Still chewing after all these months

Rope Chew

Born: 1:00 PM

Died: 2:00 PM

He loves his rope toys. We found this one at of all places, Albertson's in the dog and cat toy section. Only $4.99. We started buying them about 6 months ago and found that of all his tows, he loves these the best. We originally got him a few pricier ones at Petco but he wasn't as enamored with them as much as the Albertson's brand, pictured above. When we bring a new one home, he knows instantly that his favorite toy is in the house. OK, maybe all dogs do this but it's still pretty cute when he does his little "oh boy a new toy" dance. 

At first, the ropes would last for weeks. Recently, his chewing gusto has reduced them to tow knots in a matter of minutes. There's a collection of single knot toys around the house that he still loves to play with. 

Here's a picture of him with another rope toy.

He sometimes gets into a little trance playing with them. He'll roll on his back and with the rope toy in his mouth, he'll stay there for several minutes. It's like he's savoring the fine taste and smell of it. Maybe it's like catnip for him. 

Probably his most favorite chews are bully sticks we buy him. These are a God-send when it comes to keeping him occupied and away from mischief. They cost $29.00 for a package of two 12-inch sticks, quite a bit in my opinion!  I cut them in half with my circular saw to get 4 6-inch chews. The picture above is a recently released 6-inch one I was able to pry away from him for a picture. They are so precious to him apparently that we have to block the dog door when we give him one or he'll immediately take it outside and bury it for safe keeping. Eventually, he'll settle down and slip into chewing nirvana. They will occupy him for hours sometimes. You can see that their braided. Once he gets them down about halfway, they split into three chews which is a bonus for all of us. We can put a chew in almost every room in the house. 

Like his rope toy, he has become more accomplished at chewing these. We're lucky if we can get a package to last a week now. As he's grown his chewing has intensified and gotten stronger. But he's a big boy now and has what seems to be endless amounts of energy. So we learn to adapt trying to keep the right things in his mouth and the wrong things out. He is changing and we're changing too. What he'll want to chew on next is anybody's guess. Just as long as it's not us!

Is he awesome yet?

Well here we are again. Almost six months have passed since Gumbo turned 1 year old. He's an adult now by veterinarian terms but if his behavior is any guide, he's still a crazy puppy. He's now almost 19 months old and still full of puppy energy. His breeder assured us that when he was 18 months old, he'd "be awesome". What that meant we weren't completely sure although the notion that he could slow down a bit and be a bit less rambunctious was exciting to us. He's kept us in a constant state of motion since we brought him home. Maybe he'll sit and do like other dogs do. Maybe he'll fall asleep on the couch, maybe in our lap. Maybe. Maybe not. 

Maybe it would be good to start with what hasn't changed in 6 months. He still loves to chase a ball. Any ball. Tennis balls are now a special favorite since he was able to convince me to part with a few from my lower-back therapy supply. Chewing. Boy can this little dynamo chew! Nothing is off limits for his teeth! Our vet does his best to reassure us when we mention his chewing habits saying, "it's normal, terriers interact with the world through their mouth." Barking. He has a nice, strong voice. It's shake-you-to-the-core strong. If we're sitting, quietly reading (despite what I say, we do have these moments) sometimes he'll hear something and instantly rise and let out a room-shaking bark. It's a wonder either of us haven't had a heart attack. 

I know it sounds like I'm complaining. After rattling off a list of what he's doing may sound like he's not changed at all. But he has. He has turned many corners and surprised both of us almost daily.  Are we looking too hard for progress? Perhaps. But perhaps he's just growing and changing as a normal terrier does. Sure, he's not on the same track as our other Jack Russell, but that would be boring wouldn't it. He has his own personality and it's truly a joy to watch him grow and adapt to our world. 

Well, that's it for now. Stay-tuned as there's a lot more to say in the coming weeks. Watching Gumbo grow into his second year will keep us all young!

Now he's a big boy, right?

Am I grown up yet?

Well here we are at Gumbo's 13 month mark. A lot has happened since our little Gumbo passed the 1-year threshold. He hasn't caused any major damage or destruction to our home, ourselves or to himself so we're very grateful at this point. 

Now that he's grown to this ripe old age, we're told he's an adult now. An adult. What does that mean? It conjures up all sorts of things to us. Can he suddenly be trusted with all things? Will he behave better than before? Will he listen to us and learn what to do and what not to do? Or does it mean we should only feed him once a day as the dog food sellers say.

Looking at him, he's certainly grown to his probable adult size. He's bigger than our previous Jack who only topped out at about 17 lbs during his entire life. I'd have to say Gumbo is probably 20 lbs at least if not 22 lbs. We've tried to weigh him at the vet however he's so excited he can't stay on the scale long enough to get a decent guess. We've wondered if maybe the only way to truly know is to have the vet knock him out and lay him on the scale while he's asleep. On further thought, no, I don't want them to do that. We'll live with our guess to his weight. 

Some time ago, we emailed the breeder where we got Gumbo to ask about his temperament and when he would change his constant need for motion. They told us that at 18 months he'd be "an awesome dog." I'd say Gumbo is an awesome dog right now. I'm not sure what will happen at 18 months but perhaps it will be big. Maybe he'll suddenly stop bringing in things from the garden to chew on in the front room. Maybe he'll lose his desire to discover every nook and cranny of our house. Maybe he'll want to just sit instead of jumping for joy whenever we get the leash out for walks. Maybe he'll just be a lap dog. 

Gosh, I sure hope not! I think I'll go and throw the ball with Gumbo to make sure I don't miss any moments in case he decides to change!

Happy Birthday, Gumbo!

We did it!  My husband and I managed to keep a very active Jack Russell Terrier alive to reach his first birthday.  Our house is still intact, as well as our sanity (although sometimes I wondered).  He gets an A+ on his report card for this month.  He is changing for the better everyday and growing into a fine adult doggie.

Here's what he looked like when we first brought him home at 8 weeks' old.  Awww...

Thanks for coming along as we followed our new Jack Russell puppy through his first year and watched him learn and grow to become part of our world.

Our First Year with a Jack Russell Terrier Puppy

This picture was taken when Gumbo, our Terrier, was only about 8 weeks old and we brought him home.  It's one of my favorite pictures of him.  It's hard to believe that our little Energizer Bunny was ever calm enough to sleep on my lap!  What have we done to him?  He used to be mellow.  I hope we've been good caregivers.  He couldn't have asked for more devoted humans.

This is what he looks like today, at 11 months old.  He is very good-looking!  Everybody loves the big black spot on his back.  The white on his forehead near the top of his head is shaped like a heart.

He has really shown a lot of improvement.  We have to remind ourselves of that whenever he gets into trouble.  He is now completely house trained.  YAY!  I can't remember the last time he had an accident in the house.  Since we first brought him home, he's always slept through the night.  It's amazing to realize how much he does sleep, considering how hyper he is when he's awake.  He lives mainly in the kitchen still; but I've been trying to lengthen the times he is in the front room, dining room, and bedroom.  That's working out well, for the most part.  He does like getting into my album collection, though.

See the linoleum floor?  Gumbo started reaching in the seams and pulling up the flooring.  My husband had to install this threshold strip.  It was meant to be under a door, so it doesn't stretch the length of our room.  Isn't it lovely?  Thank goodness Gumbo hasn't done any more floor stripping.

  

I really do want to give him a good report card for his 11th month, because he's still learning.  He has so much joy and spirit that it's fun to watch him when he comes inside from the backyard.  He has an extra spring in his step.  It reminds me of Bambi or any other Disney cartoon.  We could spend hours just watching him, he's so entertaining.  Someday, he'll be older and not have puppy-ways anymore. Only one more month, and we'll have an adult dog.  We really do enjoy every silly and funny thing he does and hate being away from him, even when it's only for a few hours.  We are truly smitten.

Valentine's Day with a Jack Russell Terrier Puppy

Question: What do I want for Valentine's Day? 

 Answer: A safe and healthy little dog.

We had quite a scare with our 9-month-old puppy this week.  We had left the house briefly to go get some Starbuck's and when we returned, we went in search of Gumbo, like we always do whenever we we've left him alone.  In the period of ten minutes since we left, he had jumped up to the kitchen counter and snatched a bottle of aspirin that was still in its box, since we hadn't used it yet.  This is what it looked like when we took it away from him.  He had managed to get the bottle out of its box, and chew open the bottom of it, totally by-passing the child-proof lid. Pills were spilled out everywhere.  In horror, we wondered if several had gone done his throat.

We rushed him to the vet's office where they pumped his stomach, made him throw up, and gave him fluid therapy.  They wanted to keep an eye on him for a few hours so we went back home and started counting the spilled pills, hoping that we could find all 120 of them.  They were pink, so they were easy to find.  It took an hour, but my husband was able to find 119 of them; which meant that Gumbo had only swallowed one pill.  The vet's bill was $440.00.  That's one expensive aspirin! 

"I told you I was okay!"

Does your puppy chew your walls?

My husband put temporary cheap paneling over the walls that our Jack Russell puppy was chewing. In this picture, hubby is painting the paneling the same color as our walls.  It's a good thing we had some paint left over in the garage.  You can hardly tell the difference.  Well...sort of.

It's a good thing Gumbo is so cute.

Gumbo is now 9 months old.  We are seeing some positive changes.  He's 99% potty-trained now. We've given him more access to the other rooms in the house.  Every evening when my husband comes home from work, we take Gumbo on a 30 minute walk and then let him be supervised in the front room for about an hour. That's where he is in this picture.  He likes to play catch and could do it for hours.  We bounce a rubber ball off of our coffee table and Gumbo jumps up to catch it. He would make a really good soccer player: move over Pele.

Gumbo is more affectionate and sweet, which is great since a little part of me was worried that because of his puppy biting, he would grow up to be a vicious dog.  His mouth is always going though.  Chew, chew, chew.  He no longer bites our clothes or shoes, which is a relief because I spent the summer practically naked to keep him from jumping up and tearing my clothes.  We bought some Bully Sticks and they keep him out of trouble for a few hours.  He is still up-rooting our plants. Hopefully, he'll get over that soon because my husband and I love to garden.  Sigh... Someday we'll have a "super awesome dog" which is how the breeder said he'd be at 18 months or so.

We bought another crate so that he can be upstairs with us in the room where we spend the most time. We never used a crate with our other Jack Russell because we thought it was a mean thing to do, even though the breeder said how necessary they are when training a puppy.  Gumbo loves being in his crate and we never use it as punishment: the crate is where treats come and good things happen.

He is a very finicky eater.  My husband wakes up early and tries to get him to eat his breakfast.  They have a routine: he throws a ball and plays catch with him, hoping that he will stop and take a bite between throws.   It takes a long time, but my husband is very committed and patient.

First Christmas with a Jack Russell Terrier Puppy

Gumbo's First Christmas:

Will He Ever Hold Still to For A Picture?

Well, we've made it.  My husband and I have managed to keep alive a very active and mischievous puppy for six months now.  We've saved his bacon so many times: we've kept him from chewing electrical cords; from causing a dangerous gas leak, from drowning in our koi pond; and from putting everything in his mouth, including knee-high nylons someone had carelessly thrown on the ground in front of our house.  My husband had to risk getting bit when he fished out the nylon out of Gumbo's mouth.  I can't abide litterbugs or people who don't clean up their dog's poop when they take them for a walk.  

This is a picture of our Jack Russell

who passed away in June 

It was a sad Christmas for us, since we are still grieving for our JR who died seven months ago.  We were lucky to have such a sweet dog for fourteen years.  Their temperaments are very different, but both dogs have been loving and a joy to watch as they go about their antics.  Maybe it's harder for us this time around since we are 14 years old than when we got our 1st JR?  We are both 61.  Gumbo is a real character and very funny and smart.  He reminds me of Milo in the movie "Mask."  Especially the animated version of Milo. 

Animated Milo from the Movie "Mask"