Bracken - the Jack Russell Terrier who inspired Garm

One of my favourite characters in the Parallel Realm books is Garm, the ancient creature who chooses to manifest as a scruffy terrier. I based his argumentative and judgemental character on a Jack Russell Terrier called Bracken. A succession of seven Jack Russell’s have ruled my life and by now I really should know better. Bracken may have been small, but boy was he pushy and opinionated! When I started writing 'Touchpaper' I needed a mysterious, yet down-to-earth character, who could puncture any excessive seriousness on the part of the other characters. I looked down to see Bracken's bewhiskered face, giving me a look that suggested I had somehow disappointed him and Garm was born.

The best description of a Jack Russell Terrier* I’ve ever read is Jerome K. Jerome’s description of Montmorency, the dog in ‘Three Men in a Boat’.

'To look at Montmorency you would imagine that he was an angel sent upon the earth, for some reason withheld from mankind, in the shape of a small fox-terrier. There is a sort of Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-I-wish-I-could-do-something-to-make-it-better-and-nobler expression about Montmorency that has been known to bring the tears into the eyes of pious old ladies and gentlemen.'

'When first he came to live at my expense, I never thought I should be able to get him to stop long. I used to sit down and look at him, as he sat on the rug and looked up at me, and think: “Oh, that dog will never live. He will be snatched up to the bright skies in a chariot, that is what will happen to him.'

'But, when I had paid for about a dozen chickens that he had killed; and had dragged him, growling and kicking, by the scruff of his neck, out of a hundred and fourteen street fights; and had had a dead cat brought round for my inspection by an irate female, who called me a murderer; and had been summoned by the man next door but one for having a ferocious dog at large, that had kept him pinned up in his own tool-shed, afraid to venture his nose outside the door for over two hours on a cold night; and had learned that the gardener, unknown to myself, had won thirty shillings by backing him to kill rats against time, then I began to think that maybe they’d let him remain on earth for a bit longer, after all.'

Sadly we lost Bracken four years ago. His place has now been taken by our current Jack Russell, Maisie. Now we have a whole new level of terrier madness to contend with!

* Actually Montmorency was a Fox Terrier, but what the hell?