What’s a Muzzle Bump?

A “muzzle bump” is just a little notification, or appreciation. Don’t be alarmed if you never heard of it before because I made it up. Or maybe I should say it was a gift from a senior German Shorthair Pointer I rescued a few years back.

When you produce pet expos you make a lot of friends in the rescue world. These are great people volunteering their own time and money to keep good dogs from bad endings. Being friends leads to Facebook and Facebook leads to seeing many dogs looking for a home.

To remain strong I remind myself that the pet expos we produce help hundreds of dogs find new homes. I’d love to take them all home but my household budget says otherwise. But one day, with only two dogs in residence, a senior Pointer was posted. She was in a city shelter about three hours away. She was solid liver with a very grey muzzle. A stray with no back story and not the type of dog that makes it out of a facility that has to make room for the next batch heading in. Did I mention how much I adore Pointers?

Two days later I had her home with me. She was so skinny I put a coat on her to take her to the vet for fear the other owners would think I had done that to her. Ultimately she overcame some health issues, put on weight and a glossy coat appeared. I named her Jade.

Jade quickly made herself at home. Farm life agreed with her and she soon became energized. That’s when the muzzle bumps started. When Jade would get happy about getting pets or playing with toys or dinner time, she would take her nose and just bump my cheek. I quickly learned it was her signature move and it was always satisfying to know she had something she wanted me to know.

So a “muzzle bump” is very much like a good blog post, just a little message, hopefully energized, communicating something you might want to know.