Volunteer Spotlight: Susan Johnson

By profession, I’m a Radiation Therapist. This means I treat cancer patients with radiation. This a very rewarding job. All the patients you make feel better or help them live a long cancer-free life just make your day.

I have to admit that I was a pit bull naysayer. When my son wanted to get a pit bull, we told him he couldn’t bring one of those aggressive dogs into our house. Needless to say when Jade joined our family, I had to eat my words. She is a sweetheart, no other way to describe her. After Jade joined our family, I researched the breed and found more and more reasons to love the breed. I began sponsoring pit bulls at an out of state rescue. When my toy poodle passed away at 11 yrs, I knew I had to rescue a pit bull. After searching online I found an instate rescue. I was going to apply for a Katrina dog, but there was a black male I liked also. After I finally talked my husband into letting me get a dog to replace my poodle, I looked for the black dog on pet finder. He was gone. My heart sank. There was no ‘adoption pending’, no ‘adopted’ , no nothing. I emailed the rescue. The black dog had been adopted but he had supposedly growled at his new owner. The rescue had two temperament tests done. He passed one and failed one. The deal was now he needed a home fast and someone to work with him if he really had issues. My husband calls work as I’m reading this email. I’m crying like a baby. Well being the great man he is, he said to go get the dog and quit crying. I went and got him on Jan 8, 2005. He has been the best dog. He loves kids, adults and other dogs.

After getting Buddy I had wanted to volunteer for a pit bull rescue. I was thrilled when I saw CCB on Face book and they weren’t too far from me. I began volunteering in July. I got my first foster, Roxxy, in August. We also have a temporary foster, Gizmo. Our house is a doggie zoo. We have Haley, our old grumpy Lab; Jade, our white pittie; Buddy, my black pittie; and Molly, our border collie mix, who showed up at our house starving with mange.

Since I started volunteering for CCB, I have met lots of nice people and pitties. The events are rewarding when you have interest in one of the adopt-a-bulls. I am the Triad Media manager and have helped to organize some events. I hope to be able to work with CCB for a long time. This helps me fulfill my dreams of helping animals, especially pit bulls.