This past weekend Dallas and I watched Jackson while Kristin was attending to family affairs out in the suburbs. Dallas and Kristin were roommates and at the end of their cohabitation Kristin brought Jackson came to live with them. He was still just a baby when Dallas moved out. I’ve seen Jackson a few times since then, either at Kristin’s house or at Jen and Chad’s house. When he’s at Jen and Chad’s it can get intense because Jackson plays hard with Cortez and Drake.
I was kind of afraid how he’d be in the house after hearing the puppy stories and seeing him roughhouse. Turns out Jackson is completely mellowed out. He was as good as we could ask. Mostly he just sat on his bed in the sun and watched the world go by. What a life. We walked him around the neighborhood and he was a great walker. He didn’t really tug at all. It was funny how his habit was to jump in deep snowbanks up to his face and pee.
One odd thing was that he didn’t want to go down our stairs. He’d just look over the rail and wonder how we kept disappearing. Dallas was downstairs watching TV for a while and Jackson just sat at the top the stairs and whined. I tried to put pieces of dog food on the stairs and coax him down but he wouldn’t go. I tried to tug his collar but he was too strong (he weighs over 100 pounds, I think). Finally Dallas helped me and he was able to go down but then when he wanted to go back up it was the same ordeal. I don’t know if the hardwood and the steepness of our staircase frightened him, or what. The floors are brand new, so they are a bit slippery and he did bump his chin a time or two. Poor thing.
Dallas and I have talked for years about getting a dog and I think we’re finally ready with the new house and all. Even though Maggie and Milo have visited us since we moved here, having Jackson for the weekend convinced me that we totally have all the space we need for a dog. Jackson is a big guy (he could lick my head from the backside of the couch!) and he didn’t really seem all that big in here. I don’t want a huge dog, but I think we have a nice home for one anyway. If only we had a yard. Oh, well. It was kind of nice to go on walks. Gave me an excuse to get off the couch.
Jackson approves of Angel Soft, but not the stairs:
Plurp // Jan 27, 2009 at 8:12 am
Puppy!!!
Richard // Jan 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
Your place is definatley big enough for a dog, you should get one! Jackson looks about the same size as Milo.
RachelleB // Jan 27, 2009 at 10:28 am
He’s about as big, maybe a little bigger. You have dogsat for Brian’s dog, right? Does Milo want another friend when we go on vacation? ha. Seriously, though, I think we finally have our priorities in line with the condo and finances and stuff so we know what we have to do before we get a dog. It’s in line, though.
Rhonda // Jan 27, 2009 at 11:02 am
What an adorable dog!!
Aunt Susie // Jan 27, 2009 at 11:38 am
I knew it!! I knew you’d get a dog. What about your allergies though Shell… or is it just cats that make you go into one?
Dogs can really be great. Jackson looks like a great one. If you get a dog, it no doubt will be a puppy, so you can ease him into the ‘climbing downstairs’ thing. It’s all what they’re used to.
If you guys DO get one…you should put his photo up here, and have a “Name That Puppy” contest. A big jar of chex mix is the winning prize!! That’d be fun!!
Richard // Jan 27, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Yes we have dogsat before, and Milo loves to have sleepovers with friends.
Nancy // Jan 27, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Hes a beautiful dog!
Trish Riddle Lange // Jan 27, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Our black lab, Brady, is about the same size as Jackson. He also refuses to go down stairs. Last spring, it took both Steve and I together to haul his butt downstairs during a tornado warning. We don’t quite understand what his deal is;maybe he’s unsure about the uneven footing. He’ll go upstairs all day long, but no amount of peanut butter will convince him to head the other direction.
Trish
RachelleB // Jan 27, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I don’t know if I trust all of you guys to pick a dog name.. .I think we’ll pick our own!
CAROL B // Jan 28, 2009 at 6:26 am
I think a small puppy would be great. We just got a Teddy Bear puppy and he is just great. A lot of fun.
Aunt Susie // Jan 28, 2009 at 7:16 am
Well, I guess you could just let Jessica or Stephanie name it… they DO come up with some pretty good names!
Dad // Jan 28, 2009 at 4:15 pm
When we got Dakoda,Steph named him he was born on her Birthday.She did all right then we were going to let Jess name the other dog but she came up with names like Nick and Matthew
and othere names.So we decided to name him.
And its going to be your dog for 15yrs. You picked the name of our last dog Max.
If you were brought up with animals its kind of hard not to have them around.
I wanted to get roster but the neighbors would not like that in the morning or would the city.
Dad
RachelleB // Jan 28, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Yeh, I’m pretty sure if we get a dog we will name it ourselves. Wouldn’t want a dog named Matt or Nick, after my first cousins, once removed!
Also? A rooster? Why would you want that?
Richard // Jan 28, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I would never let someone else name my pets.
We had veto power over Steph, so you should thank us for the name Dakoda. I don’t remember exactly what the first names were that she picked out, but they were bad.
Jess just named the toy dog she got for Christmas “Christmas Tree”, so I think she’s incapable of picking out good names.
And you were kidding about the rooster, right??
CAROL B // Jan 29, 2009 at 5:49 am
forgot to tell you we named our Teddy Bear puppy De O Gee.
smussyolay // Jan 29, 2009 at 3:06 pm
smiley facey!! smussy. i love square dogs. like airedales and fox terriers and stuff.
like so: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images14/Wire-hairedFoxTerriers6MollyDefaImage002.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/wirefoxterrier.htm&h=300&w=400&sz=19&tbnid=LTccVlKyeg4Y3M::&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwire%2Bfox%2Bterrier&usg=__FAAjeg_xX0j7cWLXwwUd56EQFhY=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&cd=1