Triton Pictures

August, 2013. Triton (aka T-dog) was abandoned after being used as a "bait dog" at a dog fighting ring. He had extensive bite wounds all over his legs and torso and required emergency treatment. Despite the abuse, he's a friendly dog who has become somewhat famous after being on the news. I worked with him every day after he came to the shelter until we started fostering Larisa, so we formed a trusting relationship before he came home to foster with us.

I started calling him T-dog from the moment I meet him because he reminded me of a character from the TV show the Walking Dead. T-dog was a big, intimidating looking guy with a heart of gold who endured a lot of physical attacks in defense of his group.

Triton proved to be an excellent housedog: potty trained, didn't chew anything he wasn't supposed to, didn't jump up or get mouthy. He intimidated Boomer a little with his 50 pound body-checking wrestling style, but they loved to play chase and tug-of-war. He didn't overeat so I was able to just leave their food bowls out all day together.

He was very respectful when we ate our meals and did pretty good on our walks, which gave me the impression that someone has spent some time teaching him good manners. I was eventually able to trust him off leash in the front yard and leave him unsupervised with Boomer both inside and outside the house.

Triton proved to be a big hit on our daily visits to the shelter, especially among the kids. He was the kind of dog that wasn't at all fazed by kids pulling on his ears or tail or making lots of excited noises. He loved attention.

He developed a bit of a play growl when there was a dog on the other side of the fence that he wanted to play with, which I tried to discourage. But he never showed any signs of wanting to attack another dog that I saw.

Triton had a limp in his front right leg from the beginning, but it started getting worse the more he ran and played. The vets weren't sure if it was caused by his bite wounds or not.

Triton was taken to another vet clinic to have more testing done to figure out exactly what was causing his intermittent limping. Listening to the vets talk about it was like watching an episode of House as they tried to solve the mystery.

One evening while sleeping in his crate Triton let out a long, wolfish howl for a good 20 seconds and then kept on sleeping. Pretty impressive. He never did it again, so it proved to be a one time memorable event for me.

While we had Triton we also started fostering a pair of tiny puppies. Triton proved to be a gentle giant, hovering over them protectively and letting himself be used as a giant chew toy. Boomer seemed more than happy to let Triton get all their puppy attention.

(Note: there are a lot more pictures of Triton on Archie and Betty's Memory Page.)

Further testing revealed that Triton might have a condition that causes excess bone growth. It was somewhat unclear if his limp was caused by his bite wounds or not. In any case, his limp didn't slow him down at all as he would often decide to run around "doing zoomies" both outside and inside the house, which was very amusing to watch.

After almost five weeks with us Triton went back to the shelter to find his forever home and have some more testing done. It was clear he had no lingering behavioral issues from his "bait dog" experience as he did great with kids, other dogs and especially puppies! For a high energy pit bull, he was amazing good at not jumping up or getting mouthy. He should be a great housedog to whoever is lucky enough to adopt him.

I would have liked to have kept Triton and done the adoption interviews myself, but there was another dog in desperate need of help that needed my full attention.