Porter girl... the beginning.

I got Porter, my Jack Russell Terrier, in 2001 while in college.  She was the cutest little thing.  She came from a little town called Portersville... go figure.  We did have an issue with the adoption though.  The breeder told us she was a boy, hence the name Porter.  I'm sure the poor little thing had a complex because for the first week we were saying "he", "he's such a good boy".  Lord, she was probably like what the heck is wrong with you woman!?  I'm not a cat!  You can tell that I'm a girl.  I've got no thing!

Before you go thinking the same... I hadn't had a puppy since I was really young and I took the breeder for her word.  I assumed she would know the difference.  My boyfriend (at the time) and I called to request the boy from the two puppies that were born.  We told her we were from Slippery Rock and we would come the next day.  When we showed up it was pouring rain.

She said, "You're here for the girl."
Me: "No, we're from Slippery Rock and we're here for the boy."
Breeder: "Ok, wait here. I'll go get him."

We stood in the front room of the farm house while she went back to the back to get the puppy.  As soon as she handed me the puppy, I couldn't care what it was... a boy, a girl, a rat... it didn't matter.  She was the sweetest little thing I had ever seen and I was instantly in love with her.  Then I held her in front of me.

Noticing that she was lacking something I said, "this is the boy?"
Breeder: "Yep, that's the boy."
Me: "THIS is the boy?"
She looked at me funny and said yes.

So, without skipping a beat, I hugged her while Jeremiah paid her.  We didn't request to see the mother/father or get her "papers".  At the time, it didn't matter.  Reflecting back, I wish I could have seen her mother.  I'm sure Porter looks and acts just like her.  Her expressive face, her strong will and attitude.  I assume that one of the two had shorter hair and one was more scruffy.  Porter has thick coarse hair, but is more smooth than the longer haired JRTs.  The first visit to the Vet was a total trip.  She was of course scared... I was in shock after the initial conversation:

Vet: "So have you thought about getting her spayed?"
Me: "HER?"  "The breeder told us it was a boy."
Vet: "Not unless Porter has had a sex change in the last 5 minutes."
Wow, that was embarrassing...

This was the summer between my junior and senior years at Slippery Rock University.  My boyfriend transferred to a college in Maine and Porter went to live with my parents.  They had two older dogs and my mom was home all day, every day.  I ended up losing the boyfriend by the end of the Spring semester, but kept Porter in the "divorce".  There was no way I could let him take her.  She liked me better anyway ;)