Jealousy as a Jack Russell Terrier

This past weekend I was privleged enough - or so I started my trip - to go and take a wild ride up to see my favorite cousin Roxy. Now, normally I can't get enough of Roxy what with her beautiful white coat and unsuspecting spots and mostly because she hides all her bones for me to dig out and chew on. But this time, something was adrift. Roxy was not her usual self. I mean, we are cousins and though I do occassionally try to kiss her, she usually sets me straight pretty fast. Not only did she not put up with my kissing this time, she also revealed another side of her puppy self...and I was shocked!

I have heard all kinds of untrue things about Jack Russells in comparison to the best breed 'o dog (dachsies...in case you were having a brain fart...do those smell). Humans say they are aggressive and overly energetic and potentially even destructive! Roxy and her kin have always been so sweet to me...well, one on one...when all three of them are together (Ira her brother and Lulu her mommy live in NH) they do this stupid thing of acting like a pack (till their humans put a stop to that...but that is another topic and another story). Usually, Roxy and I wrestle on her carpet and I let her chew my ears like her favorite squeak toy. Occassionally, I'll get a lick in where I want it when she is trying to use me as her own personal hurdle.

But see, this time...the ugly purple-eyed jealousy monster reared its nasty head. {Interjection - In the human world, jealously is the green-eyed monster. In the dog world, she is purple because there are not too many lovely things that I can think of that are purple that I would want to eat and I can think of plenty of green things that I do love to eat. Oh wait, blackberries and raspberries are purple...and eggplant...so jealousy is none of those purples...she is a darker, more brooding shade of purple.}

I was sitting on the floor chewing on a lovely pig-ear bone and Roxy was on the couch. My human attempted to pry the bone from the depths of my jaw...well, I got a little snappy and curled my lips and let out a little savage snarl to let her know that I was NOT happy with her chosen action. The human couldn't take the hint and tried to make me stop by yelling, "bad dog" at me. {Interjection #2: You know, there was a time and a place that phrase used to make me feel about as tall as the top of my toes. But not anymore, all I have to do to win the human over is give her a lick on the nose and roll over to let her rub my belly. I think those humans had better come up with more drastic means of correcting us if they ever intend to "train" us. HA! Like we are trainable! Little do they know, we canines are slowly taking over the world...}

Anyways, Super Roxy flew into the commotion and rolled me over on my back and started to assault me with her low, growling bark. Her teeth never made contact with my coat but nonetheless I let out my high pitched squeal to get my human's attention {Interjection #3: I think that it is very important that every canine has an approved method of gaining the attention of a human when they find themselves in a compromising position. You can imagine that I run into this problem quite frequently as I am so darn cute, cuddly and talented!!}

My human rushed to my rescue and freed me from the not-so-tender embrace that Roxy had me in. She cooed and hushed me till I stopped shaking and I even convinced Roxy's human to give me several treats (ok, minor embellishment here).

Roxy didn't like the royal treatment that I was getting. For the rest of the morning while the humans were around, she kept on growling at me and rolling her eyes and telling me what a baby I was. But I know the truth...she was JEALOUS! She wanted to be the hero and instead she was the culprit of crime. She wanted to be adored and fawned over...sorry, puppy...there is only room enough for one of us in this canine world! I mean, my human may joke that she is going to take her home for good with us one day, but I think that she knows deep down that I would pee on every last square inch of her carpet if she became multi-canined.

Roxy, I hope you read this. Roxy, I hope we can be friends ago. Roxy, I'm gonna tell all my loving and adoring fans to check out your very own website on Dogster.

Adoring Fans: Please click on the title of this post to see Roxy's Dogster page. She is about the cutest they have to offer. Leave her a bone or 17 because she is a little on the skinny side! Though I must applaud her efforts of late as she has been getting into anything and everything that she can reach in such a Frankie-esque manner that I can't help but hope that I am slowly but surely rubbing off on her. Oh, and her predecessor...I guess he would be Roxy's uncle...the Wee Willie Willa Wa of the Yorkshire Terrier breed...was the one who taught me how to lift my leg...and to that I will be forever indebted to Roxy and her brother, sister and aunt!