Help Find A Home For Sweet & Silly Pit Mix Leroy

Neighbor Susie DeFord of Susie’s Pet Care tipped us off about the plight of Leroy, a mature pitbull mix she found abandoned in Fort Greene Park last Monday who’s in desperate need of a home. Via her blog Dog Poet Laureate, Susie says Leroy’s story is a bit of a sad one:

On Monday 8/4/2014 I took my dog, Phoebe, up to Fort Greene Park for off leash hours around 8:30am. When I arrived at the park, I saw my friend Anna Holmes sitting by a large brindle pit bull mix who was tied by a thin yellow rope to the bench. I asked what was going on and she said she and others had been sitting with him since 6:30am that morning. People brought him water and food and someone went to get an old collar to put on him so the rope wouldn’t hurt his neck. He was panting and nervous but friendly. He had a cough and was pretty dirty, with lots of loose shed hair on his smooth coat…

We took him to Sean Casey but they had 30 pit mixes they were trying to adopt out already and couldn’t take him… If the dog wound up at a kill shelter he would certainly be put down due to his breed, the cough, and the fact that he was probably between 9-10 years old… Lots of people volunteered to help out with vet bills but no one could take him to their house. We have a few leads on homes but because of his possible kennel cough we’re waiting to introduce him in case he’s contagious… We can’t keep him due to our building’s pet policy.

But even so, Leroy is in high spirits:

Leroy could’ve been scared and aggressive towards me, Anna Holmes, the vet, or any of the people or dogs we’d encountered that morning but he was sweet and goofy with all of us… Leroy mostly wants to lie around and be with people and dogs. He’s housebroken and loves squeaky toys. In fact we got him a few and now he tries to carry them both around in his mouth, which is ridiculous. He’s a bit dopey, sees his reflection and things it’s another dog to say hello to… He has a lot of calluses on his arms so the vet thought he might have laid on concrete a lot. We gave him a bed but he mostly lies on the floor.

He gets along well with my dog despite her sulking about not being the center of attention. Phoebe occasionally growls at him when he crowds her space and he just walks away apologetically like he can’t help that he’s a big oaf. I actually used him in a training session with a small reactive (barky) dog, and he handled it beautifully. He simply moved away from the dog and turned away so we could work with him. He didn’t get nasty back at all.

Susie says she’d be grateful to anyone who could adopt, foster, or even pass on the word about this loving boy, whose veterinary needs are currently being taken care of. “He doesn’t need much,” she says, “just a few walks a day and some squeaky toys. He’s so mellow that he’d be an easy dog to care for.”

You can read the full post about Leroy here–and if you’re able to help in any way, give Susie a shout at 718-415-7880 or susiespetcare@gmail.com.

Photos via Dog Poet Laureate