This is our new puppy, a little girl Jack Russell, born April 16th. We've had her since June 5th. She is now almost ten weeks old and has Fred and me wound about her little tail. Did I say tail? Yes! She has a beautiful little tail! We took a chance and committed to her when she was only a day old so that we could save her tail. We sure lucked out. Georgie is smart, healthy, and crazily speckled to boot. She may not be showring material, but she's won our hearts. Already she knows come, sit, and speak, and is learning stay. I've been putting a soft pillow at the bottom of the stairs incase she loses her brakes going down. She hops to the second stair and takes a flying leap onto the pillow! She and Cole Porter, our six month old cat wrestle wildly. It gets a bit rough, but they both keep coming back for more. Spike, the ten-year-old Aussie tolerates the puppy amazingly. She hangs by her teeth from his ruff and helps herself to his chow. He just looks worried, with an occaisonal bark of reproof when she oversteps the limit of his endurance.
I want to start a revolution in this country and The American Kennel Club. The old nursery rhyme isn't so funny. Why would anyone want to cut off a puppy's tail? The American Veterinary Association has just come out against tail and ear docking. It's illegal in Europe and Australia. Dog need their tails for communication and balance (and snipping off ears is just plain dangerous and barbaric). The tail is the happy spirit of a dog. So let's see those stupid breed standards vanish!
