I adoped Jakey in March 2006 from the Ottawa Humane Society. This photo was taken on our first Chrismas together. He was about 6.5 years old here. My special nickname for him was "Gorgeous-aroso Handsome Pants" ... a little long for a nickname you might say, but it worked perfectly for him.
Jakey LOVED food and he LOVED Christmas. He would tear open his presents with the excitement and energy of any 6 year old! I guess the fact that most of his Christmas presents were food that put his two very favourite things together.
Here he is in 2010 checking out the stockings ... the first year we hung the stockings he literally had his head jammed in his stocking to get his rawhide treats ... before Christmas morning. This year will be very different without him around and I know my entire family will notice his absence and miss him greatly.
He was a crazy guy who loved to play shenanigans. He would race around the house, cottage or my parents tearing from one bed to the next and back again. In his first few years with me, he was a pretty sporty. Here he is in some of his favourite sports activities: snow plowing, duck hunting, boating and swimming.
Seconds after I snapped this picture he jumped in Dow's Lake to catch
some ducks ... and then instantly turned towards me with a look on his face
which was clear to interpret: OMG! What have I done?
And here he is canoeing (although he doesn't seem to be doing much paddling). This was in October 2011 at my birthday party and he had a great time as the only boy allowed at the party!
Oh and he loved sleeping too. With his sister and cousin or on his own. No matter, he'd always find a comfy spot.
Or ... maybe not so comfy:
This is not even his crate. Its Gwenny-Bear's crate (she was crate trained when we adopted her and it is made for a dog about half the size of Jake). Jakey had never used a crate and for as much a Gwenny HATED having to go in her crate, Jake LOVED it. Of course the door was never locked when he was in there ... so that may have changed his mind about how great it was.
There were some growing pains when Gwenny-Bear joined our family. Jakey was such a laid back, easy-going guy so a few times when Gwenny forgot she was in a warm, loving home and thought she was still in the puppy-mill where she had to fight for everything ...and she bit him in the face ... he was so shocked and hurt. He had no idea what happened. At one point I thought I'd made a huge mistake by adopting Gwenny and had ruined Jakey's nice life. Luckily, within a very short period of time we ironed out the problems and they became so close and loved one another very much.
There are four dog beds in our house, as well as the couch and two people beds. Yet these two silly dogs chose to share one tiny bed - the smallest one in the house. The truth is, Gwenny would often move in to occupy a place where Jakey was laying down; and he being such a nice boy and wanting his little sister to be happy and comfortable would give up his spaace for her. This one time though, he decided they could share. Both a testament to how much they came to care for and love one another.
This is the first introduction between Jakey and Gwenny in
July 2009 along with Gwenny's wonderful foster mom Patti from
Bullies-In-Need (check them out; they do amazing work to save dogs - had it
not been for their compassion, dedication and hard work Gwenny would never
have survived the puppy-mill rescue ... having been deemed not worth saving.)
And later that weekend all three of the kids chillin at the park -
Jake seems pretty cool with the whole situation.
My parents cottage was one of his favourite places in the world. He got to run around freely (he was well-known in the neighbourhood) and would make his rounds for cookies and pats. It also offered lots of dead fish for rolling in, or once the fish carcass was dried out, a nice crunchy snack (and you thought this post was not about eating!)
Here resting in the sunshine: July 2009
Here: July 2010 ... possibly debating if he could still make it up and down
the big stairs. He could. In fact, he was still going up and down these
stairs in 2012 ... although much slower.
Jakey also loved the arboretum. We spent many Saturday and Sunday mornings walking through the park. He would trot along slowly behind me; play tag; roll in stinky stuff; find dead fish (clearly a favourite activity of his); make "snow-dog angels" in the winter and check out stranger's picnic baskets in the summer. On his last day with us, we took him to the arboretum for awhile. Although he could no longer walk or stand he enjoyed laying in the grass, watching the other dogs and sniffing the cool, fresh fall air. It was bittersweet but I was so happy that we at least had that one last time together at one of his most favourite places.
If you recall in the book "Marley and Me" author John Grogan talks about what it is like to have a dog who is amazing and super special (this is the childhood dog that he was raised with - alas NOT Marley!) and in "Merle's Door" author Ted Kerasote relates some incredible stories a a very special dog, Merle. Jakey was that special, incredible dog for me. No matter what, he could make me laugh ... even if I was mad at him. Whether it was chewing a cork from a champagne bottle that he became obsessed with one night even though it has been within his reach for over two years, or bashing down the newspaper with his paw and tearing at the edges to get my attention, to poking his face outside the rails of the stairway to watch me make dinner, or getting out of my reach one afternoon and darting into the basement of the Calvary Church where he went racing through the craft show/bake sale being held in the basement (quote overheard during this fiasco: "Well that dog is not very well behaved!"), when he was playing 'rocket dog' through the cottage, or any one of a million more wonderful memories I have of him. Too many to write here.
And his 'shenanimans' are continuing from heaven where he's whispering in little Gwenny's ear to hide her cookies in the couch cushions - a new little game she started playing a couple of weeks ago.
Jakey was my best friend, boyfriend and baby for more than six years. He brought me so much happiness and I miss him dearly. Although this blog is not so much about food and eating, I dedicate it to my special little boy. Love you, miss you Jakey.
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