Shannon Litz / Nevada AppealNehemiah Statzer enjoys a bona fide teacher's pet, Sara Sox, during kindergarten class at Fremont Elementary School on Thursday.
Soon after adopting Sara Sox from the Carson City Animal Shelter, Laura Redmon noticed a negative reaction in the public.
"People would tell me, 'Keep your dog away from my dog,'" she recalled. "They would say, 'My dog doesn't like pit bulls,' or 'I don't like pit bulls.'"
But Redmon knew that Sara wasn't what they thought.
"I made it a personal goal," she said. "I was going to work really hard and teach her to be as close to perfect as possible so nobody could judge her. I wanted to make her an ambassador for her breed."
Two years later, she has become that. Sara Sox is one of 20 finalists vying for the title of Pit Bull of the Year on Cesar's Way, an online magazine for Cesar Millan, better known as TV's Dog Whisperer.
The winner of the contest will be the pit bull with the most likes on Facebook by today and will be featured on the homepage of www.cesarsway.com.
"There were so many submissions from all over the world," Redmon said. "I'm so proud of her for making the top 20. It's really impressive."
Redmon met Sara while volunteering at the animal shelter.
"She was sweet but she had a lot of pent-up energy and no manners," Redmon recalled.
A week after she brought Sara home, Redmon said, her 16-year-old dog died.
"For the next three days, (Sara) was very calm and quiet. She never left my side," Redmon said. "I realized she was so in tune to my feelings."
After Sara completed a basic behavior course, Redmon decided to enroll her in a program to become a therapy dog.
"It came so natural to her," Redmon said. "She passed with ease."
At first, however, the instructor had reservations.
"She was deathly afraid of pit bulls," Redmon said. "Sara picked up on it and made it a point to always be at her side. She would make her pet her."
As part of the class, the instructor intentionally provoked the dog to test its reaction.
"There was nothing she could do to make this dog aggressive," Redmon said. "By the end, she fell in love with Sara."
Still, Redmon was nervous the first time she brought Sara to a senior center. She worried that the residents would be too afraid to interact with her.
"Then I realized pit bulls used to be the family pet. A lot of patients we see grew up with pit bulls," she said. "They can really relate to her."
Students in the kindergarten class she teaches at Fremont Elementary School reacted the same way.
"They don't know what she is," Redmon said. "They just know she's a dog and she gives kisses."
Hayden Smith, 6, enjoys the days Sara comes for a visit.
"She's really funny," Hayden said. "She'll come up to us and walk around on the carpet when we're sitting down to learn stuff like our alphabet chant."
Sara gets along well with all the other animals in her home, which include three other dogs, five chickens, one chinchilla and a mouse.
She also works with a variety of special-needs children at the school, including those with behavioral problems and those in wheelchairs.
"All the students love her," Redmon said.
She has only one complaint: When it's time to get busy, Redmon can persuade the students to ignore Sara and focus on their school work.
Sara isn't as easily persuaded.
"She walks right over to them and starts licking them," Redmon said.
And they know exactly where she's going to do it.
"Every time she wants to lick us, she does it in our faces," said Bo Chaidez, 6.