Written by Megan Pitzer
Photography by Chris Pitzer / Photographer Assistant – Dine Greyling
I first saw animal rescuer Louise Pinkham’s Facebook post about Nitro in early 2017. I read how she’d found him running in the road, took him home, and how he destroyed the room she left him in. I read further about how her dogs weren’t getting along with him and how her only option was to take him to Wollies Animal Project as his owners no longer wanted him.
At the time, we already owned two Bassets, Scampi and Enzo, and a male Whippet named Flash. We couldn’t imagine how Nitro would cope in a shelter setting. We decided to foster him. When I collected Nitro, called Lucky at the time, he was scared and disorientated. He’d just been sterilized, so he was still groggy too. I remember that drive home. He nuzzled his muzzle into the fold of my arm and I slowly felt him relax.
The first two weeks were no picnic. We realised that Nitro must have been an only dog and had no idea about pack dynamics or pack etiquette. My husband and I slowly introduced him to the other dogs. We then started walking around the yard in circles. I know it sounds crazy, but Nitro needed to see where he fitted in the pack order. My husband, Chris, would walk in front and I’d walk behind him. Then came Scampi, then Enzo, and then Flash. Nitro constantly tried to run ahead, but with a growl from us and then from the three dogs, he’d fall in line at the back. Finally, he realised that he had a place, but it wasn’t where he originally thought it was.
About a week in, disaster struck. Nitro became lethargic and stopped eating. A visit to the vet revealed that he had tick bite fever. He must have been bitten during one of his adventures before we got him. We were later told that he was constantly running away from his previous owner’s yard. After a hefty vet bill and a lot of prayers, thankfully, Nitro pulled through.
He remained timid and wouldn’t come when called. We just loved him; loving him for the broken beautiful creature that he was. Slowly over time, he started responding to his new name and even came for snuggles (…on his own terms, of course).
This then developed into enjoying cuddles and hours spent on my lap. He became a fully fledged member of our pack, and in 2019, we changed his status from foster to adopted. He’s officially ours, and he’s not going anywhere!
Nitro is amazing. His barking one evening alerted us to a criminal in our neighbour’s yard – the intruder was eventually captured. Since children have entered our lives, Nitro has shifted his attention from us to them. We call him their shadow – wherever they are, he is, silently watching over them for us.
Nitro is such a beautiful example of how a dog from a shelter can become an exceptional addition to a family. He’s a good boy and we love him endlessly!
