A bad encounter of the worst kind...

A couple of weeks ago I had a very scary thing happen.

I had been feeling really poorly the last few months with a flare I just couldn't pull myself out of. I wouldn't have even gone out if it wasn't for running out of a couple of medications that I didn't realize I had, but I needed them badly and others were coming close to empty.

Shasta and I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to get my prescriptions filled when an inner voice telling me to get to her quick. I always follow those heeds and it's a good thing I do.

I had her tied to a tall pole right in front of two handicapped parking spots on the sidewalk and close to the front door of the store. No sooner did I get out there when this car pulled up in the handicapped spots, only the guy didn't drive in face on like he was suppose to but rather sideways as to take up both spots. WEIRD!

He called out asking me if she was a Texas Red Nose. I told him she was an American Red Nose, but not sure if she's a purebred since I don't have papers for her. Remember, it wasn't me that bought her and as far as I know, the first owners never had or never offered me papers for her. It never mattered to me anyway.

The girl got out the passenger side and quickly went to Shasta while the guy kept talking to me. I noticed through the side of my eye that she wasn't petting Shasta like, 'Hi pooch! Nice doggie!', but more like inspecting her. Then she yelled back that she WAS a purebred. That ticked me off and I told the guy, that no one but the CKC had any way of checking that and it's not done by a simple once over. I was beginning to get very leery of these two.

The guy then offered me $10,000 to breed her with one of his 3 male studs. My hair was standing on end and I could feel the adrenaline in me starting to boil. It was beginning to get really hard to try to remain calm. I told the guy he obviously wasn't from Ontario and hadn't heard there was a Pit bull ban in effect and that breeding was illegal. He laughed and said he lived right here in London. Each time he opened his mouth I was getting madder and madder inside.

I asked him wasn't he concerned about putting his dogs lives at risk? And he laughed and bragged he had been fined 3 times starting with $200 up to $500, but that was only pocket change to him. He further bragged the authorities are hunting for him and his dogs right now, but he's too smart for them. I totally lost my cool at this point and told him He and people like him are the reason we have this ban in the first place. I told him I am a member of the DLCC and the AFTU that are fighting against the ban and against IRRESPONSIBLE OWNERS such as him that think they are above the law. While I too think this law is full of crap, it is still the law until we can change that, but it's people like him that are making it more difficult for us. FURTHER MORE, the rescues, fosters and HS are brimming with bullies that NEED forever homes, and each illegal pup he brings into this world is destroying the chance of another dog.

I was on a roll but he pressed too many buttons that I can't remember half of what I said, but I did tell him Shasta was spayed at 6 months old, not because the law told me she had to be, but by my own choice as I don't want to be part of a problem of bringing more pups in this world. Unlike him, I only wanted a companion, not a money maker! grrrrr...It was me that needed the muzzle because I just wanted to bop him right between the eyes.

That's when the female got back into the car and they drove off speeding. I was literally vibrating and my insides were totally churning. That's what happens when I get so angry that I get either close to or do cry. Finally, the buzzer thing I had in my hand that notifies you that your scripts are done went off. I asked one of the cashiers to keep an eye on Shasta just as I quickly went to pay for and get my meds.

On our walk home, the whole thing was playing back in my head as I tried to make sense of it. Because I was in so much pain, I was walking each step in agony, so we were going really slow. The more I thought about it, it came to me.

The guy parked sideways that the back door was right to where I had Shasta tied on. The woman was with Shasta the full time. Neither of them were handicapped and neither of them went into any stores. The guy never turned his engine off the whole time and we were talking for about 1/2 an hour. They were there for the sole purpose of Shasta. They knew I needed to go back into Shoppers. The breeding part might have just been a BS story to keep me occupied until I went back into the store. If I had of gone back into the store, Shasta was fully muzzled and the woman could have very easily shoved her into the back seat, jumped in with her and drive off in just a matter of seconds.

The more I thought about it the more I thought perhaps they would have used her for either dog fighting or bait. Probably bait since they would lose money on her. I kick myself for not being observant as I couldn't tell you the colour of car or the make, other than it was a sportier type and should have tried to look at the license plate. I think of things like that after the fact, so it would have sounded really stupid to phone the police and say, 'I don't know.', to everything.