More JRT Photos

More Jack Russell Photos

Seagull Rush

Seagull Faith

Seagull Skye

I need a drink

big puppy yawn

Yes, Jack Russell's LOVE water......

don't you get the connection...

SEAGULL...water?

Seagull Sadonna & Seagull White Dog

'what can we roll in next?'

Seagull & Orion dogs

hunting in Tennessee

"is it cold guys?"

Earnie 'resting'

Seagull Cissy

doing her thing underground

Seagull Leeward

(Ashley)

Seagull Erin

Seagull Elliott

Seagull Bailey

'puppy play'

Seagull Elliott

"...shall we swim?"

Orion Rowdy

"hunting is a dirty job..."

Orion Rowdy

Buddy Anderson says ...."payback time..."

Seagull Kahula

"where is that nasty varmint?"

Seagull Windward

(Tweety)

Seagull Jaguar

"yes, I am chilling..."

Seagull Sullivan

"I never get all my computer work done!..."

Seagull Katie

Seagull Bailey

"...somebody tooted....

Orion Coach

"Yes,I am a handsome boy!"

Nakita & Buddy

"....now WHO is in control?"

Seagull Surfer puppies

Willow looking over her next hunting area....

"I think I can escape..no one will see me..."

Button Top Megan of Seagull

Seagull Haliyard, Jeffrey, Windward, Leeward

'just hanging'.....

Orion Rowdy

"...where did that critter go?"

Seagull Spinnaker

(Spinner)

Seagull Katie....

"come out ...wherever you are..."

Seagull Java

Venom of Seagull

Venom of Seagull

Silversmith Harry Scarry

BT Megan of Seagull

"being 14, means I can sleep when and where I want..."

Seagull Haliyard

" I am always H A P P Y !!"

Seagull Sullivan

"cool JR's should NOT

have to be subjected to this...."

Gunsmoke Copper of Seagull

Seagull Kahula

"I'm tired, I'll just rest here for a minute..."

Seagull Katie

"I KNOW there's a rat in here somewhere...."

A few Seagull Ribbons.....

"is it morning yet?"

"I must rest here... tooooo tired ..."

Seagull Jeffrey

............what a character!

Seagull Corky

"formally attired for Mardi Gras - party time"

Seagull Cissy

in New York going after a groundhog

Seagull Leeward

"I'm ready for action...."

Seagull Windward

"what do you want?"

"yes, Jack Russell's go to ground...."

"sometimes you just have to roll..."

Harry running after lure

Hat Creek Vega

Harry running

Hat Creek Hunter

racing at Seagull Playday

Seagull Jibber

Three pups racing at Seagull Playday

Orion Rowdy about to swim!

Seagull Mercedes

after another vermit!

Seagull Erin

It is HOT in Texas!!!

"this is NOT how to potty train your puppy..."

Lynn's Dog house

(yes, this is in her living room...!")

Seagull Bailey working underground

Seagull Spinnaker

Seagull Ernie

"Just scratch my belly...p l e a s e ...."

Orion Elvis with his jacket

"It's cold up here in NY!"

Orion Norma Jean

Hunting

Seagull Kip

"MY treat!"

Seagull Bayou

Playing Tennis with JRT's

can be "interesting"!

"are you the one for me?"

"Mother would not approve

cleaning the dishes like this...."

Seagull Aquilla

Seagull Leeward

Seagull Sadonna

Seagull Blanco & Seagull Kemah

Seagull Bailey & Orion Rowdy

"someone needs a bath...again!"

Gunsmoke Copper of Seagull

Seagull Voyager

Seagull Lenox in her crate

Seagull Kemah in her pen

Seagull Sadonna

'something smeels good'

Orion Norma Jean

"Don't you just L O V E Jack Russell's?"

By THERESA WILLINGHAM

Published December 22, 2004

Our dog recently ate seven ounces of Baker's chocolate and a half-ounce of gourmet ground coffee and swallowed a marble, to boot. None of these things is part of recommended canine diet. Chocolate is toxic to dogs - a one-ounce square of Baker's chocolate can kill a 10-pound dog, and it's a wonder seven ounces didn't do in our 15-pound dachshund. Coffee holds the same dangers.

The whys and wherefores of this accident are irrelevant. Everyone feels badly enough already. The upshot of the whole thing is that the vet bills totalled than $1,200. Coming on the heels of a rough year and a recent layoff, our little dog effectively ate Christmas.

On the way home from the vet with our pooch, groggy and sore after surgery to remove the offending blue marble, we joked gently about all the things that $1,200 could buy. "Dexter ate a 24-inch flat screen LCD TV," my husband said, laughing. "He ate a lot of video games," my son chimed in. "He ate a used car," one of my daughters added. "A very old and very used one," her father started to correct her. But then we remembered we'd sold our old car for $300 and agreed that Dexter had eaten the equivalent of four old minivans.

Once home, everyone fawned over our sick little dog without reproach, glad he was home and on the mend, the $1,200 and abandoned Christmas gift ideas irrelevant. Because, truth be told, we're still in debt to Dexter for all he's done for us in the last couple of years. We adopted him as something of immersion therapy for our then-10-year-old son, who was suffering from an increasingly unreasonable and debilitating fear of dogs. Like many phobias, cynaphobia, the medical term for fear of dogs, doesn't require any negative experiences to exist. Our son's fears had grown to such proportions he couldn't walk down the street or ride his bike without heart-racing anxiety on just seeing a dog.

When we adopted Dexter from a breed rescue group, he was a year and a half old, weighed 13 pounds and stood a foot high at the shoulders. Our daughters were delighted. Our son wouldn't come out of his room for three days. He crawled across the tops of chairs to get to the table to eat and then crawled back across them to return to his room. On the fourth day, he sat on a stool and observed the dog, who looked back questioningly with those irresistible dark brown eyes of his. At the end of a week, our son was carrying the dog around the house. After a few weeks, he was more comfortable with other dogs. Now, two years later, he still doesn't care for large dogs, but he's not fearful and he roams the neighborhood with a confidence that's carried over to other areas of his life. He's playing piano, riding horses, doing well in his studies and generally a happy-go-lucky kid with a dog. And that's just what Dexter did for our son.

Each person in the family has a special and unique relationship with the dog. He plays gently and obligingly with our son. With my rambunctious, outgoing daughter, he races and wrestles. He leans against my quiet daughter like a cat, savoring her strokes. And while originally suspicious of men, Dexter adores my husband. They play wild games of chase and spend warm devoted moments snoozing. I had never owned a dog before and was concerned about how long I could be away from home; picking up after the dog in addition to the rest of the family, who at least could flush; annual shots; tags and whatever other dog ownership issues were bound to occur. But I found that walks took on new meaning with a little dog trotting at my side. An occasionally-bizarre meaning, as we sometimes stopped every few feet so Dexter could check what the girls called his "pee mail" at every post and trunk. But I walk more briskly and more often now. And coming home has never been so rewarding!

No one else in the family greets me so ecstatically and with such genuine joy. Whether I've been gone 15 minutes or a day, Dexter is enormously and unapologetically glad to see me. He's a cuddler, shamelessly squeezing between the desk and my lap while I work, cruising from lap to lap while we watch TV at night. He won't crawl into his bed until the last family member is in his or hers, and he lies curled up beside us until morning, when he starts his equal opportunity doting all over again.

He has taught us patience, charity and the value of forgiveness. He never holds grudges, whether his tail is accidentally stepped upon, or he's ordered out of the kitchen for being underfoot. He certainly didn't like the vet's office during the chocolate Incident. But when we came to take him home, he clearly didn't associate us with his aches and pains. Through the haze of drugs after his surgery, he wagged his tail vigorously when he saw us.

Dogs aren't for the shallow and self-absorbed. They're childlike but without the growing cognizance and independence of children. We are always their heroes; they're always our friends. Even with three children and a quarter-century marriage, I didn't fully understand unconditional love until Dexter came into our lives. The obligation to live up to such devotion and loyalty can be a daunting task and a humbling experience. Yes, our dog ate Christmas. But the gifts he's given us are priceless and more enduring than anything we could ever put under the tree and more than we could ever repay.

Cindi Anderson, a very dear friend,shared the following:

Dear Lord,

Please watch over our humans, they are so weak. They have no claws or teeth, they can't run fast or fly away, neither can they burrow or build a nest in which to be safe. They smell bad, do strange things that aren't altogether intelligent, have no real ability to communicate with us, although we are able to figure out what they want.

Lord, grant US the ability to watch over our humans, care for them, cheer them when they are down, make them laugh, smile, and shower them with our love. We pray that we can bring a little joy into their otherwise mundane existence and preserve the emotional and perhaps even psychic link that we used to all share millions of years ago, but that they have sadly forgotten.

Lord...please let them know that when we insist on getting attention, its so we can check their emotional well being and boost their morale. When we pester them for different foods, toys, etc, its so they will learn to see us in ways they hadn't considered, bringing them closer and back into the fold of Nature which they are part of, but keep forgetting about. They expect us to know what they want even though sometimes they don't know what we want. Some of them really try and we know they love us but some of them are so dumb, yet our love for them remains intensely unfaltering.

Lord, when we die, please make sure to send us ahead to where ever our humans are going to be, so we can pave the way for them, vouch for them and be there for them when they too die. Their souls are weighed by the good they've done in life, our souls are weighed by the good we've caused them to do.... please allow us to continue proving that humans are worth the effort. You placed these humans in dominion over us, but you charged us with the task of caring for them and SHOWING them your love every day, through us.

God bless these mere mortal humans, they know not that we are their guardian angels sent in love to task them so that they may grow to be part of your plan. You and Us God......we'll bring them back into the fold.....you and us.