In Honor of Jesse

My husband first met Jesse when she was about 6-months old. I had sent him on an errand to pick up some meds at the vet for one of our dogs. Our vet at the time happened to have an office directly across from the Montgomery County MD animal shelter. I remember being in bed that night and asking if he'd remembered the medication. He did, in fact, and then began telling me about his "pop in" visit to the shelter.

As soon as he started talking, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. You see, we already had two large dogs and lived in a small townhouse. Even with our busy work schedules, we walked quite a lot and were devoted dog-parents. Also, we had just recently had a discussion about why we shouldn't get a third dog. So here, at around 10 o'clock at night, when I am trying to get some sleep, is my husband telling me this story about a sweet little pit bull puppy he saw at the shelter. He makes sure to include the part where staff is in the cage with her and she's giving kisses and being so sweet.

This is the early 1990's. During my "pre-trainer" years, this is when the local news is full of pit attack stories. I had no interest in bringing a "potentially dangerous breed" into my home of two well-adjusted dogs. I simply reminded hubby "No third dog", turned over and went to sleep.

The next day at work, I can't get this story out of my head. Part of the issue was the expression in my husband's voice as he told the story. I'm a sucker when he gets as excited as a little boy. But I also kept replaying the comment the kennel tech told him "she doesn't have much time left". So I finally called him and asked what time he'd meet me at the shelter. At this point I felt The Universe was calling us and the very least I could do would be to check her out.

You know what happens next, right? Yes, I adopt the dog. This "vicious breed" puppy was shy and nervous, but not defensive. She obviously had a lot of trust in the kennel tech, because she kept going back to him for reassurance. We saved her and planned to adopt her out ourselves.

For about a week, we tried to find Jesse an appropriate home. We asked all our friends and friends-of-friends. Nobody was in the market for another dog, let alone a pit bull puppy. At the end of the week, my husband and I discussed what our next steps would be as we prepared dinner. I explained I wasn't comfortable putting up fliers, running ads and basically giving her to a stranger. We had already been working with her fear of strange men, housebreaking and submissive peeing. Unless we intimately knew the adopter, we would have no way of insuring her fate. At that time, we both turned around to look at our pack. There sat Jesse, right next to our other two. We then realized she had already adopted us.

Jesse did have quite a few hurdles we all had to work through. But since the day we met, she taught me and everyone she met what a "pit bull's" true nature really is. Jesse lived a long, happy and healthy life until December 2008. She passed at an amazing 14 years of age. Our family was truly blessed by this precious pit.

One of Jesse's greatest pleasures in life was a comfortable resting spot. We would cover the sofa or bed with a "dog blanket", and invariably find she'd bunched it up into a nest for herself. If for some reason she couldn't access one of her favorite places, she would make do with what was available.

The laundry w-a-s clean...

For general information about pit bulls, please visit My Site