So, when she isn't hiding or running away, she's destroying. She loves toys with squeakers in them. She can find one and remove it in a record time of 27 seconds. We timed her! She can have all of the stuffing out almost as fast. The worst problem with this is that she will eat it. The squeaker, the stuffing, it is all edible. She has also developed little idiosyncracies. She knows her way around. She also knows what belongs and what don't. If she notices anything, and I stress anything out of the normal range, she goes crazy. We had an old car with a cover over it, that sat in the same spot for a year. One day we were trying to sell it, so we removed the cover. She went crazy. I bought a plant, I hung a wind chime, a limb fell off of a tree, and each time, she had a hissie fit. I will give her credit though. No one would dare come into the yard without her noticing it immediately.

She is also a waterfall. Her tongue is enormous. She can hold a cup of water in it. When she finishes drinking, water pours from her mouth where ever she may go. I have to keep a mop by her water bowl. I made the mistake of giving her a drink while we were traveling down the road. Everything was fine until she finished, and decided that she needed to stick her head out of the window. Needless to say, the waterfall was immediately blown back into the car. Everything and everyone was covered. She is also a lover. She loves to give kisses. Now, I appreciate the sentiment, but have learned the hard way to avoid kisses immediately after drinking. That big tongue of hers can wet you down normally, but after drinking, you need several bath towels to try to stem the flow. You will never need makeup remover with Jade around. My daughter allowed us to keep her Westie over night once. Of course, all that playing meant that a constant supply of water was needed. I can only tell you that poor Capone looked like a drowned rat the whole time.

Life with a tornado

Jade also turned out to be a big chicken. I was out on the deck, sweeping the autumn leaves off when I moved a table to clean under it. Wasps had carved out a home there and I found out the hard way. One of them attacked me and stung me on the foot at least 3 or 4 times. Jade was laying by the door, minding her own business when it decided to attack her too. It stung her on the nose several times before I could get her in the door. It was horrible, poor little thing. Now, whenever she hears the hum of a bee or wasp, she either runs for the house and if she can't get in, she will run for the first person available or hide under something. At the time this happened, she was very little, maybe weighing 20 lbs, if that. She now weighs 70 lbs, so she's not a little puppy anymore, but she will try to get under anything. Sometimes its so small that only her head is under, but she thinks she is hidden. AND, of course, if I'm out there, she wants me to pick her up! I would love to talk to the Dog Whisperer about this.
The first time we took her to the dog park, she refused to get out of my or my husbands lap. She was sure that every dog out there wanted her for lunch! She finally found a little Terrier and sensing no threat, attached herself to the poor dog. Even though she was a puppy at the time, she probably weighed 20 lbs more than the Terrier. As much as it tried to get away from her, she was determined to keep it as protection. The second time we went, she was a little braver, with emphases on the "little". She would run for the little dogs who would run from her and then if a big dog approached her, she would run for our laps. Its still that way today. The closest dog park is 50 miles from our house, so we cannot take her as much as we would like. I'm sure that if she could go more often that she would overcome her fear, but we can't. We did take her to my daughters. My daughter lives about 800 miles away. She also has a dog. It is a West Highland Terrier named Capone. Believe it or not, they are a perfect match. Capone has endless energy and sometimes plays too hard. They alternate between trying to kill each other to seeing who runs out of energy first. They range from the lowest corner to the top of the highest piece of furniture. For Capone, this is natural, but for Jade, who thinks she is the same size and will not be outdone, she will follow him no matter where he decides to go. When we have to leave, both of them will mope for days.

Jade was unlike any dog that I had ever had before. She was very easy to house break, but that is where "easy" ended. Everything else was a fight. She had enough energy to power the electric to New York City. She could pull all the stuffing out of a toy in 2 minutes flat. Unfortunately, I became her favorite chew toy. My arms and hands were covered with blood everyday, AND she bit HARD! I tried every method know to man to get her to play a little gentler, but found that the only thing that worked was biting her back! Have you ever had dog hair between your teeth? I do not recomend it. BUT, it worked!
She would and still will, eat anything! She ate weeds, rocks, wood, bark, paper, cardboard, material, and anything else she could get her teeth on. One time, I emptied a roll of papertowels and thought she might like playing with the tube. I threw it to her and then answered the phone. It couldn't have been more that 2 minutes that I looked at her to see if she was playing with it. It was gone! She had devoured it. Of course, everything that went down came back up. That is how I discovered a lot of things that I didn't know she had eaten. The Vet had given me some pills to try to stop her from throwing up all the time, but nothing would keep down things like cardboard. Max's favorite toy was a pair of socks. I would put one inside the other, balled up and pushed to the very bottom, and then I would put a knot in it. It looked like a ball with a streamer. Jade ate hers. I have several boxes in the back bedroom. At least one edge on every box is chewed. She never leaves a mess, she eats it.

First there was Max

Max was my heart. He was with me from 7 weeks of age to 13 years. Quite old for a Rotweiller. His birthday was August 8th and I had to put him to sleep on August 12th. I really probably kept him longer than I should have, but I was selfish. I didn't want to let him go. He had developed heart disease, blindness, arthuritis and weakness in his back legs. If it hadn't been for the pain, I would have kept him longer. He had been everywhere with me. He was my constant companion, "my heart". I even have a "America's funniest Animal" tee shirt because of him. He would grab my hand and pull it down to his rear for a scratch. If I didn't respond, he would growl and do it again and again until I did what he wanted.
The day that my husband took him (I couldn't bear it) to be put to sleep, I sobbed uncontrollably for hours. I proceeded to cry every day thereafter for 6 months! People would tell me that I needed to get another dog, but I didn't ever want to get that attached again! The heartbreak was more than I could bear. Finally, my husband couldn't stand it anymore. After 6 months of watching me bawl, he said, "Go get another dog!"
At first, I wanted another Rotty. Then I decided that the best thing I could do would be to adopt an unwanted. I spent months in shelters. If you have never done that, its heartbreaking. You want to take all of them home! Finally, one day, I came across what looked like a 6 week old Rotty mix. The people at the shelter thought she was half Rotty and half Chow. Now, I had had a Chow before. He was a sweetie, but I found out that I had been VERY lucky! Most Chows can be mean. I had decided that I would never have another one, even though I loved Teddy very much. (Teddy Bear) Strike one. Strike two was that she was a female. I always liked males the best. But, she was soooooo cute!
And so, she came home with me. She stunk so bad and her fur was matted. First thing was a bath! She was petrified, but it had to be done. Then we discovered that she had a cough. Our first night together was a horror. She coughed and cried all night long. The next morning it was right to the vets. Kennel cough. The following weeks was force feeding medications, which she hated. We discovered that she was afraid of everything! We also discovered that she threw up every time we put her in the car. Strike three! I take my dog with me everywhere. What was I going to do with one that threw up all the time? Back to the Vets! We also couldn't help but notice that tears constantly poured down her little face. Introverted eye lids. For those of you that have never heard of that, it is where the eyelids curl under and scratch against the eye, causing blindness if not operated on. Strike four! She had to be 6 months old before she could have the operation, so I had to put ointment in her eyes twice a day and sometimes 3 or 4 times. I was determined that she would not be blind.
So was the beginning of our lives with Jade. The complete opposite of Max in every way but for better or for worse, she was ours.