the mojo monster

mojo’s been on a diet.
don’t tell her, but it’s really a lifestyle change forever thing. she’s not going back to the open bowl of kibble she once enjoyed.

montana jones (mojo) was our first dog. she came to live with us in 2003 when she was about 9 weeks old.
our only purebred - hot -off -the- press- from- the -breeder-samoyed.
she is fluffy, white, funny and gorgeous, inside and out.

well, she was gorgeous on the inside until we cut back her food. now she is a monster.

first of all, she feels better - her hips were diagnosed as moderately dysplastic. she used to whimper & sometimes cry just to stand. now, after losing 6 pounds and taking glucosamine for a year, she rips around the house barking and complaining and begging for food. if you haven’t lived with a nordic breed - their language is something to behold. wooo wooo ahhh ahhh hhha hhhha rahr arrrooooooo. sammies can chatter and complain nonstop for days when not happy.

i’m sure, like the rest of us, when she was heavier she didn’t feel like moving too much. now she walks around kicking us with a fuzzy forefoot- “feed me.”
kick kick “pet me.”
kick “feeeed meeeee.”
“hold this bone so i can chew it.” kick kick “RIGHT NOW.” she doesn’t even say “please.”

mojo grumps, huff and puffs nudges her empty bowl, flips it over, stomps her fuzzy feet, and harrumphs. grabs a toy, pokes somebody with it, and runs away begging for a chase. play growl, poke, play bow, poke, nudge, tease, tug, tug.

i do believe on several occasions she has created false distractions outside during meal time so that her siblings would run to the window to see what’s up. meanwhile, mojo can be found snacking out of everyone else’s dinner bowls.

it’s so awesome to see her so miserably active and happy, playing like a puppy and enjoying her life on her feet with a strong opinion about her lack of food rather than lying around chubby and in pain. i’ll take this lippy monster every day of the week.

the jackeline sparrow photos

the monkey as a puppy.

she is a gorgeous girl with the cutest ears ever.

my little beluga has always loved the mud!

her giraffe name is lickey lickerton.
she loves her daddy & aunt karen, too!

jackeline sparrow - she's not a pirate

most days i am so in love with our boxer x girl, jackeline sparrow, that i could eat her up. there are a few days, as i’m sure most of you have, that ...not so much.

here are a few lists to help you get to know sparrow better.

she’s not just a dog, but a few other mammals as well:
monkey - when she was a baby she would intently watch her sisters & then do exactly what they did. (she copied like a monkey & still does at 3 years old)

giraffe - she loves to “kiss.” (read: she has the longest tongue i’ve ever seen and she can slap it on you from across the room.)

beluga whale - her body is a bit odd in its shape/dimension & i think it favors that of the aforementioned sea creatures shapely physique. (she is, after all, her mother’s daughter!)

violations &/or fouls committed by sparrow:

~she gnawed my hand held tetris and now it scratches me when i play it. messing with my mental floss.

~she chewed up some green plastic mesh fencing & later, threw it up on the tile (gross when mixed with bile). she did clean it up by eating it again, nearly making my “things i love about sparrow” list, but, of course, she re-puked it a couple hours later, this time landing it on the carpet . ugh.

~the monkey chewed up a pager from mojo’s backyard [it buzzed when customers came in the front door while we’re in the back taking care of the dogs] AND she did NOT chew up the pager from the dermatology office that goes off in the middle of the night when someone’s acne medication has not been called in to the pharmacy. her priorities are all wrong. (had she swallowed the mojo’s pager & monkey herself buzzed when someone came in the front door, that would have made the “love” list based on the entertainment factor alone!!)

a few of the million things i love about sparrow

~her eye patch of course. people say she looks like the dog from the little rascals, petey. let me tell you a secret - that dog’s patch was FAKE; my monkey’s patch is real!!

~sparrow ate the bow off my reading glasses and chewed up my pricey dentist- issued teeth whitening trays in the same day. my interpretation of her actions: she doesn’t want me to change - she likes me just the way i am - blind and yellow toothed. i love her just the way she is, too!! or perhaps she was just hungry.

~i love love love my monkey’s wiggly butt - she has that boxer wiggle. if you’ve never seen it, let me know & we’ll do a demonstration [when i say “we,” i mean sparrow]. her whole butt moves back and forth so fast when she is happy. i hope she’s not wiggling her butt because she doesn’t have a tail. i think, even if she had a tail, the entire back end would shake anyway.

~my monkey, at least i’m giving her the credit for this, tore up our buckwheat hull pillow (do you remember those things?) and shook those little bits all over the bedroom. i didn’t love cleaning up the mess, but i slept so much better once we got new pillows!! always thinking of us, that sparrow is.

~our friend, diane & uncle, “bo” call sparrow by her first name, jackeline. i just love that. it makes me so happy and fills my heart with joy to hear it. (why don’t i call her jackeline? i dunno. i like to hear it, not say it, i guess. plus when she joined our family, her sibs were mojo, eiyso, & ditto - of course we’re gonna call her sparrow!)

~i love how she lets her sisters and brother chew all over her throat & get it sloppy wet & when it’s just the right amount of soaked, she goes down, neck first - somehow- in the dirt, to get it all muddy stuck caked on in a disgusting ring around her neck. she just loves it. her butt is wiggling the entire time. when my girl is happy, i’m happy.

this is getting long...there’s so much to love about this little girl.

she sleeps between chris & i at night with her head on her own pillow, just like we do (see, i told you - she’s a monkey). in the morning she’ll wake up and she’s so happy to see me but too lazy to wiggle, so that tongue will whip out and lay a big sticky thick morning ick kiss on my face. usually landing it on my lip or my eyeball. i love that monkey.