Jorge

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 | 8 comment(s)

It was one year ago tonight,
'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving
When all through the house,
a new creature was stirring,
but he wasn't a mouse.

close
that we adopted a beagle (with a little basset hound in him too). We adopted him through a rescue service called Homeward Trails that culls dogs from West Virginia and rural Virginia and brings them closer to a market where they might find a home. We were told that he was from West Virginia, about a year and a half old, was originally named Baily, but the woman fostering him at the time was calling him Chester.

So, of course, we named him Jorge.

We actually named him after our former neighbor, George, who was a single (as in, never married) retired man living in a condo next to us. He didn't own a dog of his own, but he walked a golden retriever named Cody that lived on our street. He was a curious fellow (in both the interesting/strange way and neighborly/inquisitive way) and Meg and I gave him the nickname "Curious Jorge." When we were moving out, George brought us a going away gift. It was two posed portraits of Cody.

Jorge has changed our lives. He can be a little bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, and we are definately less flexible than we were before. No more running off to the gym or to happy hours after work without a LOT of coordination. On a daily basis we go through negotiations on who will be on "morning duty" and then who will be on "evening duty." We try to stagger our departures to work by about an hour to try to minimize Jorge's time alone. A collegue pointed out: "So you're basically reducing the time you and Megan spend together so you can reduce the time Jorge's at home alone, huh?" Well you could put it that way, I guess, but we prefer not to think of it in those terms.

Jorge is basically a nose, a mouth, and a stomach, with a little bit of dog wrapped around it. He is extremely food oriented. This has been a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that he is pretty trainable. The coolest thing we've taught him to do is to let himself in through the back door and to then turn around and close the door behind him (it's a REALLY great party trick).

On the down side, he howls anytime a firetruck rolls by our house (which is often since we live a block away from a firehouse), ocassionally he barks in the middle of the night (we believe) because there's a racoon that lives somewhere in our backyard, and he likes to wake up early, and shake his head so vigorously that his ears clap (which then wakes us up).

But it's all been worth it. He is a joy in our lives and we feel lucky to have such happy and friendly dog.

Warning: The slide show you are about to see is disgustingly cute.
You have been warned.

To see our boy, Jorge, Click Here.





8 Comment(s):

Blogger Scott K. Johnson said...

Ha! That's great stuff man!

And how can you possibly resist a dog that cute!?

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jorge is purebred beagle.

We actually have THREE! All girls. Their pictures are linked here.

Blogger George said...

OMGooses, Jorge is awesome.

Beagles are my favorite breed and Jorge is my favorite name (in Spanish)

Blogger mel said...

What a great dog! I'm jealous!

Anonymous Anonymous said...

GREAT pictures and God Jprge is a swettie - almost as cute as my Skye, but then i am partial......

Hi, Should I send you some pictures of Skye, taken last week on the Île of Ré, a little island off the west coast of France????

Beautiful beaches and no tourists (b/c this is NOT the tourist season) so we had the island all to ourselves- me, Skye(our 10 year old curly coated retriever) and Per(my husband).

Blogger Sarah said...

very very cute dog!

Blogger Minnesota Nice said...

Jorge es un perro muy guapo. Quiero venir y darle un abrazo.

(Dang those online translators come in handy.)

Blogger Major Bedhead said...

That is one cute dog. I love the 9th one, of him sleeping.

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