So off we trotted to the Rescue centre to get another Border Collie, as we had now fallen in love with this breed.
The rescue centre insisted we took Moss with us to meet our new family member to ensure that they got on well together.
After introducing him to a couple of fellow Border Collies, that he just didn't get along with, we were about to give up when we saw this very unusual looking dog, or was it a wolf?!....A dog cowering in his cage, with one of those lampshade things on his head, looking all pitiful and thin!
He got along with Moss just fine.
Jake's first day with us - Skinny and frightened.
Jake and Moss
After doing some research I discovered that he was a relatively new breed of dog called a Utonagan (Which means "Spirit of the wolf") A domestic dog bred to look like a Canadian timber wolf, using 3 other breeds of dog, the German Shepherd, the Siberian Husky and the Malamute....I even managed to trace his breeder, who lives in Blackpool.
Well, to say he had 'issues' would be an understatement!
He had never been house trained...his favourite place to cock his leg was the television!
He pooped anywhere he pleased...the most memorable place was in my daughters bed! (and yes she discovered this as she snuggled down under her covers and felt something mushy on her feet!)
He chewed and tore up anything he found...clothes were a firm favourite!
He was very nervous of strangers, men in particular and would growl and snarl at them.
But seven years on and bucket fulls of love, he is now the best behaved dog in the world!
He just sort of fits in.
He adores squeaky toys and we buy him one every Saturday.
As soon as we walk through the door from our weekly shop he will poke his nose in all the shopping bags until he finds his toy, squeak it madly for 10 minutes, before removing the Squeaky bit with his teeth! Within minutes the whole toy is destroyed!
He's a very smiley dog and the only time he lost his smile was when we lost his brother, Moss, he grieved as much as we did and looked so sad and became withdrawn, so even though we had made a firm decision NOT to get another dog, we ended up getting him a new brother, a Border Collie puppy called Ollie. (click HERE to read Ollie's story) His smile returned almost immediately!
Jake getting cuddles off his new baby brother, Ollie.
This year we have bought a caravan, since our daughters grew up and left home, it's impossible to find anyone to look after the dogs while we are away and we won't kennel them! So we decided we would take them on holiday with us! Jake LOVES the caravan!
He will even jump in there for a sleep if ever the door is left open whilst it's still on our driveway at home! He gets sooo excited as soon as he sees us putting our clothes and stuff in there ready to leave for a trip...he paces up and down the house excitedly until it is finally time for him to jump in the car! (Sometimes this can go on for 2 hours or more lol)
When we arrive at our destination he is sooo happy! He just loves all the long walks, the beach, but most of all he just loves spending time with us.
He has a weight issue at the moment, the Vet has told us he is obese! A battle we are fighting (and failing) with him. He gets lots of exercise but eats everything in sight! I was going to say that he loves 'his' food...but that wouldn't be strictly accurate...he loves 'EVERYBODY'S' food!
Update
I Stood by your bed last night
I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep. I could see that you were crying, You found it hard to sleep.
He has a wonderful character and is so gentle and loving.....My best friend, my protector!
He has the most heart melting brown eyes you ever saw!
He is always by my side or lying at my feet.
When out on walks he walks that close to me that I almost trip up over him! And every few steps he gently nudges my hand with his nose....just in case I forget he is there.
He doesn't need a lead, because he walks so closely to heal, but he does like to carry a lead in his mouth throughout the walk. If he wants to go for a walk he will go and get his lead and bring it to us!
He adores children and is so tolerant towards them. His initial reaction to seeing a child, of any age, is rolling over on his back to have his tummy tickled and he will allow them to crawl all over him. He loves cuddles! He's like a big teddy bear.When out on walks he walks that close to me that I almost trip up over him! And every few steps he gently nudges my hand with his nose....just in case I forget he is there.
He doesn't need a lead, because he walks so closely to heal, but he does like to carry a lead in his mouth throughout the walk. If he wants to go for a walk he will go and get his lead and bring it to us!
He has a weight issue at the moment, the Vet has told us he is obese! A battle we are fighting (and failing) with him. He gets lots of exercise but eats everything in sight! I was going to say that he loves 'his' food...but that wouldn't be strictly accurate...he loves 'EVERYBODY'S' food!
Sadly, on the 31st January 2014, we laid Jake to rest.
He developed a slight cough, nothing too worrying we thought. After a week it didn't seem to be getting any better, so we took him to the Vet, just to be on the safe side. She said it was nothing to worry about, he probably had a virus and gave him some Antibiotics. A week later he was no better, so we took him back to the Vets. She gave him another week's worth of Antibiotics, which didn't seem to make any difference, in fact he was now coughing more than ever, so back to the Vets we went.
She didn't seem unduly concerned, but suggested a chest X-ray for the following week.
The result of the X-ray was a huge shock, not just to us but to the Vet too. She said his lungs were that badly damaged that she had to get 2 other Vets to come and have a look. Neither of them could believe that he had actually walked in there. She said they would have expected a dog with such extensive lung damage to have been carried in.
One of his lungs wasn't working at all, the other one was only functioning 25%.
She virtually gave up on him there and then, but my husband asked if there was anything at all that we could try. She gave him a very high dosage of Antibiotics, saying it was a long shot, but we could try it if we wished. He got no worse over the next few days, so we asked for another week's worth of strong medication.
But he suddenly started to deteriorate rapidly.
But he suddenly started to deteriorate rapidly.
His appetite was very poor and he started to lose weight.
For months we had been struggling to get him to lose weight...but not like this...this wasn't what we wanted...We just wanted him to be fat and happy again.
The Antibiotics hadn't worked.
We pleaded again to the Vet for help.
She said that the only way there would be any possibility of helping him would be to open him up and see what had brought on, what she believed to be, a very aggressive strain of Pneumonia, but that as they had almost lost him when they did the Xray, she said the risk of opening him up was far too high.
So we prayed...some days he seemed to pick up a bit and we thought he was getting better, but then he would have a bad day again....eventually his body just gave up on him.
He was struggling to breath, coughing and vomiting, so we had to make the heart breaking decision to have him put to sleep.
It was so very difficult and an excruciatingly sad time for us.
The last week with him tore my heart into pieces.
He never lost his spirit, he tried his hardest to fight it. He would get excited to go out for a walk, but as the days went by it was taking him longer and longer to recover after any exercise, sometimes he would only get as far as the garden gate before he had to sit down to rest.
He still greeted visitors happily right up until his last day, wagging his tail happily and taking them his toy...
I didn't sleep for the 3 remaining nights of his life. I didn't want him to feel alone. So I stayed up with him, any sleep I did get was lying on the floor next to him.
I hated seeing him struggling to breathe and night times always seemed worse for him.
Yet he still managed to greet us with a smile (and yes! he did smile!) and a wagging tail every morning.
He was only 8 years old. It doesn't seem fair. I took it for granted that we had a few more years with him.
It's such a shame that we didn't get the caravan until his last year with us. He spent some of his happiest times away on holiday with us....We thought he was going to spend many more trips away with us....
I feel lost without him and miss him so very much.
He has left a huge hole in our lives.
The following picture was taken a couple of days before we laid him to rest, he had a new ball, even towards the end he still managed to play and carry his ball around in his mouth...In fact on his last day with us, as the Vet and nurse arrived at our house to put him to sleep, he greeted them happily at the door, tail wagging with this ball in his mouth....That was heartbreaking to see.
His new ball, the lead he carried around with him on walks and a brand new squeaky toy were all buried with him in our garden.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I Stood by your bed last night
I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep. I could see that you were crying, You found it hard to sleep.
I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear, "It's me, I haven't left you, I'm well, I'm fine, I'm here."
I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea, You were thinking of the many times, your hands reached down to me.
I was with you at the shops today, Your arms were getting sore. I longed to take your parcels, I wish I could do more.
I was with you at my grave today, You tend it with such care. I want to reassure you, that I'm not lying there.
I walked with you towards the house, as you fumbled for your key. I gently put my paw on you, I smiled and said "it's me."
You looked so very tired, and sank into a chair. I tried so hard to let you know, that I was standing there.
It's possible for me to be so near you everyday. To say to you with certainty, "I never went away."
You sat there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew, in the stillness of that evening, I was very close to you.
The day is over... I smile and watch you yawning and say "good-night, God bless, I'll see you in the morning."
And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide, I'll rush across to greet you and we'll stand, side by side.
I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see. Be patient, live your journey out ... then come home to be with me.
- Author unknown