Jack Russell Story Jack Russell Story
Story Name: Sid Vicious
From: Charlotte Sanders
My Jack Russell Story:
I bought Sid (Sid Vicious, The Terror of Tiny Town, Sidalicious, Sidney Poitier) from a devoted breeder in January. He is all white and quite large and muscular - he last weighed in at 25 pounds. He is the joy of my life. He is a perfect gentlemen but for his one and only destructive habit - shredding soccer balls and frisbees. (I play Ultimate Frisbee, and he is about to get banished from the fields. He's lucky he's so cute).
Several weeks ago I decided to get him a girlfriend from the animal shelter. After one of the truly most agonizing decisions of my life, I rescued a beautiful 6 month old mix (I'm guessing German Shepherd and Corgi) and named her Spice Girl.
Sid adores his consort Spice Girl. I think she genuinely likes him and enjoys frolicking and wrestling with him, but I suspect she is calculatingly ambitious and is gunning for alpha position. Poor lovestruck Sid - he is blissfully unaware that he is about to be usurped of his role as number one dog. It really is fascinating to observe their little power struggles. There is a line of demarcation about 20 inches from the 10 pound bag of Puppy Chow that she has staked out. Sid cannot cross this line without dire consequences. She'll pretend to nap by it and wait for him to come near it, then growl ferociously and lunge. In his turn, Sid lords it over her that he gets to sleep under the covers near my feet. (I make her sleep outside the covers at the end of the bed - she wiggles too much and also picks up burrs in her longer coat. I can never seem to get them all out by bedtime, and I'm sick of rolling over on them in my sleep.) He makes an ostentatious production of going under the covers and settling in just the right spot, usually at my feet or the crook of my knees, gloating all the while when I pull back Spice Girl and restrict her to the foot of the bed.
If you have the yard space and room, I highly recommend two dogs. Dogs are pack animals and Sid is so much happier now and much less emotionally dependent on me. Watching them play, wrestle, and snuggle together provides endless entertainment and joy.