Our Jack Russell Terrier

Our First Day with Gumbo 

When we brought Gumbo home when he was 8 weeks old, we couldn't wait to watch him grow and become a part of our lives, and today is his big day!! He's 5 years old.

He's a Lil' Dude Now

Here's how Gumbo spends his days now:

He gets up early, at around 6:30 or whenever my husband wakes up in the morning. 98% of the time, Gumbo is completely house-trained and doesn't have any accidents overnight. My husband lets him outside, but not before he goes outside with a flashlight if it's dark to make sure they aren't any critters about. Unfortunately, there are coyotes in the neighborhood. Luckily one has never come to our backyard, but we do have raccoons, possums, squirrels, and feral cats; so we never know what's lurking outside. After Gumbo gets out the door, he races around the perimeter of the yard to see if he's missed anything overnight.

After he's done his business, he runs upstairs and snuggles up to us while we read the newspaper and do the crossword puzzles. When 10:00AM rolls around, he lets us know that it's time for his walk. It's like an alarm clock goes off in his head.

My husband has quite the battle getting Gumbo's harness on so he can attach the leash to it. Gumbo wiggles around, runs to the door before the harness gets on, and growls and nibbles on my husband's fingers until the dreaded harness is finally locked into place.  Phew! We walk 30 minutes in our neighborhood and it seems like everyone notices us and waves. "Who were those people?" we sometimes ask each other when this happens. Some people we meet tell us that they didn't notice us without our dog.

After Gumbo's walk, he's pretty mellow and lets us have some peace and quiet so that we can write and market our books until he hears the next-door neighbor rumbling around in his backyard. If so, Gumbo flies out of the dog door and barks at him. Our neighbor doesn't appreciate it and lets him know, which makes us feel a little defensive and protective about our little guy.

Gumbo can sense the mailman's approach even when we can't.  We always know when the mail's here. After lunch, it's tea time for us and we give Gumbo a Kong with peanut butter we insert into it. It's his one little treat he gets. Our vet told us that Gumbo needs to lose some weight, so we do our best to not give him little extras. Gumbo doesn't look overweight to us, but the vet knows best.

Gumbo Wants a Peanut

At 3:00PM, it's time to watch the bluebirds in the backyard garden and Gumbo eagerly waits at the door, until we go outside and he enthusiastically follows. The bluebird nesting box has 3 eggs in its nest and we love to watch Mama and Papa bluebird bring home various worms and insects to give their young ones. At first, Gumbo barked at the birds and acted like he wanted to catch them as they flew around, but thankfully they've all learned to play nice and he leaves them alone--for the most part. We spend about 2 hours in the backyard when the weather is nice and Gumbo loves to run around and sometimes cuddles up next to us if we're sitting on the glider.

After he eats dinner at about 6:00PM, he's ready to settle in for the night and comes upstairs with us while we watch TV.  If the show we are watching has too much noise in it, such as car chases, he seems to get uneasy and goes downstairs by himself, much to our sadness. We miss him. Gumbo especially is annoyed when we watch The Larry David Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. He doesn't realize that the arguments in the show are funny to humans.

Gumbo has come a long way since those early years when he was tearing up our CDs, albums, books, and photo albums. He has the run of the house, but no longer gets into things. Thank goodness.

He's a healthy little dog and the folks at the vets' office act like they like him when he comes to visit. He provides us with hours of entertainment and sometimes we like to just stare at him and watch his antics. We call him "Our Little Comedian" and couldn't imagine our lives without him.

Would you like to know more about Gumbo? We wrote a book about our first year with him. It's called "Our First Year Raising a Jack Russell Terrier  Puppy (and then some)".

It's available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Smashwords, Kobo, and Google Play Books.

Here's a link for where you can purchase it:

https://books2read.com/Gumbo

Gumbo has grown up!

It's been quite a while since we posted anything about our little guy Gumbo. He's now three and a half years old and has been through all sorts of new things. So have we!

If you'd like to catch up, you can find out the latest on Gumbo in his newest book, Our First Year Raising a Jack Russell Puppy (and then some). Available in digital and paperback formats at all your favorite book sellers.

Purchase at Amazon

Purchase at Apple

Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Purchase at Google Play

Purchase at Smashwords

Purchase at Kobo

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.

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"

Raising a Jack Russell Puppy

Our little Gumbo is now 8 months and 2 weeks old.  He is changing for the better!  His play biting has really lessened.  We were afraid that he'd grow up and be vicious--just what every dog owner fears.

He likes to cuddle and sit on our laps with his favorite toys.  He doesn't like when we get up to leave--he wants more, more, more!  He is so soft.  He is a smooth-coated Jack Russell and it feels just like fleece or silk when we pet him.  We're happy that he finally holds still long enough so that we can pet him instead of constantly snapping at our hands whenever we'd tried to lay a hand on him in the past.

He has a funny new trick.  He gets his rope toy and spins around like a whirling dervish.  He stops midpoint in his rotation and goes counter-clockwise. He never seems to get dizzy either.

He's doing better with the house-training; but still has accidents every once in a while.  His new thing is that he likes to bring rocks from the garden into his dog bed.  He loves chewing on them; that is until we take the rock away from him, lest he choke on it!

He's gaining weight and is much bigger than our other Jack Russell.  Maybe it's because I give him a scoop of ice cream everyday--do you think?  He also gets peanut butter in his Kong Toy; plus lots of Pupperoni's.

We opened up another area in the backyard for him to run around in.  As everyone knows, Jack Russells need lots of exercise.  Every once in a while, he'll hear some noise he doesn't like and gets the zoomies, where he runs around the circumference of the yard at his top speed like a deranged cartoon character.  Imagine Milo in the "The Mask" and you'll know just what we mean.

We are slowly letting him into more rooms in the house.  We want him to be a companion dog and be by our side all the time, but he has such a problem with chewing still.  He loves chewing on table legs, floor boards, kitchen cabinets, and everything else he can get away with.  We're hoping this is going to end soon.  He's already gotten into a bookshelf of my husband's cookbooks and started chewing and shredding them.  He's such a little stinker.  Our kitchen is now stripped down and minimalist.  Speaking of cookbooks, here's one he has bitten into and it has his name on it, too!  No wonder he thought it was okay to take a bite.

New Orleans Cookbook 

Aptly Called "Gumbo Tales"

Gumbo Causes A Gas Leak

It's A Good Thing You're So Cute!
He's Now 7 Months & 2 Weeks Old

My husband and I never had children, so we're pretty clueless when it comes to baby-proofing your home.  We've had other puppies, but they never did this.  

Gumbo gave me quite a scare this morning. While I was on the stationary bike and watching TV, I heard this tic-tic-ticking noise and thought it was coming from outside. When it wouldn't go away, I went to investigate and realized it was coming from our kitchen. Somehow, he'd managed to jump up to the dials on the stove and turn one all the way to the highest position and it wouldn't ignite. The whole kitchen was full of gas fumes. I had to open all the windows and take him and myself outside. Now, we have to come up with a strategy to keep him from doing this again. Any ideas?

I asked this question to my Facebook friends.  Here's what they advised:

Sister:  Glad you were able to get out of the house safely! Here's a dog-proof and child-proof trick... Take all the dials off the stove, and only use them when you're cooking or baking.

Cousin #1: Sounds like he is learning to cook ... sort of ...

Sister's Best Friend: Try covering the kitchen counter with aluminum foil. He might not like the feel of it. Also, get some "No Chew" training aid and spray it on whatever you don't want him to touch. Failing that, close doors so he doesn't have access. You were very lucky today. Glad you're OK!

Friend From Work: You need to baby proof which it would seem is the same thing as dog proofing.
Try this product from Wallgreens: Safety 1st Clear View Stove Knob Covers
★★★★★
$7.99
Helps keep stove knobs off-limits
Fits most stove knobs
Durable and heat-resistant

Cousin #2:  Ask the utility to put the smell of a vet's office in its gas...

Husband: May not work - he loves going to the vet!

Cousin # 2:  lol - then how about psychiatrist!

Gumbo Wears His License For the First Time--and Is Not Amused

You Belong to Us Now, Gumbo

Gumbo has been going through some rites of passages these last two weeks.  The first involved him wearing a dog collar and his license for the first time.  He hated it and scratched and scratched trying to get it off of him.  It is a special dog collar since it belonged to his older brother, Rascal, The Saint.

Rascal, The Saint

Poor Gumbo.  We try not to say it, but there've been so many times we've said, "Rascal Never Did That!" We try to remember that Gumbo is his own "person".  His latest antics involve jumping into the flower pots in our patio and pulling out the roots of the our favorite bird of paradises.

Caught in the Act!

Notice the ugly wire fencing around our lily pond.  We worried that he might fall in the pond, so we added this protection.  Turns out, it was the pond that needed protection from him.  I caught him sticking his head through the wire and tugging on the lily pads.  He especially likes to pick ones that had pretty lilies attached to them.  This dog loves flowers.  He bites the heads off of anything blooming in our garden.  He especially likes roses.  The thorns don't seem to bother him a bit.  It's hard to believe that our backyard was part of a Home and Garden tour six months ago.  If the folks could only see it now.   All we need is an rusted abandoned car parked out in the backyard to really complete that "white trash look".

Don't get me wrong, we do love him and dote on him as if he were our own child.  We were so proud of him last week when we took him for a walk and he lifted his leg to pee on a tree for the first time. "He's really growing up to be a big boy!" we told each other enthusiatically.  How do dogs learn to do that without having a male dog around to show them?  What will he do next?  There's never a dull moment with a Jack Russell Terrier.

Gumbo loses his jewels

Gone but not forgotten

Well, the day finally came for Gumbo to lose his, well, jewels. Now that he's almost 6 months old, we thought it would be a good idea to put him under the knife (or literally the laser.)

We both talked quite a bit about this for several months and couldn't come to a consensus right away. We toyed with the option of breeding him but the true nature of the process was more than we were willing to put time into. We admit that we were intrigued by the possible renumerative gains of siring puppies too. I know, it's shallow and an amateur thought but hey, these guys go for $950 or more a pop. Maybe we could make some money to pay for his cost. 

Alas, the more we read about it we soon learned that there's more to it than just dropping the little stud off for a quickie somewhere and then picking up some fast cash. He'd most likely have too hang out for a long weekend performing on demand many times. I don't think we'd feel good about leaving our Gumbo with strangers. Plus, there's no guarantee that anyone would want a stud dog without competition awards either. At the end of the day, we decided to go ahead with his gonadectomy. We felt bad for him and hoped he would not suffer much pain for what he was going to endure.

One positive possible side-effect was that he might be less aggressive and chewy. So we took him in last Friday and left him with the vet who had done the same on our three previous pets. He was at the vet's from 8:00 until about 4:00. They called us at about 11:30 to say that he was doing well and under anesthesia. They noticed that some of his baby teeth were not coming out soon enough and were blocking the adult teeth from growing in correctly. So we agreed to have a little dental work as well.

We noticed that the house was very quiet and it lacked the intensity when Gumbo was present. All baby gates were down and we were free to move about the house. We thought we'd be relieved and happy to have him gone for awhile however we were really pining to get him back. We were convinced he'd have a cone of shame and be drugged and sleepy. Oh the worries we create in our heads!

We went to pick him up at 4:00 and sat down with the vet who did the surgery. He explained that everything went well and that he was a bit dopey still from the anaesthesia but that should wear off in 24 hours. They brought Gumbo in and he was as wild and crazy as ever. Jump, jump, jump. Anaesthesia? Didn't look like it. They do laser surgery on them now and there are no sutures that we could see. The feared cone of shame was not needed. Wow! He looked and acted like nothing happened at all. They gave us antibiotics along with pain meds and sent us home. The people in the lobby looked on in amazement when the techs announced he had just had surgery. Our little iron man, Gumbo. 

Well, it's been a few days since his operation and he's doing well. There's not been any huge change in his behaviour. He's still spirited and loves to run and chase his ball. Was it necessary to get him neutered? Maybe not. But maybe it will make a difference some day. Today, he's still a puppy but we can see slow, subtle changes in his behavior day to day. He's slipping, slowly into adulthood and I suppose we should enjoy these days of wild abandon as they may someday disappear forever. 

Roundworms? Yuk!

Roundworms? Yuk!

During one of our "puppy" visits to the vet, we also dropped off a stool sample for them to pore over. We've done this many times over the years with all our dogs and never had any problems. The next day we got a call from the vet that our little Gumbo had roundworms. Roundworms? What the heck is that? Both of us freaked out as if our little baby was on his last legs. We wondered what had we done to make him so sick and infected? After much Googlng we soon learned all the gory details of roundworms and all the fun they can cause. When we picked up Gumbo from the breeder, she mentioned something about giving him dewormer monthly up until he's 6 months old. Bah, we thought. That never happens to us! Well, it did! 

Well, as probably most of you already know, we returned to the vet and obtained some reasonably priced (odd for the vet) medication to treat these little interlopers. They gave us 10 prefilled (how nice) syringes full of a milky solution to be given orally for 5 days and then 5 days more, one week later. This was fun as sticking something in Gumbo's mouth was usually reserved for my fingers but all in all, he did pretty well. After the first few days of treatment, we soon saw the results of the medication. It turns out that this medication stuns the roundworms and they get passed in his, well, you know, his stool. So much to our surprise, after his morning constitutional a few days later, we saw the culprits writhing around in agony and appearing very surprised to be outside of their accommodating host. Enough said about this! Just Google it for more information and pictures of roundworms. 

Two weeks later we returned to the vet with another sample of his output and we got the verdict he was clean! Hurray! It seems that these little critters will eat just about everything and I'm pretty sure it was something he ate while out on a walk that did him in. Actually all through this, he never showed any sign of infection. We were the ones affected by it all. It was so hard to see your little baby affected by some 'creature' and feel so helpless to do anything! Thanks so much for vets. What would we do without them?

Can You Dig It? The Joys of Raising a Jack Russell Puppy

Are you overprotective with your puppy?  My husband and I are, especially after the breeder warned us that we needed to be extra careful if we have hawks in our neighborhood.  We had no idea when we picked him up at 8 weeks' old that our puppy was in danger of being swept away out of our own backyard!  To prevent this, we have an X-Pen in our backyard that we cover with lathwork where he can do his business. What would dog owners do without X-Pens?

We both understand that Jack Russell Terriers need a lot of room to breathe in.  They can't be cooped up all day inside of your house.  They need to stretch their legs; otherwise, they will drive you crazy.

He is now 7 pounds and 3 months, 3 weeks' old.  We've decided it's time to cut the apron strings and see what he's capable of getting into in our backyard.

After six weeks of keeping him in our kitchen, we decided that we need to let him leave the nest today and run with the wolves--come what may.  We were turning him loose in our huge backyard--the yard that our former JR loved and ruled over.

Besides the hawks,  we are worried about his potential for digging.  I had heard that they have been bred to "go to ground" and retreive foxes.  I am afraid that he might dig a hole and end up in a tunnel that a gopher had dug and we won't be able to get him out of the tunnel.  My husband said, "Maybe we need to get a tracker collar."

We turned him loose and watched his every move.  "What did he do?" you might ask.  Much to our horror, we found out that he is really a digger!  Much more than our other Jack Russell ever was. And we're talking big, deep holes that he can create in mere minutes.  Those little claws can really dig.  He is quite an excavator!  Maybe in his former life, he was an archealogist?  Indiana Jones, Gumbo's ready for his time on the big screen.

Raising our Jack Russell Terrier Puppy: things we've learned

Gumbo is now three month's old.  He's our second Jack Russell puppy.  Both puppies were 8 weeks old when we brought them home.  You would think that after having our first one for almost 15 years, we would be pros at this. Not so!

Here are some new things I've learned with this puppy:

Despite all the toys we bought him at Petco, his favorite "toy" is his upside down stainless steel supper dish that he likes to move around like a hockey puck all over the kitchen floor.

I learned new uses for Vicks Vapor Rub:  it keeps him from chewing on the underside of the kitchen cabinets.  Just dab a little on your cupboards every other day or so.

Speaking of chewing, I learned that a washrag which has been wetted and left in the freezer provides the poor dear some relief while he's teething.

Trying to ward off his bites?  Zap him with a squirt gun when he misbehaves.  It definitely gets his attention.  Never underestimate the importance of "time outs".  Put him in his X-pen and walk away. This is what really hurts his feelings and hopefully gets him to behave next time.

Worried about hawks swooping down and grabbing your little puppy while he's going number one or two?  Here's the answer we found helpful: use garden lathwork over his X-pen to form a protective shield.

It all goes to show that you can teach an old human a new trick.

Bite, bite, bite, bite.

If I read one more blog posts that says it's good that puppies bite I'm going to scream. Once I'm done screaming from Gumbo biting me. However well-intentioned these folks are, I can't agree that this is a good thing for puppies! OK, well maybe it is for them but not for me!

Now don't get me wrong. I really do love our little guy. It's just those baby teeth that I can do without seeing them puncture my skin. We've been trying all sorts of strategies to keep his biting down.

• Keeping chew toys on hand to stuff in his mouth before he plants a good one on you. Works pretty good as long as you pay attention to his wandering mouth.
• Make sure that our arms and any other bodily limb is not moving too much - nice meaty targets for him. These little guys love to chase things!
• Putting Vicks VapoRub on your hands. This does work but you smell pretty bad. Does work on our kitchen cabinets though.
• Acting like a litter mate and squealing when bit. This doesn't work with Gumbo. It seems like a signal to turn up the intensity and bit harder. 
• Ignoring him when bitten. This does seem to work, albeit, slowly. We stick him back in his X-pen and ignore him for a few minutes while turning our back on him. This seems to really hurt his feelings since his playmates are ignoring him. 
• Filling a Coke can with pennies and shaking it when he bites. Not worked so far. Just gets his motor running more he hears the noise. I'm sure he'd love to sink his choppers into that can!

Before you get the idea that we're going nuts, let me say that we do see some progress. Our breeder told us that if we can hang in there until he's 18 months, we should be in the clear. Great. He just turned 3 months last week. So we we have any skin left we'll be good to go in 15 months. We should be pretty good at all this by then so feel free to contact us for any tips as we'll be experts. Or we'll be in the hospital on an IV. 

Cheers!

How many times can one dog poop?

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post. We've been through quite alot with our little guy over these past many days. Lots of fun and games. One thing that really sticks out is his uncanny ability to generate loads and loads of poop. More poop than I've ever seen!

I had forgotten that you have to feed these little machines three times a day for the first 4-6 months. He happily devours his food and then dutifully sends it out the other end. Of course where and when  he does this hasn't sunk in yet so we're forever watching him for the telltale signs of imminent evacuation.

At first, I tried to time his 'movements'. I thought if I gave him about 6 hours he would be ready to let loose and I could have him outside and ready to receive heaps of praise from his loyal owner. I soon found that despite my calculations and many late night / early morning wake ups, his gastro-intestinal system did what it wanted. It was not going to be held hostage by my time schedule. Poop, poop, poop.

Well, for the past few days, we've seen a little flicker of hope and timing. He's been going like clockwork after eating, mostly, so we're thinking maybe he's getting his rhythm down. He still goes in the middle of the night; we've given up on trying to rise at 3:00 AM in hopes of nailing his movement. After several sleepy barefoot steps into his X-pen and landing in one of his surprises, we thought we'd wait for morning when we might be able to better handle the situation. Stepping in it is not a fun thing at 3:00 in the morning.

So we soldier on. Maybe we can get him trained to use the toilet. Now that would be perfect. Maybe even keep the seat down too.

One Week In And I Still Have My Fingers

Well today marks one week since we bought our little dynamo home. Don't be fooled by the picture above - these are the sweet moments of having a puppy. What you can't see are the continual battles to provide and outlet for puppy mouthing. Now I don't mean he talks back, but I'm convinced that if he could talk, he would talk back. Puppies have some alien need to bite everything at this age. I'd forgotten all about this but it's all coming back now. After one week, we've both become pretty good at providing a toy for his ravenous biting appetite. Nothing is off limits. Your limbs, your face, your ears. your kitchen cabinets, the floor, the wall, basically everything. Tonight  he was doing his damnedest to chew on the concrete outside.

I've been told that this will all soon pass and to not worry so much. My wife and I deem ourselves lucky that we have our fingers intact and able to type and work on our computers. It can be overwhelming at times when you'd just like to have a puppy lick your face instead of a little demon trying to rip off your earlobes. But just when you think he's gone mad, he turns into the little angel above. Now who's going to argue with this? It's all worth it when he's like that.

Now having a puppy makes you pretty much worry about all sorts of stuff you'd not normally think much about. We worry about if he's going to chew the wrong thing. We worry about him getting stuck in his crate or his x-pen. We worry if he's got worms. We worry about hawks. Yes, hawks. We hadn't added hawks to our list of worries until our breeder warned us to be careful of hawks. Little JR puppies look wonderfully like rabbits at Gumbo's age. Now we were worried! We do have 2 or 3 neighborhood hawks that we watch almost on a nightly basis. We always thought how beautiful and graceful they were. Now it was war. We came up with this poor man's hawk proof x-pen to keep him safe while on his bathroom breaks.

It's not exotic but damn if it doesn't do the job. If you look close, you'll see the edges to his grassy area. In this drought stricken area of Southern California, we're pretty conscious of our water use so we've narrowed our backyard down to an 8 x 8 piece of real estate just for Gumbo. 

So onward and upward to our next Gumbo adventure. Next time we'll speak of the challenge we face with his bathroom breaks and the correct timing. Just like having a baby. Stay tuned!

Dogs: Woman's Best Friend

My husband and I recently said goodbye to our little fur child.  His name was Rascal and he was a Jack Russell Terrier. We were lucky to have him in our lives for almost 15 wonderful years.

We never had any children and were used to a very solitary life of reading, gardening, and traveling. We were afraid that we wouldn't be good parents to a breed of dogs who are notorious for being high-energy and willful.  Beforehand, we even found ourselves taking quizzes about whether or not we would be able to "handle" a dog with such special needs.  It was scary; but we were willing to take a chance.

I think I first fell in love with Jack Russell Terriers when I watched PBS's "Wishbone".  It was a show for children featuring a dog who was able to talk, read and travel back in time to become a character in literature and teach kids to love reading.  I'm an English Literature Major, so this was right up my alley. In the series, Wishbone would wear cute costumes and would be Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood.

Then, I saw the movie, "My Dog Skip".  That had to be the cutest dog and the cutest story I'd ever seen. To top it all off, a flower shop in my town owned a little JR named Gumbo who would often hop up onto the window display at the store and I'd see him whenever I drove by. It really was like the song, "How much is that doggie in the window?"  And then, of course, there was the JR in the movie "Mask" and the TV series "Frazer."

So, with much trepidation, my husband and I threw caution to the wind and became parents to our little 8 week old JR who we named Rascal before we'd even met him.  We picked out his name, thinking that it best described the temperament of this lovable but challenging breed.  It was love at first sight.  He was the runt of the litter and had a interesting early life: his mother had become "Mommy Dearest" and attacked and killed the last puppy of the litter.  She had tried to kill our little boy, too, until the breeder intervened.  The breeder had to separate the mother from the rest of the puppies and bottle-feed the rest of the litter.  Everyone loves an "underdog" and that's who our little Rascal was.  I immediately considered myself his "mother" and protector.  I was going to save this little dog from his psycho mom.  He weighed only 6 ounces when we brought him home.  I was so afraid that I was going to step on him and crush him accidentally.

My husband and I love to travel: we have been to France, Italy, England, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland and many big towns in the US such as New York, New Orleans, and Chicago.  But our lives entirely changed when we brought this little bundle of joy into our world. Whenever we traveled, all we could think about was coming home and seeing our Rascal again.  We even cut vacations short because we missed him so much.  We were truly smitten. 

Our little fur child died almost 4 weeks ago.  He had "been there for me" through it all and was by my side when I lost both my parents and my brother and sister, who died 3 months from each other. Rascal and I were inseparable.  Whenever I'd be gone for the afternoon, when I opened the front door he was there waiting for me and would crawl on the ground with his tail wagging until I got down on my hands and knees and crawled right along with him.  He acted like I'd been gone for days.

 We brought his ashes home shortly after he passed.  I'm so glad to finally have him back.  He was the best dog in the world.