B1
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2020
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Photos by Heather Douglas
Heather Douglas and her dog Oscar.
20 years with a
Jack Russell terrier
Writer refl ects
on losing dog
By HEATHER DOUGLAS
T
here was drama from the
get-go. Little did I realize that
I was just being initiated into
my new life as the owner of a Jack
Russell t errier.
My sister and I drove to meet the
woman and puppy at a McDonald’s
parking lot off of Interstate 5. As we
walked up, we saw her sitting on
her car’s tailgate, feeding him two
hamburger patties. The puppy I had
picked out over email weeks earlier
was a stout brown and white female,
but the one she brought me was a
black and white runt, no bigger than
a squirrel.
She called my bluff. There was
no way I was going to go home
without that puppy.
On the drive home, my sis-
ter held him on her lap and we ran
through names. “Kafka” was on
my list — an homage to my liter-
ary hero.
“I think he’s an Oscar,” my sis-
ter said.
She was right. My fate was
sealed with no going back.
I lived in constant fear that Oscar
would kill himself. At night, he
loved to snuggle. By day, he was a
powerhouse. Oscar even earned the
moniker “Mitochondria Dog” from
one of our scientist friends while on
See Oscar, Page B2