Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard was published in 1945, the first of a trio of “Red” books. At some point Walt Disney picked up the rights and the movie came out in 1962. My folks always took me (and sometimes my sister) to the Disney movies and I was absolutely besotted by the big Irish Setter in the film. I was six, so not quite up to reading the original book on my own, so my mom read it to me. I read it again on my own a year or so later. (This is not a rant about how Walt Disney completely re-wrote much of his source material; but suffice it to say it was my earliest lesson in how books and Hollywood weren’t always in sync.)
From the moment I watched that movie, Irish Setters have had my heart. It took me eight years to convince my folks that we needed to add a red dog to our family and one of the first things I did as a young adult, in my first house, was get an Irish Setter of my own (Scarlett). Other setters followed (Tristan, Rhiannon).
YA and I knew quickly after Guinevere passed that we needed a dog in the house; since I grew up in a two-dog household and usually had two dogs at a time as an adult, I knew it was time for two dogs. And I knew that one of those dogs had to be red.
I contacted the rescue organization that we had adopted Rhiannon from, filled out the paperwork and haunted the website. We also searched other sites but Irish Setters are not a very popular breed – they got wildly overbred back in the Disney movie days. They also aren’t the easiest dogs… very high energy and quite stubborn. We also looked into puppies from breeders but the price tags were so very high; YA and I are also both committed rescue folks, so that avenue didn’t go anywhere.
Jori showed up on the Save Our Setters website on a Monday morning in early September. It was so hard not to make a nuisance of myself throughout the process, and I’m not sure if I was successful. Then came the call from the foster, who had the biggest say in who would be a good fit for Jori; we had a great talk; she said she had three other folks to interview and then I would hear back. Three days of torture before I got THE call; Jori was ours. I’m pretty sure I shrieked a bit on the phone. There were some tears as well.
The foster (and Jori) were in Georgia but before I got myself too worked up about transport, it turned out the foster was going to an English Setter dog show in St. Louis the first week of November. Driving to St. Louis and back was much more do-able than driving (or flying) to Georgia and back. So that’s why last week I had a solo drive to Purina Farms on Tuesday and a dual drive home on Wednesday (the dog show was at the P.F. arena in Gray Summit).
Jori is the name that YA and I gave her. It’s short for Jorinda from an old Grimm’s fairy tale that I always loved as a kid: Jorinda and Jorindel. Jori has been on my short list for dog names most of my life and now is the time. Not YA’s first choice, but I overrode her objections.
She is settling in amazing well for a rescue – clearly feels at home and has taken over my bed already. Freya thinks it’s wonderful to have a playmate – they tussle over toys, chase each other in the yard and wrestle in the house. Jori loves everybody within the first minute of meeting them and at this point has no manners at all about letting you know. She’s very very happy about the large variety of treats we have at the house. So far she’s figured out “sit”, “come”, “uppie [for going upstairs]. She’s loves walking but pulls and because she’s huge for a female setter, she is quite strong. We’re working on this but did I mention stubborn??
So that was the big Where in the World is VS mystery from last week.
How have you picked out names for your pets? Kids?
