Bell!

This is a picture I did a while ago of Bell. Bell was a Jack Russell Terrier. She was a fine dog, possibly one of the best dogs ever.

When you were with her, she seemed like the biggest dog in the world, just enormous. A bundle of big pointy teeth and enthusiasm. A bundle of big pointy teeth and enthusiasm. As I looked back at old photos of her, As I looked back at old photos of her, though, I was struck by how small she was. She’d almost fit in you hand.

She absolutely loved to play fetch. Another of her favorite things was the ‘hide it’ game. You’d ask her to sit and stay in one room of the house. As she sat there (quivering!), you’d go into another room of the house and hide one of her toys. Under a pillow, behind a sofa cushion, on a shelf, whatever.

Then go back and tell her “Get it!”. She’d whir off in a flurry of toenails clicking and dog hair flying. She’d rummage through the house sniffing until she found the toy. Then she’d bring it back to you. She’d be giddy with happiness - “Do it again! Do it again!”.

That’s one of the reasons I’m so glad that Jack (the Hound) is finally starting to enthusiastically play fetch. He’s part Jack Russell and part Hound(?), and has not been very excited about the game until recently. Then, a couple of weeks ago, it’s like a switch flipped in his head and he really ‘got’ playing fetch.

It’s really, really cool.