Going to the Dogs

We adopted Sadie Bug when she was seven weeks old. My boss at time came to work regaling us with stories of the puppies. Half Jack Russell and half Beagle, she stole my heart completely. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her she was meant to be mine and as I drove home with her, she wiggled herself up around my neck and slept under my hair.

My husband and I, married 13 years at the time, enjoyed all of Sadie’s “childhood.” We potty trained her. We taught her to walk on a leash. We watched her go from bathing in the sink to not fitting in the sink. In the 6 years that we’ve had her, she has been a constant source of comfort and love. We joke that she’s our baby because we don’t have any of our own. She doesn’t just have a toy basket . She has a toy cabinet, and it is filled to the brim with stuffed animals, chewies and Greenies.

Over the past six years, we said goodbye to our two other dogs, Hope and Baby. We decided we would not get another dog until Sadie left our lives. Or, well, my *husband* decided. He felt as if we were enough for Sadie and Sadie was enough for us. I’d beg; he’d ignore me. I’d point out all the dogs up for adoption at Pet Smart; he’d shake his head no.

So you can imagine my surprise when, a few weeks ago, he called to tell me he was bringing home a Shih Tzu. My husband had gone to the dump with our trash and met a lady who was upset and crying. Why? She thought she had gotten too old to take care of her dog, Jasper, and was taking him to the Humane Society. Well, my husband cannot tolerate seeing a woman in distress so he vowed to bring Jasper home with him and he did so. 

Sadie hated him. They fought through the first two weeks. I think they’ve reached something of an understanding now, knock on wood. As I type this, he is sleeping next to my calves, while Sadie is snoozing by my thighs. 

It’s funny, how we’ve bonded with Jasper. We didn’t go through puppy-hood with him, but that doesn’t seem to matter. He wrapped us around his paw in no time flat. He’s more laid back than Sadie, but he oozes personality. He has a way of making sure you know what he wants and doesn’t want. We’ve had trouble leash training him, but he’s getting it. He loves to have his tummy rubbed, have his ears scratched, and lie on his back like a baby in your arms while you rock him. He prefers spending time with my husband, but when it’s my time, he comes to me and waits patiently for his spot in my lap to open.

We’ve gone through a medical scare with him (he had a tapeworm), we’ve gone through him marking his territory all over my house, and we’ve gone through the bonding process with an already adult dog. And we are bonded. Make no mistake, Jasper Monkey has become a full-fledged member of our family. 

And that brings me to the point of this blog. It’s okay to bring home an adult dog who needs a home. They fill the Humane Society, even Animal Control, to the brim. You can even adopt a puppy at the pound and not have to worry about shots or neutering/spaying. It’s so much more rewarding when you take in a dog who needs a home than when you buy one from a puppy mill.

Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I catch Jasper Monkey looking at me. He rests his head on his front paws and stares at me as I work on my novel. I reach over and scratch his head, receive a lick on my hand, and before long he’s trying to climb into my lap. I always let him. He’s six years old, the same as Sadie. I don’t know what his life was like before us, but I can tell you his life now is full of love and activity. Sadie and Jasper are not the best of friends yet; they reserve that spot for my husband and me. But sometimes when I watch them race out the back door together or chase each other around the back yard, I know that *my* life has been changed for the better because of them. 

So please think about stopping by Animal Control or the Humane Society. You’ll know your animal when you see him/her. 

And you’ll wonder how you ever got along without them before. I promise.