Home Again

Happy to be home. Molly and the pups are happy too.





Silly Scout.

What I Like About You

Having Jacks is humbling. Sitting in the waiting room at the vets with all the other sedate shepherds, retrievers and tabbies and my dog is the only one going nuts. I told my vet I feel like a bad mother trying to explain that my child has a condition. She says not to worry. Jacks are excitable by nature and mine are good natured little dogs .... she's met some that aren't.

So now that I've shared the photo's of my "children" let me tell you what I like about them:


~ Trouser is settled and mature. He knows the house rules and practically wipes his feet when he comes in the door. While he likes the occasional recognition and pat on the head he is very low maintenance.


~ Scout yodels. While Trouser has a straight forward "woof" Scout has a range of sound from disappointment and dispare to gee whiz and I'm lonely or seriously annoyed. Sometimes I think their yapping gets to the neighbors but I could never shush her with a shock collar ..... I enjoy her vocals too much.


~ Molly is a restful presence at the end of the day. Sometimes she sits on the back of my chair. She seems to be interested when I hum and pats me on the head with her paw. Guess she thinks I'm purring. She likes me so she will put up with tight hugs and even a belly rub. It's funny to watch her bite the chair while I rub her belly. I don't think she really likes it.


I would tell you more about my boys but they are men now. They know how I feel.


And I want foster kids.

Scout & Phillie Follie

Phillie Follie was our first Jack. She was a freebie given with the promise that if it didn't work out we could regift. Phillie was something of a school marm. In her litle dog brain she deemed some things as very important and necessary to enforce ..... like telling Trouser not to touch the hot dogs at the cookout or Riley (Josh and Amanda's once upon a dog) not to touch the presents under the tree. At her best she was a little comforter. Always bedside if you had the flu or even just sleeping in. At her worst she was suspicious of all medication and could ferret a pill out of any meatball. RIP little pup.


Jon took Phillie's passing the hardest and would not entertain the idea of a new dog for almost a year. But I went on line and started looking up past contacts. Sows Ear Farm referred me to the place where we had picked up Trouser near Camp David and yes they had a new litter of pups. It was suggested that we meet up with the breeder at a JR trial. We followed the directions to a private estate where owners and breeders were competing their Jacks in races, hunting and obstacle courses. It was interesting .... really. Like sports. You had to be there.


Eventually we located our breeder out of the many vans and buses parked on the lawn and we were introduced to the one female pup available. And she was a disappointment. Lethargic and unresponsive and nothing like the picture on-line. So I turned and much to the embaressment of the rest of my family pointed to a batch of puppies next door, "How about those puppies." The breeder tried to discourage me from investigating any further into the neighbors pups but I didn't feel obligated to someone who had given me false advertising. And so I walked over and began a dialogue.


Sure enough one of the pups was a female. I picked her up and she curled into the small of my neck. I put her down and she sat there and looked up at me like, "What ... I thought we had something." I had to agree we did so we paid the breeder and took our puppy home.

In the car we discussed the name .... Daisy came up .... Phillie Follie 2 .... Jon opted for Scout. I believe that is the name of Bruce Willis' daughter .... or is that just Rumor (hah!). Actually that didn't factor in ... Jon's summer reading was, To Kill A Mockingbird


What can I say about Scout ..... I could say she likes people but it's more like she needs people and can't be alone and she's a little sucubus. Before I had a digital camera we got a roll of film developed .... every picture of Scout she was wrapped around someone's head ... It's like the movie Alien and that thing that plasters onto your body unless of course it's very hot and she wants her space.