Essays & General Comments 08-01-08 NEW DOGGIE (January 09, 2008)
The kingdom has ground to a total halt: everything has stopped - we have just got a new doggie and I have not been able to do any work since Monday.
He is a little Jack Russell about 18 months old - although I think they might be over estimating that a bit. If you count the rescue, I reckon this is the 6th place he has lived. That makes him sound a real problem dog - but I don't think it's all his fault. He is curled up on my lap at the moment wrapped in a snug blanket snoring his head off. I am trying to type this one-handed, with my feet propped up on the end of the sofa so he doesn't fall off, so forgive me if It's a bit muddled!
I think the problem might be that people think that they don't have much time for walking or caring as such, so they get a little Jack Russell or other terrier thinking that they won't take much effort to care for. I have been working with all sorts of terriers for 25 years now and I can honestly say that the opposite is true: terriers need huge amounts of care.
These small dogs are full of character - they are bursting with their own self-importance, have a very short attention span and are always 'busy'. If you leave them on their own for hours on end every day they will very quickly get bored and will chew everything in reach - the really clever ones will teach themselves to open cupboard and fridge doors and pull it all out. They tend to be fairly highly strung, and it takes a lot of really hard work to train them. When I go to a dog show you can count the terriers on the fingers of one hand, the same goes for the army and police dogs. Serious dog trainers who want to win prizes NEVER work a terrier - I can only think of one other terrier in our dog classes (not counting the puppy group) and that is a really sweet little Beddlington. The reason is simply that they need so much work put in to them to create a dog ready for a show - and then you can never count on if they 'feel like working' on the day. All dogs have a temperament - but terriers 'moods' are more unreliable.
After all that you may wonder why I bother. That's simple - they are huge fun. At agility one weekend William stopped dead in the middle of the sea-saw, turned round and gave the judge (who happened to be standing right next to the obstacle to check he did it correctly) a big kiss. Absolutely hilarious I thought (and he got a round of applause), but we lost so much time that we came last. We usually do come last because something always distracts him: but we have such fun.
It's Henry's first class tonight. We are starting totally from scratch - he doesn't even know his name, and his paws are all over the place when walking on a lead. I can't wait, he's going to be so cute.
So . . . World meet Harry . . . hence forth to be known as Fidget Knickers!
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