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.