh, so it’s not really a typical pitbull.
So what do you think about all the stories that you hear about killer pitbulls?
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