Confessions of a First Time Foster

Ok, ok, so here’s my pitch for a new game show…ready?

Singers: Are You Smarter Than a Fluff Puppy…yeah there’s gonna be a test yuppie….

I enter the living room to discover Jackson and some poo. Taking a paper towel from my pocket (as I am always prepared), I picked up the poo, held it up to his face and said “Bad Jackson! We do that outside!” pointing toward the window for emphasis. “Outside! Jackson poops outside!”

The logical half of my brain says that I’m only doing that to blow off steam. The other half is secretly hoping that somehow I’ve sent him enough telepathy so he picks up the idea.

So I take the poop to the other room to dispose of it, and grab a fresh paper towel for my pocket. As I return to the hallway my nose tells me I have another package. But I don’t see Jackson…

Tracking the smell, I find him happily making a deposit behind the sofa, directly underneath the window I’d been pointing toward. He looks up at me with an expression on his face that says, I have no idea why you want me to poop here, but whatever!

You can’t make this stuff up.

Singers: Are You Smarter Than a Fluff Puppy…

I’m losing my little buddy. Jackson’s being a real boy and bonding with Brother — I’d become accustomed to him sleeping on my foot under the desk, but now he’d rather spend time out on the sofa with his pal.

The three of them blitz. It’s hilarious. Jackson can fit in places they can’t. He also likes to fly, especially from the ottoman to the sofa and back…that’s about three feet. If I take a nap on the sofa, he now leaps onto my feet and takes a couple of boings up to my face, not to crash into it like he was, but to perch on top of my head! And he tries to nibble my ear tops and my barettes.

And today he got swooped by an oriole! I had no idea there was an oriole trying to nest in the lilac bush. I’ll have to remember to take the camera when we go walking by there next time. And later I saw the bird on the hanging basket. I’ll have to buy an orange and set slices out so I can get a really good shot.

He needs groomed soon, I guess…but I love his natural puppy look. And he’s getting lanky again. Must be another little growth spurt. I still don’t see him going over 15 pounds.

Sigh…the little boy is growing up!

I’ve gotten some emails asking why, when I changed this puppy’s name, I chose Jackson.

For a lot of Fosters, it’s a tradition to change the dog’s name. Change of name, change of luck. Since Jackson seemed to recognize the sound of his original name, I wanted to preserve that “aah” sound in the middle.

Although you might expect to see a lot of Snowballs and Biancas and Sugars, you’ll find among the Fosters that names having to do with whiteness or fluffiness are shunned. Too many dogs come in with such names, and it would be too much to discuss Snowball Number 14 vs. Snowball Number 67. So creativity is encouraged.

You can always get a good name from the entertainment world. The BratPack, for example, is going through a Flintstones phase. They recently adopted out Mr. Slate, but they’re about to run out of names. I guess the Jetsons are next, or maybe Aqua Teen…Master Shake isn’t vanilla, so it’s acceptable.

You should not name a dog with any word that sounds like a command. So nothing that rhymes with “no” or “sit” — but of course, I know you’re training with verbal commands and simultaneous hand signals, right?

The most popular names for dogs right now are Max and Sam for males…Lucy and Molly for females. No Tiffany, Jennifer or Jason. If you’re really stumped, try going here or here for ideas.

My biggest benchmark is the Back Door Test. Go to your back door, open it, and shout the name you want out to the world three times. If it doesn’t sound stupid, prurient or embarrassing, you probably have a winner.

But to answer the original question…Jackson is, of course, named after DeForest Kelley. Thanks for asking!