This story was shared with us by Kristen from New Jersey. Thank you, Kristen! You can follow Autumn on Instagram here.

In October of 2011 I took my then 1-year old daughter to a street fair in our town. As we were waiting outside of a restaurant for some friends of ours, I happened to notice a rescue organization setting up their booth and was immediately attracted to a female pit bull with a happy smile and big brown eyes.

The two rescue workers were busy getting organized and I didn’t want to bother them, plus my husband wasn’t with me, so I just stood and watched as the dog wagged her tail and pranced happily as passers-by of all ages stuck their fingers in her crate and chatted with her.  I had had previous positive experience with pit bulls so her breed didn’t bother me at all.

I made a mental note to look up the rescue organization, Happy Paws Rescue when I got home. Later that night I immediately sat down with my husband and showed him her account on pet-finder, her name was Autumn. We mulled over having a dog for about a week before I filled out a generic web form expressing interest in her.

I received a call the very next day. It turns out Autumn had been left outside of a shelter six months prior in a box with her twelve puppies, she was emaciated and full of worms. Happy Paws had taken her and three of her puppies (another organization took the rest) and they had been fostering her for about 6 months. They estimated her to be about 1 and a half years old at that time.

After telling me about Autumn, she then turned the tables on me. Have you done much research on having a pit bull? Do you plan on taking her to a dog park? Do you know you can’t walk her with a retractable leash? What will you do if you have more children? What will happen to her if you and your husband pass away? Evidently my answers were satisfactory, she called me back and scheduled a home visit for later that week. Autumn’s foster mom and another rescue volunteer brought her to our house and she was a ball of excitement.

Smiling even bigger than I remembered, her tail wagging so fiercely it started from the waist and at times bent her sideways, and her tongue licking any inch of skin she could find on myself, my husband and my delighted daughter. She made herself right at home, romping around the backyard and jumping all over the couches. Autumn’s handlers were satisfied with our chemistry and with a few quick signatures she was ours. From the very beginning she was a perfect fit for our family. Perfectly potty trained, well mannered on a leash, endlessly affectionate and a good listener. Her bad habits, like jumping on the furniture and just about every person who comes into our home, have been manageable.

Six years and three children later she is still the same happy-go-lucky, obedient, loving dog we fell in love with and we are continually amazed with her patience for our growing family. Autumn really is the best dog we could have asked for, she makes our family complete.

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