Jake
When we got back to the house, Kate showed me the hide and seek game she plays with Jake.  They said they can hide a tennis ball anywhere in the house, and Jake can sniff it out.  They discovered Jake's special talent when one day Kate was playing with him, but he kept getting confused with two tennis balls, so she hid one in the back of the computer desk and played with him with the other ball.  But later John noticed Jake staring at the computer monitor, then he asked Kate what's going on, and she said she put a tennis ball there earlier.  So they showed me the hide and seek game.  Kate told Jake to stay in the livingroom, and she went into one of the bedrooms to hide the tennis ball.  When she said okay, then Jake went to search for the ball.  The first time was an easy one and Jake found the ball in five seconds in John's shoe in the bedroom.  Then she hid the ball in the sunroom.  Jake went into the bedroom first and couldn't find it, and look at Kate, and she pointed to the sunroom, and he quickly found the ball.  Then she hid the ball in bedroom but higher location, she said it's harder for Jake when it's higher.  When she released Jake, he went first into the sunroom, after a few seconds decided it wasn't there, and looked at Kate, and went to the bedroom and found it in a few seconds later.  It was amazing!
Jake was pulling a lot on leash and John had to stop very frequently.  So we started walking faster and they started doing this circle thing whenever Jake started pulling.  They did that about five times and finally Jake was good about staying near John.  I asked Kate about Rocky the cat, and she said he started getting better when they switched from prednisone to prednisolone, and now they are tapering off the doses.  Overall the cat is doing well, but as Rocky is getting stronger, the other cat, Sham, seemed to be fighting with a new cat in the neighborhood, and they had to take Sham to the vet because one of his eyelids was scratched.  John said Rocky (the younger of the two) likes to get in Sham's face, like it's a game, but Sham doesn't like it.  I asked Kate if she takes Jake on walks, she said when she goes it's with John.  She said usually it's just John and Jake because John enjoys spending the special morning time with Jake, and she gets to spend the afternoons with Jake.  And she said overall John is more of the traditional dad/disciplinarian and Jake listens better with John.  Kate said she has taught Jake this trick (something about having him holding a toy in his mouth as she prepares his dinner, so he wouldn't get so excited, Jake still gets bits of chicken with his dinner, and then drop when she puts down the food bowl), she said she learned a lot about training a dog from teaching that, that even though the task seems simple to us humans, it's complex to the dog and she had to break it down and teach separate parts and then put them back together.  She said Jake has also learned to countersurf a few times, eating the cats kibbles from the bowl on the kitchen counter.  She said she could hear Jake doing it from the other room and she would yell his name, and then when she gets to the kitchen, Jake would have this "guilty" look on his face.  John said he read that dogs don't know "guilt", but both he and Kate agree that Jake knows something bad is coming when he eats the cats' food and gets yelled at (Kate puts him in his crate for time out after she catches him).  But she said the punishment must be worth it because Jake has kept doing it a few times.  Since it's not an everyday thing, I don't think it's a big deal either, so I didn't comment much about it.  John told me that he had taught Jake how to fetch the newspaper in the mornings.  So at the end of the walk, he picked up the paper from the driveway, removed the plastic bag, and throw it to Jake.  Then they opened the front door and Jake carried the newspaper to Kate.  John said that having Jake pick up the newspaper is not the hard part, because Jake loves to retrieve and when he throws the paper, Jake would easily pick it up.  The hard part was the second half of the trick.  He said at first Jake would drop the paper right before they enter the front door.  He had to teach Jake to continue carrying the paper until the dog finds Kate.
Then John and Kate gave Tara her Christmas presents (a reindeer toy and a box of Nutro Ultra Senior formula dog treats). 
Then Kate prepared lunch/dinner, while I took Tara to check out their beautiful backyard/garden.  It took Tara a while to climb down the stairs, and John kept Jake on the deck while Tara and I walked slowly down.  Then John and Jake came down to the yard too to play fetch.  Jake just loves playing fetch, and pretty good about dropping the ball with John too.  John said it's great decision they made to fence in the backyard, so Jake can play off leash.  John said he and Kate went to New England for a week in October, and they boarded Jake at this farm where a lot of hunter board their hunting dogs.  The farm has a kennel, but they let Jake out to run in the woods and swim in the lake at the farm during the day.  He said they told him they could give Jake a bath on the morning he was going to pick Jake up, but he told them no he'll give the bath himself.  He said after he picked up Jake, Jake smelled a lot and when he bathed him at the self-service tub at a pet food store, brown water kept running out for a long time.  He said before Jake did not like going into that store because that's where he gets baths, but now they take him there to get food and treats and now Jake likes going there too.  John said Jake got an ear infection after coming back from the farm, he said he told the kennel guy that if they let Jake swim then his ears need to be cleaned, and the guy said he has this ear mixture he cleans the dogs' ears with.  But Jake still got fungal ear infection, so we think either the mixture didn't work or they didn't clean the ears often enough (I really don't think they did it everyday since Jake pretty much swam everyday), anyways, Jake had fun there.  John said sometimes they walk to downtown area and he ties Jake outside while he goes inside to get coffee, and Jake gets lots of pettings from people when they go.  And he said now the weather has cooled down, he takes Jake to run errands with him more.  Jake rides in the backseat of the truck (king cab) and he would Jake in the truck while he goes inside the store for a few minutes.  And when he comes out, Jake would be sleeping in the backseat.  I asked, so Jake's not afraid riding in the truck anymore (first few weeks of adoption, they noticed Jake got really nervous when he rode in the truck, we think maybe that reminded him of going to hunting).  John said Jake loves riding in the truck now too.  John said they've taken Jake to the yoga studios a few times, usually on Saturdays, because the building actually don't allow pets, but Saturday there are fewer people there.  And when Jake goes, he gets petted a lot in the classroom by the students, and he just loves the basket-ful of tennis balls in the classroom.  I told John that Jake seems to be a little thinner compare to the last time I saw him, and John said he thought Jake had lost weight too, but when they took him to the vet, he didn't lose a pound, so he just thinks it's turned into muscle.  Anyways Jake looks great and I'm so glad they are able to exercise him a lot everyday.
As John and Jake were playing fetch, Tara was looking at Jake and wanted to run after him too, like at Millie's pool party.  But since there was a toy (tennis ball) involved, I kept Tara leashed.  But she finally realized it's nice grass and she rolled on her back, barking happily, on the grass.  It's so nice to see her happy and enjoying the outdoors in the sun like that.  John said maybe I could let Tara off leash, so I did for a few minutes.  Then Kate said the food's ready, so we went inside.  John brought in some of Jake's toys from the yard, he said Jake likes to take them outside one by one.  I put the toys on the chair in the livingroom, so Tara won't get possessive over them.  John also said there are probably hundreds of tennis balls in the bushes in the backyard, because whenever he tells Jake to go get a tennis ball, Jake would always find one. 
My camera batteries ran out at this point, or else I would�ve taken more pictures. 
John and Kate made lentile soup (kale in the soup from their garden), and they got bread and spinach quiche from one of their student's bakery.  Also I had the carrot/apple juice that John made.  All the food were really good.  They made Jake stay on the rug that's in the doorway between the kitchen and the dinning room, and I tried to keep Tara next to me, but she kept wanting to sit next to Kate, so we let her.  I asked if that's where they tell Jake to stay when they have their meals, and they said that's Jake's spot when they are cooking.  John said the rug used to be in the kitchen, and Jake would lie on it while they were in the kitchen, and they would trip over him.  So they moved the rug to the doorway and got another rug for the kitchen, and now they don't trip over him anymore.  Jake took a short nap and wanted to play again, so they let him outside to play with tennis ball on the deck (I told John and Kate that Tara is possessive of dog toys).  But Jake eventually came back inside and lied next to John.  Kate said she was surprised that Tara could walk the hills during the walk, and I told her yeah we walk at least a mile everyday to keep her joints lubricated because of her arthritis.  Rocky the cat was very curious about Tara and walked by several times to check her out.  Tara had her head down, seemed to be sleeping (I was surprised about that because she usually don't relax enough to sleep at an unfamiliar place), but then we heard growling sound.  At first we thought Jake was grunting/snoring, or maybe Rocky was purring, but it turned out to be Tara growling, so I walked her back to sit next to me.  As John was picking up the plates, I told Tara to stay and I went up to pet Rocky.  Kate showed me this spot on his skin where the scab is, they think he has some kind of allergy that got worse during the fall.  They said for a long time he was only 6 pounds, but now he's 9 pounds.  John said for a while he didn't think Rocky would make it because the cat was really sick.  Somebody found the litter of five kittens (about three weeks old) and brought them to their vet's office.  The kittens were really sick but all survived.  Rocky was probably the runt of the litter and was the last one to be adopted out.  On the other hand, Sham is 14 pounds, and he did really well when the vet sutured his eyelid back. 

John and Kate explained why they had to get a new bed for Jake (the old one was the one that went with Jake on adoption day a year ago).  John said when he called the farm/kennel before dropping Jake off, he asked if he could bring toys and bed, and the guy said not 20 toys, but maybe 2 or 3 and the bed is fine.  John said inside each kennel, there is the canvas bed with PVC frame (typical kennel bed), and he put Jake's bed on top of the PVC bed.  He said that after they got back from New England and he went to pick up Jake from the farm, he and the kennel manager went to Jake's kennel and he saw the bed was all shredded up, all the stuffing out all over the kennel.  The guy told John that the bed was fine all week, but this morning when he came to see Jake, he saw Jake had dug a hole in the bed cover.  Then he walked away and when he came back later, he saw Jake had dug a hole in the inside lining that held the stuffing.  So the guy removed some of the loose stuffing that was already out, and took Jake out for a walk.  After he put Jake back in the kennel and went to get Jake's dinner, when he came back, Jake had shredded the bed to pieces.  The guy said to John, "I guess he's ready to go."  So that's why John and Kate got a new bed for Jake. 
John said that they put Jake's bed on Kate's side of the bed.  But every morning around 5 AM, Jake would come up to John and touch noses.  John would pet him and turn to the other side.  Jake would then go back to the dog bed until they get up. 
John and Kate said that they decided to move the cats' litter box to the upstairs room, because there's draft coming from the basement door (they used to keep the box in the basement, so the cats could use the box without worrying about Jake near them).  John and Kate said they clean the box frequently to prevent Jake from starting to mess with cat poop.  I told him, yeah, once they start, it's like countersurfing, it's a hard habit to break.  Anyways, John and Kate said they clean the box frequently.
John said Jake doesn't like to go down to the basement by himself, but he would go through it if John's working in the yard (one of the basement doors leads to the backyard).
John and Kate also asked about Brenna and Keely and about my school work; that was really nice of them.

Then it was time to feed the cats and Jake, and Kate asked me if Tara would like to join them, and I said yes.  The cats and Jake get bits of chicken for dinner, and Jake's dinner consists of kibbles mixed with homemade chicken stock, peas, and bread.  When Kate was preparing the food, Sham went to the kitchen with her and meowed, that was really cute.  I told them that Tara is possessive of wet food, so while Jake ate his dinner in the dinning room, I took Tara to the rug by the front door.  At first she just sniffed, but once she realized it was "human food", she licked the soup and ate everything except the peas.  I told John and Kate that Tara wouldn't eat the peas, so they gave it to Jake, who is a good boy who eats his vegetables.  I could tell Tara is getting sleepy, especially after dinner, so I was thinking about maybe leaving soon so she wouldn't start getting grouchy.  Then we had tea and cookies (beautifully decorated ones that they got from their student's bakery).  They gave Jake the elephant toy that I got Jake for Christmas, the toy makes an elephant roaring sound.  Jake had his puzzled look each time he heard the sound. 
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