Apparently, Jessie's owner had died, and the family felt that the best way to find her a good home was to give her to GRFR.
At first we were selected as an emergency foster because GRFR had a lot of dogs coming in at once and not enough homes. But once we had Jessie for a few days, we knew we wanted to keep her — that indeed, no potential adopter would ever be good enough for me because I already loved Jessie so much. We officially adopted Jessie on 19 March 2015.
There are a couple of problems that keep Jessie from really having the energy to match her personality: She weighs 115 pounds (should be 65 pounds), and she has a large lipoma (benign fatty mass) underneath her front right shoulder that is keeping her from walking normally (she kind of sways side to side). She'll be having surgery to on 1 April to have that removed.
I don't like the idea of surgery because she is so old and because I'm already bonded to her, but it needs to be done, and I'm sure the vet will do his or her very best to ensure she comes out of surgery alright.
Jessie's positives — well, they're so positive! She is a sweetheart! She has that golden retriever heart face (see photo). She loves to play with stuffed animals and will pretend to "kill" them by shaking them back and forth, and she'll play fetch with me for a couple of fetches before she thumps down onto the floor, already tired.
She loves going for walks. She trots along as quickly as she can, her bubbly personality evident to everyone who walks by. Right now, these are short walks several times a day. Pretty soon we'll work up to longer (Jasper-sized) walks.
She and Jasper (our husky) are getting along quite well. In fact, because Jessie cannot climb the stairs to our bedroom and has to sleep downstairs in the living room, Jasper has been staying with her, on his own accord.
We are so blessed to have this new sweetie in our home.
