We end your day with a chuckle – and a personal tribute to “Jessica,” the Cairn Terrier of our youth.

Wisely, the animation below doesn’t illustrate the breeds involved in a recognizable way, but it might as well have been created with “Jessica” in mind.

Back in the day – way back –  we routinely took Jessica along on short errands, and this was before we knew enough to put Jessica in a crate. During runs to the grocery store, we would be puzzled by what looked like remnants of groceries spilled outside our car once we returned back with our own goods: A broken egg here, a lettuce leaf there. When it became a regular “thing,” however, our curiosity inspired us to investigate. Our strategy was to skulk back to our car with no advanced warning to the dog,  and watch.

For the most part, things were quiet while we were gone. But when someone dared to go near the car as they returned to their own, it was a different story.

What we saw was a dog who chose her victims carefully. She had an unerring sense for choosing individuals who least expected a dog to launch itself at the car window as they walked by. Little old ladies were favored targets, as were people distracted by conversation with a companion or child.  Once within range, she launched herself at the car window with the ferocity of a wolverine.

We were horrified.

What made it worse was the behavior we saw after the victim clutched her heart. She laughed. The dog laughed. If you own a terrier, you know this to be true because you’ve seen it.

This was a difficult behavior to curb as Jessica did it only when we were in the store. We wondered. Was this a “short dog” thing? A terrier thing?  We never knew, but interestingly, we’ve never once seen a big dog behave this way.