Book: My Life Among the Underdogs

I and Mrs NoCo are big fans of "Pitbulls & Parolees," The Animal Planet show about the pitbull rescue Villalobos, formerly of California now in New Orleans. The show never fails to make me laugh out loud and cry, each and every episode. The family that runs it is a little weird but they really care about their 4-legged rescuees.

When I heard that the founder Tia Torres had written a book about it, published just last year (2019) and that somehow I'd missed it, this was a wrong I had to remedy right away. The book recounts the dogs in Tia's life, both before and during the TV show, and true to form so far each chapter has brought me to tears.

She's a little cagey about some of the personal details in her life -- her husband is currently incarcerated, but he's not the father of her daughters -- but I suppose having a hit reality show doesn't necessitate revealing everything.

Hmmm, the last couple of chapters deal, rather brutally, with Tia's first husband.  Became addicted, incarcerated, homeless, then dead in an alley.  Did not know that.

Tia claims in the book that nothing is invented for the show, that it's not "scripted reality" as so many so-called reality shows are. I've always felt an authenticity in the show, though it's obvious they occasionally edit out inconvenient aspects of some stories, and parts of other stories are kept from public view for the privacy of the participants. Still the Villalobos family is remarkably honest about themselves, warts & all.