Kelvin’s Story - Bringing Home a Pitbull Puppy

Our little family wouldn’t be complete without our Puppy Kelvin!

Kelvin came home on January 2019 and changed our world! He is so playful and a cuddler for sure. He loves to meet new people and dogs, really enjoys his chew toys and jumps for joy every time we come home.

Hi, we’re David and Meivys, a husband and wife photography team based in South Florida. We photograph weddings, portraits, and brands. We share all about life, marriage, and business over at @suarezpartyoftwo. Welcome and we can’t wait to connect with you!

I (Meivys) grew up with all kinds of animals in our house from turtles to birds to dogs, but David on the other hand had never had any of the above. I was dying for a puppy and he just wasn’t having it, truth be told he was a bit scared of dogs…So much so, I brought home a puppy once and he made me take it back! Can you believe that?! But a couple months after we got married he finally let me have one so we started to shop around and went to multiple pet stores to practice petting and losing the fear of dogs. As David was getting used to a puppy’s tongue and petting their fur, the best news came our way, my dad’s dogs were having puppies! It couldn’t have been a more perfect moment. God is good all the time! From there, we anxiously awaited the birth of our puppy and researched everything we possibly could – we are planners, guys!

I remember the day he was born (Nov 18th, 2018), we immediately went to my parents house and had to pick one of the puppies and we knew the second we saw him. He was the cutest little thing, I still can’t believe he’s so big today. Because David was semi-scared of dogs, we wanted to make sure to be there as he grew every step of the way so he would know us. We would visit him at my parent’s house every week and watch him and his siblings grow. At 45 days old, we finally were able to take him home and it was sooo strange, we felt like we had just had a baby lol…

Fun fact – we named him Kelvin because that’s the photography term for color temperature, a very important setting in our signature shooting style.

The first couple of nights were tough… We had a small crate for him full of blankets and had gotten him tons of toys. The first couple night, he was crying and potty training was a nightmare at first! He was so tiny and cuddly and I wanted to hold him every second of the day! I think this is why he’s such a cuddler! He would sleep on my lap as I’d work or he would lay on blankets I’d set down next to my desk, but the cutest thing he did was lay his neck right on my arm, almost like a pillow.

We spoiled this little guy so much and every evening David would go to our backyard and play with him. When we were finally able to shower him for the first time, we had a blast and he was such a good boy. Pitbulls have very sensitive skin and so we purchased Burt’s Bees Cocoa Butter Shower Gel for him and even got him a rubber ducky – which btw it was one of his fav toys ever! He also loved that time he got to be a pupographer with his camera toy from Chewy.

Since we did our research we found that the earlier we start training the better, so we signed up for puppy training at PetSmart and it was awesome! We had a great teacher and he was in the class with a couple other dogs which is great because one of the other things we learned is that dogs need to socialize with other dogs so that they become more used to other people/dogs and don’t react differently when they encounter crowds or other dogs at dog parks. The training taught simple but very important commands like sit, look, wait, down, and stay – all of which Kelvin still knows soo well. We then started adding a couple more commands on our own using treats he loves. He also knows key words like let’s go, want to go for a walk, treats, love you, cuddle, up, and a few more I can’t remember off the top of my head…lol

We’ve taken him on roadtrips, we’ve taken him to Snyder Park to swim, and everywhere we go, everyone loves him, and he loves everyone! Kelvin is such a sweet pup and he is so lovable. But we’ve also gotten the bad looks and bad talk about pitbulls being aggressive and to be “careful because he’s a pitbull” which is crazy to us that he gets judged this way. It saddens us to see that people have such a negative view towards pitties because its all about how they are raised – just like anything else – you only know what you live.

One thing I will say is that he grew up soooo fast! It was unbelievable, one day he was a little tiny thing and the next he was 67 pounds of muscle lol… When he turned 1, we baked him a pup-friendly cake and threw him a pawty! We got the recipe from Pretty Fluffy and he loved it!!! I also hand made him a piñata and birthday hat! Can’t wait to share what we do for his 2nd birthday this November.

The journey has been interesting to say the least and we’ve learned alot along the way, but we can’t imagine living without this little guy. He really has made a huge difference in our lives. Initially we thought he’d just be a cute puppy to have and play with, but really he has become a member of our little family and our whole world. He makes us laugh, he has so much personality, and he loves us like crazy. Having a puppy – especially a pitbull puppy is quite a challenge because of everything that comes with this responsibility, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world. We never imagined we’d love him so much, but are so glad we get to wake up to him each day.