several weeks ago in the midst of one of my “find a best friend” frenzies i was searching wire-haired terriers on petfinder when i was completely taken by this guy...
i contacted the west memphis animal shelter where he was and learned he had been there for 3 weeks after having been seized from a meth house. his 10-day hold had ended and his owners <fortunately> hadn’t returned to claim him. i filled out the necessary paperwork which was, believe it or not, approved and we made arrangements to pick “jack” up. from the picture it was hard to tell what he was other than some sort of terrier mix (to me at least) but when the shelter updated his petfinder profile with this pic…
it became abundantly clear. i texted dave the photo and got this response: “congratulations – you got you a jack russell.” i have no idea why it didn’t occur to me (especially since his name was jack) - to be honest since having wilson i have always said i would never have another jack russell. there really is no reason for that statement other than wilson is a complete bugger (more in his earlier years) and to me he’s a “good” jrt. having said that i love me some terriers and i have always said you get what you put in - terriers of all shapes and sizes are usually very large buttheads but for every buttheaded thing they do there is generally an absolute inverse action that makes you completely adore them. this is really just an aside to explain that i now find myself sitting here with two jrts at my feet.
but i digress - back to the story at hand. about two weeks ago dave & i made the 3 hour drive to pick the little man up. i knew he was cute but holy bejinkles i was not at all prepared for just how ridiculously adorable he actually is…
could you die????
i can only guess from his actions that he was not treated great in the house of meth. hands coming at him freak him out, noises freak him out and don’t even think about trying to kiss him but his introductions to the dogs went seamlessly and he settled in quickly. currently he's a mange-covered, itchy mess but we're getting him squared away on that front. he’s making strides every day – he’s much less fearful, seems much more comfortable and without a doubt will be an amazing addition to our family. estelle is campaigning to be his first friend and while she’s a little much for him he’s learning to appreciate her. he frustrates me a bit because he comes running up to me like i’m the shit, wagging his tail and shaking his butt but then i reach my hand out to pet him and he flinches and backs up. i will say his flinching is accompanied by a little less backing up every day and i have succeeded in planting a few kisses on him. i would venture to say that within a few weeks we’ll have a full-on terrier on our hands…and i welcome that with open arms – i’m already hopelessly in love with the little man and i'm certain he's going to be a character and a half. welcome jack*!
*while jack would not be my choice of names, he knows it so we've decided to keep it - he's most often referred to as "butters" anyway.