Jeannie

Zachary and I had been looking forward to getting a dog for... however long we had been looking forward to getting married.  We always saw our first home as one with a dog running around.  We got married in Graham, NC on a Saturday, drove to Jacksonville, FL on a Sunday and adopted Jeannie Morningstar Holliday on a Monday.  I wasn't working at the time and had lots of time to give and ... Jeannie took advantage.  We walked into the pound and settled on two dogs we wanted to meet, Jane and Jillian.  Jane had some pitbull in her... I'm not going to get on a soapbox about this but in the psychological debate of nurture vs. nature, I am all about the nature.  However, apartment management is not all about nature and sometimes refuse to let in families with dogs with any trace of pitbull in it.  So we were leaning towards Jillian.  I favored Jillian, Zachary favored Jane.  Of course, being the spoiled wife I am, we met Jillian first.  She was hiding in the tunnel between where they eat and where they sleep and I was calling to her and she inched forward.  She let me pet her through the cage but I could tell she was very apprehensive even though I was being super careful.  They told us to meet one of the workers and Jillian in the play area so we headed over.  We saw the worker carrying Jillian towards us... she explained that Jillian refused to walk while the collar was on but it was shelter policy that she remain on a leash until she was in an enclosed area.  The lady put her down and took the collar off and Jillian started sprinting around so very fast.  She would run up to us and we'd go to pet her and she'd go on another round.  I was still in love and Zachary saw that and he loved her too (although, don't ask him today, he'll deny it).  So we decided to skip meeting Jane and just adopt her.  We went to do all the paperwork and we learned that she came to this shelter from a shelter in Alabama.  They didn't have any information on what led her there but it was obvious that she had been severely abused.  We knew she would require a lot of patience but I was able and willing.  Zachary's grandma Jean and grandpa Billy gave us a generous wedding gift and Jean's only request was to use the money to buy something that would make us think of her.  Jillian became Jeannie.


Her first few days were rough.  She wouldn't walk on her own.  We didn't even want to try putting a collar on her but Jacksonville city laws were very clear that if she was outside, she had to have a leash on... can't put a leash on without a collar.  She didn't pee for like two days.  We would take her outside (on her hated leash) and she would just belly crawl in the grass looking at us like "You can watch but I'm not going to do anything..."  We eventually had to take her the vet and sure enough, she had a UTI.  This is a picture from the first day we got her.

The first night, we put her in her crate and she was silent.  We were ecstatic.  The next night she started crying in her crate and I immediately took her out and snuggled her.  That first night was the only one she spent in a crate.  I was able to spend 24/7 with her and got her to trust me.  We think she was abused by someone in uniform because when Zachary came home from work, she would bark at him and even jump on him and try to bite him but once he changed, she was fine.  She loves and trusts both of us now.

 I know this is pathetic but she was my only friend when Zachary went on his trips and I had teaching stresses to bring home.  She's so sweet (when she wants to be).  Although, she's relatively recently adopted this habit of growling when you touch her when she's sleepy.  It's pretty funny.  And with Joey... wow.  She will carry him around in her mouth.  She's really funny when we'll hear she's playing rough with him and we'll yell at her. She'll come in the living room acting completely innocent with a fur ball in her mouth and Joey comes in quietly behind and you can see his neck is wet from a mile away.  But she loves him.  And she loves us and we love her and she's absolutely one of my favorite things!