Jessi the Golden Setter

She's Half Golden Retriever and Half English Setter. She may be a Mutt and We may have paid Nothing to Purchase Her, but She is beautiful and we love her.

At 9 weeks old (as of January 23, 2011), she is still a tiny dog. She was the runt of the litter and the kids just fell in love with her after playing with her a bit. I think they picked her because she was the smallest. We made sure the kids knew that just because she was small now did not mean she would be small when she grew up. Show knows, she might be the largest out of all of her siblings. Her paws are not huge so I don't think she will be getting that large. I believe she will be a 45-50 pound dog.

Craigslist?

I was at work when I got a text message asking me if we could go look at puppies. I had been fighting the idea of getting a puppy for several years. I was working two jobs and kids are always busy doing something. The dog would be at home by herself a lot of the time. Things were about to change so I could be home more and the youngest kid was asking for a puppy. Needless to say I gave in.

My wife had found a listing on craigslist for a littler of puppies. The owners were giving them away. They were muts so there was no cost to adopt them. I would not pay money for a dog anyway (unless I was planning to breed them). We took the kids to play with them and the rest, as they say, is history. Within an hour we had picked out Jessi and were in Petsmart looking for food and a collar.

A Cartoon Movie?

On the way home from Petsmart the kids were discussing what to name the puppy. By the time they got home thay had almost settled on the name "Hiccup". I don't have any idea where they came up with that name, but I thought it was an interesting name.

My wife did not like the name 'Hiccup'. She said it was weird, So they kept talking about it. At the time, the youngest was really into the movie "Toy Story 3" and pretty much knew the story by heart. Her favorite character was Jessie. She even dressed up as Jessie on Halloween. So we finally decided to call the puppy Jessi without the e.

We are Still trying to Potty Train Jessi. She is getting better, but still has accidents inside the house when we are not watching closely. This picture is of Jessie on the swing set. I took some photos of her while we were outside playing. She loves the backyard, but we can't let her hang out on her own yet. There are giant gaps in the fence and she would be able to get out if we let her fun freely.

We have been trying to let her be outside more often by herself, but she does not really like to be out there by herself. We have a little work to do on the fence so she can't dig her way out. Until then, we have been tying her to a stake in the ground. She really does not like that. I am hoping to get out there tomorrow to work on the fence so she can't get out. It will make her life as well as ours a whole lot easier. We won't have to worry that she is getting out of the backyard and she doesn't have to worry about being on a tether.

I gave my wife a gift for Valentine's day that included a mug with chocolate flavored coffee and this red monkey. She asked me if I would be hurt if she gave it to the dog. I told her not at all. So now Jessi has a new buddy... at least until she rips the stuffing out of like she did to the bear and the snowman she had before the monkey. At least she's cute, right?

My brother-in-law and I took our dogs an hour away to an animal hospital who only does spades and neuterings. We left early and dropped them off about 8 am. We hung out at the books store for several hours. We watched a movie at the theater and ate Pizza Hut. We had a good time, even if our dogs didn't. We had to pick them up about 5 in the afternoon.

We decided that Jessie was a licker and bought the cone to go around her neck She is putting up with it, but she definitely does not like it. We have about a week with the cone on her collar, then hopefully she will be back to normal. Until then She is just going to have to look funny.

The Cicadas came out for the first time in 13 years. These suckers are apparently very nutritious. That is a good thing since the puppy loves to chase them and eat them. It is kind of fun watching her go after them. Make sure you visit my YouTube channel and subscribe.

She loves eating these things. She doesn't even have to eat much else because she has been eating so many of them. She's not going to know what to do when they die off and their offspring retreat back into the ground.