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   Jag, our terrier, has lived a long and active life. Mostly from his own doing, it has not been an easy life. He has been adopted more than once due to his propensity to hunt and kill anything in the area including the neighbors’ cats and chickens.  He has lived a comfortable last several years at our place since we needed an outside dog to control raccoons, opossums, rats, and mice. We were found to be a good home as we have no neighbors with cats or chickens.

   For the first several years of our coexistence, we have had a happy and mutually beneficial relationship. I would provide him with food and water, and he would occasionally bring a dead raccoon to the house that was larger than him. He would sometimes show injuries from his battles but nothing major. The fresh scars eventually blended in with the old, giving him somewhat of a grizzled looking face with tattered ears.

   He does have a few bad habits other than his proclivity to kill chickens and cats. When a person points a gun, he barks wildly and runs in the direction a person is pointing. This wild burst of excitement is caused by his belief that when I point a gun, I never miss, and he is going to get to go retrieve whatever I am aiming at. It gives away a person’s stealth mode if a little dog is running and barking at the intended prey. It does not matter if the target is a coyote or a metal target, Jag is going to charge in that direction.

   Jag also enjoys fishing. He does not like to be in a boat but would rather swim around the boat while people are trying to fish. I have tried pulling him out of the water and have him watch from inside the boat, but he will bail out at the most inopportune times.

   He also likes to dig up moles in the yard. Moles can make a mess of the lawn but a dog digging them up can make the mess much worse. A mole tunnel is usually three or four inches wide and will extend for several yards. By the time Jag finishes his dig for the mole, the track is a foot or two wide, several yards long and a foot or more deep, I have had to use the tractor to back fill his diggings, and I am not sure if he got the mole or not.

   Only recently, he has decided to go to Damon’s house at every opportunity. Jag sleeps in the heated garage at night. When I let him out in the morning, if it is not raining or snowing, he will quietly sneak off to our son’s place, which is 2.3 miles away. When he gets there, he spends time with Damon’s dog or sleeps on the porch. He does not stop by the neighbors and kill chickens or do anything else destructive, he just hangs out. Toward evening, either I go get him or Damon brings him home when he gets off work. Jag then seems content to eat his supper and go to bed in the garage. When I let him out before I go to bed, he comes right back in after taking care of business. The next day, we repeat the process.

   Jag reminds me of a little old man, set in his ways. He wants to go to Damon’s and nobody will stop him, short of tying him up. After the life he has lived up to this point, I hate to tie him. He seems to be getting into shape and seems more limber since he started his exercise program. He also seems to enjoy the daily ride home.

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