Jesse Black Labrador Retriever Mix Male 3.5 Months Old ID #2935

Meet Jesse.  One of two pups brought up from Mississippi after a good samaritan found them on the side of the road who got them to safety, Jesse and Levi were in foster care for a few weeks in MS to get their vetting and health certificates that allowed them to make the long journey north to a Brookline!  3.5 month Jesse and Levi are in foster care in together, so look for updates to their blogs once they get settled in.  Read from the bottom up!

July 20, 2021

Jesse is surprisingly still available, but we’re enjoying every minute with him- OK well almost every minute.  He seems to be house trained now (or is is just that he has us trained to take him out frequently enough) but whatever it is, it is working.  He’s loving our walks and for the most part walks quite well on the leash.  He can get a bit stubborn at times, wanting to stop to investigate and sniff, but he is a pup after all- and one with a good nose on him (although sometimes covered in sand or dirt).

He still wants to play with the resident dogs more than they want to play with him, but our next door neighbor dog (a 4 yr old German shorthaired pointer) is more than happy to play with him- and the resident dogs are really appreciating the backup!

Jesse takes a long nap in his crate in the mid-morning after a good walk and he is crated at night, and he’s quite good about it.  Sometimes he get confused though.

He’s very affectionate with us and always comes over for a pet or a cuddle.  In the morning we have a good routine.  The almost 12 year old lab has some trouble going down the stairs so foster dad gets her and the other two resident dogs down the stairs while foster mom lets Jesse out of the crate and has a few minutes of cuddle time before foster dad comes to get him.  Foster mom is going to miss those cuddles.

July 8, 2021

Jesse had a play date with a younger lab yesterday who wanted to play even more than he did and had a blast- and an extra bonus was that he slept in this morning.  Jesse is also doing better meeting new dogs and people and isn’t as shy.  And hte barking has subsided.  He does still bark outside if we go out and he thinks he hears something, but he is making progress; our neighbors are getting new siding, and while he barked at the work crew the first time or two we went out today, by the third he decided he didn’t need to alert us to their presence.

Jesse is so sweet and foster mom has to admit she is getting quite attached so she’d better post him soon or she said something about flunking!

July 4, 2021

Jesse continues to do well, and has more or less been accepted by his fur siblings who increasingly are starting to play with him.  Jesse does have a shy side (probably because people let him down before) so we’ve been working on socializing him.  Our next door neighbors wee away when he first got here, but yesterday they were home, and were outside having fun.  Jesse couldn’t see them but was sure that something must be wrong.  He barked and even growled a bit and let me know that he was there to protect me.  We decided to leash up and go next door and meet them.  The resident dogs of course led the way, and Jessie cautiously followed. But within a minute has was on his back accepting belly rubs from the kids and greeting their 4 year old dog.  Similarly we are meeting people on our woods walks and he’s getting braver and more comfortable each time.

July 1, 2021

July already?  Wow time flies with a puppy in the house.  Jesse is doing great and enjoyed his care package- he literally enjoyed the package (box) as much as the wonderful contents, and he looks great with his Penn State bandana!

Here he is trying to sweet talk his fur sister into giving the nylabone.  She didn’t oblige and after some tugging, Jesse gave up and found another toy!

June 30, 2021

Jesse checking in.  Foster mom is too busy paying bills and taking care of non- doggy things, so I thought I’d say hi.  She thinks I’m napping, so I’ll have to be quiet.  I wanted to let you know that yesterday my brother Levi got in the car with my foster mom and for some reason he didn’t come back with her later.  I was confused and looked around for him a few times to make sure he wasn’t playing hide and seek, but then we went out to play, and I was fine.  Turns out I overheard my foster mom talking to about littermate syndrome.  Huh?  I had no idea what that means but I heard her explain that sometimes when littermates stay together too long, they get in fights.  Really?  Is that why she and foster dad had to pull Levi and me apart a few times? We have been having a blast playing- tacking and chasing each other and laying bitey face,  but I have to admit that sometimes we got a bit carried away and got way too rough with each other, and it stoped being fun.  I don’t think I started it, but foster mom doesn’t really think Levi did either.  At any rate we did this a few times and foster mom and dad decided it wasn’t a fluke and probably meant we should be in different foster homes.  So luckily a really nice lady offered to take care of Levi and she is fostering him, and I hear he is doing great and enjoying his new family and fur brothers.  I’m really glad he’s OK, because I do love my brother and I don’t really understand why we had incidents.  Oh well. Another good thing to come out of this is that my foster mom and dad felt sorry for me and they let me sleep in a crate in their bedroom last night, and I liked that a lot.  I didn’t fuss at all when it was bedtime.  I did decide I wasn’t going to let them sleep in this morning though.  I don’t want to let them forget I’m a puppy after all.

And today I played with my fur siblings even though they are not young like me.  I told them they are going to have to step it up, and they did.  We had a great play session.  Now I really am tired so I think I’ll sneak back to my crate before foster mom notices.

Paws and licks,

Jesse

June 29, 2021

Jesse is doing well and settling in nicely here. We are continuing to work on leash, crate and house training and both he and his brother are doing quite well with them.   Like Levi, he anxiously awaits all his meals and he’s quite convinced that he’s not getting enough grub.  He’s walking pretty well on leash but he keeps stepping over it such that I have to keep untangling him, so leash walking will be much easier when his harness arrives.

Of the two, he accepts being asked to go in his crate the most easily and almost instantaneously is quiet.  I think he recognizes that a nap is a good thing.   He also likes to nap at our feet and isn’t as apt to hop up on the couch, unless of course he is playing keep away with his brother over a toy.  Like his brother, he loves his toys, and he can’t make up his mind which one he likes best and is always looking in the toy basket for a new one.  Now if we could teach him to put the back!

I initially though Jesse was the more dominant of the two, but now I’m not sure.  One thing I have noticed is that he is more nervous and shy in new situations.  When we were on a walk yesterday on a path that went behind our neighbor’s house, he heard someone calling out, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue on.  He kept looking up at me to check in that all was well, and he wasn’t convinced.  With time and patience and repetition, I think he’ll be just fine, and in the meantime, I’m happy to have him gazing up into my eyes.  He’s adorable.

June 27, 2021

Yesterday was a very long day for Jesse and his brother.  After a 36 hour transport, they disembarked, only to have to get back into another car for 2 hours to get to their foster home.  They weren’t very thrilled with the prospect and let me know verbally but as soon as we started moving, they settled down pretty quickly. Once back, they got a good bath, a good meal, and then they were very happy to get some time to explore and play in the back yard.   First off were introductions to the three resident dogs which couldn’t have gone any better.  Both Jesse and Levi were appropriately respectful of the grown ups.  The resident dogs checked them out but then quickly decided that they weren’t that interesting.

Both pups explored in the yard and of course sampled some grass and sticks and they were quite interested in the adjoining woods.  They also had a few romps in the back yard, and after many hours of fun, decided it was time for another nap.  Foster mom and dad were happy to oblige.

The house training is going pretty well.  Both boys are good about doing their business outside and there have only been two accidents that were mostly the result of the two leggeds not reading their cues fast enough- in conjunction with having to get both leashed up and out the door when the pups were heading different directions.  They are loving all the toys- the stuffed ones seem to be their favorite, and so far, they are not chewing on things they shouldn’t be.  Of course we did basic puppy proofing before they got here.

We discovered that neither Jesse or Levi has any problem with stairs -even though I’m sure stairs are new to them, so we’ve put up a gate to make the house a little smaller.  For now they are allowed to frequent the kitchen, family room and front entryway.  Other doors are closed or have gates up going into the rest of the house.

We took a short walk in the woods after their nap with the resident dogs leading the way.  To say it was challenging to walk two little ones on leash that don’t really get the concept of leash walking is an understatement since they kept getting the leashed tangled up but by the end, they were starting to figure out what it means to walk in a straight line. I imagine they’ll just get better although they are already showing me that they would like to be in front of pack, and so were starting to pull in an attempt to bypass the resident dogs.  Monday morning we’ll be heading to our local pet store to get them fitted with harnesses.

We set up two crates in the family room, and towards the end of the day that seemed like it might never end, encouraged them in with a treat or two, put on some soft music and sat nearby while they started to get sleepy.  Then we tiptoed upstairs and didn’t hear a peep out of them all night.  Good boys Jesse and Levi.  In fact we woke up before they did, and now we’re ready to start a new day of fun and exploration (and maybe a little training).