I’ve had many dogs in my life, but my Jack Russell Terrier, Ringo, is the most precious dog I’ve ever owned. He was given to us when he was only two weeks old, much too young to have been taken away from his Mother. My husband and I had just lost our old friend, Buster, a Boston Terrier, of fourteen-years and we were suffering terribly. Our Pastor went to Tennessee and saw these Jack Russell puppies and he thought of our heartbreak and brought back three of the puppies and he gave us a choice of the three. When we accepted our reddish/white puppy, he actually fit perfect in the palm of my husband’s hand...it was as if he knew what to do from the beginning of our adoption. We immediately started taking him out every hour or so and he was trained quickly to go outdoors. He never once, chewed up any furniture, clothes, household items, shoes, etc., it was as if he knew not to get into trouble.
As a baby, he slept on the end of the bed with us and never caused any conflict whatsoever. He would sleep through the night, and in fact, until we would get up in the mornings. Since my husband and I were both retired, we slept in late, and were amazed to know our new baby would sleep late too. He never once had an accident in the bed and would wake up in the best mood and give us laps of kisses on our faces. He captured our hearts and souls the first week he was with us. He would snuggle up against our bodies to sleep and push his small body as close as possible against ours. Ringo was becoming a newborn son to us. We would play hours with him and he brought a rejuvenation into our lonesome lives. We didn’t realize how lonesome and alone we had felt until he came along. We were deeply depressed and left feeling lonely as though we didn’t have anyone or anything close by to us to give our love to.
Ringo has such a powerful personality; he loves people and loves all the attention he can possibly get. When anyone comes to visit, he wraps his paws around their feet, and tries his best to keep them from leaving our house. I must say, he is the smartest dog we’ve ever had. We have to actually spell some words because he will know exactly what we are saying, if we don’t. Jack Russell’s are usually hyper dogs and I’ll not say Ringo is perfect, but he only gets hyper when company is on the scene. I believe part of this problem stems from lack of visitors to our house and a way of trying to protect us. When strangers are around, he doesn’t want anyone in his chairs or in ours and he’ll sit between my husband and me to ensure he’s close enough to us in case something goes awry.
We feel as though he is our child and we’re amazed at his intelligence. When one of us are sick, he’s there beside us, and every now and then he will nudge our hands for assurance we are alright. Ringo lets us know every day how grateful he is for his food, water, and new toys we buy for him. He never fails to thank us by lapping our arms or hand. Ringo’s one great dog, one of a kind, and one I would hate to ever lose, and in my opinion, Jack Russell Terrier’s have a heart of gold, love their masters, intelligent, easy to train, an excellent companion, a good runner, and one who loves people. As I said before, Ringo has so many good qualities, I could never have asked for a better companion and I’m so glad he came into our lives.
