Jackson – Hero Hound – Photo: L. Weikel

Meet Jackson

Meet Jackson. Jackson is a Rat Terrier who loses his mind every single time we walk past his house. He’s so ‘on alert’ that he begins talking smack at us before we’re even near his family’s property line. As we walk by, he chases us from one end of his house to the other, through the side door, out along the family’s fence and back again. He tears back into the house and jumps onto the back of a couch threatening us with imminent shredding as he glares and bares his teeth and stamps his feet at us through the home’s picture window. (Over and over again. Relentlessly.)

Naturally, we’re friendly with Jackson’s mommy and daddy, and we’ve often commiserated on the relentless cacophony of yipping and yapping he hurls at anyone who even thinks about approaching within a quarter mile perimeter of his home. And yes, I mean ‘his’ home. He hurls abuse at and wards off everyone from his home and his mommy – even his daddy gets the Jackson treatment.

Jackson – Ever Vigilant – Photo: L. Weikel

Heroic Hound

Jackson’s parents assure us that they can almost – sometimes – block out the constant stream of verbal doggie outrage. I believe it; I’m sure it’s true, because sometimes I am so fascinated by his antics that I barely hear the smack talk. Indeed, the predictability of his outrage makes me smile. I would miss him if he didn’t zoom back and forth issuing threats of our imminent demise – every single time he sees us.

He’s a protector.

And over the weekend, he earned his place as Hero Hound in the Annals of Canine Hearth and Home Defense.

As his mommy relayed to me this evening, yesterday afternoon yet another of the usual background noises of her home unexpectedly took on a different tenor. All of a sudden, she realized that the usual clucking of her chickens sounded peculiar. Through the window of her back door, she saw a hawk circling above her brood and then swoop down and land on one of her chickens. She opened the door with the intention of yelling at the hawk when Jackson-the-Wildman tore out the door. Before she could even set one foot outside, he pounced on the hawk and tore it off ‘his’ chicken. Nothing but the hawk’s self-esteem was wounded in the process.

Jackson, meanwhile, stood proudly beside his rattled charge, his tiny tan chest swelling with the heart of a lion on the savannah who’s just defended his pride from the threat of jackals.

Probably Doing Recon – Photo: L. Weikel

Reward

Jackson feasted on a dinner of scrambled eggs last night. His hen gratefully offered them as tribute to her protector. Her hero.

I think we can all agree, Jackson is without a doubt a really Good Boy. And his home is safer because of him.

Jackson – Always Ready to Take You On – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+97)