A Trip To Puerto Rico [Kind Of...]

I rescued Madison roughly 10 months into dating my boyfriend Jordan. (Don't feel too sorry for him, he knew I was a crazy dog lady getting into it, he'd be forewarned!) As much fun as it was for Madison to still live in my parents house with two other sisters she could annoy play with day in and day out, it wasn't as much fun for myself, or my boyfriend who lived with his parents, as well. 

Taking a break for some treats

Around the start of the new year, we began talking about living together. It took us quite awhile to find an apartment not only that we both loved, but that accepted dogs, and had a weight limit that Madison did not exceed. Although a bit pricier than we wanted, Jordan and I found an apartment complex that we not only loved but that accepted dogs and had NO weight limit! WHAATTTT! (It had breed restrictions which I find 100% completely absurdly ridiculous, but more about that in another post). We FINALLY moved in to our new apartment in April 2013 with Maddie Boots happy to have her mommy and daddy under one roof. 

I love it here!

Shortly after moving in, however, I started talking about rescuing another dog. Jordan had already been enduring my "extreme love of dogs" (that's a nice way to put it, right?) for over a year at that point, and wasn't exactly sure that getting another dog was the best idea. I went back and forth on the idea, A) becuase we lived in an apartment and I felt bad enough having Maddie cooped up in it, and B) Madison and I were soo close and she was so attached to me I was afraid she might not like having another dog if it were here to stay.

Still, it quickly became evident that Maddie needed a sister to play with. She may love me with all that she has, but she also loves other dogs and getting to play with them at the dog park roughly 5 nights a week just was not cutting it. She loved it there, even when she was too tired to do anything, she really never wanted to leave. 

Can we PLEASE get another puppy?

I started crusading for a second puppy more and more. By December of 2013, Jordan surprised me for our 2-year anniversary with the best gift I (or Madison) could imagine. Inside a beautiful gift bag with lots of tissue paper, was .... a dog bowl (what? Madison already had a bowl), and dog toys (awww, Boyfriend bought toys for Madison! Wait, its OUR anniversary!). Seriously, those were the thoughts going through my head. It took me longer than I'd care to admit to realize what was really going on (I told Jordan afterwards that he really should have video recorded my reaction). 

That was December 15, and my school district's Winter Break that year began the afternoon of  December 20th and went through January 2nd. It. Was. Awesome! We decided that would be the perfect time to take home a new puppy. (Jordan wanted a puppy rather than an "older" dog). It would give the new puppy time to bond with Jordan and I while I was off, get used to the house and our daily routines, give me time to start training it.... This couldn't have worked out any better! 

So, I began looking. There are sooo many puppies in shelters that need a good home, I thought it'd be a cinch. No problem. Piece of cake. Right? Wrong. It just was NOT working out for us. Eleventh Hour Rescue, St. Huberts, Mount Pleasant, nothing. Again, I was distraught. How could this not be working out for us? It had to! The timing was perfect! I can't afford to waste even a day! Yes, tears were shed. What can I say, I'm a child. 

My friends were super supportive and helpful in trying to find a puppy for us. With our restrictions (we wanted one right away, a puppy, a girl, in NJ, etc), it wasn't so easy. I looked online for hours, looking often at Pet Finder and trying to find a puppy that would fit. If you've never done that, it's so hard! I love rescues like Eleventh Hour and St. Huberts because they have the animals there in person so you can meet them and see if they would be a right fit, if they have the right temperament, and so on. How can you do that online?! 

Luck was on our side though. I found two beautiful girl pups - Venus and Ivory and shot over an email to the rescue group ARF of Mercer. Unfortunately, both little pups had already been adopted. BUT, they had another liter with six females that we were going to check out first thing in the morning. At that point it was well past midnight, and I was so excited I could barely sleep.

Jordan, Madison and I drove the hour trip south to a large piece of land that had a barn with lots of animals around. We could see horses in the barn, and about four dogs greeted us as we got out of the car. Inside one of the little houses, there were sectioned off liters of puppies, and they were adorable. At first glance, I liked the little brown one with a dark nose, simply becuase it was adorable. I later found out Jordan was thinking the same thing. We then found out his name was Toby. Ugh, I really wanted a girl dog! The other one was cute as well, she was named Sheila. None of that mattered though, once the little doggy flap popped up and in waltzed a beautiful leopard/hynea/fox looking dog with a weird brindle/spooted coat with a dark muzzle and ears that stood up on end. I knew then, that was our dog. Again, we found out, "that's Buster! He's just great". ARGH! Was I not meant to have a girl dog?

Madison, Sheila, and "Buster" 

"Buster"

Sheila

I took Madison out of my car and let her wander around the land. It was quite a long driveway and Madison was so well behaved I knew she would stay near. We thought we'd let her sniff around and then introduce her to the puppies and see how they all do together.

One-by-one we took out the puppies. Sheila was weary at first, but then was interested in Madison. Toby was fearful of Madison, and barked and ran away from her. Madison felt the same way about both of them - unconcerned. Puppies? Been there, sniffed that. But horses? And other interesting, weird, animal smells? Now THAT is where it's at! When Buster came out, he wanted to play with Madison, but he also didn't mind when she ignored him, and he'd go off and sniff his own grounds as well. He was also a little bit bigger than his brother and sister, which we thought would be a good fit for Madison, weighing in at 62 pounds. I was sold. Jordan felt the same way. On December 22, 2013, I threw caution to the wind, and adopted a baby boy!

Our family is complete! Smiles all around

Talking with the two awesome women who rescue these puppies, we found out that they go to Puerto Rico to rescue their dogs. These dogs are known as SATO's, which is Puerto Rican slang for feral dogs. They are obviously mutts, and were brought to the United States to get vetted and find a furever home. 

Going to his fur-ever home!

That played a role when deciding on what Buster's new name would be. Jordan wanted him to have a middle name like Madison (Madison Boots), and I wanted it to be meaninful. We both liked the name Jax and to remember his heritage, we named him Jaxson Rico. 

Jax is quite the handful. Madison was such an easy puppy to care for, so smart and picked up on everything so quickly. That's not to say that Jax isn't also very smart. But trying to potty train a puppy when it has to survive an elevator ride down the apartment building is not an easy task. Nor is having a CRAZY downstairs neighbor (more on that in another post), where we're constantly afraid to make any noise in our apartment and have to stop him from running around. Yet Jax has fit in to our apartment, our lives, and our hearts in a cinch. Madison is undoubtly the love of his life, but he is also a mama's boy (or daddy's boy when mommy isn't around!) and doesn't like to be left alone, even if you're in the other room. He is the sillest, dopiest, craziest pup I know, and I love him to pieces, as does Madison. Having a partner-in-crime is exactly what Madison needed. She loves to wrestle with him, and is incredibly tolerant of his habit of sitting on top of her. She teaches him the ways of the house, and he keeps her on her feet. They're two best friends.

It's a perfect fit

Rough-housing

My toy! No, MY toy!