Blessing #29 - “Jack"

Yesterday I paid homage to Trouble, my husband’s cat, but my schnauzer, Jack, is not happy with me and is asking when I’m going to write about him and what he means to me.  Let me start at the beginning.  After Buddy’s cocker, Peanut, lost his fight with cancer, we really missed having a HOUSE dog out here in the country.  We do not have any neighbors, and we were missing the barking and that feeling of protection we get with a dog around the house.  My daughter had a schnauzer which we liked a lot, so I decided to start looking for one for us.  I found an ad notice in the paper for one about 150 miles from here, so Buddy and I drove over to get him.  When we drove up in the driveway, we were awed by all the angels that were everywhere about the property.  We went in the house, and it was the same way in there....a little bizarre for us. We had never seen so many angels anywhere in all of our lives. The guys left us in the living room and went out to a “run” at the rear of the house and brought little Jack to us. He was the runt of the litter, but we fell in love with him immediately, paid our money, and brought our little baby home.  Within a few months we knew we had “adopted” a very developmentally challenged dog.  Apparently he was never allowed out of the little short concrete run attached to his dog house and did not have a clue how to interact with people.  He didn’t walk like the dogs we had had in the past, he was afraid of people, and after 7 years he still has lots of problems.  When he would go into our little bathroom, he would back out....he did not know how to turn around to walk out! The “angel people” really did a job on him....or should I say they did NOTHING with him other than give him food and water. We don’t care, though. We call him our 3rd son and cannot imagine our lives without him.  He is my baby and follows me continually from one end of the house to the other sometimes tripping me and other times literally walking into me.  He loves his little crate in our dining room, and he thinks “cookie” means to go get in bed....with or without a treat.  He is hilarious and  absolutely adores Buddy and me.  Sometimes I think I will scream when he won’t leave me alone when I am cleaning and working about the house, but  just let him so his thing and we get along just fine. He and Trouble get along quite well....and their kitty/doggie olympics absolutely crack us up.  When you talk about a pet giving you unconditional love, he is at the top of the scale.  He is always at our sides...but I say he is MY dog. Where Trouble was Blessing #28, he is definitely Blessing #29.

“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”
~Ben Williams