Bryce – The One That Wore Us Out

Prior to Bryce joining our foster family, I was always to one to text or call one of the rescue’s women in charge and ask if I could take so and so home. Bryce was the first time I ever got the “I need a favor” call. Bryce was sitting in a shelter in Northern Indiana and was on the list of dogs the girls were there to get, but it turned out he was much younger than we had originally thought and he needed a place outside of the rescue to crash until he could be vetted. If you don’t know what parvo is, thank God you have never heard of it or had to deal with it. When puppies get this terrible disease, more times than not, it is a death sentence for them, and for growing immune systems that have never been vaccinated before, it is very easy for pups to pick up. We didn’t want that for Bryce, so even though Craig and I were looking forward to grabbing another adult dog, I ran out to the rescue to meet the girls when they got back from the pull to bring home. Now, I grew up with labs and golden retrievers, and thought I knew what it was like to be around a dog with some energy. However, everyone in the house was terribly unprepared for the energy of a Jack Russel.

The second morning we had Bryce, he started whining in his crate at about 6 am. This being August, it was light and I took him out to the backyard to let Craig get some more sleep. At 7, Craig came out to find out why I never came back to bed and found me throwing the ball over and over and over aaaaaand over again for Bryce. He loved to play fetch. For 45 minutes, I had been sitting on the ground, throwing the ball, and each time he chased it with the same gusto as the first time. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t dropped to the ground yet. Our dogs could not stand his yappy personality or boundless energy and both “corrected” him more than the rest of the foster dogs we have ever had, combined. While his energy was daunting, the rest of his personality was amazing. He was fast to learn sit, shake and lay down. He crate trained and house trained in what seemed like hours and loooved playing with you friends 4-year-old boys. Needless to say, as soon as he was able to get his last two rounds of shots, he was adopted very quickly. Bryce is the only foster we have had that I did not meet the adopters myself. We were heading to my hometown for my sister-in-laws baby shower and they wanted to pick him up while I was gone. By not meeting them, I also never got to trade contact information with them and he is still the only one I don’t get regular updates on. They posted on the rescues website about 6 months after they got him that they loved him and he was one of the best dogs they had ever had, but never anything else. However, when it comes to this guy, I will take no news as good news.