Sterling’s Bet I Will
"Better"
March 13, 2003
“The Best Beast” is a recent addition to the household; she came from my friend Dana Pike. I had known for over a year that Dana was having serious problems with Better and her older JRT, Maybie. They had to be separated at all times. There had been a couple of very nasty fights and some near misses and the final straw came when Better tried to go through a patio door to get to Maybie!!!
When Dana mentioned that she was seriously considering placing her, I was just starting to look for another small dog. Trump was now retired but I wasn’t sure how I could fill his shoes. I said I would try Better out at home and see what happened. She arrived in August 2006 and after careful introduction to my pack, with me keeping a fairly close eye on things—for example never letting Better sleep on my lap or back of my head on the couch without calling one of my dogs over to visit with me, not letting her take toys from the others, feeding her last and being quite diligent about things in general for the first 10-12 weeks—Better has fit in just fine. She really is a lovely dog, she loves people and gets on with all dogs. She just clashed terribly with Maybie (and probably would do again with another strong JRT bitch).
Dana had really put some good training into Better, but understandably agility took a back seat when she came to me. I really wanted to give her the best chance I could of fitting in and that was my primary focus.
One year later we are now getting into agility training and progressing nicely. Better would love USDAA and AKC to allow toys and treats in the ring so that she could receive her rewards in a more timely fashion, but as that will never happen, she has had to learn to work and play by the rules and be confident and run without the “instant gratification” that she would like. I’m excited to say that she is starting to run like I know she can and her confidence in the ring is growing.
She has seen Dana a couple of times in September and October 2007 and was really happy to see her, jumped around, clacked her teeth and threw in a few ‘helicopters’ and then came back and stuck with me. It is never easy to re-home a dog, but this was a good decision. Good for Better, good for Dana and her dog’s and good for me. Trump says it’s good for him too—he now has a hunting buddy and isn’t the only short one!
