Jackson is what most would call a foster to fail. I call it tricking my boyfriend into letting me keep the dog.
I found Jackson on Facebook. A friend of a friend of a friend’s sister had a dog who needed a place to stay for about 3 months because she was moving out of the country and her dog “Jackson” didn’t have his rabies shot UTD so he wasn’t allowed to fly for another 3 months. This friend needed somebody to watch him and then drive him to the airport when he was cleared to fly. Seemed simple enough and I had space, so as long as he was dog-friendly I was ok with keeping him and fulfilling my good deed of the year. I had just started my dog walking/boarding business and my corgies were not the most friendly little turds so I figured if this dog was friendly at least the boarding dogs would have somebody to play with. 
Three days later I was driving to San Fransisco to pick up Jackson a dog who I only saw in one picture, and took his owners’ word that he was dog-friendly. All I really knew was that he was an 80lbs pitbull mix and approximately 2 years old.
I pulled up to the house in a cute neighborhood in the city just off of Lumbard St. The owner greeted me outside and took me to the garage where Jackson was staying. I walk inside and saw this huge 90 plus lb worried pitty sitting on a chewed up bed next to a bag of food looking confused and worried.
His then mom grabbed him and his leash and started walking to the car with me telling me all about him. I let him sniff me and didn’t invade his space too much because I could tell he was worried. Amazing enough he walked right into my car, climbed in the back seat, and made himself comfortable. We said our goodbyes and left.
Jackson didn’t do much on the car ride, mainly stared out the window. He was a little restless but for the most part, just kinda hung out and watched me. It only took us a little over an hour to get home. Traffic was light thank god!
When we got home I told my boyfriend to leave the corgis inside so I could walk Jackson around the yard and let him go potty and get some water. After about 30min I had my boyfriend let the corgis out and amazingly enough, my corgis ignored Jackson and Jackson just sniffed them and went on his way. I thought to myself ok…. he is probably nervous and just adjusting, but I was happy he ignored them rather than tried to pounce on them.
The first night I was up every few hours because Jackson would cry and I wasn’t sure if it was an I want to go home cry, or an I need to pee cry, So I took him outside just in case. He paced around the house a lot and just could never get comfortable on any of the dog beds I had laid out for him.
Fast forward a week: Jackson is now sleeping at the end of my bed as comfy as a clam. insert eye roll, I gave in.
As time went on I started bonding with Jackson more and more training him every day to walk nicely on a leash, have a good recall, and all of his basic obedience. I also put him on a diet because he was about 15lb overweight and because I walk dogs for a living Jackson go to go on walks with me every day to help him lose the weight fast, and because I didn’t trust him home alone just yet.
Fast forward 3 months to when he was going to get on the plane to fly across the country to be with his mom. She texted me saying she wasn’t settled yet and that it probably won’t be for another few months. She also said that she is very busy with her family and if I could, find Jackson a new home. Knowing that Jackson was scared of my garage door opening, I figured it was best I find him a new home because being on an airplane would probably cause him to have a heart attack and I’m sure he wouldn’t like being on a flight for over 12 hours.
Can you spot Jackson?
I started looking for homes for him but wasn’t putting in too much effort because secretly, I put a bunch of work into him and slowly but surely fell in love with him and his personality. Plus he played with all the boarding dogs that came over and made lots of new friends on the pack hikes. I felt he had such a great life with me why don’t I just keep him. Yeah, one problem my boyfriend said we had enough dogs. Ok well, I will “look” for a new home but I will be very particular about who gets him.
Fast forward 7 months I actually did find a rather awesome home for Jackson it was a friend of mine’s cousin who lived on 5 acres had another pit mix and Jackson and she got along great! He would get lots of exercises and I knew she spoiled her dogs rotten. So the day came where I had to take Jackson to his new home. It was about 5pm on a Friday and I started packing all his things, ya know paperwork, food, toys, blanket. I was like a sad mother watching the kid go off to college. I was crying and fighting with my boyfriend because he wouldn’t let me keep him…trust me I thought about dumping my BF because at that moment Jackson was making me happier =)
Right as I was walking out the door my boyfriend said “bye, I love you” and I didn’t say anything back. Mainly because I was stubborn and mad at him. And just before I shut the door he said: “WAIT”… “Do you really wanna keep the dog?” I wiped my tears like a said little 4yr old girl who knew she was about to get what she wanted. “yes I do”. My boyfriend said, “fine keep the dog”.
I didn’t say another word I just came back in the house put mine and Jackson stuff on the counter walked into my bedroom, Jackson followed and silently screamed in excitement, Jackson and I rolled around on the ground, Jackson had no idea why I was so happy but he was always ready to party!
Fast forward 3 years. My boyfriend takes Jackson everywhere he’s allowed too, Jackson sleeps on his side of the bed, Jackson is pretty much his pride and joy. But deep down Jackson loves me more because I saved him, I trained him, I gave him a great home and I gave him a fresh start at life. Jackson is so loyal, loving, and became a perfect match for our family. He’s a mama boy for sure, but we won’t tell dad that ;)!
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