HOW IT ALL STARTED . . .
Sweet Pea is the catalyst for the creation of The Love Pit. She is our why.
On June 10th, 2015, Aften was driving to a work dinner in Dallas, Texas and noticed the cars in front of her were swerving around an object in the road. When she drove closer, she realized there was a stray pit bull walking into oncoming traffic. Nobody was stopping to help so she knew she needed to act quickly. Blocking several lanes of traffic, Aften stopped her car and went out to the street in hopes of rescuing the dog. Little did she know at that moment her life would change forever.
She called to her saying “Come here Sweet Pea, come here sweet girl”. As the dog got closer and laid down in submission, Aften realized the reality of her condition. Bloodied with lacerations and infection, overbred, covered in ticks and fleas, and part of her face torn open, Sweet Pea was exhausted and in desperate need of medical help. With the help of good humans, Aften was able to get the badly hurt dog into her car and drove her to the nearest vet at Oak Cliff Metro Paws. It was during this drive that her vision of the world permanently changed.
Here she was with a badly injured pit bull that had clearly suffered years of neglect at the hand of humans. A dog that had absolutely every right to never trust a human again. Yet this dog was showing unconditional love and appreciation as she licked Aften’s arm, even with part of her face missing. At this moment, Aften knew she needed to do everything she could to save Sweet Pea. She also knew she needed to do everything in her power to help other pit bulls like her.
The rest is history and will always be our legacy. With the funds left over from healing Sweet Pea, another 13 dogs were saved and then on to hundreds more with the help of other wonderful pit bull advocates. Sweet Pea lived out the best years of her life with Aften before she passed away in late Summer of 2021 from Lymphoma. She may no longer be with us physically but her spirit lives on in all of us. She will always be our beacon of light and volunteers at The Love Pit still wake up every single day, on a mission to #savethepitbull in her honor.
On June 10th, 2015, Aften was driving to a work dinner in Dallas, Texas and noticed the cars in front of her were swerving around an object in the road. When she drove closer, she realized there was a stray pit bull walking into oncoming traffic. Nobody was stopping to help so she knew she needed to act quickly. Blocking several lanes of traffic, Aften stopped her car and went out to the street in hopes of rescuing the dog. Little did she know at that moment her life would change forever.
She called to her saying “Come here Sweet Pea, come here sweet girl”. As the dog got closer and laid down in submission, Aften realized the reality of her condition. Bloodied with lacerations and infection, overbred, covered in ticks and fleas, and part of her face torn open, Sweet Pea was exhausted and in desperate need of medical help. With the help of good humans, Aften was able to get the badly hurt dog into her car and drove her to the nearest vet at Oak Cliff Metro Paws. It was during this drive that her vision of the world permanently changed.
Here she was with a badly injured pit bull that had clearly suffered years of neglect at the hand of humans. A dog that had absolutely every right to never trust a human again. Yet this dog was showing unconditional love and appreciation as she licked Aften’s arm, even with part of her face missing. At this moment, Aften knew she needed to do everything she could to save Sweet Pea. She also knew she needed to do everything in her power to help other pit bulls like her.
The rest is history and will always be our legacy. With the funds left over from healing Sweet Pea, another 13 dogs were saved and then on to hundreds more with the help of other wonderful pit bull advocates. Sweet Pea lived out the best years of her life with Aften before she passed away in late Summer of 2021 from Lymphoma. She may no longer be with us physically but her spirit lives on in all of us. She will always be our beacon of light and volunteers at The Love Pit still wake up every single day, on a mission to #savethepitbull in her honor.
