J.J.

Check out this adorable face!!!!

This absolute cuteness is the other member of our family, his name is J.J. and he is 4.5 years old now. He is a collie mix that we rescued from an animal shelter down in Olive Branch, MS (just south of Memphis). Clearly he is a mix because he is the only collie I've ever seen that weighs in at a whopping 85 lbs.!!!! I swear its all fur. So, we walked in to the shelter with intentions of adopting his cute little brother, but all that puppy wanted to do was rough house with all the other puppies. I was kind of upset that the dog we went to adopt wanted nothing to do with me and in bounds this little fluff ball that just runs up to me and puts little paws on my lap and licks my face. It was done, I had to have him! At the time we were planning to name our dog Deuce...for Deuce McAllister who played for the Saints at the time....but look at this....does he look like a Deuce to you?

or this?

Or this?

I'm dying, this is no "Deuce"

I could go on, but you get it by now!! At the time his name was Barney, and that just wasn't working either. Now you may be wondering where did J.J. come from? Well its kind of an embarrassing story, he is named after Jim Jones, no no no no, not the crazy religious guy that poisoned people with Kool-Aid!!! Nope, he is named after Jim Jones the rapper, you know "We Fly High"? OK, yeah its lame, that's why we generally try to avoid the story, but Kraut and I had just started dating at the time and loved that song, plus this little guy was kind of a baller! OK, still lame, I know! But, the bottom line is this pup has stolen our hearts....here are just a few more pics so you can get an idea of how he has grown..........







Kraut has always wanted a dog, but J.J. was his first, so its been a new experience for him. I on the other hand have grown up with lots of pets. Growing up we had everything from dogs, cats, fish, a guinea pig, a bunny, and several horses. Most memorably I had a dog named Snow from the time I was 9 until I was 19. He was a Samoyed that I used to draw pictures of, and write stories about in creative writing entitled "Snow the Wonder Dog" (I would like to emphasize that I was 9). He was also pretty big and strong for me so instead of walks he would just pull me down the street on my sister's bike....I've come a long way since then. Anyway, enough about my neuroses! I adopted J.J. when I bought a house back in Jan. 2007, and Kraut and I had been dating only 1 month. So basically, we went through raising J.J. together, and he has been a big part of our relationship. Which is why we wanted to share his story with you. Plus I take waaaaay too many pictures of him and someone needs to see them!