Jackson

Adopted, May 6 (Photo is coming)

Our family wasn't looking to own another dog. Over the years we'd had one gerbil, one goldfish, one cat, one bunny and one memorable pug - Spike. (Our two younger children are lucky we'd had more than one kid!) When Spike was put down, after watching him age too quickly, due to epilepsy, and the drugs required to control his seizures, we put animal ownership behind us. Living between Candace's house and dog park, and our pug-lonely daughter learned all about the pugalug rescue, so we thought fostering was the perfect way to enjoy a pug's endearing friendship for a time, yet retain the flexibility of travel and other joys of non pet responsibility. Even with our limited fostering experience, this seemed to be an ideal solution. Then we met Jackson.

It's not that he's so pretty (he's scrawny), or that he's well behaved (he tugs ferociously the leash, and gets too distracted to obey consistently), but there's something about this guy that charmed my staunchly-against-another-dog husband. From the first day he was our dog.
Resistance was futile.

My apologizes to all the web visitor's that were interested in Jackson, but this little pug isn't going to leave this house. Any future fosters will just have to enjoy the non-stop activity and commotion that is Jackson.
Victoria

Foster Update, May 2

Jackson is puppy plus. He reminds me of the children's book "The Pokey Little Puppy's Naughty Day" where the main character's exuberance gets him into repeated mischief. His excuse is "I'm just feeling frisky and I can't help it!" Jackson is frisky. He is very underweight, not because of any health issue, or that he won't eat, he just burns off ever calorie he eats with his busyness. Although he has calmed down considerably from his immediate non-stop action. He is so desperate not to miss anything or anyone, that he wont let himself have a nap until he is so exhausted he can't stay awake. But between bouts of activity, he is more than happy to snuggle onto whoever happens to have some horizontal surface available.

He's a clever little thing and responds to sit, and come, unless there is a distraction more than a puppy can bear. He's had two accidents in the house, one of each kind, but both in the bathroom, so we understood his confusion. It's more of the puppy distraction, than a housetraining issue I think. He's too eager to get to the next thing happening to properly attend to the toileting business in the backyard, and then gets caught short inside. A real plus for Jackson, but given the rash of pugs taking over beds on the forum photo page apparently not many require it, is his night-time crate training. Jackson happily gets in his crate at night and stays quietly until morning, with the door latched of course. But this comes with a warning, after 7 hours of quiet inaction, Jackson has an abundance of pent up energy that needs to be dispersed in 5 minutes.

As reported by his former owners, Jackson pulls ferociously on the leash and humps other dogs. We've been working on heel, and I can tell he'd love to respond, but circumstances like other dogs, people, garbage trucks, flowers, noises, etc, etc, all need to be immediately investigated and off he pulls. Jackson loves other dogs, of all sizes, ages and breeds, and joyfully sniffs, runs and plays with everyone. Should one near his size remain standing for a moment, he starts to hump. But it is spring, and all the pugs in our park seem to suffer from the same habit so nobody gets their truncated noses out of joint. Jackson has found another 10-month-old female to frolic with in pug park. Smitten with her, he constantly tries to mount her and can get two humps in before she turns to wrestle, box, or runs off with him following eager to try again. We don't need a burglar alarm at our house, as every noise need to be barked at. This will likely settle down with age and familiarity with normal house and neighbourhood noises, but he can get loud at the park and may tend to be a barker.

His most interesting characteristic is his propensity to fetch. This is not a pug trait. Golf balls, sticks, tennis balls, anything that moves attracts Jackson's attention. When through he raced after it, grabs the item, and prances back to the thrower. He's not great about dropping the item for another throw, but makes a game of getting it out of his mouth to start the process all over again, and again, and again, and again.

He is a delightful dog, who will most likely retain most of his high-energy ways even when he is past his puppyhood. He would be best as a single dog, with people willing to take the time to train him to his full potential and available to spend time enjoying his jam packed days.

Introduction, April 30

Jackson is a 10 month old fawn male. He is crate trained and almost fully housetrained. He is up to date on his vaccinations, neutered and micro-chipped. He has some pigmentation in his left eye that will need to be checked by a vet regularly.

His owner reported Jackson displayed aggression toward the other male pug in the household - which is why he had to be brought to us. Therefore he will most likely be suited to an only dog household. In addition he will need training on walking on a leash as he reportedly pulls ahead constantly. We will have a foster update from Victoria in a couple of days.