Jaylie

Rescue Dog

Back in July of 2004, Sabra from HHHS in Topeka contacted me about yet another Brittany they needed to have rescued. I rarely say "no" to Sabra and when I saw the pictures of this little girl I knew I couldn't resist. This pup was only nine weeks old and Sabra raved about what a good girl she was...not quite the typical crazy Brit we usually see.

I picked her up from my vet after Sabra took her there and decided to foster her myself. I hadn't fostered in over a year. She was a good little girl. It took me a few days to name her, then the day I was taking her to Petco for a publicity/adoption event I picked the name Jaylie.
After the first few days I realized part of her subdued nature was because she was sick. She had a bad upper respiratory infection and we treated her with ten days of antibiotics. Once she felt better the true Brit in her came out! She was still a remarkably good girl, but began to develop a typical attitude.

I did not put Jaylie on our rescue website because puppies generate a lot of difficult emails. I decided I would check around with other volunteers to see who might know of a good adoptive family. Amazingly I only got one potential offer. After much consideration and a home visit I decided against that family. It just didn’t feel right. They were very angry at our decision and had never even met Jaylie! I decided then that it had to be a very special family or I was keeping her myself. I have three senior dogs and have promised them and my husband that we'd get no new dogs till these had passed. But this little girl was special!! So special that I finally decided only one family was suitable for her and if they wouldn't take her that was it....I was keeping her for sure!!

Back in 2001 I got my first foster, Scout. He was quite a challenge and ended up staying with us for seven months. Then the perfect family, a couple in Alaska, came along and even after hearing all of Scout's "quirks" flew to Kansas City to spend a few days getting to know him and pick him up. They'd mentioned then, the summer of 2002, that they might want a sister for Scout in a couple of years. So Jaylie herself sent them a quite compelling e-mail complete with her most adorable picture. The e-mail was actually to Scout asking him to let her be his sister. Within hours Scout's mom and dad called me and said they would be delighted to adopt Jaylie! I was thrilled. They planned to come back to KC to visit us and pick her up, but it ended up not working out so on September 19, 2004 we put her on a plane to Juneau, Alaska. I waited by the phone all day agonizing over her arrival...and I had contemplated taking her and just running off at the last minute...but I knew this was the best home for her in the entire world!! They finally called and had her with them and she was safe and well.

She LOVES Alaska and loves her new family. She and Scout bonded well. She has had her first, and hopefully ONLY, run-in with a porcupine and fared well. She is so good that she's allowed to run off-leash a lot on the long walks she goes on everyday. She experienced her first snow...24 inches at once in fact...in Alaska and loved it! It was a perfect match and I am so glad I followed my instinct in handpicking this family for her.

Thank you to everyone from Sabra on down the line for saving Jaylie and making Scout's family complete!

Jen Schoonover
Mo-Kan Coordinator
American Brittany Rescue, Inc.

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