Athena is a 3-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier-mixed breed in Ringgold, GA, who needs $220 for heartworm treatment.

Athena is a gentle giant with what looks like a mix of possibly Great Dane and Pit. She has strikingly beautiful gold colored eyes, and the sweetest demeanor of any dog I've ever met. She's incredibly gentle and you can tell she came from an abusive background. We rescued her from McKamey, a local rescue center, and brought her home in March of 2018, shortly after our Boxer traveled over the rainbow bridge. Athena was very skittish and seemed afraid of everything, and had been looked over for adoption many times because they said she would cower down and growl at families who wanted to look at her. They had listed her as a "purple" on their site, which meant she was nervous. I knew the moment I saw her adorable face on their site that she was the one I wanted to bring home, and when we got to McKamey that day we didn't look at any other dog and went straight to her. She met us at the gate of her fence with a wagging tail and sweet little licks. We took her for a walk around their yard, and then into a "get to know you" room where we were alone with her. She rubbed up against us, constantly wagging her tail and smiling. She gave us kisses and was incredibly gentle with my 11 year old son. The employees said they had never seen her react to a family like this, and were pleasantly surprised. An hour later we had her in our car on the way to her forever home. She immediately claimed my boyfriend as her own, and she is his obedient sidekick.

We chose the name Athena because she is insanely strong, but also because you could tell she had experienced a rough life and had come out on the other side of it. Her neck and hind legs were battered with scars and rope burns, missing hair, and you could tell she had been tied up for a long time. She was incredibly under weight at 45 lbs with not only visible ribs but also protruding hip bones. She had recently had a litter, as her belly was still pretty saggy. They said they found her roaming the streets eating out of garbage cans, but never found her puppies.

A week after having her, and watching her search for another companion at every turn of the house, we decided to get a puppy for her. We adopted a mixed-breed puppy from a local family, got him checked out, named him Apollo, then introduced them. He's a hyper little dude who Athena took to immediately. He was about 9 weeks when we got him, and she has treated him like her own baby since we brought him home. They do everything together and often prefer to sleep in the same crate at night, despite having one of their own right next to one another. They are constantly cuddling and I call them yin and yang often, because they generally sleep head to tail curved into one another. When one is tired or has a scrape, the other tends to it. They (gross, and also sweetly) will share water, lol, whereas one will go drink for a while, then come back and let the other lick the water off of their face. They are a strange pair, but definitely inseparable.

They have both been with us now for a year and a half, and Athena has plumped up to a healthy 85lbs, nearly double her weight from when we adopted her! Apollo is smaller, at 55lbs, but is stocky and strong from all the play-fighting with his "sissy". We have taken them on every family trip, and even chose to vacation in an area known for their dog beaches so they would be able to experience the water. Turns out they hated it, so we stayed for less than 30 minutes, but they enjoyed playing in the big fenced in sandy backyard at the beach airbnb. They are regulars at friends and families homes, and have doggy friends we joined on the beach vacation.

They are inside dogs, which you could tell when we brought her home it was Athena's first time ever being allowed in the house. She's very gentle with furniture, and the only thing she's ever chewed up is socks. She doesn't really understand toys, but she loves a giant bone. She's taught Apollo to mind, and will get onto him if he's being too hyper/rough with children. She's literally a gentle giant - think of Nana from Peter Pan. :)