The adorable three-year-old Jasper certainly has a ton of energy in him – so much even that one of one of the dog trainers of the shelter he was transferred, Glen Hatchell, didn’t think he’d fit feel comfortable living in a kennel. Jasper was relocated from animal services to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, where his energetic personality really shined.
In order to please the quite active Jasper, Glen then paired him with a group of other dogs, but it still wasn’t enough for Jasper to keep himself busy during the day.
“His days had become repetitive for him, and I could tell that Jasper needed more enrichment, because his play was a little rougher than the other dogs, and he seemed to have a shorter temper at times,” Glen said in an interview with The Dodo.
One of the volunteers then suggested that running would be perfect to take care of Jasper’s enthusiasm and energy, but this simple suggestion also ended up landing Jasper his loving forever home.
“One of our volunteers has a daughter who’s in a local high school,” Glen recalls. “They cooked up the whole idea of having some of the dogs run with the cross-country track team. I jumped right on it because I thought it was a great thing for Jasper.”
Some students from Steinbrenner High School who were into running heard about Jasper and decided to go pick him up at the shelter to start running laps together at the Al Lopez Park baseball park in Tampa.
Even though Jasper wasn’t used to running long distances or a fairly high tempo, his always-energetic personality made sure he could keep up with the runners and even ran an impressive amount.
“The first day he ran with them, he did about 3 to 3 and a half miles,” Glen said. “And the next day, about 2 and a half miles.”
You might think that a run like this might cause even energetic dogs such as Jasper to rest a little bit, but he still had a lot of it to spare.
“He’s ready to play,” Glen mentions. “He’s a little bit more relaxed, but he’s not ready to lie down on the bed and chill out for a while.”
Over time, the runners and Jasper bonded pretty well together. In fact, one of the runners had developed a liking for the adorable pup and decided to take him in.
“He was adopted this past weekend by one of the runners, who is now at the University of Florida in Gainesville,” Glen said. “And he’s living in a house with all the runners in this school … so he’ll stay with the boys that he’s already come to know over the last few weeks.”
What a remarkable adoption story!
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Source: The Dodo
