Dear Murphy,

  A really greeaaaaaaaaaatttttt toy for puppies is an old sock stuffed
with other old socks. Mommy's first Cairn terrier, Mr.Clancy had one and
he played tug games all the time. He also liked to sit on it, while Mommy
dragged it along the floor. Mommy got him when he was 12 weeks old. The
breeder didn't let his dogs go to new homes until they were at least 12
weeks cause he thought anything before that was too young. Miss Lady, the
Westie was already living with Mommy; she was 11 years old at the time
Mr. C landed on the scene. The Westie breeder doesn't release his dogs to
new homes until they are 14 weeks old. This guy is really fussy, too. He
doesn't sell dogs to families with children under the age of 5.

  I don't like the bacon chewy toy as well as my Wigglye Giggly ball but
I play with it a little bit. You can order the WG ball one online. I bet
there are shops in the UK that sell it. Mommy got me the large size one
cause I can't chew through it. It makes a lovely squeaky noise and drives
Daddy quietly insane. Mommy likes my toys to be a few sizes bigger than
my open mouth so I can't choke on things. Oh, and a really important tip.
Don't let Mommy or Daddy ever give you rawhide chewy things. Sometimes if
they don't pay attention, the bits get too small and you could choke. I
get lovely marrow bones from the butcher - Mommy just plunks one down for
me and I have a grand feast. You shouldn't be getting those til your
about 8 months old or so when your stomach has grown up a bit. Ice cubes
are really great for teething puppies. Mr. Clancy loved those :) And
frozen baby carrots are lovely teethers, too :)

  Tell your Mommy not to bathe you too much. Once every three months for
a terrier is plenty; otherwise too much oil is taken from your coat and
it gets itchy and you scratch and chew. And make sure that your food is
low in protein after you turn one year old :) If you want more diet tips
once you're older, let me know :)

  A neat trick for learning not to pee in the house. Your Mommy and Daddy
must take up your water at night. Do you have a crate to sleep in? If
not, you should get one - a medium sized one would be perfect. I love my
crate. It has the door off it now that I'm a big guy. I also have a
basket in the livingroom as well, but Mr. Alex's kitty has been sleeping
in that and I'm not ever allowed to touch him cause he's really small.
But when I'm in it, boy, you beter look out. I get snarly if anyone comes
near and I'm not expecting them. I still get nervous sometimes that
someone is going to hit me like in my other house. The vet doesn't think
I'll ever get over all of that.

  If there are lots of carpets in your house, and you're peeing on those,
Mommy and Daddy can get rid of smells by spraying vinegar after sopping
up the piddles with soapy water. The vinegar will neutralize the bad
smellies.

  When Mommy trained Mr. Clancy, she put a pee paper on some clean
newspaper and he always knew to go there. She had one set up in the
livingroom and one set up in the kitchen; as days passed, the paper in
the livingroom got closer to the kitchen, and the one in the kitchen got
closer to the door to go outside, until Clancy was consistently going on
only one paper. She put him right outside after eating and right outside
after a play time, and outside again after his naps and she would always
say "Go pee, Clancy" while he was peeing. Then she go on and on about
what a good boy he was. Soon, he learned to pee on command :) The thing
is we terriers have teenie tiny bladders and our holding capacity is
equal to that of a mouse :) Consistency is absolutely critical in
training us cause we really are smart. Most people say they wouldn't
trust a Cairn as far as they could throw them. We're major little escape
artists and an open door is an invitation to run off hunting. Are JR's
like that?

  Your Daddy needs to get you to puppy obedience classes ASAP. It's fun
meeting other dogs and you learn manners, which are very important. I
didn't go to puppy classes cause my other people just kept me and Mr.
Alex (RIP) shut up in the house all day. When Mommy adopted us, we were
nervous little wrecks, so Mommy spent months teaching us how to be proper
little gentlemen.

  Also, a neat trick for Daddy's computer cords and television cords and
stuff is to put a nail high up on the wall and hang the cord up so you
can't chew and get `lectrocuted. That would be very bad. Mommy heard of a
dog getting a nasty mouth burn from chewing a cord. Even putting cords in
paper towel cardboards helps a bit, but high up is way safer :)

  With a puppy, think 2 year old kid for the next 15 years :)

  Well, I gotta get going. Mommy is about to carve a roast beef for
dinner, and if I look really pathetic, she'll give me a piece crumbled up
on my dinner. Man, do I have her snowed!

  Bye for now.

Your friend,

Mr. Jake
http://www.brunnet.net/terrier/jake.html for pics of me if you didn't see
the most recent ones