The Day(s) We Got Our Dogs (Part One)

The Story of Jagger

The day we got Jagger started off just as any other day would: uneventful. We had been talking about getting a dog for about a month or two at this point when my mom called and said that some friends had found an abandoned dog. Well, about two hours later, my mom brought Jagger to us.

He was 16 weeks old—not fixed, no collar, and no chip. Just wet and scared to death. When we got Jagger, he weighed all of 20 pounds. Needless to say, he was tiny—very tiny, scared, but oh so sweet.

All he really wanted to do was cuddle and nap with my husband and I. So that's exactly what we did.

The first night we had him, we had put him into his crate. We wanted to crate train him so he could have a place to himself to lay down and be in if we weren't home. But that didn't really work out all to well.

Why??

We quickly found out that, due to his circumstances, he had severe separation anxiety. Needless to say, once we moved into our house, we didn't put him in a crate.

Jagger has certain areas in the house that he is allowed to go to and then areas that he isn't allowed to go to. So far, he has done fabulously.

He turns six this November. He is also very very protective of me. He loves my husband, Patrick. He adores him really. But Jagger is incredibly protective of me. I'm thankful for that.

Jagger weighs anywhere between 55–60 pounds. He's very lean but has a good bit of muscle.

He's a very good boy, but he despises it when people knock on the door. He goes BIRSIK!!! Seriously hates it. He makes it difficult to even open the door because I'm so afraid he will bolt out the front door. So, if I don't know you are coming over or I don't know you (we have a camera at the front door), then I don't answer the door. I also allow Jagger to continue to go nuts until you leave.

I swear Jagger knows what we are talking about quite often. He's very intuitive when it comes to a lot of stuff, especially when one of us is sad or sick. He just knows.

He will come over and lay down on you and just snuggle with you until you start to feel better. He wants you to feel better—always.

He's really not very needy. He lets me know when he needs to go outside. As long as you let him out and feed him, he's fine. His sister, Monte, is a different story altogether, though (you will see in part two as to why).

Anywho, Jagger is a pit-bull. I know, I know!!! I know all about the stereotypes of pit-bulls. People say that they aren't good dogs and that they are vicious dogs. People fight them and people raise them to be bad and mean. I know everyone says, "But mine isn't like that!!!"

I will say this... ANY dog can turn on you and hurt you or your children in some form or fashion. I don't let my young nieces and nephews around him. They can say hey to him through a window in the backyard, no other way. I also have a muzzle for him for when we take him to the vet's office.

Why??

Because I am OCD/paranoid that he will bite.

Then why do you still have him???

Because I love him, that's why. He's my protector. He's my secret keeper. He knows things that my family doesn't even know, and I know that he won't tell another human being about stuff. He is the true definition of a secret keeper.

I will love him until he takes his dying breath.

All About How We Got Our Dogs

This will be either a two-part or three-part story on how we got our dogs.