I recently shared with you that we built a dog gate for our naughty dogs, but I’ve never formally introduced you to one of our dogs, Kacy.
How terrible of me, considering that I love her so.
She is the sweetest, naughtiest, most awesome dog.
Yes, it is possible to have all those adjectives in the same sentence . . . if it’s a Jack Russell.
Sure, you’ve caught glimpses of her here and there, but that will just not suffice! No, you must suffer through a proud mama showing you her baby’s pictures.
This is the very first photo we saw of her.
I had been thinking I wanted a Jack Russell puppy not very seriously, and one day for no particular reason, I looked at the ads in the Austin newspaper.
I remember my exact exclamation to Mark: “Oh my God, Honey, you must come look at this puppy!”
He took one look and replied, “OK, if it’s a female, we’ll go get her.”
She was and is and we did.
She got lots of attention after we brought her home and we took plenty of baby photos of her in our photography studio in Austin.
This was her 2 month photo session.
This one shot (and the shot of her with the tennis ball) are my personal favorites.
For the first few years of her life, we also had an elderly husky named CJ that my husband brought to our marriage in 2007. CJ lived to be 16 years old, pretty rare for such a large dog.
She was such a good dog. We miss her still.
Kacy didn’t quite know what to think of CJ at first.
Kacy so badly wanted to play, but poor CJ just wanted to be left alone.
(Honestly, I think there was a little bit of jealously there. CJ had been the only dog for so long, and she loved our exclusive attention.)
Of course, our rambunctious newcomer irritated her older sister a time or two, and one time, Kacy bugged CJ just a little too much, and the gator like jaws nearly got their prize……..whew that was a close one!
A few days later, she got in this little ‘zen’ pose one evening next to CJ, which I thought was so cute.
She loved surveying and protecting her kingdom from our front porch in Austin during her first year of life.
Here she is at 3 months.
She learned very quickly how to walk on a leash . . .
There were lots of great smells and always new humans to meet!
She learned to sit on command very quickly.
Good girl!
At 4 months, her face started to change. Her snout started to elongate a bit more.
This is her ‘pretty in pink’ photo session.
Considering that a Jack Russell can be very aggressive if not socialized, we made an effort to take her to the dog park early in her life, even maybe before we really should have — she was so tiny!
Going to the dog park is still one of her favorite things to do.
It was always a challenge to catch her when it was time to go home.
Here she is saying: “What do you mean you want to go home?”
Once we successfully got her in the car, she usually collapsed from exhaustion.
I guess being around CJ taught her that big dogs were not scary just because of their size.
Big dogs also seemed to be equally fascinated with her because she’s so small.
(By the way, this is not a photo of Kacy and CJ, but another younger husky at the dog park.)
Due to all the playing she got to enjoy as a pup, she was all muscle by the time she was 10 months old.
When she was about this age, we began to wonder if she would have a growth spurt and get bigger . . . but she never has. She’s just small for a Jack Russell. We don’t know why — she didn’t appear to be the runt when we got her, and her parents seemed like a normal size.
It doesn’t bother us — we like that she’s so small.
After CJ died, Kacy was our only dog for a few years. Because we work from home and are self-employed, she went with us everywhere.
Even to antique shows!
She loves to go anywhere we go — when she sees her harness, she literally starts squealing.
Most of the time when she comes along with us, she rides on my lap in the front.
(I know she looks half starved in the above photo, but believe me, we feed her plenty. She just has more energy than a gerbil, and any fat burns off quickly.)
Every time we slow down, I open the window a bit for her to enjoy all the smells.
We always make her a bed in the back of our SUV, and she eventually goes back there and gets more comfortable.
Still, her impulse is to be close to us all the time.
This shot was taken at my mom’s house one Christmas. I think that’s the year she ate a glass ornament to the tune of a $1,500 vet bill.
Mark likes to think she’s Daddy’s Girl.
She does love her Daddy . . . and her Mama.
(By the way, this is our current office before we started remodeling it.)
High energy? Yes. Bitchy sometimes? Yes. Smart? We’re teaching her to drive. Stubborn? Absolutely! She’s a Jack Russell!
She’s such a sweet dog, especially when she’s tired.
When she does decide to call it a night, she gets pretty clingy and always burrows underneath the covers.
Can you tell how much we love her?
But that doesn’t even come close to the love she gives us every day.
P.S. Next up, you get to meet Molly!
Love the tennis ball shot. Such a doll!
She’s was such a cutie when she was a baby. Still is as a matter of fact. 🙂 Thanks, Cher!
Oh my gosh, I love your Kacy! “Throw the ball!, throw the ball!” (says the dog, bouncing like a pogo stick, from the Eddie Murphy movie Dr. Doolittle) – that’s the perfect vision of a Jack Russell, lol! She’s adorable. No wonder she’s so muscular. They’ll find their way of burning their energy, whether provided or not. I had a neighbor who had a WELL worn path on the inside perimeter of his yard fence, where his JRT used to chase cars as they would come up & around the hill. Can’t wait to meet your Molly too. 🙂
Your description of the two JRTs is spot on, Rita. I think all Jack Russell’s have energy to burn, that’s for sure. Those espressos I give her don’t help either. (kidding) Some of my friends don’t see why I love Jack Russells so, but I love their spunk, intelligence, and personalities!
Molly is our rescue dog, and so adorable. Hopefully, I’ll be able to work on that post this weekend!
Kim,
I was so thrilled to see that you too are a JRT owner. We found our Laci in 2010, shortly after our 15 yr old Cairn Terrier died. I too fell in love with her “face”, she was so sweet looking & was love at first sight. We adopted her from a humane assoc. nearby found through Petfinders online. Even though ours can be very naughty too (she can’t resist the trash)…we still put up with her because her cuteness supersedes the other! Laci, as with most JRT’s, is very smart and has learned so many tricks…she even sings. We have a YouTube video on the sidebar of my blog showing her talent!
Your Kacy is adorable, thanks for sharing her with us!
Judi
It’s regrettable that so many people adopt JRTs because they’re so adorable, yet abandon them to shelters because of their temperament. So happy you found yours at the humane association! We saw one at the humane society before we got Kacy that was a beautiful JRT, but she had not been socialized and the information about her specifically said she was not good around other dogs. We had CJ at the time, and knew that wouldn’t work. Checked out the video of Laci, and it’s adorable and so funny! I bet she brings much laughter to your home.
KIm,
The pictures of your Kacy are super cute!
We had to put our little 7 yr old papillon to sleep a month ago. It absolutely broke my heart…there are still days when I break into tears. People who are not pet lovers just can’t understand the love we feel for our 4 legged babies.
Your pictures reminded me of some of the funny sweet things our Chloe would do. Thanks for posting the pictures.
Your comment touched my heart. I reached out to a blogger not a week ago (because she had announced her golden retriever had died) and expressed the same sentiments to her. I don’t know how I will cope when Kacy dies. A previous coworker died many years ago from cancer, and she was buried with the ashes of two of her rottweilers. She was a tiny lady, but loved that breed. When I heard that at the funeral, I just started sobbing because I she loved her dogs so. I’ll probably do the same thing.
I know it sounds trite because it’s said so many times, but time does heal. Sending a prayer to you and Chloe.
Thank you Kim for your kind words. We have Chloe’s remains and I will have them put with my ashes when the time comes.
The really tragic part of this is she got spooked by another dog and jumped out an open third story open window so quickly we didn’t have time to react. She actually survived the fall but had to have her right front leg amputated. Then she broke her other front leg by jumping off the bed and to repair it was going to mean 4 more operations and even then it might not have been enough. As much as we hated to put her asleep we knew her quality of life would be severely compromised.
Oh my! That is horribly tragic. I completely understand making the decision to putting your dog to sleep. We had to put CJ down when the time came. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness.
She’s just adorable, and what terrific photographs!
Thanks, Laurel!
I just want to pick her up and kiss her! I can see why you’re such proud parents. 🙂
Thanks, Vickie. She’s lovable when she wants to be. 🙂
Last summer we rescued a Jack Russell cross – our first family dog. He is exactly as you describe your Kacy, trouble but oh so cute. He’s now 1 year old and quite protective of us as a family which can mean he gets a little aggressive with people walking past our house, but all in all we wouldn’t change him for a moment! His name is Bosley.
I think male JRTs also tend to be more aggressive than females. Granted, I’m no expert about such things. Your dog sounds so cute, and you share my love for pet names that end in ‘y’. (I had a dog named Libby and a cat named Clancy.) Maybe I’ll see a photo of your dog on your blog when I go explore . . . .
Hello Kim! Oh, I see Kacy is lovely, so cute….! Well, I think I can not be very objective, I also have a Jack Russell – “Coca”- and I’m totally in love with her, well, the whole family is.
I send you a link where you can see her in the last photos although she makes appearances in many others.
I have been enjoying your blog in silence for a while but today Kacy made me leave a comment.
A big hug from Argentina!
Besos
http://tazasycuentos.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/otro-mueble-verde-viejo.html
I’m so glad you finally decided to comment! Your dog is absolutely precious! The inquisitive expression on your puppy’s face is just like Kacy’s sometimes: when are you going to play with me, Mommy?
The countertop in your kitchen is amazing! Love it.
We have a jet who adopted us he lived a cross the road from us and just moved in with us. We fell in love with him he is house broke and so loveable. The neighbor let us have him and we are so grateful . He is very calm and loveable. My husband is a cancer patient and our little sprocket is his best buddy.
They are such loveable dogs! Very independent minded and spunky, but yet they love to cuddle! So delighted to hear your dog brings such love to you and your husband during this trying time.