Dog Rescue Stories
Jester
submitted by Becky Meier
A young couple start their marriage by adding a dog to their family.
My husband and I adopted Jester almost 4 years ago. We had been married for less than 1 month, we had just moved to Mississippi and we decided that our yard would look a lot better if it had a dog in it.
We started our search, first at local shelters and then using Petfinder.com. We had seen a LOT of dogs, but none had really grabbed at us the way we had been hoping. Finally, I came across a profile on Petfinder that broke my heart.
The little puppy shown on the page was rescued from a backyard in Alabama where he and his sister were suffering from neglect. His little face was so sweet and so pathetic…how could someone just forget about it?
He and his sister were taken and placed in a foster home. However, she was a yellow lab and was adopted out very quickly. This little puppy before me was all alone for the first time. I called my husband in and showed him the picture.
We made an appointment with his foster home that night for Sunday afternoon – only 2 days away. He was in Tuscaloosa, AL which was only a 45 minute drive from our home in Mississippi, but I gladly would’ve driven for hours to get him. We drove out there on Sunday, just expecting to look at him and then go home to think about it and make our decision.
We waited outside of the foster home, because they had taken him to be groomed. All our plans about slow decision-making went out the window when they pulled up and the happiest puppy I’ve ever seen was hanging his head out of the window.
He wasn’t very big then, only 25 pounds, but his exuberance was larger than life. He ran to my husband and me, like he knew he was supposed to be ours. My husband picked him up, looked at the foster family and asked who he could make the check out to.
Only 30 minutes later, we were driving back to Mississippi with a wiggly puppy in my arms.
We named him Jester because of his ability to make us laugh. He has grown up a lot since then. He is 4 years old, weighs 75 pounds and he is the best dog my husband and I have ever had.
He makes life so much fun. We take him hiking and backpacking – it’s so great that he’s big enough to carry his own pack. His favorite activity is whatever he’s doing at the time: playing fetch, playing with his plushies, playing with other dogs, eating, etc. He has moved with us to several different states, and he keeps me company when my husband is deployed.
The first picture in this story is his “before” picture; the picture displayed on Petfinder that caught our eye (3 months old). The second picture is his first backpacking trip in the Sipsey Wilderness (9 months old). The last picture is Jester displaying the latest in Disney fashion (3 years old).
I’d hate to think that I would have missed out on the best dog in the world simply because he is black. Dogs, like people, should not be judged by their covers.
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