My buddy Jackson
I originally mentioned Jackson in my thread for my baby dog, Visuddha who had Cushing's (Visuddha's thread). Then earlier this year, I made a formal introduction of him in a thread with Pepper, a short time foster (Jackson and Pepper). Now, I think he deserves a place of his own.
Copying his introduction from there...
Jackson is a 6.5 year old Australian cattle dog/English coon hound mix... we think. We got him from Colville Animal Sanctuary in January 2011 at about 6 months old. He had been left on their doorstep as a young pup. I have no idea why no one had adopted him in the 4 or 5 months he was there, except that he was waiting for us!
I took Visuddha with me to meet him. Jack was in a kennel, quite honestly jumping straight up and down inside the door, wanting to be let out. Once out, he was inquisitive but not pushy and Visuddha accepted him immediately. (They had another puppy in the kennel and the staff wanted me to consider him as well, so they put Jackson back inside and let this pup out. Visuddha wanted nothing to do with him - growling right away. So they changed places again. )
Visuddha didn't mind Jackson at all, until he got in the truck. Then he was irritated as anything! For the almost 2 hour drive home, I had V tied to the driver's door and in my lap, while Jack was behind the passenger seat of the truck. Once home, the two were just fine again.
Jackson and I went to two different dog parks this weekend. The first I'll call the "state line" dog park. We went there Saturday morning, as the dog park closer to home was empty. State line had quite a few dogs and people. We were met at the gate by a couple of Airedales, who sniffed through the gate and then wandered away with Jackson on their butts.His first few minutes he looked like a ridgeback with his haunches raised, tail tucked, sniffing everyone inquisitively. Airedales, Labs, three German Shepherds and a variety of other mixes, most mid- or large-sized dogs. We wandered through the park, watching, sniffing, occasionally being mounted/mounting others...
all in all pretty good. Towards the end of our visit, a 14-year old, 3-legged little Papillon and his friend, a 1-eyed similarly aged Dachshund mix who stayed next to me for a while (can't imagine why...
ANYway, Jackson wasn't as interested in the little ones as he was in wandering around, so we continued to wander. After a while (30? 45? minutes), he walked over to the gate and waited for me to let him out.
We stopped at PetSmart on the way home, sniffed a couple more little dogs there and bought some treats.
Sunday we went back to the state line, saw the German Shepherd and Airedales again but they didn't stay long. There were two Great Danes (one of whom got right in my face to say HELLO!!), a handful of other mid-sized dogs.... and Sam, a larger Lab mix, who was intent on mounting Jackson every time he saw him. Jackson kept going over to Sam and his buddies every time he could. Sam's owners put him on a leash whenever we were around, so we wandered away a few times to let him play. Every time we came back, Sam and Jackson were at it again until they left. Sam and his friends, a smaller Lab and a Beagle puppy (awww) were chasing/retrieving a ball for a while so we spent most of that time in the woods, sniffing and following other dogs around.
After Sam and his buddies left, there was only one other owner with her two dogs. I don't know their breeds... the male was bigger than Jackson, the female quite a bit smaller and fluffier. Neither one was too interested in playing. They'd sniff and be sniffed but didn't really want much more to do with him. She growled at Jackson right at the beginning, lip curled... I called Jackson to me and he turned his butt right in her face.Such a good boy.
She was more inquisitive later but not much. Jackson followed the male around a couple times, stopping once to sniff for a loooooong time where he'd peed, and practically running right into his butt another time when he stopped quickly.
On our way home, we stopped at the new dog park. There were about half a dozen other dogs when we got there, a few more came, a few left... we played with a 4 month old puppy (lab mix?), Boxer, couple different Pit mixes, Husky mix. Jackson was the oldest one there. Almost all boys. Need I say more?
I wish I would have taken some pictures or video but here's a link to Jackson's Photo Album. I know I have more pictures of him that I'll add later.
Did I mention that Jackson hasn't been to a dog park in years??? I know some people aren't too keen on them but as long as it's kept up and the people and dogs that we meet are friendly and attentive, I think we'll keep going.
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