Mary Ann comes to visit

Mary Ann came over this afternoon for a visit. Again, Jackson won over his visitor within moments! He had fun playing a bit of "fetch" with Mary Ann and the new ball she brought him. And of course, he couldn't get enough of being petted!

Joanne started working with him on learning "down". We also cut his nails for the first time with no real issues. Luckily he doesn't seem to mind having his feet touched (as Maggie did) and the white (versus black) nails make it a bit easier too.

Jackson his nawing on his bone as I write this. He seems to be settling in quite nicely!

Jackson makes his first new friend

On Saturday 1/19, Lauren Grey (our pet sitter who was so wonderful to Maggie) and her dog Gideon came to meet Jackson. Gideon and Jackson became fast friends, enjoying a walk together and some hard racing around the pool area along with a good game of tug of war. Jackson was a happy boy!

Jackson continues being enamoured with going upstairs. He snuck up in the afternoon (again with the gate blocking the entrance) and had fun pulling the bathroom toilet paper throughout the hallway. Joanne left that "surprise" for Darren to see when he came home from Maryland that night.

Jackson slept upstairs with Joanne and Darren for the first time that night. He did well through the night.

Thursday 1/17

It was another day of firsts! Some good, some not so good! Joanne worked from home today. In the morning she invited Jackson to come upstairs but he wasn't so sure. Then he decided to make the trip! He explored all of the rooms with intense interest. No space is off limits in his mind, including the bathrooms. (Maggie never would go in the bathrooms or laundry rooms, on her own accord.)

When Joanne went upstairs later in the morning, she blocked the stairs with the gate. Moments later Jackson "houdini" Crozier was upstairs. He snuck through the small opening between where the gate was leaning against the railing. This happened again later in the day when Joanne went upstairs to take a shower. This time however, Joanne was "smart" and ensured the gate wasn't leaning at such an angle. Jackson, however, was smarter and learned to nudge the gate so it would fall over and he could just prance up the stairs.

During the day, Jackson slept on his back for quite some time again. Quite a funny sight!

Thursday night Joanne went to bowling (Darren was in MD) and was gone for about 3 1/2 hours. She still put the cone on Jackson and thought that would keep Jackson out of trouble. Again, Jackson was smarter than Joanne! When Joanne came home she found scarves and gloves strewn across the family room floor, the box of recycling on the kitchen floor, and a cute Jackson prancing towards her at the door with one of her leather gloves, half-eaten, hanging out of his mouth! Joanne had forgotten to close the hallway coat closet, where the box of gloves and scarves lives. How he got his head with the cone into the small closet and the box, and out again, is puzzling!

Run free Jackson!

Fence people coming Tuesday and Wednesday to give quotes so we can block an area for Jackson to safely run off leash.  We don't think the electric fence will hold him.  While I'm typing this on Tuesday morning, he's sleeping in his 'spot' at the end of the sofa.....

Second Vet trip in a week...

During our first visit to the Vet they mentioned that dogs that get transported like Jackson did are at risk for catching an upper respiratory inflection. A lot of stress lowers their immune system and traveling in small areas like cars can easily cause the spread of viruses.  Jackson had been sneezing and coughing a little, but it had gotten worst over the weekend.  We got an appointment on Monday night and Jackson got some more meds.

A weight check showed him at 43 pounds.  This vet didn't think he needed to put on much more weight....

Sunday - 01/13/2013

Jackson had his first visitors.  The Mayberrys came up for their usual Sunday visit.  Jackson stood in the kitchen for a few seconds when they came in the door and then a little tentatively made is way over to them.  Within a few more seconds as he was getting petted and his tail was wagging.  The big meeting was a success.  During lunch he tried to get a little food but then settled down under the table by the windows.

Sunday night he was tired.  So while I was watching the football playoffs, he was sleeping behind the sofa.  I hadn't seen him in 45 mins.  I was also in the middle of doing laundry for work the next day.  I was half way done my sandwich when the dryer stopped.  I went into the laundry room, but saw there were no hangers.  Without giving it one thought I went upstairs to get hangers with half of my cheesesteak still on the tray downstairs. I wasn't upstairs for more than a minute when I heard the plate and tray crash to the floor downstairs.  I rushed down, but Jackson was way too quick.  My second half of the cheesesteak was gone.  This was the second time Jackson took advantage of me.    

This new bed is comfortable....

...so much so, I can sleep upside down no problem....Taken Wednesday night (1/9/2013)

The photo is a little corrupted, that's why the gray bar across the bottom.  Lucky I didn't lose it...

Turkey sandwich for dinner...

Well the new adventures continue for little Jackson......

Just three days into us leaving him for work, he sailed solo from 8:00am to 3:00pm.  House and dog seems to have survived fine.

A happy excited dog meet me at the door.  He was so excited, I quickly put down my papers and a bag with the rest of my sandwich from lunch today.  The plan was to take Jackson on his first road walk today and I wanted to beat the rain.  So after checking the house and looking at the mail, I quickly headed upstairs to change.  A few minutes later coming back downstairs I could hear sounds that I knew wasn't going to be good....Half way across the house was the empty Wawa bag that I used to carry the sandwich, and in the living room was a torn open lunch container with zero signs of my turkey sandwich.  Just Jackson licking the container as if he missed a crumb.  He looked up and burped! 

Despite sandwich-gate we head out for Jackson's first road walk.  A lot of new smells and sights.  A few loud cars on the main road got his attention but overall he seemed to enjoy it.  He ran from side to side of the road.  Never in a straight line.  He seem to still have a lot of energy when we got back into the house, but after I sat down to type this up and he walked around a little bit, he settled down for a quick afternoon nap a few feet from me....

Thursday - 1/10/2013

Jackson keeps making steps forward - Some good, some bad....After yesterday's gate crashing, we decided to risk it and just give him full run of the whole first floor.  Because he has the cone on he really can't get to anything to bite and mess with.  Joanne needed to go to Philadelphia for the day, so I was on Jackson duty.

Things didn't get off to a great start.  While inside the of pool area for morning bathroom duties, Jackson found a gap in the fence that is barely big enough for rabbits to get through.  But that didn't stop him.  While I watched from only 10 feet away, he starting wiggling through the 5 inch gap of the fence and headed out to freedom.  He would have gotten out, but my yelling scared him and he stopped and pulled himself back in. 

He was alone from 8:00am to noon.  I came home at lunch and stayed with him for a hour.  He was alone again from 1:00pm to about 4:30 when Joanne got back from Philadelphia.  He had full run of the first floor and all seems ok.  He might be a little scared being alone, but he isn't taking it out on the house.  Having to keep the cone on for the surgery, but be good to get him comfortable to have full run of the house. 

Wednesday - 1/9/2013

Today was Jackson's first day with some extended time alone.  He needs to wear the cone while we're gone to stop him from licking  his surgery area.   We tried to block him behind the sofa while we where gone.  We used the child gate to block the gap between the sofa and the wall.  Grandma Mayberry's rocker blocked the end my the fireplace. 

I left at 12:30 to go to work.  Joanne came home around 3:30.  When she first walk in she saw the gate was on the floor and then Jackson came trotting out, walking right over the gate to meet Joanne. 

I'm sure when that gate went down it scared him, but by the time Joanne got home, he didn't seem any worse for wear.  The house also didn't have any issues. 

Tuesday, 1/8/2013

Darren stayed home.

Jackson had his first quick brushing on the deck.  We went to get the mail for the first time.  He saw his first golf cart.  Very food driven.  Went into the crate and laid down for 5 min for the first time.  I went to Wawa and left him in the crate my himself.  He didn't seem to like being along.  There was drool in the crate and the pad was pushed to the back.

During the afternoon Jackson slept and was dreaming...

Jackson came away from the vet with a pretty good bill of health.  He weights in right at 40 lbs.  He is a young adult.  The vet though the 1.5 years old was pretty accurate.  Needed his ears cleaned. 

While I was working, Jackson enjoyed the sun and got some more sleep:

Monday 1/7/2013

Joanne stayed home from work.  Jackson started getting brave and explored the rest of the first floor.  He found Maggie's old bone and starting chewing on it.  He wanted to take the bone outside to bury it.  He found his bag of food and starting pawing at it.

He ate and drank.  Put his front paws up on the sofa while Joanne was eating.  He put his front paws up on the kitchen island.

Made himself comfortable around the first floor of the house.

Sunday 1/6/2013

Pick up day. 10:30 at the Rudy Tuesday's in Norristown, just off the Blue Route.  Meeting with the dog delivery driver and a person from the 'Almost Home Rescue' organization.

Once home we let him walk around the pool fenced in area for a few mins, and gave him his first bath. He sure needed it! Pugh!

We then brought him in through the deck sliders.  He marked his spot on a pad of Maggie's bed that wasn't washed he also 'marked' an area of the sofa.

He found his way to the bed and made it his safe spot:

He didn't eat or drink.  Stomach problems and a little blood in his stool.  Needed to go out at 9pm, midnight, and 3am.

Travel plans...

There is an entire network of drivers who work to deliver dogs/cats from shelters in the south to new owners in the north. 

Attached is the transportation flow of Jackson getting to us to us - Covering two day and X number of drivers

Nice folks took pictures of Jackson as he made was way up from SC...

Here he is in one of the car coming up:

Here he is being walked in Richmond, VA on Saturday, Jan 5th:

Home Visit By 'Almost Home Rescue' - 1/2/2013

On Wednesday, January 2nd, Linda Campbell from alomst Home Resuce come to the house to do a home walk-through.  I was down in Charlotte for work, so Linda meet with Joanne.