PLEASE take me home

Meet Jack, whose wish is about to be granted.

In the past few months we've lost 2 cats, & have made a massive error of judgement in acquiring a puppy (it had been 20 years since we last had a puppy, & we had - stupidly - overlooked the fact that we were then 20 years younger & had a lot more energy; plus I was also a lot fitter then).
But a house isn't a home without a pet in it, & so we've been searching for a new companion, & had decided on a dog; from a purely practical point of view we needed one that was small enough for me to be able to control/not so large that it would knock me over (& also that would fit in the car alongside my scooter for rambles on the moor), & our dog had to have the right temperament for both of us: calm enough for me, yet enough of a 'dog' for hubby. We wanted to offer a home to a rescue dog, & over the past few weeks have been trawling the three local re-homing centres trying to find the right pooch: we could have adopted any number Staffordshire bull terriers or other 'trophy dogs' which have been acquired as status symbols & then abandoned once the novelty wore off, but these weren't suitable for us - & it's heartbreaking to think that it's unlikely they'll be suitable for many other prospective adopters either, & so are doomed to a life in kennels (or worse). The sort of dog we were after being the sort of dog that most other people are also after, several times lately we've been just pipped at the post, but today was our lucky day; the centre up the road doesn't seem to update its website very often, so yesterday afternoon hubby phoned them to enquire if they had had any new dogs in, & was told that a Jack Russell had just arrived.
I wasn't 100% convinced that a Jack Russell would be right for us, but this morning hubby persuaded me to at least take a look; well, for the first 10 minutes after meeting him I still wasn't convinced, but once he'd got over the excitement of being released from his 'prison', Jack's personality started to shine through; he was clearly very affectionate, & also demonstrated that he could 'sit', 'stay', & would come to us when called (I think the treats we had in our pockets may have helped with that one!); crucially, he was unfazed by my wheelchair or crutches, but the acid test was whether I could control him on my own. I held his collar whilst hubby went out of the room, & whilst he did try to follow him, he didn't pull so hard that I couldn't hang onto him; he'd clearly taken to hubby cos he then went to the door & began to whine, so I called him to me, & much to my surprise he responded by leaping into my lap, where he proceeded to lick me to death! And the welcome he gave hubby when he came back into the room made it apparent that, regardless of our thoughts on the matter, he had decided to adopt us - a decision with which we heartily concur. I hadn't thought of a Jack Russell as being a lap dog, but this one clearly is - & that's just fine by me; & although he's currently a little overweight (which will soon be remedied by all the walks hubby's planning for him), he didn't feel uncomfortable on my legs; so I am looking forward to plenty of cuddles, & hubby to companionable exercise.

The rescue centre are more than happy that we're the right people for Jack, & said that we could collect him tomorrow; but we have a (very rare) outing (to the theatre) arranged for this Saturday, & as we feel it wouldn't be fair to leave him on his own for several hours on his first day with us, we'll have to wait until Sunday before bringing him home - we can hardly wait!

I suspect that Jack will be featuring in many blips to come......