Jasmine, Battle Creek, MI

Hi, there! I’m Jasmine AKA Jazzy AKA JazzyBoBazzy. My mom thinks I’m around 6 years old and when she adopted me they told her I was a pibble/bulldog mix. Who knows, really?! But I sure am a special girl – Mom tells me that alllll the time!

I started my life out in a shelter at 3 months old with my best friend at the time, and the only other dog I knew, Keala, a Shepherd mix. We were both adopted together and ended up spending the first 3 years of our life together outside, on cement. I had calluses on my chest and feet from laying on the cement for so long.

One day, the person who adopted us returned both of us back to the shelter and told them that we “just didn’t work out.” 🙁

We were both once again back in a kennel at a shelter, not knowing what happened or why we were here. The really nice people at the shelter wanted us to be adopted together as a “bonded pair” because I relied on Keala so much!

I guess a lot of people didn’t really want two full-grown dogs and for some reason, nobody wanted me, just Keala. After a couple months of really trying, the shelter decided to separate us and the next thing I knew, Keala was gone. Some family came and adopted her immediately!

I instantly became so lost and afraid without my Keala. I didn’t know what to do or how to act without her. I was so depressed, devastated and scared — I would just hide and would shake at the back of my kennel. 🙁

The people at the shelter were so nice and really tried working with me. Even though I was a staff favorite, I was just so scared of everything and didn’t know how to be a dog without Keala. I didn’t really get any interest in the next few months – my behavior in the shelter was turning people away from adopting me despite the staff and volunteers working really hard to help me feel comfortable. So they tried to put in me in a home setting to see if my fear subsided in a home setting.

That was my last chance.

A really nice volunteer lady named Stephanie who fell in love with me since day one, decided to take me home and see how I liked it!! And I loved it!! 🙂

There I met new friends Nana and Zyra, and I became attached to them!! I really enjoyed sitting on them actually, that was my favorite thing to do next to cuddling with them. After a couple days they decided to foster me so I didn’t have to go back to being alone in a shelter.

My foster mama was amazing. I really loved her and she said I perked right up as soon as I had another dog to sit on and guide me! Foster mama Stephanie said, “There was just something about her! Like she needed just one person to push for her. And I knew, just like you do, that she just needed some extra love and guidance and structure to blossom and gain confidence!”

My new foster sister Nana the Earless Pibble had quite the following on social media so she decided to use her platform to help get me adopted! I just loved Nana, she showed me so many things and taught me that things were going to be ok.

I didn’t meet my real mom for a little while yet but I was told she fell instantly for me and my gorgeous eyes the very first time she saw me on Nana’s page. She felt connected in such an unexplainable way that although she wasn’t even looking to adopt another dog, the second she saw me, she said, “I will hop in the next plane to California and adopt her!”

From there foster mama Stephanie and my soon-to-be Mom started talking about her flying from Michigan to visit me in California and adopting me. Unfortunately, as per the shelter rules, I was not able to be adopted out of state!

I did get adopted by a family that lived in California, but they returned me to foster mama Stephanie after just a few days because I didn’t work out with their other dog. I don’t think it liked me very much.

The next thing I knew I was being pulled by a rescue! The amazing rescue, A Purposeful Rescue, specializes in the harder-to-adopt dogs, like me, or seniors and special needs dogs. And they even let me stay with my foster family!!!

At that point, foster mama Stephanie had talked to the founder of the rescue, Hillary, and told her all about my soon-to-be mom and her family in Michigan. Stephanie asked my mom to fill out the adoption application and email it directly to Hillary. Hillary fell in love with my mom’s application and they started going through the out-of-state adoption process which requires a home visit first.

Add in another twist: in the midst of all of this, another very potential adopter put in an application for my adoption. Since she lived in CA and was a dog trainer, she became a better adoption option for me, compared to an out-of-state adoption. So I had a meet and greet with this lady and her dog. They really liked me but they ended up passing me by because I was too energetic for her and her dog. So then the adoption option came back to my mom!

We were back to figuring out how to get me to my mom. Foster mama Stephanie was talking to this amazing pibble advocate Rebecca Corry about my mom’s interest in me and how it would be a perfect fit and situation for me. That I would have someone to guide me and rely on, like with my Keala and Nana, because my new family has 3 dogs and one was another pibble name Lola.

Knowing how hard it is to adopt out of state, Rebecca’s non-profit, Stand Up For Pits Foundation, offered to pay for all of my travel and transportation from California to Michigan. My mom was planning on flying out to California to meet me and then go from there, but Rebecca and Stephanie decided my mom didn’t need to come out to California at all. Instead, foster mama Stephanie packed me up in a car and we were off!! She drove me all the way from California to Michigan!! She did a home check for the rescue and I had finally found my forever home!

When I got to my new home in Michigan, I was still quite fearful of new places and things. My mom says it’s so amazing to see me come out of my shell more and more each and every day. I’m learning so many new things about life and about having a home, living in a house and sleeping in a comfy bed. Now I live the life of a queen! I have so many big comfy orthopedic beds on the floor just for me and I get to sleep in bed with my family every single night.

I’m attached to my mom. She calls me her shadow! I love to go everywhere with her and I always get lots of attention wherever we go, my favorites are the puppacinos when Mom gets coffee!!

I love me some scratches and I get lots of them every single day, especially head and butt scratches (those are my favorite)!! My favorite things are playing with my ropes/jolly ball and playing with my sister and going on walks. I now have a big backyard and I just love it!! I love to just wander around it! I don’t get zoomies often but when I do, watch out world!!

Did you remember in the beginning of my story I wrote that I’m a special girl? Well, that wasn’t just something my Mom says because she loves me so much. My foster mom & mom think I have special needs similar to a mix of Down Syndrome and Autism in dogs. This is why I was so reliant on Keala, then Nana, and now Lola. I need guidance and someone to support me. Even though I’m coming out of my shell more and more every day, I’m still 100% more comfortable having Lola with me 24/7. My foster mom had a full neurological workup done on me and it came back clear.

My 3rd eyelids are always up and come up really high on my eyeballs, so I have very limited vision – I can’t see anything below my nose. So my mom & Dad have to help me up onto the bed and into the car and with stairs (but we are working on stairs and I’m becoming more comfortable with them everyday!!). I’ve finally mastered getting up on the couch by myself but it took me a good 6 months to trust myself to get up, and occasionally I will struggle.

I don’t have much peripheral vision either, so I scan back and forth, left to right a lot to see my surroundings. I get a little nervous of small spaces, so when I walk into a narrow room, I generally feel more comfortable backing out of the room rather than turning around, kind of like, I know that’s how I got in and I know that’s how I can get out. All of this makes my eyes end up looking a little crossed-eye which also makes it look like I’m not looking right you. I’ve had several eye tests done to check for disease or injury and all came back with normal ranges.

Mom says there might be a slight possibility that I may be a little hard of hearing. I mean I definitely can hear, but sometimes it seems a little sensitive, and sometimes I don’t always respond right away. And that being said, I often can be easily startled or spooked with loud noises, like motorcycle, truck, a sneeze or a cough.

I still am generally nervous around new people so when a new person try to touch me, I duck my head a little, crouch, and stick my tongue out. My mom & dad have worked so hard on this with me and I’m getting better!! When I’m nervous around new people, I like to lick them incessantly and then I try to sit on them. I loves licking – it’s my favorite hobby! – it’s kind of like how I get to know you.

I have an extraordinarily long tongue, for some reason it just doesn’t al fit in my mouth and so it always hangs out. 🙂

I have an amazing family now with the best parents and my super cool sister Lola (I love to do everything she does!), two older little brothers, the best grand dog-parents any dog could ask for. You can follow my antics on my Facebook page – Life with Lola & Jazzy – or on Instagram.

My happy ending is possible because of so many amazing people, from the best foster mom (Stephanie) and foster sisters (Nana & Zyra) who are constantly a part of our life, to an incredible foundation (Stand Up for Pits Foundation) and the amazing Rebecca Corry, to the incredible group of people who were part of my success and adoption at the Agoura Animal Care Center, Healthcare for Homeless Animals, and A Purposeful Rescue.

I am Jazzy, and yes, I am a very special girl!

♥
Jazzy

Parent: Natalie