Jubilee Finds Her Beauty

It is time for a story with a happy ending.  This one is about a Siberian Husky named Jubilee.  Her first owner wasn’t a true dog person. If the owner were, he wouldn’t have surrendered Jubilee because, in his opinion, Jubilee looked “weird.”  This was the second time Jubilee had been abandoned. Her breeder did so the first time because she thought Jubilee’s strange looks would make her impossible to sell. 

For two years, Jubilee waited in a shelter.  Some people laughed at her. Others were scared of her.  No one wanted to adopt her. A rescue group, Husky House, shared a picture of her on their Facebook page.  The photo was accompanied by a heartbreaking caption: “I wish I were beautiful, so someone would want me to be their dog.”

I don’t know if it was Jubilee's unique look, how the post was written, or maybe there was a little help from the angels, but suddenly everyone saw the post.  It was shared more than 47,000 times and drew 23,000 comments.  

Even though Jubilee had earned a lot of attention, it did not translate into applications.  Husky House shared this on Facebook.  

Jubilee’s crossed eyes were caused by a congenital issue that affected her eyelids.  She was examined at the South Brunswick Animal Hospital in New Jersey. The problem was purely cosmetic.  Husky House sent Jubilee to a groomer to make her look gorgeous and then took her to an adoption day.  

A family who had found a forever dog through Husky House previously met Jubilee and knew she would be a perfect fit for their pack.  But, even in her new home, Jubilee did not forget her friends who rescued her. Her face appears on a Husky House t-shirt. Purchases of the shirt have raised over $2,000 for the rescue.  

 Jubilee’s story is awesome, but I have been trying to temper some of the enthusiasm about her.  Everyone finds Jubilee cute, but if she catches the eye of breeders, they could start creating dogs with special features that were considered drawbacks but would become attributes, the way that mixed breeds dogs have become.  I don’t want to see any cross-eyed huskies, drop footed Lasha’s, hair lipped Doberman or flat-footed greyhounds. The American way usually goes is hideous, to cute, to profit.  

Through all of this, what has bothered Jubilee the most, was that she never knew what made her different from other dogs.  We animals don’t do mirrors. We instinctively think that the mirrored reflection is another dog, and we bark at it. If we are missing a leg, or walk funny, we know it.  But Jubilee didn’t know until she saw her face on a t-shirt that she looked any different than the other dog. When she finally did see her face, she didn’t know what the fuss was about.  She thought she was beautiful.

    We would have to agree.