Poncho is a fabulous pit bull that is up for adoption at Chain of Hope. We first met Poncho about 4 yrs. ago. He belonged to a woman named Sharon that we had helped quite a bit. There was a huge cat problem on this street and Sharon fed all the strays. We did a lot of spaying and neutering on her block. We neutered Poncho as well and were thankful that he had a great home with Sharon. She took very good care of him. She had a nice fenced front yard and she would often leave her front door open and let Poncho go in and out. He’d always be out on nice days and he didn’t bother the cats at all. Sharon loved Poncho and Poncho loved Sharon very much.
Once we had spayed and neutered everything over here, we really didn’t have to go back. The cat issue was under control and Poncho was doing awesome. I kind of lost touch with Sharon simply because she really didn’t need us anymore. She was able to buy food for the animals and she really did a pretty good job.
Fast forward to just a few months ago and I received a call from Sharon’s grand daughter. I was sad to hear that Sharon had passed away several months before. Crystal had Poncho with her now. She called because she lived in a tiny studio apartment and had Poncho and her 2 Chihuahuas as well. She was having issues with Poncho. She said that he peed in the house and he had never done that before. She said he was doing it everyday and she was upset. She told me that she had to take the 2 Chihuahuas and Poncho out to potty on leashes because she didn’t have a yard. She sounded pretty frustrated. I knew that she was most likely not taking Poncho outside enough and he was not getting any exercise. I talked to her for a long time. I offered to bring her a crate to use for him when she left because she said she always came home to pee in the house. I told her that she was going to have to start walking him everyday for a good amount of time to help him get his energy out. He was used to a fenced yard with Sharon and was now in a studio apartment with 2 Chihuahuas.
Nothing I suggested seemed to do any good. I think she mostly wanted to vent. I told her that we could take him into our program if she felt like she couldn’t keep him. She said she wanted to keep him because he was her grandma’s. I told her that I knew how much Sharon had loved Poncho and that Sharon trusted me and would know that I would see to it that he was safe and happy. I planted the seed with her and told her to call me if things still weren’t working out. It was just a few days later that I got the call. Crystal asked me if I would come and get Poncho. Of course I would! I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Poncho.
Ashlee, Devin, and I headed over to get this sweet boy.
I’m sure Poncho was wondering what was happening to him now! It’s all good, we told him-don’t worry!
We got Poncho settled in. I hadn’t been around him in a long time, so I was looking forward to getting to know this boy! He was very handsome and well behaved. We began introducing him to other dogs at Chain of Hope and he did extremely well. He goes out in playgroups and has a ball!
Poncho LOVES to play fetch! He loves chasing balls, playing with stuffed animals, and going for walks. He tested positive for heart worms and has completed his treatment. He is a favorite at Chain of Hope. We love this boy! He is crate-trained, house-trained, likes other dogs, doesn’t mind cats, he listens well, is obedient and smart-he really is the total package! He’s strong at 72 lbs. and he is gorgeous.
There’s only one thing that Poncho has done that was totally out of character for him-he murdered Barney! (Admit it-some of you are happy about this!).
If you’d be interested in fostering or adopting Poncho, please go to www.chainofhopekc.org and go to our adoptable pets page to find both the foster and adoption applications. We took Poncho into our program last March and he would greatly love to have a break from Chain of Hope and be in a real home environment, whether that’s a foster home or his forever home. Help us spread the word about Poncho-please share this blog. Poncho is an incredible boy!
