Angelo thought that he had just adopted a normal pitbull for his family, but this could not be further from the truth. He had the animal in his house for about 3 weeks and actually was completely oblivious to the reality of the situation. Only when he brought it to the vet, Angelo was confronted with the cold hard facts. He had made a big mistake adopting this creature… Angelo was sure what to think. The vet didn’t speak a word to him when he took the dog away. What was going on? He had just brought Tiger in to have his stomach checked, but it felt like there was a lot more going on here that Angelo was not being informed about… The vet returns to the waiting room 10 minutes later. Without Tiger. Before Angelo could even question where he was, the vet informed them that he had just called the police and that they were on their way. Angelo was shocked… Angelo demanded his dog back. But when the vet started explaining himself, it suddenly made sense to him. How could he have been so naive? But what was going on with Tiger? Why was the police called and would Angelo ever see his beloved dog again? From the moment Angelo looked this big black creature in the eyes, he knew this was the dog he wanted. Not one of those cute tiny pipsqueaks his wife Tania had been begging for. He wanted a real dog that made him more masculine, and this seemed the perfect fit.  Angelo had to admit that he had never seen this species before. In fact, he couldn’t even describe what he was looking at himself. He was pretty sure the species resembled a pit bull, but the pattern on its fur made him doubt it. Angelo thought it was pretty cool and unique. But again, he has little knowledge of all the different descendants within dog breeds. When he struck up a conversation with one of the employees of the shelter, he got only a bit of a vague answer. He didn’t understand completely, but he didn’t care. He had other things to worry about… The main thing was to convince his wife Tania that this was the right dog for the family. All he had to defend himself were the statements of the employee. Such things as: “It’s the sweetest dog we’ve ever had in our shelter” and “He’s doing a great job with kids”.  He hoped it was enough to convince her. Angelo finalized the adoption process that same afternoon. Even though the shelter apparently liked the dog a lot, they were very happy to see him go as well. They said it was because he had already been around here way too long for a dog of that kind. But were they telling the truth? While driving home, Angelo began to have some doubts about his choice. The dog, which has been given the name Tiger, is so big that it can scare children off. It was at that moment, that the dog laid his head on Angelo’s lap. As quickly as his doubts surfaced, so quickly they disappeared. Angelo felt himself glowing; he felt like he had hit the jackpot! It was kind of a best of both worlds situation. The dog looked very badass and was also very tame and sweet, which is what Tania and their children were looking for in a dog. But isn’t it all a bit too good to be true? As Angelo pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, he could feel Tania’s eyes burning through the window. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled Tiger out of the car. He saw that she looked even angrier, but that was to be expected. Luckily he was going to get strong support out of an unexpected place. When Angelo started to open the door, his two children were already standing in the doorway. Andre and Cindy were over the moon, so excited as they were! They petted him without any form of hesitation, which he obviously liked. He started wagging his tail and immediately seemed to feel at ease. Even though Tiger was very enthusiastic, he seemed to hold back in expressing it. As Tania walked wide into the hallway, the first thing she saw was the kids hugging the “big scary dog.” Tiger, in turn, handed out a few playful licks. Angelo couldn’t stop smiling. This was all he hoped for. She could not possibly stay mad after seeing this, but she would be damned if she was not going to keep a very close eye on this new addition to the family. It wouldn’t be long before Tania started noticing some strange things with the dog in the following weeks… The first thing Tania noticed was that Tiger was always very kind and sociable around people. It doesn’t matter how old they are or how they react to him. Many of them were very afraid of him from the moment they saw him. How good he was with people, how bad was he with other dogs… At times when Tiger saw other dogs of his own size or even bigger, he started showing extremely defensive and aggressive behavior. It wasn’t that he attacked or moved other dogs, but still, he showed his teeth and kept them in his sights at all times. Tania was pretty sure that if one of those dogs made a move on him, Tiger would be capable of absolutely going berserk on the other dog. In the short time that the dog lives with the family, Angelo has almost experienced it. Angelo went to a dog playing field and saw a German Shepherd. He already thought this could turn into a fight, so he kept Tiger close to him. As they got closer, it started to escalate. Luckily both dogs were on a very strong lease, but both Angelo and the owner of the german shepherd had to do everything in their power to hold their dogs back. To continue going about the things that stood out to Tania in the first week: there was another incident with Tiger that would end up becoming really significant for the family. You see, Tiger had the habit of eating a lot of things he shouldn’t… In most cases, it isn’t even such a bad thing, as it only made Tiger a little bit sick. This usually went away after a few days after the dog felt as good as new again. But one day, after he ate something wrong, his health suddenly started to plummet… The family had no idea what he might have eaten. What they did know right away was the fact that this wouldn’t just go away. That’s why Angelo didn’t hesitate for a moment and called the vet to ask if they could come by urgently. While they only had the dog for about 3 weeks by now, they had grown incredibly attached to the animal. He had become a big part of the family that they could not stand to lose. But this would turn out to be a real possibility and not even necessarily because of the mysterious illness. The trip to the vet would be an event Angelo would never forget. He had decided to go by himself so that Tania could watch the kids. But he would end up wishing that he had brought them along as support. Tiger’s condition was worse than the moment they left the house… When Angelo arrived at the vet’s office, he needed to wait a bit before he could be helped. He had an appointment, but it was extremely busy that day so everything was running a bit late. Angelo was just sitting there waiting nervously. While Angelo was waiting, he noticed that Tiger was drawing a lot of attention. This was something he was already used to because the fur of his furry friend has a very special pattern. Not much later, he got pretty tired of all those people snapping pictures of them. But that wasn’t even the worst…  The longer Angelo and Tiger were waiting, the more people started paying attention to the dog. Each and every one of them wanted to see the dog up close and take a picture of it. They too had never seen such a pattern. Angelo got a little stuffy… Normally Angelo would not mind that all those people asked him questions. Sometimes you just have those days when you don’t feel like talking to strangers. Let today be just such a day. He was stressed about his dog’s health and didn’t want to take any time to answer questions from strangers. It took a very long time before it was his turn, and by now new people had arrived at the clinic. A crowd started to form around him and Tiger. Everyone in the waiting room seemed so interested in his dog, that they nearly forgot about their own sick pets. Angelo got fed up with it and went to the service desk to ask if it wasn’t possible to be helped immediately. All the crowd’s attention didn’t do Tiger any good either, as he seemed to be getting stressed. Angelo was already feeling so sorry for Tiger, as he only seemed to get weaker… Unfortunately, it was not possible to be helped immediately, because the vet was still busy with a difficult surgery. However, the employee agreed that this was not an ideal situation for them, after which they were escorted to an empty office space where they could wait in peace. A young student, who was training at the vet, entered the room to meet them and to write down what Tiger’s problem was. She did this so she could already think of what could be wrong and find a possible solution, but also to make the process quicker for the vet. When Angelo indicated that the dog seemed to be in a lot of pain in his stomach, the student determined that it was caused by something he ate that could not be digested. A small surgical procedure was the most likely solution.  Angelo said aloud that he felt relieved that they could go home soon, but that turned out not to be the case at all… Just like the people in the waiting room, the student’s attention was mainly drawn to the strange appearance of the dog, rather than actually investigating the problem. The difference with the crowd in the waiting room was that she said nothing about it to Angelo, like all the others. At least, not yet… After waiting for another five minutes, the vet finally walked into the empty office space where Angelo and Tiger were waiting. He looked quite tired and there were blood spatters on the sleeves of his white coat. Angelo felt a strange, inexplicable feeling. It was obvious that he had not even taken the time to change and rest up a bit after the surgery. Angelo was happy that Tiger apparently had so much priority, but he was afraid that maybe he should be worried that something was seriously wrong. The vet didn’t say much, making it uncomfortably quiet in the already empty room. He just inspected the notes his student had made and then closely inspected Tiger. But he did not seem to focus on the problem areas his student stated. He was mainly just doing a full inspection of the dog. After completing the inspection, Angelo was told he could sit in the waiting room while they perform minor surgery on Tiger. “We want to see what is stuck in his stomach. Don’t be scared, he needs to be put under anesthesia, but that will only be for a short time”. This made Angelo nervous but the vet managed to calm him down. The vet told him it was a fairly simple procedure that he’s done thousands of times. Angelo did not have to worry about this, but as it would turn out, he would have to be worried about something very different. Quite soon, his life would turn upside down… After waiting for about 20 minutes his name was called at the reception desk. He walked towards the reception, after which suddenly two officers walked in the building. He thought it was remarkable, but didn’t pay much attention to it. Until the vet walked out of his office. Without Tiger. The vet pointed the officers in the direction of Angelo and said: “That’s him”. He didn’t understand what was going on and looked behind him to make sure there was no one behind him whom the vet might have meant. At that point, the vet started explaining why he called the police… Before the vet could give an explanation, the officers started asking him questions about Tiger. It was at that moment that Angelo started to panic. What the hell is going on? He came here because his dog was sick and in need of help! He just wanted his dog back and leave, but that wasn’t going to happen. Angelo started getting angry. He wouldn’t answer any questions about his dog at all. At first, he wanted to know how the surgery went and then be reunited with Tiger. He glared at the vet and yelled: “What the hell are these cops doing here?” Then they started giving an explanation. The stripes that Tiger has on his fur are not a lack pigment as Angelo and the rest of his family had always thought. It was actually ripped hide that had recovered a bit over time. This pit bull did not have a happy existence before meeting Angelo. The officers had come to the vet after several reports about the dog. There were a few people who had seen such cases of animal cruelty before and reported it immediately. After the vet recognized the dog, he immediately decided to call the police. They thought Angelo was responsible for this treatment but Angelo directed them to the shelter. Angelo was completely shaken up by what he just had been told by the police officers. How could he ever be so naive to think these stripes were natural?! He felt terrible as he pictured what Tiger must have gone through. Angelo blamed his lack of knowledge about dogs but felt immensely guilty. He should have never just adopted this poor dog like this and immediately brought him to the police so that they could have started to find out who was responsible. Fortunately, this was not too late. During all this time and discussion, the surgery on Tiger was actually being performed and it turned out that he also had some other internal damage from the apparent mistreatment from years ago. Angelo was boiling with anger and wondered aloud who could ever do this to a dog. Luckily with the help of the expertise of the vet, Angelo managed to get Tiger back to perfect health. He still went to the vet every few months for a check-up, but as long as Angelo was able to keep him from eating any unfamiliar objects, he would be just fine. The police eventually managed to trace the horrible treatment back to the breeder and when it was proven that this man did this to more Pitbulls, he was arrested and charged. Even better: he was not going to be able to do this ever again!