Let me start from the beginning...
I moved from New York to Southern California 2 months ago. Brian and I hadn't' been living together for the majority of our first year of marriage because he had to be here in LA and I had school to finish in New York. Coming 'home' permanently has been a surreal experience and I'm still expecting to jump on a plane at the end of August to go back to the Bronx, but such is not the case. Coming to LA was jumping from a plane into a hurricane. A new apartment, no job, a husband who was going in for hip surgery, and no family; well none of my family (aside from my husband of course.)
The first month here involved Brian out of work and having hip surgery done, me taking constant care of him while putting aside and burying my own feelings of emotional exhaustion that can only take place when a cross country move is involved necessarily separating me from my family and friends.
Hip surgery and recovery has gone remarkably well health wise, but it's put a little bit of a strain on us. Brian expects a lot, and I had somewhat lost my patience with him. Take an athletic man's legs away and you may as well have shot him in the heart. Take a woman away from what she knows and loves and you may as well have given her Bitter Bitch pills. We talked about getting a dog and thought that could really help. Brian's getting ready for is second hip surgery in a month and I'm getting ready to finish my final semester student teaching and we thought a dog would be therapeutic, so we began our search.
Fast forward now to Wednesday July 28th. We have this ritual: go to the animal shelter, dote over all the puppies and dogs we already love through the bars, and leave empty handed and slightly sadder than when we arrived.
This Wednesday visit was a sort of deterrent. Brian's been wanting to buy a pitbull from a breeder. My philosophy is "why buy a dog when you can save another dog's life from a shelter?" He understood where I was coming from and this visit to the shelter was supposed to just be just that, a visit.
We walked over to the puppies and there were 3 blue pitbull mixes in the first kennel. One boy was happy and healthy and very active. The other two were really skinny but the girl was more active and interested in us as we came up to them. Then in the back was this sickly little boy with skinny little legs a big bloated belly and the saddest eyes you have ever seen in a puppy. He stood in the back looked up and turned his back as if saying "Nobody's gonna love me, I'll just stay back here in the shadows." I was over it and moved on to these cute little Chihuahua puppies. Brian asked the volunteer to get the sickly little pit from the back for us to see in the play area. Of course I was like "I don't want that one, look how cute these little guys are. I would name the girl Franny!" He rolled his eyes.
So the volunteer grabbed sick little puppy and and we walked to the play area. She put him down and he drunk puppy walked over to Brian while I stood aside thinking "he's cute but he looks so sick, and I don't want a puppy."
"Sit down Nic" my husband said, so I sat next to him and this sick little puppy jumped off Brian and climbed right into my lap, laid down and looked up at me.
I've never felt my heart actually melt, but I swear it did.
"He looks like a Jackson" Brian said. "Yeah, Jack"
That was it, this little guy was coming home.
And he did, about 20 minutes after I made that decision. Signed a few papers, paid my adoption fee and we were out the door; with nothing for a puppy but our love. So, we headed to Petco. A leash, harness, and some sample puppy food later we headed to a local vet for an initial (free) exam. Well you get what you pay for!
The vet was really nice, but had no information or suggestions about what to do with our little puppy. He said "well he certainly is malnutritioned" (obviously!) "and he's definitely a pit" (you're a winner so far buddy) "let's just see how it goes"
WHAT? See how it goes? So you're not even giving my new pup a chance? How about suggestions on what to feed him (pretty much anything in the pet store) or what this weird rash is on his coat is (oh it may be a bacteria thing). This guy was terrible.
We went home, laid on the couch as a new family and took in all this new found happiness.
Jack @ the vet Jack's first night home
