It is only fitting to start Jaxon’s Happy Ending with a memorial. We had to let go of Huckleberry, our 13 year old Redbone/Lab mix ,the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 2010. Huck was the best dog ever and the first dog my wife had ever owned in her life. He is the reason we searched for coonhound rescues online a few weeks after his passing. Not only were we grieving, Petey, our Chihuahua/Terrier was as well. He was crushed with the loss of his brother, and showed us every day he did not want to be alone when we arrived home from work. He would cry and bark at us looking for his buddy to come out of our vehicles. It was sad and we knew that even though we were not ready to replace Huck, it was not fair to keep Petey alone every day while we were at work.

The first time we looked on the ABTCR website, we knew we had found our next dog, the question was just which one…..then we found Southern Comfort’s page, and we knew he was the one. We took a 1700 mile, two day road trip from Colorado to Arizona to pick Jaxon up from his foster home. He did great on the 14 hour return drive home, seeming to wonder where we had brought him- he went from the dry desert to the snowy and cold mountains.

Since his adoption, Jaxon has had his share of “adjustment”; we’re working through some issues. Separation anxiety, crate “untraining”, digging, ignoring being called, etc….but it’s all part of adjustment, and nothing that we’re not going to get through. He’s a gentle, smart, good natured boy who draws attention at the dog parks with his loud baying. If he does not get the attention of the other dogs in the park, then he gets louder! Ironically, our neighbors don’t mind his LOUD voice. Jaxon and Petey get along well. Jaxon also gets along with our orange tabby cat, Timmy. Timmy is an older cat but does not put up with much. After a few swats on the nose with claws Jaxon has learned that sniffing the cat to annoyance and nibbling on his neck is not allowed. All three of them share a big dog bed at times or Timmy will curl up to Jaxon on the dog bed. Jaxon enjoys long walks and hikes in the mountains. He enjoys his 1 acre yard that sometimes has deer, fox, squirrels and bunnies running through.

We enjoy our new companion and he has been a wonderful fit to our family.
Chip, Dena, Petey, Timmy, and Jaxon Custer