Bessie was a small, very frightened rough-haired jack russel …her owner had died and his son was supposedly taking care of the dogs. (There were three of them.) He left the dogs in the old man’s house, which was practically falling down. They were lucky if he fed them once a week, let alone once a day. They had to scavenge for food.
Bessie was so very timid, that it took us a long time to get near her. It was all down to Mino’s perseverance, and he eventually had her eating from his hand, literally, she remained “his girl.” She doted on him.
Bessie was already in pup when we got her, and our vet thought she was too far gone to terminate. When we took them for walks with the others, Mino would end up carrying her, she tired very easily when she was heavily pregnant. Bessie gave birth to 6 puppies on June 22nd 2004. Mino’s birthday, by the side of our bed. Puppy Bill was one of her puppies. She was always a nervous little girl and was very wary of strangers.
Bess lived till she was 20 years old, we had to finally let her go in October 2016.