8/6/2010 Jack and Rusty

Brian bought Rusty, an English Stafforshire Terrier (England's Pit Bull) when he was in college. Like the dog he got before Rusty, he passed him off to live at his parents. I adore Rusty, he is so sweet and he talks! Well he makes these funny demon noises when he's happy and you rub his butt.

Before Jack, Brian and I would take Rusty home with us once a week to have his company. He loved going in the car and sleeping on our couch and getting more treats than he should. Brian was actually worried that Rusty would feel sad when he realized that we got a dog, but I wasn't really concerned.

When we first introduced them we looked on nervously. Pit Bulls are possibly the sweetest breed I've ever encountered, but they do protect their territory and their masters, so we hoped for the best. Rusty has a history of being dog aggressive if he feels any of us are threatened. But, we put Jack down on the ground and Rusty ran over wagging his tail. They loved each other! Jack followed him around like Rusty was his dad, it was the cutest thing, so the night before we were leaving for vacation to Bass Lake, we decided to take Rusty home to spend the night.

This is how the night went:

8/4/2010 Disaster in the Car

So Brian went to a Pit Bull show in South Gate and came home with a ton of free samples, toys, and information. There was this one pet supply store in Long Beach that had a great deal on Innova, a supposedly great dog food for pit bulls. Since I've been working so much, Brian's been taking great care of my pup, all day.

Today, I forgot my lunch at home, and Brian was going to Long Beach to buy the dog food so I asked if he could bring me my food before he went. He said yes (a little to my surprise) and when he got to my job he had little Jack in the truck for the ride. I enjoyed seeing my boys for a minute then went to the back to eat lunch.

I closed the store that night and after I locked the door I went to the back and checked my phone. There was a barrage of texts, I didn't even read them all, just saw they were from Brian and the tone was fairly angry. So I called.

"Hi, what's up?"

"You don't even know, I left the car for 2 minutes to run in the store and the dog shit and pissed all over my car! The only place he didn't tag was my seat."

Attempting to muffle my laughter "Oh no...."

"It's alright, I cleaned it all up but it was a huge pain in the ass and now my car smells like

bleach. This poor dog has abandonment issues"

"Oh my poor puppy"

"Oh your poor husband"

sorry

8/3/2010 A Better Vet

Since our first experience with the Vet for Jack seemed to be at the very least, frustrating, we decided to find a different one. Jack was starting to form this weird skin rash on his chest and I was getting nervous. I did a ton of research online and thought it may be demodex, a small parasite not transferable to humans but lives in the dogs hair follicles eating away their fur. Of course, i had to go to work but Brian found a vet close to us.

He was awesome. He know exactly what Jack had (a skin fungus) and told us how to feed him to put some weight on his poor little frame. He gave us Royal Canin dog food, which is supposed to be the absolute best. He also prescribed us an anti-fungal shampoo and heart worm medication since we were about to embark on our very first family vacation up to Bass Lake (a 6 hour drive north of Los Angeles.)



So far, Jack has been literally, heaven sent. I have never experienced a dog with more love to give. His favorite thing to do is snuggle up and sleep on his back. Seriously, have you ever seen a puppy sleep on his back for hours?



He's playful, full of life and energy and has made our house a home.

7/28/2010 - The Big Decision

To tell you the truth, I didn't want a puppy. I didn't want the work and responsibility that came along with training and housebreaking. I was over it. Brian on the other hand was determined to get one.

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