Pepper

After months of pestering my husband (yes – I am admitting to that) to get another dog, we finally welcomed Pepper into our family in late January.

Pepper joins our zoo consisting of Pixie – our 3-1/2 year old 12 pound female Jack Russell/Toy Fox terrier cross, two senior cats – Harris and Mildred, and a tank full of tropical fish.

I’d had such a blast training Pixie that I really wanted to have that experience again, as well, I thought that having another dog in the house would be good for Pixie as she’d have a playmate.

We did our research before adopting another dog,  and I knew that the experts pretty much all say that you are a bit nuts to have two female Jack Russell terriers in the house, even if they are spayed.  IF you HAVE to have another Jack Russell, a mixed pair – a male and a female – are better suited.  The problem is that Jack Russell terriers, although highly intelligent, are a bit on the hyper side and quite determined when they want to be.  The breed was developed in the UK to kill small animals like rabbits.  I don’t know about other breeds of dogs, but with Jack Russells, apparently, a female tends to be the alpha dog in a pack (hmm… they’ve got the right idea!).  So, the problem with having two female Jack Russell terriers is that you have two dogs who are bred to kill small things and both of them want to be the boss!

We considered several other dogs, all bigger than Pix, but for a variety of reasons – mostly that Pixie was terrified of them – we kept looking.  In part she was probably terrified because she hadn’t been socialized much with other dogs which was part of the reason I wanted to get another dog so we were in a sort of catch 22 situation.

After eliminating the possibility of adopting three different dogs in four days, we were feeling rather discouraged, and started questioning whether a dog closer to Pixie’s size might be less intimidating to her.  We were already well aware of the pluses where little dogs were concerned – easier to transport, easier to manage, and easier to clean up after in the backyard, and with the kids growing up and moving out soon (hopefully!), I started to think that we should probably select a dog that we could physically manage without having to take up body building!  When my son suggested that we go and look at Gypsy, the Jack Russell puppy at our local SPCA, I reluctantly agreed – not because I didn’t like the breed, because I definitely do, but because I’d done the research and knew that we could be asking for trouble.  But, we went to look at her just the same and after we stopped laughing at how short her legs were, we realized what a happy puppy she was.  Her inch long tail never stopped wagging as we walked her around the grounds of the shelter.  We were smitten.  The meet and greet with Pixie went somewhat easier than the previous ones with the other dogs, and with our application already approved to adopt, we brought Gypsy home on a trial basis to meet the rest of the family.

Gypsy and Pixie both sounded similar, and after several days of having both dogs come running when we called one or the other, we decided we had to change Gypsy’s name, and Pepper was the only suggestion that we could all agree on.  So Pepper she became and I was surprised at how quickly she learned her new name.

It was rough going at first.  Pixie didn’t easily relinquish her ‘only pooch’ status in the family, and at one point, we went so far as to put matching muzzles on them along with boots on their front feet, so that in theory they could mingle without risking life or limb to do so.  They looked so depressed, lying side by side on the sofa in their ‘gimp’ masks.

Initially they fought ferociously about 60% of the time, and by ferociously I mean curled lips, gnashing teeth, growling and barking to express their death wishes.  All very scary!  We’d have to intercept quickly.  Pixie was usually the aggressor, and I’m sure from her perspective, Pepper was the intruder, and she was protecting who and what was hers.  I spent a lot of time questioning whether we’d made a serious mistake.    We knew from day one that we would never be able to leave them alone unattended, and that although Pixie had the run of the house, Pepper would have to be crated while we were away.   Image your children fighting over toys and treats and then imagine them sufficiently skilled enough to kill each other.  We quickly learned which toys triggered their spats and that we were risking life and limb (theirs!)  if we accidentally dropped a morsel of food on the floor.  Now that we’re better trained, after nearly two months, I’d say they probably only fight 5% of the time.

One of the things we’ve done to minimize problems between them is to walk them regularly – every day, pretty much regardless of weather or schedules – and it seems to work.  And, yes, I’ve become one of those crazy middle aged(ish) women who dresses her dogs up – in matching outfits.  Mostly for purely practical reasons, i.e. Pixie freezes in cool temperatures and Pepper waddles through mud and puddles and gets filthy, they have an extensive wardrobe of coats, and matching t-shirts which are actually cheap infant t-shirts from Walmart in size 3 months.  But, they do look cute and no sillier than a lot of other dogs, that I see leading their owners along the sidewalks, wearing hair barrets and ribbons!  With Pepper as a member of our family, we’ve all been benefiting from walking more.

Pepper is a sweetheart.  She arrived at our SPCA in early December as a stray at the estimated age of about 4 months old.  It’s hard to imagine that she’d been passed over until the end of January when we brought her home.  She’s short and squat and barrel shaped, and as such has acquired nicknames like Stumpy and Droopy Drawers and Pudge.  Is it considered politically incorrect to nickname your dog like that?  At any rate, she’s always eager to please and comes regardless wagging her tiny tuft of a tail non-stop and cocking her head as if straining to understand our every spoken word.  Her coat is much thicker than Pixie’s and she’s covered in little black spots similar to a Dalmatian.  Far more rough and tumble than our delicate little flower Pix, she loves to gallop through mud and puddles that are sometimes so deep I expect she’ll have to dog paddle through them.  She darts for piles of snow and rolls in it on her back in delight.  She’s also very smart and quickly caught up to Pixie’s repertoire of tricks – sit, shake, down, over, etc. – and when left to entertain herself, she’ll take her ball to the top of the staircase, drop it down the stairs, race to collect it and repeat the process all over again which I think is brilliant!

For now she has accepted Pixie as the alpha dog, and as unfair as it seems to us as humans without a pack mentality, she will relinquish her toys to Pixie when glared at by the tiny but taller terror.  Sometimes, if she thinks she’s been cornered, she’ll just freeze like a wild animal caught in the headlights as if trying to camouflage herself with her surroundings.  Occasionally, she’ll challenge Pixie (that 5% of the time) if she really doesn’t want to part with a treasured possession and that’s when the fur flies – literally!  We have been warned that there is a good chance as Pepper becomes a ‘teenager’ that she’ll challenge Pixie’s authority and the fight will be on to determine who will be the boss dog which sounds very redneck like something out of Dukes of Hazard!  We will deal with that if and when it happens but, fingers crossed Pepper stays happy and obliging.

But for now life is good.  They play tag together, cuddle together, groom each other, eat from the same dish, and contentedly walk side by side on their leashes when we go for ‘walkies’.

I’d like to leave you with one final thought on the subject of Pepper and Pixie.  Be careful what you name your pets.  We rather quickly selected the name Pepper for the new puppy to avoid the confusion of the two similar names.  The name in itself is fine, but not so long ago, I was walking them, and to keep them on track as they were getting distracted, I kept talking to them “Come on Picki” (a nickname Pixie’s acquired), “Come on Pepper” and after repeating this several times in quick succession, I accidentally merged the names and called “Come on Pe-ck-er”!  I know now that I must never walk my dogs after a glass of wine!

Keep in mind too that if you have room in your heart and home, consider adopting a pet from a local shelter and you’ll have a friend for life.