Thursday, January 16, 2014

Goodbye Little Guy. Our Poodle Died.

My wife and I adore miniature poodles. Their personalities are incredible, they're smart, and playing with them brings about a very gratifying type of bonding.

In 2009, we adopted what had been a very abused chocolate poodle. We named him Jack Bauer in a twist of irony - he was incredibly shy and fearful of nearly everything. We didn't know he had a tail for the first couple of months we had him - no joke. I don't think he kept it down on purpose, I think it was frozen in place.

Over the next five years, Jack Bauer changed from that fearful dog into a happy, loving dog. He even tried to become a protector. If he thought someone was going to hurt my wife, Jack Bauer would charge that person in a barking fury. We had to work with him, in fact, to keep him from becoming too aggressive.

I've been married two and a half years. Jack Bauer has spent more nights with me than my wife has!

This little dog will always have a place in our hearts. Helping him heal helped us as individuals and couples - we're thankful for that little dog. And right now, there is a hole in our home.

Jack wasn't a person. If he was, we know he would have wanted us to help other dogs in need of rescuing. That's why even though we are hurting, we are moving forward to try and adopt at least one other dog. We have applied for a pair of poodles - brothers. If our application is successful, we will meet the dogs and make a prayerful decision on whether or not to bring them in our home

Jack Bauer, and Midnight I and II before you - thanks for the memories!