Koobus O (The Original)

Some of my friends wonder how the name Koobus came about. It’s a long story, starting back in the late 1940s.

When my mom was born, her aunt knitted her a stuffed animal that her grandfather named Koobus. It is believed that he made the name up, based on the Polish word for Jacob, or "Ya-koop.” According to great grandpa, Koobus meant “Little Jake”. The name and the original stuffed toy were long retired until one cold day in February 1975, my grandparents (my mom's parents) went to the local SPCA, looking for a dog. They saw a matted, sad looking fur ball named Sparky that they found interesting. They didn’t even know what kind of dog Sparky was, but they adopted him and took him home. My grandparents wanted a different name for Sparky, and noticing a resemblance in the curls on Sparky and the curls on the stuffed toy from a generation earlier, they decided to rename Sparky Koobus. They also wanted a name that no other dog had. Sparky quickly learned his new name and easily adjusted to his new surroundings.


Soon after he came to his new forever home, Koobus was taken to the vet to get checked out. The vet said to gramps, “Oh, you’ve got a wire hair fox terrier. You are in for a good time. You’re gonna have a lot of fun.” They found out the vet was right. Within a couple of days, they took Koobus to get groomed. Then they learned what a wire fox terrier looks like. They had never seen one in person before.

They thought they had a dog, but they wound up with an imp. That imp gave them nine good years, and when he died of cancer in 1984 the family was devastated. But still the breed and the name lived on in this family. The search soon began for a wire fox terrier puppy, Koobus II, who turned out to be a fabulous dog. When he died from cancer in 1992, the family was devastated again, but persevered and soon found a little sweet wft puppy, Koobus III. He lived for 14 years, dying in December 2006, and what was left of this family was devastated once more. I, Koobuss IV, and the only girl dog (hence the extra “s” on the name) came into their lives at the age of ten weeks, on December 30, 2006. I plan to be here a long, long time.



Two things I know for sure. This family will always have a wire fox terrier, and it will always be named Koobuss. They are not going to run out of numbers.