The Ballad of Johnny & June—Verse 4

Previously, foster pugs Johnny Cash and June Carter settled into our home and then had extensive dental work done, leading to a bout of incontinence from Big JC. Lessons where learned.

Zilker Bark

Being a foster-pug-parent to the JCs led to some interesting experiences, but none more so than when the lovely people at Zilker Bark reached out to Pug Rescue Austin ask if they had any pugs who would like to be in a photo shoot. And they chose Johnny and June.

I’ve been a follower of their Instagram feed for some time now, and the idea that the JCs would be featured was more than exciting. And the exposure they would get could mean their chances of being adopted would be greatly increased. And, although that would be a mixed blessing for us as a family, we knew that they should be with a settled forever home—the kind of exposure they’d get from the ZB folks would be invaluable in getting their story to people who might not otherwise know they exist.

Also, we got to be part of a professional photoshoot. And that doesn’t happen to us every day.

Previous adoption efforts had not gone well. Johnny Cash was terrified of being in the car and reacted badly to being in a cage with other pugs, meaning that he just sat at the event and shivered violently the entire time. People felt so sorry for him . . . but didn't feel inclined to rescue him. After two or three experiences like this, we picked him up and took him home, never to return.

For Zilker Bark, we had to be ready to head down to Auditorium Shores in Austin for 8.45am on a Saturday, which is no problem as the pups don’t believe in a lie-in, even on a weekend. We piled the two into the car, hugged Big JC tight during the car ride, loaded up on caffeine, and headed out to the center of Austin, where we seldom adventure except under duress.

Down by the water on a Saturday morning, there are two kinds of people: dog walkers and joggers. Obviously, these two groups also overlap. There are all kinds of dogs, all kinds of runners, and all types of Austinite down there. It was fun to be among people all out enjoying and/or improving themselves on the weekend. The pups were fascinated by the crowds but clearly preferred to be to the side rather than in the thick of things.

We found our guy taking pictures of a cute couple with three even cuter pugs—an old one in a stroller, a medium one, and a tiny pug puppy. Although the photo shoot went over time, we didn’t really care; who couldn’t sit in the shade for a day or two, watching a pug puppy explore the world? Monsters, that’s who.

Alex of Zliker Bark was super-friendly, dog-centric, committed, and really focused on making our seniors attractive for potential adopters. I don’t know what he does during the week, but he gets to take photos of dogs at the weekend. I know—let’s hate him, right? 

Unluckily for him, our pair were not prepared to cooperate in any way. The story we wanted to show was of the bonded pair: Johnny Cash and June Carter, devoted to each other. And it’s not a lie; Big JC was June’s biggest fan, watching her every move and always alert for when she was in need. June herself was a little more oblivious, but she probably took his attention for granted. We didn’t know how she’d be without him to rely on . . . and hoped she never had to find out.

However, on this particular day, in this particular place, they could not have been less interested in each other. Alex did a great job of catching the rare moments when their orbits aligned, but mostly they were way more interested in everything else happening around them. Johnny preferred to follow his humans around; June preferred to sit in the grass and watch the world go by.

When the pictures went live, they quickly racked up thousands of views—so many positive comments.

Lots of people loved them, many of them said they wanted to adopt them (or knew someone who would). And we were thrilled. But, after a time of being patient, we had to accept that there were no actual offers. Not one. They were quite a commitment, after all—a bonded pair, old, with the inevitable health issues meaning only a limited time to get to know them.

So we cuddled them both tight. And maybe, in some quiet corners of our brains, we were relieved. We were terrible foster parents. We fell in love far too quickly.