I Love Small Crazies

Jenn's comment in my last post just got me all giddy about my dog, so here is is. He is a Jack Russell Terrier/Whippet mix with some other thing thrown in which no one can figure out- cattle dog? Did you know that Whippets are actually a greyhound JR-Terrier combo? So maybe our dog is really just a Whippet/Cattle Dog mix. Who knows! We also don't know how old he is. He was a pound dog. But I do know that he ain't no Schipperke! (that's what they had him listed as at the pound.)
The pose you are seeing here is his usual "I'm a good dog and no threat to you" pose. He is a very sweet, nervous dog. He used to pee nearly every time that we touched him for a couple of years after bringing him home. He was also afraid of aluminum cans. He had bad owners before us. I think they were drinkers and that's why he didn't like cans. They had moved out in the middle of February leaving him behind tied up outside to a dog house! The neighbors finally called the Humane Sociaty after he had been out there for THREE DAYS! poor doggy! Once, after we brought him home, he got loose in winter and took off happily running down the street. He got one house over before he realized how cold it was and promptly ran inside the house when someone opened the door to get the mail. She said that he just stood there whimpering and alternately lifting his feet. How did he survive THREE DAYS?

Here is our proud dog protecting his turf. What was that? A mean, nasty motorcycle coming to threaten my authority? He barks at anything with wheels. He also goes nuts over dogs. He wasn't dog-socialized and sees any dog as big or bigger than him as a threat. He loves our cat though and treats him like the boss that he is. He will try to get close to the cat and the cat will punch him (and that cat can punch hard! I've been bruised by him before). The dog starts wagging his tail and runs to get his ball. Oh yea! The cat wants to play! he's thinking. He will actually bring the ball up and give it to the cat, to which the cat looks completely disgusted at the fact that the dog does not realized he's actually being dissed. What an Idiot! the cat announces with an indignant look and a toss of his tail as he walks out of the room.

He tries very hard to be like us and help out. He really likes to help me garden. When he sees me digging in the garden he starts digging too; otherwise he never digs in the yard. When I water, he follows me around. He's even gotten to know where I go to garden. He was folowing me while I was watering one day, I looked at him and said, "I'm going to the front yard now." I did not motion or look in that direction or anything. His face lights up and he takes off running for the front yard. He has a pointing pose he does when he has spotted something interesting and immediately went into it upon reaching the front yard. When I reached him I saw that he was pointing at the new garden that I had started in the boulevard. How did he know that was what I was going to work on? What a smart doggy.

We put Invisible Fencing two years ago and what a difference it has made in him! He doesn't submissively pee on a regular basis anymore. We can actually leave him outside longer because he barks less. And he is far more able to handle guests. Although he is still useful when we get solicitors. They get to be in quite a hurry when a dog pees on their leg!