Sneaky Shadow's Spartan

Named after Spartan, my sister's dog. --/--/---- - 07/18/2018 Spartan started out life in a very sad way. He was a pitbull, with a life almost destined for hardship. His first owners wanted to make him an aggressive dog fighter, and they abused him. They tried to dock his tail with a rubber band, which left his tail slightly deformed, and from being abused, his tail appeared to have been broken. Spartan was luckily taken in at a rescue shelter, but things remained difficult for him. He was a dog with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,) so he wasn't suitable for first-time dog owners and people with children, and he was a pitbull, so most people feared him and chose other dogs at the rescue shelter instead. Spartan was adopted by my sister and her fiance, but the hardships kept coming. As he was a pitbull, most places in our town do not allow people to own pitbulls, so my sister and her fiance had to endure a lot - people insulted them for owning a pitbull on the property, and my sister and her fiance had to live in an extremely expensive apartment with terrible neighbors because it was one of the only places in town that would accept pitbulls. Spartan was best friends with Lenore, a small pitbull my sister also owned, until Lenore passed away. He never stopped missing Lenore, as he waited at the door for her return, and he became depressed with her absence. My sister later adopted a bulldog puppy, named Harlow, and she enjoyed pestering Spartan. Spartan enjoyed a life of luxury in his home, being pampered with treats and getting new toys to play with, but there was still the past he could not leave behind. He was afraid of sudden movements and loud sounds, and he was afraid of loud thunderstorms and fireworks as well; as he got a little older, when he would feel afraid, he would start to have seizures, which he needed medicine for, and my sister and her fiance would try to keep him comfortable so he would not panic. Spartan also started to get cancer midway through his life. Despite a few attempts at getting it removed, it continued to come back, and in more areas than before. It was sad that he had gone through so much, only to have so much more to deal with. As he became a senior, Spartan struggled with a lot of problems that old dogs tend to have: Arthritis, to the point where he couldn't walk upstairs to get home, and had to rely on being carried upstairs; he was having trouble seeing; he was having trouble hearing. My last memory of Spartan will always be an incredibly happy old dog - he was playing with his favorite squeaky toy, he was enjoying the treats that his 'aunt and granny' brought him, and being loved by his owners in his loving home. Spartan is now in a better place, where there is no more pain, no more pain-filled memories, no more fear of being attacked, and no more rejection for being a pitbull nobody wanted to accept. I'm glad my sister and her fiance adopted you into the family. You'll always be missed.