DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER!!!

They came in all colours, shapes and sizes, the dogs that my children grew up with. But one particular dog, Jess, comes to mind for many reasons.
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My first husband had always been particularly fond of bull terriers, but I had heard all the horror stories against them, they are vicious, unpredictable, their jaws lock when they bite, the whole 9 yards of reasons for not getting one. The girls were young but not babies and Jess was 3 months old. I jumped in and made the decision, and Jess came home with us. I never regretted it. In true bull fashion, she tore in to the house having no regard for anything, it appeared that all she was was muscle. As a pup she shredded all foam rubber, she was
OBSESSED with foam rubber, she even sniffed it out of the settee. Jess was hard work. She brought us many gifts, the most memorable were our neighbours prize chickens, I looked out of the window and there, to my horror, were chickens and feathers from one side of the garden to the other. We were not asked to replace the chickens but to control our dog. The fence was made higher.
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She adored children, a trait of this breed I learned, and was very protective of our children. When I gave them birthday parties I would have to ensure that Jess was locked away as she would chase and bite onto the clothes of the children chasing my children! Read below why we did this!


It was during one of these parties that a guest of ours who was staying with us, came into the house covered in grass and sand, it was a frightening sight, I thought he had met with some awful accident. "Why didn't you tell me that your dog is vicious" he asked,"were you playing catches with the children" I asked, "yes" came the reply, "I was crawling around chasing the children and your dog attacked me". "Oh," I told him, "NEVER chase the children, she thinks you will do them harm and is only protecting them!" He stayed indoors after that. As I said, that was the end of Jess's party days.

Then we found out one day we were to have a new addition to the family (human) and I worried all over again as Jess had never known babies, and babies are too inquisitive for their own goods some times, and while I knew that Jess would not purposely hurt the baby, the baby might not purposely hurt her, but she would retaliate - I knew I could not take the risk.

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The baby arrived, Jess showed little interest, and while he was still in his pram he was safe, then he started to roll and crawl. I left him on a blanket on the floor one day and Jess was asleep some distance away. When I returned to the lounge, Brian had had rolled to Jess, his finger so far in her eye, the finger could not be seen, Jess did not budge, open her eyes, jump away, growl or eat my baby! I did however, run over and snatch him up, but it gave me food for thought, I watched closely after that, and the two became firm friends.

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Brian is 18 months old in the 3 pics above, the first one he climbed on top of her and lay down, the second he slowly starts sliding off, and the third one he has come to a sitting position. What fun he had.

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Look at Jess, she did not bat an eyelid, and today Brian is as fond of bullterriers as his father was before him.