
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:

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