Request for Big Jim

This is a story about our bloodhound Jim. In May of 2004 we had just lost our beloved Lab Jake of cancer. Jake was Rocky's dog as he had him before me. We were so upset and swore we would never be able to love another dog. After a few weeks of moping around I suggested we get another dog to help ease some of the pain. We looked in the paper and at the humane society several times and then Rocky decided he wanted a Bloodhound puppy. From being in law enforcement he had been around several "working bloodhounds" and thought it would be a good, layed back, lazy ole' family dog. Our search ended up in Mcdonough at this guys house that had two adult bloodhounds and a yard full of playful, wrinkly, adorable puppies. The guy told us they made great family dogs and Mary being so young they would grow up together. Savannah was just the age she didn't care, she just loved dogs, all dogs :) My girl, ya know. Well, we paid our $500.00 and we left with one of those babies. That Monday I called my vet/friend and told her about our new baby and made an appointment to get her shots/exam. She told me we had made a big mistake and suggested a Poodle or a Golden Retriever. Well, after loving on those big floppy ears we knew we were in love. I guess about 1-2 weeks later, we were second guessing our decision. Big Jim was quite a handful. We could not housebreak him and he "slung" drool everywhere!! He chewed everything he could find including Mary and her toys, bottles, he ate many pacifiers and a portion of our sofa. He would track everything and we did not feel like it was fair to him to keep him from doing the one thing that he enjoyed doing. He was not happy and neither were we. My neighbor suggested I go meet Duke Blackburn with the Georgia Fugitive Task Force. I called him and he said he would love to take a look at him. I took Jim a few days later and Duke loved him. He explained to me alot of things about bloodhounds I never knew and reassured me that we were doing the right thing by Jim. I made the decision right there to give him up. About a week later I got a call from Michael with Georgia Diagonistic prison in Jackson, Georgia and told me he was Jim's handler and how happy he was to have him. He told me we could visit Jim anytime. A couple of months later I got a call and Michael told me he was in Newnan for the day and brought Jim to see us. He was a real "police"dog complete with military tags and a vest. I was so proud of him. The sweetest part of this story is a few months after that we got a call that Jim had caught one of Georgia's 10 most wanted!!! Go Jim!!