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I wanted to add another dog to our family. We had Lady our Basenji, Sheba, our German Shorthair Pointer and I wanted a Bloodhound. I had a Bloodhound before and a big Bluetick Female as his companion. I bought Jesse when she was six months old. She had a bawl that would stop a train on the tracks, thinking another locomotive was coming. My grandmother, whose name was also Jesse, had a fit when she found out the dog’s name was Jesse.

“I can’t believe you named a darn dog after me!” I told her, “Mama, she was already named. I can’t change her name; she wouldn’t know when I was calling her.”

Anyway, I wanted a female bloodhound, not as big as the male I had before. I asked my deceased grandfather, Papa, to find me a hound. It didn’t matter what color, but I was looking for a Red or as close to solid black as I could find. I looked for more than six months. I think PJ was relieved that I couldn’t find one. She’d never had a dog that big. I was looking in the want ads in the Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and on Petfinder.com for all of the Animal Shelter and Breed Rescue groups. It wasn’t that I was that particular, they just weren’t available.

One day I was looking in the lost and found ads and saw that someone had placed an ad for a lost female, black and tan bloodhound, that was very sweet and they had been looking for her owner for more than two weeks. I thought about it and called the number. I said I hoped they found the owner, but if they didn’t I’d sure like to adopt a nice Bloodhound and left my phone number. A couple of weeks passed and I was looking in the Dogs For Sale ads, I found this:

BLOODHOUND YOUNG FEMALE SWEETIE WITH CHOKE CHAIN ON NO TAGS. ANY INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 817-***-**** SHE NEEDS HER OWNERS!!!!! BLACK/TAN. SOMEONE CALLED BY THE NAME OF STEVE, PLEASE CALL AGAIN, WROTE NUMBER DOWN WRONG FOR THE DOG, ANYONE ELSE CAN CALL ABOUT THE DOG TOO, SHES A SWEETIE!!!!

Now this ad wasn’t in the lost and found section, but dogs for sale section. Wow! I’ll chalk that one up to my grandfather. I’d asked him to help me find a good dog. I’d just given up hope that he heard me. PJ couldn’t believe it. I mean if that wasn’t a sign in black and white, I don’t know what is. She was still a little apprehensive. What if we don’t like her or isn’t the dog you want? Did you already tell them you’d take her? But I had a backup plan. If we didn’t like her I had written down the name of a contact for the Bloodhound Rescue in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area.

PJ nervously asked me what I planned to name her if we adopted her. I told her the story of Mama and how mad she had got, so we thought about naming her after our mothers as a joke. I really liked the name Pearl, like my great-grandmother. PJ liked the name Scarlett. I told her that Scarlett was a good name, but would be a better name for a Red Bloodhound. Besides, every time we called for her I’d think of the movie actress Scarlett Johansson. You wouldn’t want that would you? PJ then countered with the name Morgan. It sounded a little too preppie for me, but went along with it to get her blessing for the dog.

Turns out the people who had her were a little apprehensive about who adopted her. We talked with them for about 20 minutes about the beautiful black and tan bloodhound they had rescued that was darting in and out of traffic on the highway. They had a small chain link fence and the sweet little Bloodhound was a fence jumper. We decided to give the cute little girl a home. (I estimated she was about six months old and weighed about 60 pounds). The family was relieved that we were good folks and told me they had a back up plan if we didn’t meet their standards. The man told me the name of the contact at the Bloodhound Rescue that he was going to call the next day. I pulled out the piece of paper out of my pocket and showed him the same name and number. Coincidence or sign?

I’ll take that as sign number two. I said, I’d go out to the truck and get a leash for her. The wife asked what we were going to call her. I lied and said we hadn’t thought about it yet. She laughed and said that her little five year old boy fell in love with her the moment she brought her home and within minutes named her, Jesse. PJ’s mouth dropped open. I’ll take that as sign number three. On our way back home I pointed out the three signs again; first there was the ad in the newspaper, second the name of the Bloodhound Recue man and last the name Jesse. PJ looked up to heaven and said, “Thanks Papa!”

Peace,

Steve “Let the Big Hounds Howl” Spur