C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Four of the starters competing for the Reds’ final three rotation starts live in a house together in Arizona, but the king of the house has no shot at the team.

Between Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed and Sal Romano, there’s no shortage of talent or potential. But the one member of the house who garners the most attention is certainly the laziest of the four — and has the worst breath. It’s Dozer, Garrett’s eight-year-old pit bull.

“His breath stinks so bad,” Reed says over Dozer. “I tell Amir all the time. (Amir) hates it. (Dozer) would drop some dude dead right away.”

That breath, though, may be the only thing that Dozer would do to hurt anyone.

Despite the ferocious reputation of the breed, Garrett wants people to know that Dozer wouldn’t hurt a fly. On Garrett’s Twitter (twitter.com/Amir_Garrett) and Instagram (instagram.com/amir_garrett/) accounts, he constantly posts photos of his beloved dog. He’s even gotten Dozer his own Instagram account (Instagram.com/DozerGarrett).

“It's very important to me. I like bringing my dog around to everywhere I go – the mall, the store, to the baseball field,” Garrett said. “When I bring him around, a lot of people ask me if he's friendly. It gets me every time, why would I bring him around if he wasn't a friendly dog. You look at him and he has no bad bone in his body. It's crazy because I put on Instagram and show his personality.”

It was love at first sight — but not for Garrett. Instead, it was his girlfriend, Tausana Tausinga who fell in love first. The two were looking for dogs at an animal shelter in Las Vegas in September of 2015. Garrett found a white puppy he really liked, but Tausinga ventured back further and found a dog in a pen at the end of a row, almost away from the others, as Garrett remembers it. In it, was an older dog, skinny scarred, and with sores around his neck. Tausinga was in love. Garrett didn’t see it.

“I see him and I say no,” Garrett said. “His face is all yellow, he was pepper sprayed. He was 70 pounds, you could see his ribs and all that. My girlfriend said, 'I like him,' I said no.”

That’s when Dozer worked his magic. First, he wagged his tail. Then he put his paw on the glass, nearly begging Garrett to open the pen and get to know him.

“We took him out, he migrated to me,” Garrett recalled. “He had to persuade me to get him because he already had my girlfriend.”

Garrett relented.

In the first month, the couple had to go to the veterinarian repeatedly because of an ear infection and skin issues related to his allergies. At one point, Garrett put a collar on him and it rubbed up against his sores and he started bleeding. But with love, and some money, Dozer improved. Today, he looks like nearly any other happy, healthy dog.

Life in the minors is hardly conducive to pet ownership. Players don’t know how long they will be living in a city and even then, half the time they’re on the road. Even when at home, there’s not much time at home.

Dozer lives in Las Vegas with Tausinga, but he gets to visit his dad as much as possible. He was with Garrett the last week-and- a-half, visiting the Reds complex on Sunday, drawing admirers from the entire team. At one point, three people were all petting him, giving him the attention he’s earned.

Like any good West Coast native, Dozer’s favorite meal is In-N-Out Burger, especially the fries. In September in celebration of his birthday, Garrett and Tausinga got him his favorite, a Double-Double and fries. Few things make Dozer happier than his favorite meal, and nothing makes Garrett happier than his dog.

Sometimes, though, Garrett can’t help but think of what his dog’s life was before he adopted him from the kill shelter.

“As much as he's been through, he has the sores on his ears I think he was a bait dog, because he's not aggressive,” Garrett said. “Whatever people put him through, he still loves humans. It's like it's a past life, it's good now, he's a king. That's how I view him.

“There's nothing wrong with buying a dog or breeding them, but adopting dogs is my thing, to give them the life they've never had and to give them a chance. “