BARN DOGS

MEET JAX

Californians DICK CARVIN AND FRANCIE STEINWEDELL-CARVIN adopt a rescue Jack Russell.

BY FRANCIE STEINWEDELL-CARVIN

Dick Carvin and Francie SteinwedellCarvin’s Meadow Grove Stables is one of the top training barns in the West. Dick is a highly successful hunter-jumper rider and trainer with experience at both the national and international levels, competing at the World Cup Finals in 2000 and 2001. He is married to successful grand-prix rider Francie SteinwedellCarvin, whose mother, Frances Steinwedell, was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2017.

I’ve always had dogs, but Dick never had his own dog until we got together.

Dick and I just rescued our newest dog from Danny and Ron. We’d lost a really great dog, Bowie, in January, and that was a really big event to us. Bowie loved Dick so much, he would stalk him wherever he went.

Dick called Cece Bloum at Thrive Animal Rescue in San Diego. I grew up riding with her, and Dick said, “Okay, we’re ready. We’re ready for a dog, so you can start looking.” We were in Florida visiting my Mom, and Cece got back to us and said, “I think I found your dog.” While we were in Florida, Kim Tudor from Danny and Ron’s Rescue contacted us. We talked to Kim, who said, “I met a dog you will want to adopt! He’s really great.” So we decided that we’d take a detour from Miami to South Carolina to meet the dog at Danny and Ron’s and then go home to California from there. Kim offered to bring him to the airport, but we didn’t want to do that. We had our other Jack Russell, Izzie, with us. I’ve never been to Danny and Ron’s or the Dog House, and I really wanted to see it. And so we went, and we spent the night locally.

I think it’s just totally incredible! When you get there, their home is really different from what you’d expect. The number of dogs is incredible. We’ve all gone to someone’s house who has one dog, and sometimes it smells like dogs, but not at Danny and Ron’s. They clean it twice a day, they clean all the bedding once a day, and the dogs get a bath once a week. It’s absolutely insane. I didn’t realize that they’ve rescued 13,000 dogs. The dog’s name was Wishbone. Apparently, the pound found him as an approximately 4-year-old stray. He was not neutered, and he didn’t have a chip. The pound had called Danny and Ron and said, “We have one for you.”

We renamed him because he didn’t come to being called Wishbone, and we were trying out all sorts of names. Dick’s great-niece called him Brex, and the dog came to her. Then somehow, it morphed into Jax, and he came to that, so Jax is his name. He told us what his name should be.

When Izzie and Jax first met, Izzie lagged a little bit. She’s not the most social, and she doesn’t like a lot of dogs, especially ones that get in her space. The most important thing to us was when they met nose to nose, she turned around and stuck her tail in his face. That’s when we knew he was the one. She is starting to play with him, and she hasn’t played in a long time. She’s just so happy, and she’s back being a youngster again.

Plus, Jax and Dick are pals. Dick has a stalker again.

KIM TUDOR

Ron Danta, Danny Robertshaw, Francie Steinwedell-Carvin, and Dick Carvin with Jack Russells Izzie and Jax.

Sabine Schut-Kery and Sanceo representing the U.S. as part of the silver medal team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Photo: Shannon Brinkman Photo