Never underestimate a Bull Terrier

With Leslie in Portland, I'm here in charge of the shop, the cats, and the subject of today's blog - my mini bull terrier, Joon.

Joon is an old lady now; she sleeps probably 20 hours a day, spends a lot of the rest of her time eating or peeing. But in her younger days - what a rapscallion!

I first got Joon when she was retired from the show ring and couldn't be bred due to a heart murmur. The woman I got her from warned me that Joon needed to crated when I wasn't home. One of my friends (who had never dealt with a bull terrier) said, "Oh Maureen, just dog-proof the kitchen. You can put a baby-gate on the door and let that be Joon's room while you're out."

First time I tried that, Joon got the doors open under the microwave cabinet and had herself a Tupperware party. Exit all my plastic containers as every single one had been chewed on. So now that cabinet was empty, so the kitchen was safe, right? Hah.

The next time I went out, Joon got the door open to the half-bath off the kitchen. She found a big jug of laundry detergent in there, somehow got it to the middle of the kitchen floor and started chomping on that. When I got home, there was a rapidly-spreading blue puddle in the middle of the floor, and Joon was walking around smacking her lips with distaste. Not knowing what would happen to a dog who drank Arm & Hammer for an evening cocktail, I called Angell Memorial (the wonderful animal hospital in Boston). The vet tech who answered the phone could hardly control herself. This was the funniest thing she'd heard in a while, and she really lost it when I reported that Joon was burping bubbles. That was the end of Joon's Reign of Kitchen Terror. Back to the crate went she.

On her second birthday, my neighbors and I had a birthday party in our shared yard with Joon and their lovable Golden Retriever, Dillon. Joon shook off her party hat, ate her own treats, stole Dillon's while nipping him on the nose, and then puked. I could imagine the story in the local paper "Teen strips naked at party, assaults boyfriend, vomits in public."

Her most recent birthday (her 13th) was much more sedate. I'm hoping to see at least a couple more for the old girl, as long as they're happy ones.