60-pound surprise

Monday, December 26, 2005

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The pit bull is a friendly and well-trained animal.

Christmas morning is usually full of surprises for kids, but some Temple Terrace parents were the ones surprised Sunday morning.

A 60-pound pit bull in their son's bed was more than they expected. The vanilla and chocolate colored animal was found in 8-year-old Joshua Smith's bed.

His younger brother thought Santa brought him.

When 7-year-old Brandon Smith dashed into his brother's bedroom to wake him so they to open presents, he found the dog in his brother's bed.

Brandon then ran to wake up his dad.

"I knew there wasn't supposed to be a black and white dog," said Brandon's father, Joshua Smith Sr. "So I just took my time and stumbled into the bedroom and when I looked in there, there was the dog laying there with my son. It took me a minute to realize that there really was a dog there."

Then concern set in. Was the dog dangerous?

The dog may be the same one who tried to follow 8-year-old Joshua Smith home recently.

Luckily, the pit bull wasn't a threat.

"I figured out after talking to it, that it was a nice dog," Joshua Smith Sr. said. "I coaxed it off my son's bed, woke him up, and got the kids away from the dog. It turned out to be a well trained dog. It sits and fetches and everything else."

At first the children thought Santa brought the dog because their first dog, Daisy, was a Christmas gift last year.

"We thought it was because we had our chihuahua from Santa," Brandon Smith said.

The children named the dog Goldie Locks, because much like the fairy tale, this dog found a bed that was just right. But the boys now realize this dog is probably not from Santa, and they are doing what they can to help their new friend find its way home for the holidays.

"We're keeping him until someone reports him," Brandon Smith said. "And we're putting up signs today."

The Smith family said the dog entered through a doggy door in the back of the house, and the oldest son thinks it's the same dog that was trying to follow him home from school one day.