Curious Jack Russel Terrier Clinton (CJ)

In February of 2006 I finally got my life long wish: a little puppy dog. When I walked into the owner's house, I found him laying with his sister on a doggy bed next to a glass door with the sun shining on him. He reminded me of a sloth.

I bought him and picked him up. He was small enough to fit into both palms of my hands. I held him all the way home. We stopped at the local Food Giant to buy him a bed and some food, and while we were stopped I let my grip on him loose enough for him to move around. He began to climb up my shoulder and sniff at me and my seat belt. That's when I decided to name him Curious. "But Curious is such a weird name," my eleven year old mind said, so I decided CJ would be appropriate. It stood for Curious Jack Russell Terrier Clinton.

CJ at a very young age.

I brought him home and my brother fell in love. He trotted around the house, checking everything out. He was so cute. I was in love. My brother kept calling him "boy" though, despite my efforts at teaching him his name.

So together we grew.

We would play a game outside where I'd chase him, or just intimidate him. He was so fast, and he ran with his back legs like a bunny. It was crazy.

He was also very photogenic. He knew when a camera was on him, and he would pose. I have a lot of pictures of him chewing his bone or sleeping. I'll make a masterpost of those later.

CJ helped me through the hard times. I remember on one of the worst days of my life in 2007 I came home alone and cried. I cried all around the house, and I pushed CJ away. But finally, when I was weak and just wanted to sleep, CJ climbed up on top of me on the couch, and slept with me.

He did that a lot with me when I was angry; he'd curl up on the couch with me and go to sleep. He was a stress reliever.

CJ was laying on my bed when I was cleaning my room. I didn't know, so I accidentally piled everything up on him.

Granted, we did have our problems. We fought a lot. He ate all my stuff: clothes, bracelets, pens and pencils, everything. I yelled at him a lot, and I was the one that had to discipline him most of the time. It hurt our relationship, but we still loved each other.

CJ asleep on my bed.

CJ's favorite past time, as he grew older, was sleeping. He was always asleep. He slept all day and all night. He was always so cute when he slept.

Last week he got sick. He wouldn't eat and he was hurting. He couldn't jump up like he used to be able to. My dad took him to the vet Saturday and the vet  said CJ had a rib bone (which my dad had fed him a few nights ago) stuck in his system, so they gave him a laxative and pain reliever and sent him home.

CJ didn't get better.

He lost his ability to walk Sunday. He would just lay around, or scoot around on his butt. His front paws worked, but his back legs didn't. Dad took him back to the vet Monday.

When I got home Monday afternoon I found out the vet took CJ and was keeping him for overnight care and performing tests on him. My brother talked to the vet on the phone, and they said he should be home by the next day.

When I got home Tuesday, October 4th, 2011, CJ was still not home.

CJ a year or so ago.

At 8:30 PM my mom came in and said, "Stephanie, I need to talk to you about something." I was frightened. I thought she'd say I couldn't go to New York, but what she did say was so much worse, "We had to put CJ to sleep."

I was angry to say the least, furious. My dog, my puppy, my only dog ever, is dead. My parents put him to sleep that morning without telling me. Something was wrong with his back, and we couldn't afford the surgery that could maybe fix him, so we just put him to sleep.

I will always remember my dog, my puppy, Curious Jack Russel Terrier Clinton.

I'll remember him riding the lawn mower with my dad, screeching whenever we got home, scratching on the bathroom door to be let out, running around the yard for no reason, chasing chipmunks, barking at the bird in our fireplace, crying when my cousin kicked him, licking our plates, begging for food, sniffing me up and down when I'd come back from a long trip, and most of all, loving me.

I miss my dog. I miss my puppy. But I believe he feels better now, and that's all I wanted for him.