Goodbye Jill

People say that you never appreciate the value of someone or something until they are gone . I realized how true this was when our dear old Jack Russel died unexpectedly a few days ago . We got Jill 9 years ago for her sniffing and rat killing talents . This was way back when we were still renting a small comfy house in a nice subdivision . Everything was nice and perfect , the location was ideal ( close to shopping malls , church , market , school etc . ) , the neighbors were friendly and the neighborhood was generally peaceful and quiet . There was only one MAJOR drawback .... the RATS ! Our house was located along the perimeter fence of the subdivision and beyond the fence was a vacant lot used as a vegetable plot . I'm convinced that this vacant lot has been taken over by rats .... yes , conquered and ruled and all that ! It didn't take long before these greedy pests decided that they had to conquer OUR lot as well ! In comes Jill , our hero . And boy what a hero she was ! I saw her in action once and I must admit that it wasn't a pretty sight but boy oh boy , I was impressed ! I will ofcourse spare you the details . :) She was so good at eliminating the rats that in a matter of few months , rats bacame a thing of the past . A distant , ugly memory . Jill however was still out for some blood so her next target ( to our horror and embarassment ! ) were our neighbors' chickens . It took all of my diplomatic skills to pacify our neighbor and all of my very limited dog training skills to tame Jill . On hindsight , training Jill was probably 5% me and 95% Jill's own doing . She was so smart , she probably figured out by herself that she had more to gain by following me . After my son was born , we transferred to our own home . Ofcourse , Jill came with us . She was around 4 years old by this time , not old but not so young either. She was still hyperactive and smart and she still gave the occassional field mouse a heart attack just by her snarl . However , I noticed that she was getting frustrated from lack of stimulation or probably lack of excitement . Our new place is far more civilized than the previous one and I presume that the highlight of a dog's day is the walk around the park strutting their wares for all the other dog's to see . Now Jill is an exeption , she was a rebel among dogs . When dog's would be walking by with their pretty leashes and cell phone toting yaya's , Jill would be running leash free AND yaya free . A true rebel indeed ! As any frustrated dog would tell you , all this frustration needed an outlet . Jill's choice was my garden . This would prove to be the boon of our relationship . She would dig , dig , and dig all the way to China it seems . I on the other hand would get mad , madder , maddest !!! Eventually , I gave up and just decided to plant my most precious flowers in pots , so she wouldn't be able to dig them . As the years passed , Jill became calmer and we figured it was due to her advancing age . My kids had some memorable moments with her when she was content just playing with them instead of grabbing their toys and jumping incessantly until YOU get tired just by watching her . Then last year in came Ali, our new dog . All our attention was directed at Ali and I must admit that I am guilty of neglecting Jill in some ways . How I wish I knew she didn't have a lot of days left to share with us . I would have played with her more , given her the best bones , fed her the tastiest dog food I could find and given her more , much more attention than I did , I know though that "what if's " and "would have's " are a fool's words . I should find comfort instead in the knowledge that Jill and I had our special moments together . She has been a loyal dog to my family and in her own special way she has given us much joy . I finally decided to bury her in my garden . On the same spot where I used to find her digging like mad . I just wish that wherever she is , she would have finally found what she was digging for . Goddbye my ever loyal friend .... thanks for the memories !