Little Man - Lifeatroomtemperature

A few months ago, my husband and I noticed a television commercial featuring a miniature horse, set to the 1960s Sonny and Cher song, “Little Man.” The catchy advertisement introduces the newest, smallest horse on the farm, who is not well received by the big horses already in residence. His owner uses a popular online catalog service to make a purchase to help the little fellow feel more at home.

Most of our television viewing occurs in the evening, when my husband and I are settled into our comfortable chairs. More often than not, I share my chair with the third member of our little family, a Jack Russell terrier named Nelson. Soon after seeing the commercial for the first time, I noticed my husband referring to Nelson as “little man.”

We have always given our furry family members meaningful names. Over the years we have welcomed J. Aloycious Gatsby (Alley), T. Scott Fitzgerald (Tabby), and Genevieve Trueheart (Genny), as well as James Whitcomb Riley (Riley) and Sir Francis Drake (Drake). Nelson is short for Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, a name we settled upon after reading articles on the Jack Russell breed and the charming but ornery sea captain.

Alley and Tabby were our first “boys,” tabby cats who joined us in our early married days. Riley, Drake, and Genny were in residence when Nelson joined the family. Riley and Drake were older, laid back dogs who spent the majority of their time outdoors, where each enjoyed the other’s good company and shared explorations of the back yard when not busy napping. Genny, a gray striped tabby cat my husband rescued from the parking lot at work, pronounced herself queen of the house the day she came to live with us.

Nelson was about eight weeks old when we introduced him to his new family. Genny hissed a greeting and hid out in the spare bedroom, where she could ignore the newcomer. The dogs, unimpressed by this small creature that looked oddly like them, weren’t so lucky. As the weeks passed and Nelson became one very active pup, both were obviously annoyed. At one point, Riley looked at us as if to say, “What were you thinking?!?” Nelson bounced and wiggled every time the big boys came near, running circles around them as if to say, “Let’s play! I wanna play! I gotta play! Pleeeaaaaseeeeee!”

We were determined to be good Jack Russell parents and not allow Nelson to train us. Nelson was equally determined to be all boy and all Jack Russell simultaneously and assimilate us to his way of thinking. He was fiesty and sharp, a bundle of perpetual, boundless energy too smart for our own good. He was more “Tigger” than “Fido,” and at times we shared Riley’s sentiment, wondering if we had taken on more than we could handle.

The keen little creature soon won us over. He cocked his head as if to grasp every word we spoke to him. He noticed the gold divider between the living room carpet and the kitchen linoleum, and for months jumped the “barrier” instead of walking (or running) from one room to the next. He loved to play ball and invented his own game of “catch,” knocking a ball off the top of our basement steps, then racing downstairs to retrieve the ball at first bounce on the concrete floor. He gave us a great scare when he was about a year old and had to have emergency surgery, the result of nosing into a box in the basement and finding a piece from my husband’s long-forgotten childhood rubber animal eraser collection.

Our “little man” will celebrate his fifteenth birthday at the end of this month. In human years, he’s now the oldest member of the family. The veterinarian recently pronounced him in overall good health, although he now shows the inevitable signs of age. He relies on the sight of headlights in the driveway to know when we arrive at home. He uses doggy steps to climb up on the bed. He naps more and plays ball less, although he still insists that the ball belongs on the living room floor rather than in the toy box. He remains a great companion, keen and smart. His walk is slower, but he still has a bounce in his step and a flop in his ear when he goes outside or to the kitchen to have a snack.

We recently made a brief overnight trip to our aunt’s home, where Nelson met three canine cousins. We were pleasantly surprised that he was neither stressed nor irritable around these new acquaintances. He ignored them for the most part, preferring to nap nearby as we visited with family. He likes being with his people. When I work in the kitchen, he naps on a nearby rug. When we are getting ready for work, he lays in the hallway where he can see us move from room to room. He is resting nearby now, oblivious that he is the topic of conversation.

Of all the pets I have known over a lifetime, this little man has captured the most of my heart.

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