Jenson’s full name is — Jenson “Cute as a Button” Clemens. — If you can not guess who he is named after, then you are not a Formula One fan!
He was born in June of 2011 and is at the publishing of this website still the youngest pup in the house. His dad Bailey is also Meeshika’s dad, so he is literally Meeshika’s “Brother from Another Mother”. This time I picked the puppy with the blue collar and brought him home. He is super cute, very loving, funny and an extremely smart dog (not always a good thing).
When the vet gave him his first exam she called him the perfect puppy. She probably shouldn’t have said that in earshot of him, as it went straight to his head. My plan was to get a puppy as easy and as mellow as Meeshika, but you know what they say about plans =). If the book “A Dog’s Life” is right, then he would be Molly incarnate and I can see her in him every day.
He loves cars — a lot ! He loves them so much that he eats them. Shift knobs and parking brakes are particularly tasty; he started peeling the leather wrapping off the parking brake in my M3 until I wised up and treated it with bitter apple. His resume includes seats, carpeted car floors, armrests and cup holders. I guess that is what I get for naming him after a Formula One Champion. Fortunately he is starting to grow out of this.
For someone not yet toilet trained he had an intense fascination with the ‘human’ potty.
After Meeshika’s not so pleasant hurling experience on his first car ride, my friend Judy came with me to pick up Jenson. On the way home she took over the driving duties and I got hold the pup tight so his first car ride would be a good experience. When we got home, Chloe and Meeshika explored the intruder. Jenson quickly found several good hiding spots, under the wood burning stove, behind the toilet, and under the red chair. Fortunately it it did not take him long to make friends. He was only living with us for a month when Chloe got sick and he seemed to know exactly what was going on, staying very close to her snuggling up right next to her whenever she rested.
When we picked him up, the breeder gave him an injection with a micro chip with a huge and very scary looking needle. I’m not sure if it just scared him or if it hurt but he raced off screaming bloody murder and it took quite a while to calm him down. I’m not sure which came first but he has always had a bit of nervous energy. He freaks out easier than Meeshika, and barks at a lot of things that don’t phase Meeshika. When I hear barking I don’t usually pay attention to it until both dogs are barking. His nervousness gave concern to the vet that neutering may make things worse, so he got to keep his parts until he was almost seven years old. Maybe he planned it that way? When Meeshika had to go to the vet to have a giant fatty lump removed, I made an appointment for Jenson so they could go to the vet together. Both came through the surgery with flying colors. (although I learned later that there were grave consequences to such a stressful surgery for both boys). Jenson initially seemed pretty unaffected compared to Meeshika. We also did some laser and acupuncture treatments a bit later, which calmed his nervous energy down a lot, but he still sometimes gets called by his cute nickname “Wuzzycat”.