I’ve been lucky to meet a true hero…live, in person.

In Los Angeles he is a bit controversial…I’m not sure why. His main goal is to help the underdog. I guess his choice of underdog is what makes some people shake their heads and wonder what is wrong with him. I am not one of those folks.

I have admired him from a far for years. I’ve seen his photographs. In fact, many of those images have made me cry. But not until I met and talked to him did I truly understand the depths of his love for his favorite underdog. The pit bull. His inspiration came from a dog name Sway.

When he talks about Sway, he is filled with emotion. His connection with that beautiful pit bull changed his life.

He says of his beloved best friend, “She taught me an endless amount about myself–about life and how to live it, about love, about compassion, about responsibility, and the list goes on and on, quite literally forever…”

Sadly, Sway passed away from an auto-immune disease. But her legacy lives on. Josh is making sure of it. In her memory, in honor of her, Josh goes into shelters all over Los Angeles and photographs the pit bulls that live there. He works tirelessly to change the public perception of these dogs.

“During the 8+ years that Sway was here with me I spent every minute being her advocate–and with that, observing the different actions and reactions of others any time her “breed/type” was brought up within a social setting.These current realities burn in my gut. They get under my skin and they make my heart hurt–because I know the realities, and I see this for what it is–a national extermination.

What do you do with that? Do you just sit in your corner and wait until that shadow is on top of your world? Or do you at some point stand up and make it clear that this witch-hunt is wrong? You don’t have to have Pit Bulls yourself to come to this conclusion… Just have some compassion and an appreciation for common sense.” (Words from his website. If you haven’t already seen it, you should.)

Sounds right to me.

And so, to me, Josh is the real McCoy. A true hero. If pit bulls could talk I bet they’d agree.

Josh says, “One thing is abundantly clear though, and that’s that they sure do need and deserve any help they can get, and I personally owe my life and energy to making this planet a better place for them to live.”