I had the honor of interviewing Wallace the Pit Bull's dad/ owner, Roo Yori! Wallace was a famous disc dog who sadly passed away last year.
Q: Before Wallace, had you ever believed that the Pit Bull was what the media made them up to be?
A: Not really. I had met plenty of nice Pit Bull's that contradicted any negative the media put out there, so I knew there was more to the story. I've never been one for stereotypes either.
Q: Were you searching specifically for a Pit Bull when you adopted Wallace?
A: Nope. We weren't even searching for another dog to add to our family to be honest. We were advocating that he didn't deserve to be euthanized, but there weren't any other options lined up once he got the chance to prove himself. So we stepped up as a foster, and ended up adopting him in the end.
Q: Before Wallace, did you have an interest in Disc?
Kind of, but not anything serious. Our other dog, Ajax, liked to play disc in the park, so I started looking into it for something to do with him. We were focusing on weight pulling with Wallace at that time. As we got more involved with Ajax, we tried it with Wallace, and he loved it. There wasn't a lot of options in our area at that time either, so a few of us started the MN Disc Dog Club and taught ourselves as we went along.
Q: When competing, did you ever feel intimidated by the Aussies, Border Collies, and the breeds that are usually used to play disk?
A: I guess I did in a way. I'm not sure if I would call it being intimidated though. Many of the dogs were a bit faster, and could jump higher, so I just assumed Wallace wouldn't really be able to compete against the top level teams is all. We didn't really have anything to lose though, so in that sense the pressure wasn't really there. Fortunately, Wallace proved otherwise.
Q: When at competitions did you ever get discriminated by Wallace's breed or were your peers and judges pretty open?
A: For the most part, everybody in the sport was pretty open, which I greatly appreciate. In general, the disc dog community is very rescue oriented, so they were able to relate to Wallace being a rescue dog and deserving a chance to show everybody what he's made of. I don't think people expected him to light up the field like he did, but they were open to him taking the field in the first place.
Q: What was the biggest impact Wallace made on your life?
A: That's a tough one. I've learned many things through our experiences together, and each of them pertain to various situations that I run across on a regular basis. I guess I'll go with always doing your best with whatever you face on a daily basis. Sometimes we can't control what cards we get dealt, or what others do in relation to our situation. However, we can control how we deal with it and handle it. Wallace didn't live the longest life, but he lived a very full one. His accomplishments against the odds inspired others to achieve more than they thought possible. For myself, I hope I'm fortunate enough to live a long life. But more importantly, I want to follow Wallace in having a full one that inspired others to do their best.
Q: What made you want to start a Facebook Page for him and did you ever believe that you would get so much support?
A: I wanted people to be able to connect with Wallace and see for themselves what he was doing. We actually started competing back when Facebook was just for college students - before it was for everybody and YouTube was relatively new. Since we saw a lot of views on our YouTube videos, I figured Wallace would do well no Facebook once it became an option, also. However, I did not expect the growth we've seen over the last 7 months or so since he passed. I'm extremely grateful though, because it keeps his story alive for others to learn from and enjoy. It's going to allow us to continue to help dogs and people in his name, and continue to have a bigger impact moving forward.
Q: What was your favorite memory of Wallace?
A: Ooh, another hard one. I don't know if I can pick one favorite. You can check out a lot of cool memories we had through our videos, FB page, and the book. So instead of trying to pick a favorite, I'll mention one that I've never really put out there before. A lot of times, it's the little things that you miss. Every night when I would go to bed, Wallace would be on the couch and watch for when I would go into the bedroom. I would get into bed and then say "Where's my Pit Bull?", and he would jump off the couch, run into the room, and jump on the bed to settle in for the night. I love the memory of being able to call out "Where's my Pit Bull?", and have Wallace come running.
Q: Anything else you would like to share?
A: I would just like to thank everybody like yourself for their support over the years, and for keeping Wallace's story alive by spreading it far and wide. We're close to having Wallace the Pit Bull Foundation set up as a 501c3, and look forward to helping more dogs in his name. To keep up with what we're doing, make sure to stay tuned to his Facebook page - www.facebook.com/
You can watch Wallace and Roo's youtube videos here- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9-G1x_mYjWhPWbzk0o1sFQ
Follow up with them by "liking" their Facebook page!- https://www.facebook.com/WallaceThePitBull
