Puppy Stories

"As I write this, my puppy is digging holes. She has dug four holes in my flower beds that are several times bigger than herself today. She also pulled the stuffing out of a stuffed animal, unwound a ball of string in the garden, dug a hole in my leather couch, raided the wastebaskets, chewed up my favorite shoe, chewed through my phone cord and tore apart some insulation batting. When you told me that Jack Russell's had more energy than two year old twins on speed, I laughed. Now I know what you meant! How can I train her to behave more like Lassie??"

Laurie adopted a terrier puppy, Tippy, at four months from a top breeder. She trained him in obedience and agility. They developed a deep partnership and became an inseperable team. They won awards at many shows. At 5 years old, Tippy began scratching at his eyes in discomfort. Laurie had him tested and found that he had a very painful disease, Primary Lens Luxation that would leave him blind eventually. She talked to the vet about surgery, but found that a temporary measure would relieve the pain and still leave Tippy with blurred vision, but it would cost about $2,000 per eye. The vet advised her to either do the surgery, or to use drugs to relieve his pain and have his eyes removed. He told her that she had a choice of leaving the eye sockets sewed shut or replacing the eyes with ceramic replacements. Laurie knew this decision would be difficult, she weighed the odds, but no matter what she decided to do, it would be very difficult. She opted to remove Tippy's eyes because she did not have the money for the surgery. When she picked Tippy up at the vets, she cried into his neck. She asked herself how could she help others avoid this heartache?

Chaos is a beautiful terrier, adopted as a 8 week old pup, she came home to a loving family of five. Being the typical terrier, she was full of life, curiosity and energy. The family loved her antics and her playfulness but they left her alone 6 hours a day locked in the garage. Chaos filled her day with activities, barking, escaping, chewing the family's camping gear and digging large holes in the sheet rock. The family took her to one puppy obedience class expecting to 'fix what was wrong' with the pup but had little luck as the training was not consistently reinforced in the family of five. The family was distraught, they loved the terrier and all of her intelligent characteristics but they did not know how to make her behave up to their standards. Eventually, as the kids grew older and Chaos was left in the back yard more and more without attention, Chaos began to bark and dig. The terrier's medical needs were not met and her teeth were abcessing and creating secondary health problems. The family was experiencing turmoil as well, the kids were teenagers and the parents had decided to separate. With great emotion, Chaos was finally given up to the JRT rescue at 3 years old.