Jasper


 



Jasper, on his first day in his new home





Jasper, showing off his "lion cut"



Here he is...Rusty's anniversary gift! Our new baby, Jasper.

As I wrote previously, I found him on http://www.petfinder.com/. He was at a shelter called Glimmer of Life, located in Pembroke Pines, about 40 miles north of us in Broward County. I got in contact with the folks there by phone last Saturday morning (Feb. 19) about seeing him, and later that afternoon, we loaded Rusty and Lady in the car and took the drive up north.

Everyone at the shelter, which is connected with a groomer and pet supply boutique, was quite excited that we had come to visit "Miracle," as they were calling him. We already knew we would be changing that name, as neither of us liked it! He had been at the shelter for about two months, which I find totally amazing. But then, as my vet reminded me, most people want puppies. Jasper just turned two years old in January, old enough to be left alone all day while we are at work, but young enough to be playful and definitely still puppy-ish. Also, Pekes have a reputation for being ill-tempered, which I think is a lot of bunk. None of our Pekes has ever displayed anything like an ill temper. Rusty is the only one who comes close to that description, and that is because he was abused as a puppy. He is still stand-offish around strangers, but definitely not bad tempered. In my opinion, if a Peke is ill-tempered, it's the result of poor (or no) training and socialization. And that can certainly be the case with any dog.

Well, we fell in love with Miracle/Jasper immediately. The folks at the shelter sat us down on a red-velveteen-covered sofa, set up a portable play-pen around us, and then brought the little guy out to us. He had just been groomed, and as you can see in the photo above, they cut him like a lion, leaving him with a long, flowing mane and a pull tail, but cutting him short on his body and legs. Pekes have also been called "lion dogs" precisely because of that flowing mane.

He and Rusty and Lady checked each other out, and after a minute or two, the tails all wagged, so we took that as a good sign. Jasper was a little overwhelmed...the shelter/groomer/shop was very busy, and there was a lot going on, so he didn't pay too much attention to us, but we were more concerned with how he seemed to get on with the other two dogs, and that seemed to be going well.

Jasper and Rusty on the sofa at the Glimmer of Life shelter

So, we did the paperwork and crossed the shelter's "palm" with a substantial amount of silver, and a couple of hours later, went home with our third Peke.

Learned right away that Jasper doesn't like riding in the car, and doesn't even want to get anywhere near the car. Unlike Rusty, however, he doesn't get car sick. He just fidgets a lot. Rusty at least likes getting in the car. Lady doesn't care, as long as she can sleep.

After we got home, the process of settling in began, and is continuing, of course. Our first order of business was to come up with a new name for Miracle. So we got out the The Best Pet Name Book Ever! (the same one we bought when we got Shasta), and I started reading through it, calling out names I liked for Justin to give a "thumbs-up" or "uh-uh." We finally narrowed the list down to eight names: Barkley, Bosley, Casey, Cody, Harley, Jasper, Ripley and Sunny. We were going for the "ends in ee" sound, to go with "Rusty" and "Lady." So how did Jasper end up in the mix? Well, you can see that he is very red, actually redder than Rusty. I had skipped over the name Jasper since it didn't fit the "ends in ee," but I suddenly realized that "jasper" is a reddish-yellowish mineral that is very common in the Souythwest, near my home. So I said, "What about Jasper?" Justin said, "Oh, I like that," especially after I told him about the red mineral by the same name.

Unfortunately, by then, I was leaning toward "Sunny," which I also thought was reminiscent of the new baby's color and personality, even though since we had brought him home, he pretty much kept to himself. So I suggested that we put the eight names into a hat, and draw one, and that would settle it. Justin agreed that was fair...and wouldn't you know? I held the hat, and let him draw, and the name he drew? Jasper! I immediately accused him of rigging it, but I knew that wasn't true...I just had to give him a hard time. So, apparently, Jasper's new name was meant to be.

Jasper is getting used to his new name; he never actually responded to "Miracle," so it isn't causing him any confusion. I told Justin that name has a special place in my heart, which may be another reason I thought of it.

In the summer of 1974, when I was a few months away from my 14th birthday and starting high school, my folks and I took a cross-country trip in our motorhome. My mother insisted on taking our cat, Boots, with us on the trip. She didn't believe in confining animals in carriers or crates, and as luck would have it, he slipped out the door of our motorhome and got away one night, when we were camped near Grand Island, Nebraska. My last memory of that cat was as he shot away from us at full speed into a Nebraska corn field.

My mother was devastated, as you can imagine, but of course, we had to continue on our trip. When we got home a couple of weeks later, Mom started scanning the "free to a good home" ads for a new kitty to fill the void. I don't remember how she found him, but before too long, she dragged Dad and me to some lady's house to see a beautiful yellow long-haired kitty named Jasper. My mother loved yellow cats, and she really wanted this one, but he was part of a package deal. The woman said that she couldn't let him go without his litter mate, a coal-black female named Jetta. We went home with two cats.

Jasper and Jetta were inseparable, but as different as their colors. Jasper was the sweetest, most loving cat I can remember being around. Jetta, on the other hand, was a real "spitfire." She was the kind of cat who would reach out and take a swipe at you, just because she felt like it and you happened to be there. Sadly, after only a year or two, Jasper became very ill, and it turned out that he had feline leukemia. That was back in the days before veterinarians knew much about the disease, so that diagnosis was pretty much a death warrant. My mother was devastated again, but mended her broken heart with a long, unbroken line of yellow cats. Jetta just got meaner, although she did mellow out in old age, until she finally died at the age of 18.

I told Justin giving our new little dog the same name as that sweet cat from my youth seemed like a nice tribute, and he agreed. After having him with us for a week, Jasper the Peke's temperament is a fitting tribute to Jasper the Cat. He started to come out of his shell on Sunday, although Rusty was still being stand-offish, but by Monday, they were starting to play together. Jasper is clearly still a baby; he's got so much bounce and energy, and he tries to get Rusty to play with him, but they play on Rusty's schedule. When Rusty gets into one of his "dog racing" moods, where he runs around the house at top speed, though, Jasper loves it, chasing around after Rusty. He's also learning to go up and down the stairs. He has actually learned that the quickest of all our Pekes, although he still stumbles going up.

Interestingly, no clear pack leader has emerged yet. Lady has certainly let Jasper know what her boundaries are; he has gotten snapped at several times for sniffing her in places she didn't want to be sniffed. At first, Rusty was a little snarly with Jasper, but that seems to have subsided. They play kind of rough, but no rougher than Shasta played with Rusty. At this point, Jasper definitely follows Rusty's lead, especially when they go outside and run around in the yard together, but Rusty has not asserted himself as the alpha. It has only been a week, though. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

We signed Jasper up for PetsMart University, and he had his first class today at noon. He's a two-year-old in a class of five other puppies, but due to his small size, the manager thought it would be better for him than the adult/beginner class, since the class content is the same. Jasper is clearly older, as he is better behaved and more focused than his classmates. He did really well, so we think he's pretty smart. Not as smart as Shasta was, of course. Justin used to say she was so smart it was scary sometimes, and he was right.

So the saga of the Three Pekes will continue...Rusty, Lady and Jasper...and I'll tell their story as it unfolds, right here!

The "updated" Three Pekes on the sofa together at Glimmer of Life