A Boy And His Dog

Not too long ago Casey and I were changing some furniture around in some of the rooms. That always requires quite a bit of cleaning and throwing away...

I was using an antique dresser in the living room and using the drawers as storage for some magazines, CDs, and youth literature. Casey was going to move it into his bedroom so I had to clean out the drawers. I found a certificate that read, "Ol Roy Dog of The Year" and the recipient was Casey's dog, Jack.

Casey was seven years old when his grandpa gave Jack to him. Jack is now eleven years old. He was from a litter of Jack Russell Terrier pups born there at his grandpa's house, and Jack was the smallest. When we brought him home, he could wiggle through the links in a chain link fence. He surprised us all by becoming a fairly tall Jack Russell Terrier.

He has had many, many disasters in his dog life. He jumped from the bed of a moving pickup at 65 mph, skidded across the asphalt and lived to whine about it. The children carried him around and outside to relieve himself for several weeks. He limped around, but came out of it. He didn't seem to be affected by it later, as he is faster than lightning, and can jump as high as my 5' 2" head from a flat stance, even now. Other calamities in the "Saga of Jack" have been eating rat poison, being hit be a car (more than once I think), and numerous dog fights with dogs much, much, larger than he. We often joke that he must not be full blood Jack Russell, and must surely be part cat because of his nine lives.

He and Casey have grown up together. Jack is old now and is beginning to show a lot of gray. He likes something soft to sleep on now, and prefers the people furniture. He pretty much gets to sleep wherever he wants to sleep, unless we have guests, then he goes to "his room", the laundry room, where he has a big, fluffy pillow to keep his old arthritic bones off the hard floor.

Jack has been a good friend to Casey all these years. He's been a good pet, and is a fierce watchdog. He is also an accomplished escape artist, for he finds ways out of the backyard that I can not even see!

Casey spends much more time away from the house now. He is with his friends, or playing music in his free time and doesn't spend a lot of time with Jack anymore, yet Jack doesn't seem to hold it against him. They both look very happy and satisfied in the pictures.

Thanks, Jack.