About Pawsitively Pit Bull

Pawsitively Pit Bull founders Darren Linder and Amanda Gribben.

Amanda Gribben grew up in upstate New York and moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1993. Darren Linder grew up in Eugene, Oregon and moved to Portland in 1996. Both went to college at the University of Oregon in Eugene, after which they began careers in the mental health field working with adults and children. They have each worked in the social service field helping people for fourteen years. They both grew up around animals and always had a special affinity for dogs.

The early days of PPB

After meeting in Portland in 1998, they began adopting rescued dogs from area shelters and got their first pit bull in 2000. They continued to rescue pit bulls and decided to focus solely on helping this wonderful breed. Traveling to Hawaii in 2003 and visiting with the Maui Humane Society resulted in their bringing a pit bull back with them, and helped them to finalize their plans for starting a non-profit pit bull rescue and sanctuary in Portland.

Later in 2003 they officially founded Pawsitively Pit Bull Inc. Services, doing rehabilitation, foster care, outreach, adoptions, training, boarding, and rescue. PPBIS was set up as a 501(c)(3) non-profit dog rescue and sanctuary. The Board of Directors was elected and networking with local agencies strengthened. In 2004 they relocated their sanctuary to a larger area outside of Portland with more land for their facility. They strive to change the negative stereotype of the pit bull and continue to rescue and rehabilitate pit bulls in need.

Board of Directors 2007

Special Thanks

Special Thanks to Pumpkin, Flower, and Peanut for putting up with all of this!

Dennis and Rebecca Gring
Clarissa and David Ashley

Darcy Hoyt

Amy Romberg

Leslie Nies

Suzzette Fasching
Tiffany Scheel
Chris Border

Melanie Coffey

Cindy Peters

Sandra Haugan

Michael Sanders

Stacy Fletcher

Will Key

Omi Zielsdorf

Kym Nichols

Amy Issacson

Alice Osborn

Brian Haugan

Heidi Liedeker of Meat
Steve Goodwin at Petco
Nedra Rezinas of Nedra Made It
Leilani Baker of Our Pets Magazine
Pat Dinan of NW Pet & Companion Fair
Donna Lehmann of Dog Nose News
Dr. Jeff Judkins, DVM, CVA
Dr. Nancy Curran DVM, CVA
Dr. Ingrid Hamann DVM

Robin Munro of Flux Magazine
Martin Kilbourne, Sunbourne Media LLC

Thank you to all of our supporters, donors, volunteers, foster families, and friends for enabling us to continue to work for this cause.

And a huge thank you to the original three dogs that we began with, who have shown patience by graciously teaching all of these pit bulls a thing or two. To Pumpkin, Flower, and Peanut, who have allowed their home to be invaded by pit bulls, but have shown them nothing but love.