Goodbye to a canine mate

A few days ago we lost our  very dear friend Russell.

A fitting name for our feisty Jack Russell, a short smokestack of a dog, who, if was human, would have been a wrestler.  He walked with an air of cockiness which at times undermined the softness of his heart.  At the dawn of every morning he would set out to conduct what my father described as his 'morning constititional' and that was to check the boundary of my parent's property.  On the rare occasion he would discover an irregularity, usually along the unfenced western border where outsiders could be found, he would alert us back at the house with a riotous frenzy of barking.  We knew he would never leave that boundary line, so we would remark "there he goes again" knowing the strangers were safe unless of course they dared to cross.  Aside from this fuss, he was relatively a fuss-free little canine who trotted along like he had not a care in the world, always holding his head high and shoulders square - perhaps in case a 'doll' may cross his path, or a casting agent from Doggywood, but alas I feel that day never came.  He also loved teasing and rustling up a bit of mayhem with our neighbours which I am sure Pam and Mal miss nowadays.  Russ could mostly be found standing guard in a potplant at our back steps (Mum never did get a plant to grow in that pot), or seeking refuge from the heat in the laundry with his large list of furry friends. But whenever an unexpected guest (which equates to everyone in Russ' day) would dare to roll down our driveway, our boy would test their resolve to make that visit.  He would raise a particularly ferocious holler every time a local Italian farmer dropped in deliver a small sample of his crops - we never knew why, but Russ seemed to 'know' people, and anyway it helped to shorten the visit and give me enough time to hide to escape his lecherous smirk.  Where we went, Russ went - on the property that was, as a trip in the car upset his tummy.  As his muzzle turned grey his trot became more a swagger after near on 15 years, but his love for my mother never denied him being alongside as she would work in the garden or tend to the other animals. 

The passing of Russ has left a very big ache in our hearts.  Good bye old mate, you made a difference while you were here.