Unbreaka-BULL Love: A Pit Bull’s Journey to Love After Nearly a Year in the Shelter
The shelter can be a challenging environment for any pet. No matter how compassionate the care, the experience of new routines, new people, and hundreds of other animals can be overwhelming. For dogs like Quincey, this adjustment was particularly hard.
Quincey arrived at the shelter in June 2023, and from day one, he struggled to settle in. His anxiety was evident; unable to relax, he would bark and whine at strangers passing by his kennel, making it hard for anyone to see his true self. And despite a few short-lived adoptions, he seemed to always end up back at the shelter.
Everything changed when Abby entered the picture.
Abby, a volunteer dog walker at the shelter, first noticed Quincey during one of her shifts. The stress-response behaviors he exhibited in his kennel initially made her wary, but after their first walk together, Quincey quickly found a special place in her heart. “Everyone would leave him for me to walk when I was there,” Abby recalls. “He’d climb up into my lap every chance he got.” As the months passed, Abby and Quincey’s bond strengthened, and her time with him became the highlight of her volunteering.
Quincey was briefly placed in a foster home, and outside the shelter walls, he blossomed. He relaxed, showcased his loving side, and began to understand what it felt like to be part of a family. Toward the end of 2023, Quincey was adopted, and he and his new family enjoyed several weeks together. Unfortunately, a change in housing circumstances meant he returned to the shelter once again. But Quincey was never alone in his journey back—he had Abby and a team of staff and volunteer supporters by his side.
To help ease the stress of shelter life, Abby began fostering Quincey on weekends and for overnight kennel breaks. The change she saw in him was remarkable. “He was the easiest thing in the home,” Abby shares. “He knew how to be a pet.”
From these short stays, fostering Quincey became a full-time commitment, and after five months, Abby and her husband knew he wasn’t going anywhere, making things official by signing adoption papers in May 2024. “This is a seamless transition. He belongs here!”
Quincey settling into his new life with Abby, complete with extra close cuddles and training sessions at Zoom Room.
Quincey is Abby’s first pit bull-type dog, adding an extra layer of joy to her adoption journey. “We’ve had Golden Retrievers, Labs, all kinds of rescues. But I’d never had a pit bull fall into my life like this. They are the snuggliest, cuddliest dogs—loyal, smart. Quincey is so intelligent. I don’t know…maybe I’m a lifer!”
As Abby puts it, “There’s kind of a pittie for everyone.” Quincey’s story is a reminder of the companionship pit bull-type dogs can bring to your life, and the variety of temperaments, ages, and activity levels they offer. During Pit Bull Awareness Month, we celebrate all the pitties like Quincey who are waiting for their chance to thrive and show the world who they truly are.
You, too, can fall in love like Abby and Quincey. View our adoptable dogs, or sign up to foster one today!
Not ready to foster or adopt? Wear your love for pit bull-type dogs in the heart of Tacoma and Pierce County with our Grit City Pitties merch!
