Piper RIP

I regret to say that my former dog, Piper, passed away today in Arizona. Piper will be greatly missed by all those whose lives were brightened by his cheerful presence.

I got Piper as a puppy in 1995 (breeder: Lynn Bourgois in Michigan, highly recommended). After bringing him home, Piper swallowed a pair of pantyhose from the laundry room at our apartment building, and spent most of his first year sickly and vomiting. X-rays and other tests failed to find the cause, but he luckily threw up the wad of pantyhose at the age of eight months.

After getting up to normal weight, Piper went on to become #1 conformation JRT, #1 weight pull JRT and #2 obedience JRT in America. He won the Terrier Group at the UKC Centennial show, and successfully pulled 240 pounds in competition.



Piper earned more titles in more sports than any Jack Russell Terrier in the world. He was also a professional model for Purina dog food and Hallmark cards.



Piper spent 1999-2001 in England, where he once beat 27 Border Collies at an obedience trial, winning a 3-way runoff. He competed in or gave demos in 9 sports: obedience, agility, conformation, tracking, carting, weight pull, earthdog, sheep herding and UK working trials (police dog trials). He was the first JRT in the UK to qualify at an Open Working Trial.

But most of all, he was a once-in-a-lifetime sweet, cuddly little cutie. Piper visited up to eight hospitals and nursing homes a month, and represented the UK "Pets as Therapy" organization at Crufts dog show.



Piper retired from sports at the age of 12, and went to live with Rebecca and Tyson. Piper served as "best dog" at their wedding. He had a fabulous retirement, with lots of walks on the rails-to-trails, and vacations with his new family. In fact, in honor of Piper's retirement, they even moved with him to Arizona!



Unfortunately, at the age of 14 years and 8 months, a mass was discovered on his kidneys, and he only lived a few weeks after his diagnosis. Thanks to Rebecca and Tyson for providing Piper such a wonderful retirement home. We are all missing him like crazy...

I hope you will watch the video I made in honor of Piper's 14th Birthday in February.

Piper (2/18/95-10/26/09) RIP

U-CDX, U-AgII, U-WP, U-Gr. Ch. Gemstone Paydirt
CDX, HIC, GTG (Earthdog), Brit/Amer CGC