When we brought Barney home from the shelter, he was so sick he was almost dead. We didn't know this, and so we thought his energy level was always going to be on the low side. In addition, they told us that he was basically full grown at a little over 5 pounds. So you can imagine our confusion that his recent level of energy and resulting mischief have been INCREDIBLE, and also that he has been growing--as of yesterday, he weighs 9 pounds. To find out how much bigger and more active he could get. I decided to research his breeds (Toy Fox Terrier and Papillon, which they had guessed at the shelter) with a little more depth.

Imagine my surprise to see that he is already WAY taller than he's supposed to be, and he's also substantially heavier (and he's skinny). This brought me to the revelation that the shelter was probably wrong about his breed. So I did some research. Hmm: long legs, very active, likes to hunt and torment cats, good watch dog, very smart, needs mental and physical exercise, tries to be the boss, etc.

I'd known all along that he looked like some types of Jack Russell Terrier, only he has always had long legs (and some of you commented on this as well), but what I didn't know is that THERE IS A LONG-LEGGED VARIETY OF THE JACK RUSSELL TERRIER, known as the Parson Russell Terrier. Crap. Double crap--JRTs are known for being FULL of energy (explains his need for a minimum of 2 walks per day), prideful (think they're the biggest dogs on the block), bossy, and rash. Some people call them Jack Russell Terrorists. On they plus side, they're incredibly smart, brave, loyal, and skilled (originally bred for farm/hunting work), and they can be tamed with VERY consistent training.

So, the good news for Barney is that, even though we would NEVER have brought him home if we had known that his ancestry included at least part JRT (I suspect that if he isn't a purebred, he may be a "Jack Rat"--half JRT half Rat Terrier), but we like him enough to train him to stop being a jerk.