09/16/2020
Shadow Vicktory Dog
We said goodbye to our beloved Shadow as he crossed the Rainbow Bridge on September 9, 2020. The last of the Vicktory Dogs, Shadow was just a few months shy of his 16th birthday and tenth adoptaversary. Though we were only able to share his life for just under ten full years, we loved him so fiercely that his passing has left us heartbroken with nearly unbearable sorrow. And it has left us angry as well, at the senseless evil that got us to this place.
When the Vicktory Dogs came together at Best Friends after their rescue from Bad Newz Kennels, owned by former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, several of the early adopters formed the Vicktory Dog Family. We shared privately all things Vicktory Dog: issues the dogs were having, advice on how to resolve those issues, baby steps and gigantic leaps toward normalcy. Many of the adopters started pages for their dogs, because the world showed such interest and concern that it felt selfish to put them into hiding beyond the reach of those who truly cared about them. We all agreed at that time that we would focus solely on the dogs, and not their abusers.
But now, the journey has come to an end. Shadow was the last. He succumbed to a mass in his lungs that was too close to his loving pit bull heart to be operable. With Shadow well into his 15th year, the medical options were poor at best. We decided to just let him be and keep him comfortable. He went over the Bridge knowing how much he was loved.
So now all bets are off, and we as Shadow's adopters have some things to say.
To Michael Vick, Quanis Phillips, Tony Taylor and Purnell Peace: You are evil and a special place in hell waits for all of you and everyone like you. You took the gentlest of souls and tried to break them. But you couldn't. Shadow and the others survived your psychopathy, your sa**sm, your greed and your unbounded cruelty. Unlike you will do, Shadow and the others left this world a little better. Their legacy is one of love. kindness, redemption and acceptance.
To Best Friends and Bad Rap: You changed the entire course of how dogs like Shadow and his Vicktory siblings are treated by petitioning the federal court to spare these dogs' lives and not simply hold them as evidence to be destroyed and discarded because they were damaged and incapable of redemption. You facilitated the new normal in cruelty cases--to view the dogs as the victims they are, to have them evaluated on their individual merit, and to allow them to live however they will fare the best, whether in sanctuaries or in loving homes.
To Jim Knorr, Bill Brinkman, the USDA, Mike Gill and the Hon. Henry Hudson: Thank you for believing and doing the right thing by these marvelous dogs. The "ticking time bombs," as PETA described them, never did go off. Just check out this web site to see Shadow and his adoptive pittie sister Molly interacting with our baby granddaughter like two furry parents.
To all of his fans and friends: Thanks to all of you who followed Shadow, Molly and us on our journey. The outpouring of love and support we received both from those who knew him and those who simply loved him from afar was invaluable.
Our job as Shadow's pet parents was to love and protect him. Loving him was easy. His loving us was difficult. For the first two years or so, Shadow pancaked himself against the back walls of his crate and refused to come out except to go outside. Even for that he had made himself an invisible safe path from his crate to the door. Nevertheless, Mom would lie with him at night, sticking her head into his crate right next to his, and sing "Blackbird" to him, until he did learn to fly and to see, tentatively at first and then he broke through his self-imposed isolation. After that life became grand for all of us.
We also protected him from those who wanted to exploit him to resurrect the broken career of his abuser. We did not seek or accept publicity for him or ourselves. We shared his life story only with those who cared. But at the end of the day, Shadow was ours with whom to enjoy life together, to love and cherish every breakthrough, every moment, every bit of joy that he brought us. There is no end of people who have told us how lucky Shadow was to have us. But in reality it is we whose lives were enriched by this gentle soul. He has left his pawprints on our hearts forever.
With love to all of you,
S & H
