Faster Than a Speeding Bullet…..

“Anyone missing a 3 legged dog??”

“Hey guys the 3 legged dog is back!”

And from his Foster Human: “Hi! It’s Bullet. Urgh! I don’t know how he gets out of the fence, the lab and terrier don’t…”

It wasn’t long before Bullet became a CHP celebrity:

“I see the same three-legged dog I picked up in the summer keeps getting out.”

“His name is Bullet. He’s a Chestnut Hill legend.”

Bullet became our unofficial ‘mascot.’ He was famous, and his sightings and escapes became the topic of numerous Facebook conversations and memes:

“I think Bullet is running down Hollingshed!”

“Bullet was just spotted in Highland Creek.”

“Bullet sighting in the ‘hood, but he’s been returned home safe & sound!”

“Haha, this little fella gets out A LOT..not the first time I’ve seen his mug shot on this page.”

He even inspired his own hashtag:

#freebullet

He even became the Poster Boy for one of our CHP Facebook pages:

He had a fan base throughout the neighborhood:

“Several years ago, before the unofficial Facebook group existed, I was on my way to work and saw a three-legged dog wandering down the road. I pulled over and he jumped in my car when I opened the door. I took him home, let him play with my dogs and bathed his stinky butt. I missed most of his work because of him. He even tried to escape from my house, but I prevailed that day. I found his (previous) owner by posting signs through the neighborhood and was sad when I got the call and had to take him home. She said his name was Bullet because he had been shot prior to being rescued, though you would assume his name was from his many nimble escapes on three legs. Thanks for being our mascot, Bullet.”
– Kristin Teal Dixon

“True story: This morning the doorbell rang. It was the police. “Sir, does Bullet live next door?” Yes Sir. “We found him on Hollingshed and he is in the backseat of my patrol car. No one is home so I am going to put him in the backyard.” Yes Sir. 5 minutes later…Bullet was on the loose again!!!!!”

“We have a wall full of height measurements. In April of 2018, Bullet’s height somehow got on our wall. We were out of town that weekend and were surprised to see it there when we got home. How it got there/who wrote the height has always been a mystery.. and a sweet memory!!!”
-Brittany Newell

Eventually, Bullet needed a forever home; someplace with loving people who would entice him to stay at home for play and cuddles, as opposed to wandering the neighborhood…and that’s where Tara Rabuck’s story comes in……

Bullet
By Tara Rabuck

In March of 2016, I was perusing our neighborhood Facebook page, when I saw a post about a dog named Bullet. He was running loose through the neighborhood, while his foster Mom was out of the country. Someone called the police department to pick him up and detain him until his owner was located. Bullet managed to escape from the police, and animal control was going to be contacted. A neighbor, down the street from my house found him, and put him in his yard, and asked if anyone could keep him until his foster Mom returned.

I had previously seen posters on the stop signs in our neighborhood that read, “Three legged dog found”, and thought it was comical. It was a regular occurrence, although I had never seen him personally.

At the time, I was working from home, and months earlier, we lost our family dog. I offered to take him in until she returned, so that he would not be sent to the pound. “It’s only a few days.” I thought. I had no intentions of having another dog. I messaged his foster Mom letting her know, he was with us, and we would keep him until she returned.

He was very intelligent! My son taught him many tricks! He was also very loyal, and loving! Although he loved us all, he was a Mama’s boy. He followed my every move. I couldn’t walk through the house, without his nose running into my legs. When I went to bed and got settled, he would settle down in his bed and sleep, then snore. I miss that so much!

Bullet was an older dog when we got him, and his need to roam the neighborhood, over the course of 4 years, diminished. In his last year, he enjoyed sleeping in, to the point I would have to wake him up when I got up, so he could go potty.

At this point, we bought him several “Serta” beds, he wouldn’t sleep in any bed, unless it was a “Serta”… Although, he scratched holes in the cheaper ones. Yes, he was spoiled!

In February 2020, I was preparing to get my house on the market, and needed someone to foster him during the process of repairs, etc. The foster noticed a lump on his neck. We hadn’t noticed it before, and couldn’t feel the lump ourselves.

A couple weeks later, Bullet woke us up, very sick. I took him to his vet, and the vet found the lump, and confirmed it was carcinoma, on his carotid artery.

His doctor suggested a specialist, who could better assess his survival, only after an aggressive round of antibiotics, if he had surgery. However, within a week, Bullet started having issues and pain in his left eye, to the point, he lost his vision in that eye and was in the excruciating pain.

His doctor recommended removing his eye, in order for us to address the cancer. We opted to have the eye removed.
Bullet was back to his old self two days after his eye was removed.

We walked the neighborhood, he was on the mend! Less than a week later….

He had an appointment to see his vet, for a check up. I wake up and wake him… He lost vision in his other eye, and was in pain. I called his vet and told him about his condition. His vet said, “I’ve removed both eyes in dogs before, and they’ve adjusted.”

Bullet had already lost his leg, his eye, potentially lost his other eye, before he could undergo the cancer surgery. When I was on the phone with his vet, I had carried him downstairs and put him outside to do his business.

After I got off the phone with his vet, and went outside to bring him in, Bullet had crawled underneath the deck. I literally had to dig him out with my fingers. He was done, and had suffered enough.

The next morning, Bullet and I said “Goodbye”.

My son could not join us. It was too much for him. I cradled Bullet in my arms, and told him how loved he was, until he took his last breath ❤

Bullet was laid to rest in a quiet spot within CHP.
He will forever be a part of the neighborhood he loved.

#FreeBullet

Thank you to
Tara Rabuck and Family
Tom Johnson, Kristin Teal Dixon, and Brittany Newell
for the wonderful photographs and memes they shared.