Jetta Banzon

Vital statistics:

We adopted Jetta in the early fall of 1998. Her sister Chloe had the run of the house for two years, but she seemed lonely. When left alone in the house Chloe would get into all sorts of mischief, so we figured another dog would keep her occupied. This time we decided to get an adult dog (we really didn't want to go thru housebreaking and teething again). So it was back to the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, NY. We told them we wanted an adult dog, preferably female, that gets along with kids and other dogs. The volunteer immediately suggested Jetta - she had already been named at the shelter. Well Jetta was excited and tried really hard to impress us. Homer wanted to keep looking around, but Janet and Barry wouldn't let them put her back in her cage. Looks like she was ours.

Jetta wasn't the prettiest dog when we got her. Homer even said that she had "a face that was perfect - for radio". When Jetta was first brought to the North Shore Animal League, she had many ailments - mange, fleas and all sorts of skin rashes. Her fur had been trimmed short for treatment, but the hair around her head was growing back thick, making a mane that looked like a wolf's. But after some time and with lots of TLC, the rashes cleared up and Jetta is as healthy as ever.

Jetta is very excitable and affectionate. She always wants to be around people, and will lick you on the face if given the slightest opportunity. For the first few months she never made a sound. Then one morning during her walk, she started barking a deep WOOF. She still doesn't bark much, but she often whimpers almost like a human voice.

So what kind of dog is Jetta, anyway?

Good question. And it's one that we weren't able to answer until very recently. The shelter thought she was a black lab mix, but her fur was much too long, ears too pointy and tail too curly for a typical black lab. Our vet thought she might be part chow or border collie. We though she might be a small Newfoundland, but she didn't really fit the descriptions of any of these breeds. Then one night in a bookstore Janet was looking through a dog encyclopedia, and came across a breed that we had never heard of. The breed? The Swedish Lapphund. The picture of the dog in the book looked exactly like Jetta! After some more research, we found that the Swedish Lapphund is a rare breed not recognized by any kennel club in the US. They are popular in Sweden as companion dogs, and they were originally bred to herd reindeer. (yes, that says "reindeer"). That explains why Jetta is so fond of sitting out in the cold. For more information about the Swedish Lapphund, please see the page at pupkus.com. Many thanks to the Harris' at pupkus.com for their information on this amazing breed of dog.

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