Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Adopt a Shelter Pet Month: My Jackson

So, I mentioned before that October is Adopt a Shelter Pet Month and I told you a little about my adoption of Ava. Well, Jackson is a shelter dog, too, so here's his story!

Around the time I was fostering Ava, Joe moved out of his apartment and into a house with two other people who both had dogs. He started getting the itch right away. He was a dog owner before chiropractic school, but his beloved Rottweiler Buddha passed away.

We started talking about what kind of dog he thought he wanted, and the only stipulation he had was that he wanted the dog to be around 30 pounds. He also didn't want a puppy. So, one weekend we set out to look.

We drove all over the Portland area to a variety of different shelters we knew about. Every shelter had many adorable and deserving dogs, (I remember seeing a Bernese puppy and almost forcing Joe to adopt him, even though he wasn't an adult OR 30 pounds, haha) but none seemed to be 'the one.'

Each time we left with Joe just a little more disappointed.

When we left the last shelter, Joe was just so discouraged. He didn't want to stop looking, but we had run out of options. Seeing him like that was awful, so I traveled back in time 20 years and actually picked up a phone book. :) I found a couple more shelters we had no idea about and we headed to the first on the list - a shelter called Family Dogs New Life.

We flipped through their list of adoptable dogs and found a couple we thought we'd meet. They all looked pretty big, but we thought we'd look anyway. And we were right, the first two dogs that we met were big - in the 50-60 pound category. But then we met lucky #3. This dog came out full of energy, trying to run around the office with a huge smile on his face. Joe and I looked at each other in surprise - this dog was smaller than we imagined - just about 30 pounds! His name? Jackson!

We met with Jackson in a little room and he seemed really high-energy, but sweet. We took him out on a walk and he pulled and pulled and pulled. Seriously, that dog had energy. We brought him back into the little room and asked the coordinator if Jackson was good with little dogs (I had a inkling I might be adopting a little dog, heehee). The coordinator brought a dachshund in to test him with and Jackson was great. Score!

Joe wanted him, pure and simple. I hate to admit this, but I tried to talk him into 'sleeping on it'. "You don't want to jump into such a big commitment," I said. "If you still want him in the morning, we can come back and get him then."

Yeah, that argument didn't work. :) We took him back to Joe's house that day and Jackson settled right in!

Soon after adoption.

He helped us with fosters too! Here he is with Ava and foster Ducati.


And here's our boy today!

Jackson is seriously the BEST dog. He is so sweet and loving and always has a smile on his face. He is playful and loves his toys. His favorite place is curled up next to our feet or next to us on the couch. He's so smart and is so good at letting us know what he wants and needs. I seriously couldn't ask for a better dog.

Remember to choose adoption as your first option, or you could miss out on a fabulous dog like our sweet baby boy.

3 comments:

  1. Jackson is SOOO cute - I feel a strong urge to cuddle him! If only we weren't on opposite ends of the US...

    And you can never sleep on it. As much as you'd like to pretend you'd do something that rational!

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  2. Jackson is adorable. I see the tennis ball and wonder if he is as crazy about tennis balls as my Oscar is. I adopted Oscar from a horrible shelter and before that, he was in a horrible "home." This was almost two years ago and to this day I swear he knows how fortunate he is to be here with me, Simon and Rosie. Adoption is Beautiful!

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  3. @Brandi He would love a cuddle from you! He's a huge cuddle bug. :) And you are right. When you find 'the one' there is no 'rational' thinking!

    @Kim Jackson loves tennis balls and is just now learning the art of actually bringing a ball back after it's been thrown. :) I really believe that animals have memories and they appreciate us so much more when they come from bad situations. Luckily, Jackson didn't seem to come from a bad place. And therefore gives us these heavy sighs that seem to say that he is just sooooo unfortunate. Pah-lease! :)

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