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.

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.

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!

Gumbo Has Landed!

Gumbo is here!

We brought him home this past Thursday afternoon on a day that was over 100 degrees here in So Cal. Welcome to summer. As we drove home we could see the billowing clouds of smoke from the Lake fire in the nearby San Bernardino mountains burning all the dried lumber it could. This is a bad fire this early in the season.

Gumbo sat, or should I say wiggled, in my wife's lap the whole hour drive home. He's at that wonderful mouthing stage that I completely forgot. It was all my wife could to to keep from getting completely chewed up by those wonderful puppy teeth. I'm convinced that the Pentagon should be looking into puppy teeth for their next round of weaponry.

He's taken to his new home remarkably well. The first night was a memorable one. We learned that he has a very good set of lungs on him. After we turned out the lights for the night, we heard sounds coming from him that I'm sure were the same sounds in the Exorcist movie. Boy! That was a fun night. Since then, he's been quiet every night. What a change!

He has taken to his crate right away even without our prodding. With our last Jack Russell, we just used an X-pen with newspapers and pillows. This time we're getting serious and trying to be real honest-to-goodness Jack Russell owners by using a crate. He seems to love it and that makes us feel much better!

His home here is in our kitchen which has undergone much puppy-proofing on a daily basis. I've forgotten all the wonderful things they like to chew on. He's working on the edge of the refrigerator now. I haven't figured out how to deal with that but stay tuned and we'll see. Next step is to hawk-proof our yard!

Ask Around - Breeders Know!

When my wife and I searched for our Jack Russell, we compiled a rather lengthy list of breeders from across the country. Emails were sent out and requests made for upcoming litters and information about their dogs. Everyone we communicated with was polite and very nice about our circumstances. They all seemed to truly understand the pain we were feeling having just lost our little guy.

We narrowed the search to one breeder who was local to Southern California and made arrangements to get our little bundle of joy. We spoke on the phone and they assured me with a long list of qualifications, awards, shows, quality of dogs and references as well. Everything about this breeder was perfect I thought. Their website was perfect and convincing. When I made the final arrangements to come see their dogs, they suggested we meet halfway so that I didn't have to drive all the way there as the roads were bad to their location. I thought, OK, they're being nice and considerate. My wife, the wiser of the two, smelled something wrong. She suggested that didn't it sound funny that a breeder was hesitant to have us see their place? I had to agree but my heart was trying its best to ignore the obvious. My wife is so sweet and supported me completely even though her heart felt differently. Onward I went finalizing the pickup and payment. I took the time to email the other breeders to let them know I had found a pup in Southern California and that we'll be going with them.

Several days before we were scheduled to meet, I received an email from on of the other breeders who wished us well. The last part of her email said that she was happy for us and hoped we hadn't bought a pup from Breeder X (name withheld) - they were trouble. When I read that last line, I was dumbfounded. How could they know about Breeder X and what was so bad? Well, as it turned out, alot. After calling the breeder who warned us, I found that she was an attorney who had been pursuing Breeder X and all the other Jack Russell breeders felt the same. She send me a 27 page copy of Breeder X's criminal records, legal papers and the best, a mug shot. Well that did it. We cancelled the deal right then and made arrangements with another breeder of much better repute. Boy did we dodge a bullet!

The moral of the story for me was to first and foremost, trust my wife's instincts! She knew the deal was bad from the start. Also, if I had to do it again, I'd talk to the breeders about their breed community. They know alot about each other. Alot! They are not afraid to share this with you and are very supportive of each other. Boy did I learn alot!

Now we have our new little Gumbo home. He's been in our home now for about 48 hours and what a difference he's made. More on that in upcoming posts as we learn again how to raise and train a Jack Russell puppy.

What if your breeder turns out to be a crook?

OK so I couldn't resist sticking a picture of the beloved Uggie into this post. Whenever I think of him in the Artist I laugh out loud. Of course the real story behind the Artist is Uggie's story. He once belonged to a family who was going to send him to the pound for biting a goat in their back yard. He was just 7 months old at the time. Hearing this, the current owner rescued him and the rest as they say, is history.

Now what does this have to do with breeders being crooks? Well, it's a long story. Let me begin.

Many weeks ago, we lost our beloved Jack Russell. After we regained some sense of life, both of us agreed that we needed another puppy to pour our love into. Now I know what you're saying; why not go to the pound and adopt a dog there? Wouldn't that be better? Believe me, many people have told us that too. Each week when our newspaper has it's pet pages, I fall in love with most of the dogs there and wish I could find places for all of them. But, there's something about Jack Russell terriers that we can't get away from. There's no other dog for us I'm afraid.

So, setting our guilt aside, we began to search high and low for Jack Russell puppies. We compiled a list of breeders both near and far. What did we ever do without the Internet? We learned that many breeders routinely ship puppies across country if you like. Some even travel with them in the cabin. Wow. Who knew? Well, despite finding that many out of state breeders had litters of the most beautiful dogs, we chose to narrow our search for breeders in a driving distance of our home in Southern California. We soon had a few good choices and after much web site perusals, we narrowed down our search to one that had pups and a great price too. The pictures of them on the web site were great and everything looked wonderful. My heart and soul were sold! What could go wrong? I thought everything looked great but in retrospect, I had ignored some pretty large things. My wife knew and was smarter. I was going my heart instead of my mind.

So what happened then? Stay tuned for more in the next post. Oh and one more thing about Uggie. Our new little guy, Gumbo is related to him. Seems his aunt was Uggies brother. Maybe we'll have a star on our hands!

Three days until Gumbo comes home

Today marks just three days until our new little Jack Russell bundle of energy and joy comes home to become part of our world. I hope and endeavor to document as much as I can about raising this little guy. Having recently just lost our first Jack Russell, we found that we couldn't remember much of his early days so trying to keep a record of our efforts, struggles, joys and everything else will make sure that this new little man, Gumbo, will stay in our memory forever in the pages of this blog.

Stay tuned for everything Jack Russell and how we cope as parents raising another pup. Maybe along the way we can share our experiences and even learn from those of you out there with more experience that us. Please feel free to chime in. We'll be here!