Cricket is a young countrified Southern Belle that we rescued with her little family of 8 pups from a Virginia shelter. This is Cricket upon.
She was an exceptional mother and remains an exceptional dog. After the pups found great homes Cricket found her own lucky home (to see Cricket’s children visit other success stories for Rocky, Levi, Blarney, Lexie and Ginger). Packing her bags, Cricket left behind her country roots and drove off to try urban riverfront condo life in Jersey City. Here is an update as told by her adoring guardian Kathy:
A year ago we adopted our first dog Sam, a10 week old Border Collie/Lab mix with black spots all over him. We found him at the Yonkers, NY shelter. He was irresistibly and absolutely adorable and obviously a real character. We fell in love with his happy go lucky personality, and proceeded to spoil him rotten. That’s spoiled Sam on the right.
You see, my husband Robert and I are “empty nesters” and had made a huge move out of the Bergen County area to DOG FRIENDLY Paulus Hook in Jersey City. Trading suburban life for city life? Most of our friends thought we were nuts but we did it anyway and with no regrets. Robert and I made more friends and the key was our dog Sam.
Almost everyone here has a dog or two or three. Nearly every breed or mix of is represented. At night we all gather on the Promenade and let the pups socialize. No matter the weather, it doesn’t matter; all of ‘Sam’s friends’ show up to have a good time.
Sam liked having company so much, that Robert and I decided to get him a companion. Our search with petfinder.com and found www.Auntmarysdoghouse.com. Miraculously up pops Cricket – a precious looking girl! She had a rather sad tale to tell. While pregnant, she had been abandoned to a country field in rural Virginia .She was found and taken to a kill shelter. Thankfully Aunt Mary came to their rescue. Cricket and family were loaded onto a transport truck and made the very long uncertain journey to NJ and we made the drive to Blairstown to meet and adopt her.
Robert and I came to visit her the day before she was to be spayed. For us it was love at first sight. We think Cricket shared the love as she immediately kissed my hand and curled up in my lap. We just melted! We then had to wait two additional weeks while she healed from surgery until we could bring her home to Sam. That was a very long two weeks!
Upon arrival, Sam was immediately warm, inviting and gracious to Cricket. You could see the joy in his eyes and wagging tail. He now had his very own house companion!
Cricket on the other hand wasn’t so sure about all this new development in her life. She was pretty darned happy living at Aunt Mary’s out in the country. She loved Aunt Mary and Paul and they 4 dogs. Along comes Robert and Kathy to take her away to the City and to top things off there was that spoiled Sam. Cricket probably thought, Oh, for heaven’s sake -what next? Well what came next was all that walking, walking, walking…The days of just going out the back door were over – this was now to be CITY LIVING!!
Well it took awhile, but Cricket finally did accept all of us and grew to love Sam too. She now loves her walks around Jersey City, play time on the Promenade and greeting all of her new friends! She and Sam are a favorite among all the kids and adults!
The concierge staff has dog biscuits out on their desk for Cricket and Sam when they pass by on their daily walks. Cricket and Sam always remember to stop by and collect their reward!
Now its no longer Robert, Kathy and Sam but Cricket too! Its hilarious to see us all pile into our Queen size bed at night and get cozy comfortable. We remember Aunt Mary in our prayers and thank God for her and Uncle Paul and, for their great kindness to the dogs. If it weren’t for them, Cricket and so many other dogs like her wouldn’t be here!
If any of you readers find yourself traveling by Ferry, and happen to pass Paulus Hook – remember to look up at our 4th floor apartment and see Sam and Cricket looking out the window. They’ll be in the window smiling at you!
PS: We always play Classical Music for the dogs but one evening we switched to a wedding CD of our nephew’s. One of the songs was DANCING QUEEN. Cricket came to life!!! She started prancing around our entire apartment while the tune play – she really got into it! She was so proud of herself. We nicknamed her DQ.
