About Jessie |
- Status: Adopted!
- Species: Dog
- General Color: Black
- Eye Color: Brown
- Ear Type: Droopy
- Tail Type: Long
- Current Size: 55 Pounds
- Current Age: 12 Years (best estimate)
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- Declawed: No
- Obedience Training Needed: Needs Training
- Shedding Amount: Moderate
- Reaction to New People: Cautious
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~~ON HOLD~~
Update: 1/25/17
Jessie is quite happy lounging under the heat lamp and eating gourmet food, while caring for her very chubby baby. It's his 3 week birthday today; eyes open and eating puppy mousse. They are both spoiled. She is going to need some orthopedic help once she finishes her mothering job and after she's spayed. I imagine her as a wonderful pet. I've never heard her bark. The only noise she makes is the loud thump of her tail when someone approaches. We each call her baby something different, which is ok since I'm not sure Jessie is really Jessie. Doesn't matter. She knows what we mean. Pictures coming--the puppy is wiggly now and a bit more challenging.
Jessie is one of the Stop the Madness: Peanut’s Holiday of Hope Labradors.
Update 1/16/17
Jessie has had a rough couple of weeks. She had her puppies over a 24 hour period starting 1/4/17. If she hadn't been so depleted physically we would have elected to do a Cesarean section, but there was no way such an underweight dog could handle that. Her puppies were clearly premature, lacking hair on their faces and feet. Three were stillborn, and one had a severe cleft palate. The other four ranged from 6-11 oz. (normal birth weight is about 15 oz.) We used everything we had to try to save them, especially because Jessie desperately wanted her puppies to live. However, after 5 days we had only one black male surviving.
I am happy to report that he is almost normal weight for his age and appears to be just fine. On the other hand, at Jessie's post-partum check, the Vet x-rayed her hips and spine because she was quite sore. The pictures showed a severely degenerated (almost missing) hip socket and a spine riddled with arthritis. Although we didn't x-ray her elbows, I'm sure they have problems, too, as she is quite "fiddle fronted" and rickety there, also. She has trouble getting up, so I'm sure after she raises this puppy and is spayed, she will need some orthopedic help.
In spite of this terrible story, Jessie is a wonderful dog. She would not allow her puppies to leave her sight or be put in a basket. But, she trusted us to handle them which is miraculous given her history (hiding for weeks in the woods). She thumps her tail and smiles when anyone approaches her. I can't imagine her running off. In fact, she refuses to go out if it's raining or even a little windy. This has been a horrible experience for us. I can only imagine what it's been like for Jessie.
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1/1/17 Jessie hid in the woods when the Peanut's Promise Holiday of Hope rescue mission came, eluding capture for hours, thus missing the bus-- so she just now came to us. She is quite pregnant--due 1/6. She is underweight and has the usual parasites and Lyme's disease. And she's scared.
The good news is, she's eating nutritious food and letting us pet her. I do think she wants to go back to the woods and have her puppies there. We have about a week to convince her that a warm house isn't so bad. I am hoping she will reach deep for this one, and we are up to the task of a scared mother-to-be going into labor in a new place, with new people and far from the wilderness.
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If you have already filled out an application and have had a home visit, email labmatch@labadoption.org. If you haven't done these things please start the process at www.labadoption.org/info/adoption.
