ThrowBack Thursday – Accidental Pets (from 2009)

Sassi on the day she adopted me.

This is a little bit of a different Throwback Thursday. I was going through files on my hard drive and came across this one from 2009 called Accidental Pets. The little Jack Russel I wrote about passed away in 2018 at the age of 18. It hurt more than I can say to let her go, and despite my two new companions, I still miss her. She had an amazing personality and absolutely refused to believe there was anything she couldn’t conquer. Note the picture of her on the big bed while the great dane (Athena) is relegated to the small one.

What can I say? She was sure she was the biggest dog in the building!

Accidental pets…

My friend tells everyone that she has the perfect boyfriend. Tall, dark, handsome and he never ever disagrees with her. She’s  not lying.  His name is Berkley and he’s a black lab.

Can you see the little princess? Hint: Why would she sleep on the floor like a dog?

My best friend and constant companion is a female Jack Russell Terrier. She’s short, cute and very active. I like to refer to her as my little exercise plan. She can also be very pushy at times.  There’s a game we play, when she gets just a little too insistent on getting her own way. I call it – Who’s the Boss?  Occasionally, she lets me win that one.

She loved her tennis balls, and was happiest when playing fetch.

Sassi adopted  me at the local  shelter. I think the fates combined to throw us together. I picked out a nice quiet male spaniel  cross, but someone mixed up the paperwork. When I went to pick him up, the volunteer produced this under-nourished critter with the saddest brown eyes I’d ever seen. She wagged her tail and tried to bounce up high enough to lick my face. I was very doubtful, but the nice lady, after apologizing and explaining that the spaniel had gone elsewhere, told me that I could take her home and try her for a week. If it didn’t work out, I could take her back, no questions asked. Can you believe I fell for that?!

I really did try to tell her to stay off the desk. Obedience wasn’t her strong point.

Well, I took her home and she ran around in manic circles for several hours before throwing herself on my bed and going to sleep. The  shelter had named her Dash, but after watching her take over my house in less time than it takes me to  cook dinner, I dubbed her  Sassi. Since that day,  she’s become the office greeter, the kayak club mascot and my sounding board when I’m plotting a new story. . She makes me laugh, and adapts to just about anything I decide to do. She can swim, ride on the motorcycle, and walk for endless miles on those short leg. She knows how to be gentle with small children, and when the kids are old enough to play fetch she patiently teaches them what to do. My youngest grandson spent countless hours chasing her around the house to put the tennis ball back in her mouth after she’d dropped it at his feet.

As she got older, she mellowed and allowed visiting dogs to share their beds with her

Sometimes, when we’re sitting on the sofa sharing a snack in the evening,  I wonder if she snuck into the office at the shelter and switched that paperwork herself. I wouldn’t put it past her!  

Happy Reading!

Anne Kane