his faithful companions help spread the gospel
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8/8/2019 His faithful companions help spread the Gospel
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Foote takes dogsto nursing homesto dispel stereotypeBy NIKI DOYLE
Times Staff [email protected]
It would be any parentsightmare.An 8-month-old baby crawl-
ng into a kitchen with a pit bull;a baby innocent enough totick his hands and face in theogs bowl in mid-breakfast.Panic.Thats the only feeling Joan
oote felt for that brief instantbefore the dog looked at her son,
om, and walked off.No snarling, no growling, no
othing, said Footes husband,ichael. Its like he said, OK,
f you want it, you can have it.
Most people would havemmediately snatched their kidp, but due to my stupidity, I
guess, I stood there andatched.
Michael and Joan Foote fellin love with the pit bull, Boss, adog strong enough to carry a 16-
pound bowling ball around hisfriends Detroit home.
Almost 20 years later, Footeowns six adult pit bulls that arepart of Watchman Ministry, acommunity outreach program
that Foote joined about sevenyears ago.
Every other Saturday, Footeand his pets Mack, Ivory,Angel, Mayday, Grace and Mr.Tibbs head out at 6 a.m. to theday-labor pools gathering onGovernors Drive.
Foote said people often by-pass the 70 sack lunches and fivegallons of coffee and orangejuice he brings just to pet thedogs.
Its a way for him to reach outto people and spread the Gospelin a way that isnt so intrusive,he said.
People will talk to me aboutmy dogs before they talk to meabout Jesus, he said. That givesme a chance to say, These dogsare this way because they wereraised in a good, Christianhome.
Foote takes his two-fold mes-sage of Gods love and thegood that can be found in pitbulls to Beckwood Manor, anursing home in Anniston.
The dogs visited residents ofSouth Hampton Nursing andRehabilitation Center in OwensCross Roads for about 11months, but stories about a pit-bull attack caused administra-tors to second-guess the dogs itallowed there, Foote said.
I didnt even know about thestory, but one of the adminis-trators said, I heard pit bullsturn on their owners. I said,Maam, Im sure whicheverone youre talking about did, butmost of them dont.
Administrators at BeckwoodManor werent sure of the dogsat first, either, he said, but theyhave come around after seeingthe dogs and the way they in-teract with residents.
You get people who dontusually move their arms who will move their arm to petthese dogs, Foote said.
His pit-bull family has turnedinto Mercy Kennels, which nowhas seven pit-bull puppies forsale.
But dont try to pull a fast oneon Foote buyers wanting atough dog on a chain wont getone of these puppies.
Foote, a former Army ser-geant, screens applicants and in-sists that each owner implant amicrochip in the dog.
If the dog ever runs away orgets lost, a veterinarian can usethe microchip to locate theowner. If the owner isnt found,the dog goes back to Foote.
Its a lifetime commitment,he said. In my opinion, youdont get one of these dogs andsay, I dont want this dog any-more and stick it in the back-yard.
Footes dogs live in the back-yard, but he created a doggiehaven tree limbs instead ofsticks, large tubs of water insteadof little water bowls to meetthe dogs needs.
Daily jaunts around theneighborhood help release thedogs excessive energy, but thosewalks present their own prob-lems, Foote said.
Although a firm command ofback will make all of his pitbulls fall back into line, somepassers-by take the long routeto avoid walking directly pasthim and his pack.
Some people stare as theywalk by, he said. Some peopledrive so far away on the otherside of the road that you canhear them hit gravel.
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A18 The Huntsville Times, Sunday, September 23, 2007
At a glanceWhat, exactly, is a pit
bull?It isnt a single breed,
which is most peoples per-ception, said Marcy Setter,
director of education andpublic relations for Pit BullRescue Central.
Most people use the termpit bull dog to describe anydog with common pit-bullcharacteristics, namely theblocky head, thick neck andmuscular body and jaws.
Legally, the definition ofpit bull varies by city, Set-ter said.
The three breeds generallyaccepted as part of the pit-bull group are the AmericanPit Bull Dog, the Stafford-shire Bull Terrier, the Ameri-can Staffordshire Terrier andany mixes of those breeds.
Setter said pit bulls wereborn when breeders mixedbulldogs traditionally used
for bull baiting, a sport inwhich the dog grasps a bullby its nose to render the bullhelpless with terriers,which are know as tena-cious, scrappy dogs.
Court rulingIn 2002, the Alabama
Supreme Court ruled thatfour pit-bull puppies inHuntsvilles animal shelterwere not vicious and shouldbe available for adoption.
The city sought to havethe four puppies Justice,Nellie, David and Elizabeth destroyed because they wereborn to fighting dogs seizedby police in April 2000.
Though a temporary victoryfor pit-bull advocates, the rul-ing didnt change shelter poli-cy restricting adoptions, saidMike Seibert, a lawyer in thecase. It should have set aprecedent, but the SupremeCourt didnt issue an opin-ion on the policy, Seibertsaid.
The shelter policy was es-tablished before Dr. KarenHill Sheppard became direc-tor of Animal Services in2002.
Bryan Bacon/Huntsville Times
Michael Foote uses his pit bulls in reaching out to people at day-labor pools and nursing homes..
Bryan Bacon/Huntsville Times
Michael Foote of New Hopeowns six pit bulls and seven
puppies.
His faithful companionshelp spread the Gospel