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
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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
