Tuesday, September 05, 2006

My beloved doglet will be 15 on October 31, and she's really started to feel the effects of her wild youth in recent years. Jack Russell terriers bounce constantly when they are young, but it plays havoc with their hips later in life. As a younger dog, she could spring up 5 feet from standing still, and higher with a running start. They were apparently bred for maniac sorts of traits. I love it and I adore her intrepid spirit, but it's exhausting.

Anyway, lately the old girl is more fragile on some days than others, and I give her a Glucosamine/Condroitin chew every morning and evening, but generally I've assumed she's done with jumping up on the kitchen counters.

Not so fast.

I left a bag on the counter today with the leavings of a Boston Market meal (chicken bones!) and part of an old cheesecake from the refrigerator.

When I came home from the store, she had demonstrated that her problem-solving skills are as refined as ever. She jumped up on a chair on the other side of the kitchen, leaped a few feet over to a slightly-higher barstool, then up onto the bar and over onto the kitchen counter, knocking things off onto the floor nearly every step of the way. Of course, nothing remains of the Boston Market meal or the cheesecake, other than the icky containers up-ended on the floor.

crazy bitch.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, sounds like a Jack Russell to me. Cool blog! And thanks for stopping by mine! Hershey sends her love.

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean. My fox terrier always reminds me when we haven't cleaned the griddle on the Jenn-Air adequately since she leaves tell-tale footprints on the countertop around the cooking surface after 'inspections'.

On another note, we just lost SWMBO's 19 year old Australian Shepherd last month. When we lived 'more rurally and informally' we had a dog door in place; one pane of a floor to ceiling window was removed and covered with a vinyl magnetic sheet to allow Susie to come and go at leisure. As the house was on a pier and beam foundation, the distance from the window to the ground outside was an easy four feet, which she could clear without any margin of error in any weather on her way back insode. Of course, that was 11 or more years ago and she was a spry 8ish.

Enjoy the crazy bitch. I think of mine as the children I rather had.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Meg said...

Interesting that the B word here is not bad language. I used to have a neighbour Tony who had two Jack Russells - one was named Jack and he was a bit pea-brained. I was so disappointed to find the other was not Russell - but Jesse, Jack's mother, and she was quiet and very normal. Not very JR-y... My god, your pup is JR in Dallas.... I think I'm tired today. I was made to skip ropes at my gym today - first time in 40 years. Can you comprehend skipping ropes for the first time in 40 years?

Just Another Old Geezer said...

Glad to hear your doggie can still figure things out. Did you ask your vet about the effectivness of the glucosimine? I gave it to an old Lab once for a couple of years and was giving it to my little 7 year old Shi Tzu recently. I didn't ask the vet about it, just gave it to them when recommended. I recently read that in a clicnical study of humans, the number of folks who improved was clinically insignificant. Guess I need to ask the vet about animal studies. I couldn't see any difference in Ginger after I stopped giving it to her, though.

Anonymous said...

That's one great dog. How cute that she found a way to snag that BM.

Jay Noel said...

She's got some puppy in her afterall!

Gotta be careful, though, as chicken bones can be dangerous for doggies.

FHB said...

Old geezers will always surprise you, both four and two legged kind.

Dick said...

Made ya smile, didn't it?

Becky said...

Hehe. Sounds like my five-year-old niece. I'm so glad my dogs can't jump very high or I'd be in big trouble.