Buzzy-ness

Buzz is a Jack Russel Terrier. Crazy, smart, loyal, yes but also nearly 15. He is losing his Buzzy-ness. The crazy is getting more pervasive than the smart. The loyal is there. He loves us just as much although he can hardly see or hear us.

He also loves the biscuits he seems to now live for. He knows they are in the pantry and he still runs to it after being outside, even if he has just had an "accident" on the floor. The pantry door is hit with his nose and he will sit or stand there until someone opens it and tosses him one. His catch has changed quite a bit. Once upon a time he jumped for it quite gracefully and ran around, woo wooing at us and shaking with joy. Now he frantically scours the floor, sometimes even diving into the tile trying to eat a shadow instead of a biscuit. I try to hand him the biscuit to avoid any damage to his snout but he cannot see well enough and often ends up snapping my fingers instead.

There are instances of the return of naughty Buzz and I laugh and clean up after the spunky old dog. Recently he took his Kong and dropped it into his water. It was full of peanut butter and biscuits which explains why it is stil his favorite. Dropping it into his water was a new trick. He usually ran up the stairs and dropped it down onto the tile floor to loosen the peanut butter. Clever, I know. Whining and looking into his bowl he looked guilty but also desperate, (see photo) as though asking me to please get it out. His attempts to get it out without the benefit of thumbs had created a small peanutty pond on the tile. I took it out and handed it to him and he promptly walked slowly up the stairs and dropped it down onto the tiled floor.

More and more there are hours he sleeps so soundly and still that we tap him just to be sure he is still with us. Buzz has rarely until this last year been still. It is true that a Jack Russel would rather run than walk and would rather howl and talk than sit obediently on your lap. He is a big dog in a a 23 pound package and he is slowly losing his Buzzy-ness, slowly leaving us. I try to wrap my head around this. Try to understand he will soon not be here but he takes up so much room for his size and personality that our house will be too large without him.