The Story of Our Little Dogs, Lulu and Pippa

Hello Dear Reader,

Today I thought I would share the story of our inherited little dogs, Lulu and Pippa. Lulu is the mother and Pippa is her daughter. My late In-Laws always had dogs, especially when they had the farm, they always had multiple working dogs of all kinds of breeds. It was my late MIL's brother (D) who first got a Jack Russell, it was a big change for him as he had always had large breeds, that very first Jack Russell was named "Chips" and went on to live a very long, interesting and charmed life.

Mr Chips getting some attention

Chips decided, I guess, when he was middle aged (about 8) that he had had enough of the tough working dog life and started to wander over to the closest neighbour (quite a few KM's away) and spend the day with the older retired lady that lived there. This went on for many months, before (D) decided to give Chips to his sister (my late MIL) in the hope that he wouldn't wander anymore.

So begun a new slower retired life for Mr Chips, he was no longer a working dog but would still wander down when any mustering had to be done and join in on the action. Unfortunately he was kicked numerous times by cattle and horses and his hips started to go on him. He semi-dragged one of his back legs but that didn't stop him from living a good life.

He was also a champion "snaker" and killed dozens of black snakes and taipans over the years, there is something about their breed, they are natural born killers and are super quick. Over a period of about 5 years my late In-Laws also had 2 Jack Russells, unfortunately both were taken by snake bite, which broke their hearts. They did eventually buy another one, a black and white, rough haired female, they called her Lulu as she came from a place called, wait for it, Dululu.

As Lulu was a beautiful and highly intelligent dog and as old Chips was getting on a bit they wanted to breed those two to capture their essence and personality traits. As old Mr Chips's hips were dodgy to say the least, he wasn't up to the deed, so they had Lulu artificially inseminated, the end result was 4 beautiful and very different Jack Russell's. Two males and two females, a mixture of black and white/tan and white/ rough haired/smooth haired varieties all came through the doggy genetic pool.

Lulu on the left and Pippa on the right

Initially my late IL's kept all the puppies, that meant there were six dogs living next door. Neither one would budge or make up their minds on which ones to sell and it got a little ridiculous. Finally they let two of the puppies go leaving four dogs. Lulu, Pippa, Duke and Chips. Duke was the male puppy they kept, oh my what a beautiful big boy he was, a great combination of both his parents and the perfect looking Jack Russell. Unfortunately as he grew, so did his territorial behaviour and he and Chips began to fight. 

On one occasion, Duke had found his way into the gated off pool area, where chips slept at night, at this stage only our late Gran was home, as my late IL's were up at the farm (Gran wouldn't let the dogs go back up because of the risk of snake bite) well there was a huge fight, loud enough to wake us up next door and we were able to race over and break up the fight. It was high time that Duke found a new home. As (D) says you can't have two bulls in one paddock.

So a new home was found for Duke, now there were three. Pippa was signed over to us on paper for the council dog registration (at that stage we had only one dog) and life went on pretty uneventfully till old Chippy passed away. Leaving just Lulu and Pippa.

Lulu adored my late FIL and went everywhere with him, Pippa was a lot cruisier and would love everyone equally, taking advantage of every lap that came along. When my late FIL started getting sick Lulu wouldn't leave his side and spent all her time in a bed at his feet. His hospital stays grew more frequent and she would be on guard listening for every car that came down the street. It was hard to see both the decline of my FIL and the confusion of a loyal dog of where her master was. 

We made a promise to my late IL's that we would keep both the dogs together and a promise is a promise. It has been an awkward and unusual existence for both the little woofs, since losing my MIL early last year, spending the night and the days we work next door and bringing them over when we are home. The reason behind this is our little black cat Ninja. They would simply kill her if they got the opportunity. So we have decided to install cat mesh to one side of our home, leaving the dogs to have the other side of the house, and Ninja safe on the other, separated by both a gate and the cat mesh.

They are truly beautiful little dogs, inquisitive, intelligent, very loyal and loving, after the cat mesh is installed on Friday, they will make the official move over to us, leaving the home next door completely empty, ready for our son and his partner to move in at the end of this month. So will begin a new chapter in the little woofs life.

Do you have a doggy story to tell? I would love to hear it.

Have a lovely day,
💗Fi

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