The Ballad of Johnny & June—Verse 6

Previously, bonded pair Johnny Cash and June Carter had proved impossible to place into their forever home so had slowly been absorbed into our tribe. Then Johnny became ill and died soon after. June Carter immediately became official family. She belonged with us.

Now newly widowed, June Carter’s future was uncertain. Not in terms of where she would go – she was now definitely part of the family – but in how she would react to not having Johnny Cash around to adore her. We had bought in to the idea of them being a “bonded pair,” but it turned out that he was maybe more bonded than she.

In fact, our merry widow blossomed out of Big JC’s massive shadow and we got to know her all over again.

Little JC is tiny. Really really small. June can be picked up in one hand very easily. She’s a Paris Hilton dog, but without the (whatever fancy name is cool now) handbag to travel around in.

Little JC’s snoring was never quite to the volume level of her other half, which makes sense, but she packs quite an audible punch when she’s at full power. Because she is, perhaps more than anything a napper; in fact, she's a power-napper extraordinaire. Even among pugs – who are all experts at grabbing more than their fair share of sleep – she has proved to be the sleeper’s sleeper.

Second to this, she is a wanderer. She loves to take a diversion in an entirely different direction to where everyone else is going. Mostly, we find her shouting furiously at the fridge, presumably because she finds it closed when she most certainly would prefer it to be open. Have you lost track of Little JC? Follow that noise. It’s not a satanically possessed child or a hound of hell … that’s the littlest pug you’ve ever seen, being absolutely furious at the side of a refrigerator.

Bedtime is a hit-and-miss affair as she heads off in generally the right direction, but she inevitably takes a right turn at Albuquerque and ends up back at the fridge door. Early on, there was a 50-50 chance that she’d drop little poop mines as she went, but she eventually grew out of that. Which was kind of her.

We can’t leave her alone with other dogs when she’s eating. When her bowl is empty, she is not shy about trying someone else’s, regardless of their feelings on the matter and how strongly they may be expressed.

Unlike Johnny Cash, who could wander around the neighborhood nonchalantly, never stopping at a lamppost or a patch of grass, Little JC knows exactly what a walk is for. As long as it’s not too hot and she doesn’t have to go farther than her little legs can carry her, she happily potters along. Once she’s built up a rhythm, she doesn’t stop for anything – including a bathroom break. Her bow-legged gait as she pees and poops on the run is perhaps unique in the natural world.

Miss June can sit, but Miss June chooses not to. Even for a treat.

Her poop is 50% undigested peanuts.

June’s bark is huge. It fills the spaces, and the spaces between the spaces. She weaponizes her bark mostly to get your attention or to let you know that you’re not getting her bowl to her fast enough. She is not a shy old lady. She is, in fact, officially the most stubborn lifeform on the face of this planet. The most stubborn that has ever been; the most stubborn that shall ever be. If she is barking for attention, she will bark until she gets attention. If she is barking for food, she will bark until she is fed. If you lock all four dogs into your office because the AC repair guy is trying to do his thing without interruption, then all four of your dogs will bark … but only one will keep barking until that door is opened, no matter how long that will be. And it will be June. And it was wonderful to get to know her again.