Puppy Love

A few posts ago I wrote about a man named Jessie Pullins (if you haven't read it yet, scroll down and read it!) and promised that I would be writing another one about him.Although it has taken me a while, here it is, as promised.

Two days before Katrina hit land, Jessie and his family left New Orleans and headed to Baton Rouge, leaving their dog, J.J. (Jessie Junior), behind with a plentiful supply of food and water. In Jessie's mind, they'd be gone a day--a few days at the most.

Then Katrina hit.

Jessie wanted so badly to go back for the dog, but the mandatory evacuation prevented him from doing so. He was helpless, and J.J. was left alone to fend for himself against the most damaging hurricane to ever hit the United States. J.J. was just a year old.

About three weeks after the storm, the city was still sealed off, however animal rescue workers were permitted to enter. At that time, J.J. was rescued--but not to Jessie's knowledge.

J.J., along with 28 other rescue dogs, was flown to Los Angelos and wound up at the Second Chance at Love Humane Society in Templeton, California.Three of the dogs were quickly returned to their owners, but after several months of waiting, the society's founder found new homes for J.J. and the others.

Jessie loved his dog. As a formerly homeless man and drug addict, Jessie had changed his life around, kicked his habit, got a job, and married his sweetheart. However, after his wife died of cancer, he needed a companion--someone to share his life with. J.J. came to the rescue.


He was going to fight to find his dog. A few years later, Jessie appeared on a TV show about "Katrina dogs" who were waiting to be reunited with their owners. A woman in California saw the show, and realized she knew how to get Jessie to his dog.

Within a few days of the show, Jessie found a note on his door in New Orleans with instructions on how he could get his dog back.Jessie contacted the Second Chance at Love Humane Society and they refused to help Jessie get in touch with the people who had adopted J.J. But that didn't stop him.

He hired a lawyer and decided to sue the society and the sisters who had adopted him. And after a year of legal battles, the sisters decided to return J.J. to Jessie in New Orleans.

Jessie waited at the airport for J.J. to return-- and when the cage was opened, J.J. ran straight to Jessie for a loving embrace.It had been four years since they had seen each other. (Film crews were there to document this moment and Jessie and J.J.'s story--it can be seen in the movie "Mine," and can be found on Netflix).

Two days after J.J. and Jessie were reunited, Jessie released a statement saying, "When he came out of the cage, he came straight to me."

"J.J. is a part of me, a part of me that was missing for a long time," he added.

 

(Jessie told me this story in person, however the sequence of events and quotes from above are from an AP article titled "Man and dog reunite, 4 years after Katrina." The photo was taken by AP photographer Bill Haber.)