Jordan
September 21, 2010

Jordan came into our lives on September 15, 2000. I had bought a townhouse and my now husband and I had moved in together. I am a dog lover and needed to have one but we couldn’t decide on a breed. We were watching Animal Planet one afternoon and saw a “Breed all about it” on American Bulldogs, we were sold! We found a breeder (this was before I started volunteering at our SPCA and realized how many animals needed homes!). There she was, with her crooked tail, big floppy ears and all out puppy energy…we were in love. She came home with us and later that night, we discovered that she was covered in tics. It took us over an hour to pluck all the tics off of her. 3 days later, she stared acting very lethargic. Within 24 hours, she was completely paralyzed, vet  diagnosis…tic paralysis. With the right balance of antibiotics and lots and lots of TLC, she completely recovered . We moved into a bigger house, got another dog, and had 2 babies (both of which she loved with all she had.) Jordan’s absolute favorite place to be was wherever we were, preferably in our lap. For 10 years, she was just amazing…loving, protecting, the best listener and snuggler. On September 21, 2010, I came home from work and went to get her for her walk (she had had leg surgery to replace a torn ligament 3 weeks prior and was confined to a crate during recovery, we would take her on several short walks/day for exercise and of course, potty breaks.) when I got to her crate, she was struggling to breathe and I could barely get her to come out. Since I was home alone, with my 2 little girls, I called my neighbor – she helped me get her to the car and we all rushed to the vet. By the time we got there, her respiration had slowed. The vet could not revive her and I can honestly say that it was one of the most devastating conversations I have ever had. She was supposed to give us another 5 years, 10 years just wasn’t enough time.

I cannot explain how much I miss my girl. Despite have 2 young children, a husband and a dog, the house is so quiet without her here. We love the breed so much that we do hope to adopt another within the next year. I should add that my husband, who was indifferent to dogs, became quite the dog lover. We have been married for 9 years and I have not seen him cry the way he did when Jordan died. He went from indifferent to the person that pulls over to help a dog that is running free.

Thank you for letting me write this and we look forward to working with ABR to find another.

Michelle