Sterling’s Bet I Will

"Better"

March 13, 2003

Better was owned by Dana Pike who was having serious problems between her older JRT, Maybie and Better

When Dana mentioned that she was seriously considering placing her, I was just starting to look for another small dog. Trump was now retired but I wasn’t sure how I could fill his shoes. I said I would try Better out at home and see what happened. She arrived in August 2006 and after careful introduction to my pack, with me keeping a fairly close eye on things—for example never letting Better sleep on my lap or back of my head on the couch without calling one of my dogs over to visit with me, not letting her take toys from the others, feeding her last and being quite diligent about things in general for the first 10-12 weeks—Better has fit in just fine. She really is a lovely dog, she loves people and gets on with all dogs.

After Better settled in to the pack I started training and competing with her. We had some work to do! Building her confidence in the ring, retraining her to a running AF. After a couple of years of competing I decided to retire Better, She was not a good jumper and had started to stutter at the base of some jumps and show signs of ETS (early take-off syndrome).

She is retired and enjoying life as part of the pack. She and Michael’s dog Nellie take frequent trips to the beach and are great company for each other when the other dogs are away with me at shows and our long summer trip.