This week I had a great yap with a beau-duh-ful, frenly young lady, Juno Reese, who was born in Fargo, North Duh-COE-duh (like that place on TV), an moved here last fall. She’s a black Heeler mixture rescue (who looks rather like a German Shepherd but smaller, with some snow-flakey white places) an has a very intresting story. She an her entire famly – Mom an Dad, a bouncy liddle terrier, anna pretty, kinda nervous shepherd-looking pooch – greeted us at the door.
“Good afternoon,” I said to everybody. “I’m Bonzo an this is my assistant.”
Juno stepped forward. “I’m EVER so happy to meet you, Mr. Bonzo. I’m Juno. I’m 2 anna haff. This is my Mom Judy an Dad Mike (who I call Mike); my 13-year-old brother Mack, he’s a Boston Terrier; an my 6-year-old sister Marli, an Australian Shepherd. Mom’s gonna take Marli back to her room cuz she’s still kinda ANK-shus. She’s not bein’ ROOD or anything, though.”
“Of course not,” I assured them. “I totally understand.”
We got conf-tubble on the porch. “Well, Miss Juno, you’ve really traveled a long way. I can’t wait to hear your story.”
“I’ve been SO lucky,” she said, smiling brightly. She had very sparkly brown eyes. But I digress. I opened my notebook and she began.
“Mom an Mike were volunteerin’ at the Homeward Animal Shelter in Fargo. This one day the Shelter lady called Mike an said they were In DES-prut Need: a stray had just been picked up at Spirit Lake Indian Rezzer-VAY-shun. Soon as she arrived, the shelter humans ree-lized she was in Dire Straits. She was PREG-nut an was gonna have her puppies Any Day Now.
So the shelter lady asked Mom an Mike if they would foster her right away. The shelter vet said there’d probly be about five puppies. Since Mike had just retired from bein’ an English teacher, an they had fostered other pooches, they said OK, even though they already had Mack an Marli. They figured they could handle another 4 or 5 pooches till they got Forever Famlies.”
“That’s a lotta pooches,” I observed.
“I know, right? Fortunately for all of us, Mom an Mike are Very Dedicated to Helping Animals Less Fortunate. Later, they called it The Ultimate Experience. Anyway, one week later us puppies arrived. All 9 of us.”
“Wait! Wha-at? NINE of you?”
“Yep. Lokie, Zoey, Rocko, Steel, Gertie, Sapphire, Lady, Scout – an me, of course. Plus our pooch Mama, Millie. Mom an Mike went from two pooches to 12 in one day. They said it was a Snow Job, but they were just kidding. Mostly. They took the Best Care of us EVER, an we all Made It! Then, Thank Lassie, we were so irresistubble that we all got ’dopted, our Mom, too! I was so excited to be stayin’ with Mom an Mike an Mack an Marli FOREVER! Plus, my brother Lokie got ’dopted by my Mom an Mike’s son Marshall who lives in Saint Pete, so we get to see each other once inna while. Cool Kibbles, right?”
“Totally!” I purr-rused the great phodos of Juno on her Instagram page and commented, “You’re such a nice mixture, Miss Juno. You must have a lotta German Shepherd in you, but your much, um, daintier. An then there’s your pretty white snowflake sox and collar an bib.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bonzo. Ackshully, Mike had my DNA tested.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t really know, but I think the D stands for Dog.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I agreed.
“Anyway, it’s a way to find out who my ancestors were. Mike sent in some of my drool, if you can buh-leeve it. Then we got back who my ancestors were anna bunch more information. Weird but Cool. Mike was shocked.”
“So, what didja find out?”
“Well, I’m a quarter German Shepherd, no surprise. An another quarter Heeler. Also no surprise. An another quarter Black Lab. Not THAT much of a surprise. But the other quarter was a surprise: Korean Jindo.”
“I’ve never heard of that.”
“Me either. Mike Googled and found out they’re hunting dogs from Jindo Eye-land in a country way, WAY far away called Korea, where Jindos are praised for being Strong an Loyal. We arrived here with Korea people who came here. There’s a word for that, but I can’t think of it.”
“Shut the Doghouse Door! That is Seriously Crispy Biscuits!”
“I agree! Now I know why I sometimes get urges to herd stuff, or protect stuff. Mostly though, I just like to hang with pooch pals an my famly an play. I think the Black Lab quarter’s my favrite.”
“Well, you certainly have a vi-VAY-shus personality. What was it like movin’ from a Very Cold Place to here?”
“No biggie. I’ve traveled al lot. I even came here on vacation before we moved here. Mom an Mike were looking for somewhere new to live. When we got to here, I cased the place an decided THIS was IT. So we moved. I LOVE Vero Beach. My favrite places are the Dog Park, Paw Prints and the beach. AND, not to brag, but I’ve been fee-chured inna ad for the Wisdom Panel dog DNA test. Also, I was Smiling Dog of the Month in the Jan-you-wary 2020 issue of ‘Bark’ magazine.
“I also had a Serious Job in Fargo. I was a Role Model for the shelter dogs we fostered. I bonded with them an showed them what Mike calls ‘modeling positive canine behavior.’ I feel I really helped them get ready for their own Forever Famlies.”
“That’s impressive, Miss Juno. You are a Very Well-Rounded Poocheroo.”
“Why thank you, Mr. Bonzo,” she smiled.
Before I forget: In last week’s column about those two pawsome Bullys, Lady Esme an Arthur, I got, well, a liddle confused (I know. Hard to buh-leeve, right?). I thought their Cool Kibbles spots were called ‘ticking,’ but they’re NOT. They’re called SPOTS. Duh. Ticking is what Miss Juno’s pretty snowflakey spots are called.
Till next time,
