jasper: the story

I talk about my dog quite a lot on this blog, but only ever in passing. He's like my child, and I love him more than is probably normal. But I don't think I've ever explained the story behind Jasper. And, as tomorrow is his 11th birthday, I thought I would write a little bit about him here on my blog....

Jasper is a rescue dog; we got him from The Dog's Trust in Harefield in February 2007. He's a terrier cross (although crossed with what we're not sure!), and is the first dog we have ever had as a family, and we had been searching for the right dog for about three months before we found Jasper. I wanted to go there to help look for a dog, but I knew I would get upset and want to take them all home, so I only went once my parents had chosen Jasper, to go and meet him before we brought him home. He was a lot skinnier then, and he was very unsure around us. His previous owners had decided to get rid of him after they had a baby, as Jasper isn't very good around children. When we brought him home, he sniffed around everything, making himself at home. Now we can't imagine our lives without him.

As you can see from these photos Jasper has been in the wars somewhat recently. When we first got him he suffered from fits, but he takes tablets daily now which control that. It was terrifying the first time he had a fit. I was at home with him, and he started shaking uncontrollably, and his body went rigid - I thought he was going to die, it was really awful. But the bandaged leg is due to him having a lump removed from his foot - we thought it might have been cancerous, but they did a biopsy and it was malignant. He is such a brave little soldier though, and he was fine. He's also had other problems, mostly with his legs. He was attacked by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier a few months ago, and was bitten badly on his leg which required stitches. And last year he tore a ligament in his leg, and had to have surgery. After his operation he could barely walk, and that night I slept downstairs on the floor next to him, stroking him while he whimpered in pain. It broke my heart to see him hurting so much. We had to take him outside to wee as he couldn't manage it himself.

Jasper is the most loving, silly, adorable dog we could have ever asked for. He is such a character. No other dog would let us dress him up in silly hats and glasses, and not even flinch. And as annoying as it is when he gets into my yarn stash and shreds a ball into pieces, I can't be really angry at him as he sits there looking up at me with his puppy dog eyes. I can't imagine coming home and not being greeted by him barking his head off, and his tail wagging when he realises it's me. Or waking up in the morning to him jumping on my bed and snuggling down beside me. But anyway, this has turned into a bit of a rambling post, and really all I want to end it on is saying happy birthday Jasper, we all love you so much.