Jesse
As some of you may remember, I had to put my dearest Martha down last March. (Points to icon.) Well, what I apparently didn't post was that two months later, amid a sea of conflicting emotions, I brought home Jesse. The idea of having any dog but Martha was too much to think about, but a house with no dog was intolerable, no matter how hard my kitty tried to fill the hole. I visited a couple of shelters, but even when I actually managed to get out of the car and go in, I just couldn't warm to any of the animals. A volunteer walker said as I was leaving one, "Don't worry, when the time is right, the right dog will choose you."
Now that made me cry all the way home!
And then about two months after Martha had gone, I went to the shelter in a neighboring town. There were lots of dogs running and jumping and barking, but there was this one dog who simply approached the gate of his pen with his head down and his tail wagging and stood quietly. I put my fingers through the wire and he licked my hand.
I renamed him Jesse, after the Olympic track and field star Jesse Owens, because, you see, he is a runner. I'm his third home that the shelter knew of; the first time he had arrived there as a stray, the second, his family had to give him up due to circumstances they couldn't control and the fact that any time he got loose, he ran. They had worked with him a lot and he walks well on a leash, sits, lies down, and stays. As long as there isn't an open door. The word 'come' isn't in his vocabulary. He also steals food off of counters, and anything off of anything if it interests him, sleeps on my pillows and smells funny. (Martha, like a number of northern breeds, had almost no body order. Jesse does.) He has curly whiskers, webbed toes and black spots on his tongue. He is very sweet natured, and is remarkably calm around new people and dogs, and in new places. He is really laid-back for a young dog, rarely barks, rides well in the car, and cuddles on the futon.
He is a wonderful dog - though not without... idiosyncrasies - and I love him. (He has far more pluses than minuses going for him!) I still miss my Martha every day, and sometimes feel guilty about that, but I can't imagine being without Jess.
So. Pictures! Because he is a handsome boy.
The color has been called Dead Grass Brindle, and it suits him well. He's the same size - 62lbs - as Martha.
He really likes my down pillows.
Yes, his head really is as empty as it looks in this picture, but he a sweet and loving boy, and he's my baby.
Now that made me cry all the way home!
And then about two months after Martha had gone, I went to the shelter in a neighboring town. There were lots of dogs running and jumping and barking, but there was this one dog who simply approached the gate of his pen with his head down and his tail wagging and stood quietly. I put my fingers through the wire and he licked my hand.
I renamed him Jesse, after the Olympic track and field star Jesse Owens, because, you see, he is a runner. I'm his third home that the shelter knew of; the first time he had arrived there as a stray, the second, his family had to give him up due to circumstances they couldn't control and the fact that any time he got loose, he ran. They had worked with him a lot and he walks well on a leash, sits, lies down, and stays. As long as there isn't an open door. The word 'come' isn't in his vocabulary. He also steals food off of counters, and anything off of anything if it interests him, sleeps on my pillows and smells funny. (Martha, like a number of northern breeds, had almost no body order. Jesse does.) He has curly whiskers, webbed toes and black spots on his tongue. He is very sweet natured, and is remarkably calm around new people and dogs, and in new places. He is really laid-back for a young dog, rarely barks, rides well in the car, and cuddles on the futon.
He is a wonderful dog - though not without... idiosyncrasies - and I love him. (He has far more pluses than minuses going for him!) I still miss my Martha every day, and sometimes feel guilty about that, but I can't imagine being without Jess.
So. Pictures! Because he is a handsome boy.
The color has been called Dead Grass Brindle, and it suits him well. He's the same size - 62lbs - as Martha.
He really likes my down pillows.
Yes, his head really is as empty as it looks in this picture, but he a sweet and loving boy, and he's my baby.