Jake
Saturday, January 13, 2007
�We, all five of us, are doing quite well.  Kate has been a bit sick (bad cold) since the first of the year but is much improved.  The kitties are good and our boy Jake is simply great.  He continues to be the pleasant spirit in every moment.  We are truly blessed by his presence.�

Monday, February 12, 2007
John and Jake just did their first home visit for ESRA this past weekend.  Welcome Alabama�s newest Springer Rescue volunteers! 

Saturday, March 17, 2007
Some updates from Heather about Channing, Marcus, and their family.  �Karen is not working with Springer Rescue there at this time.  Basically, she had contacted them previously, but they didn't really have many dogs ever posted.   The laws for animal welfare are much better I believe than they are in the US and, of course, land mass, population and development is also different.  I think this group is just a couple of people running their own small rescue.  So, in essence, ESRA is not affiliated with the UK organization. 
Karen did take her two dogs to the UK.  We talked about others wanting to adopt in the UK possibly reaching out to us, but is very cost prohibitive.  When all was said and done, it cost Karen about $10K to get her dogs to the UK with all of the vet requirements, rabies certification health certificates, crates, flights, etc.
The rabies requirements have changed so if dogs fly into London Gatwick they don't have to be taken into quarantine if they have passed their rabies titer 6 months pre-flight.  That's why Karen's dogs stayed here for 2 months when she and her family had to leave to get her kids in school.  She had them with a dog-sitter here for two months and then flew back to bring them back to the UK as she also had to be on the same flight with them.   They were completely comfortable and didn't seem phased by their trip when they arrived in London.�

Sunday, March 18, 2007
�Jake is good.  He just gets sweeter and kinder every day.  We had to deal with a badly torn forward paw nail this last week.  I am still not sure when, where, or how it happened but the poor guy was really suffering.  I had trimmed the broken piece myself on Wednesday (owwwwwwww!) and Jake was so wonderful.  He yelped pitifully and then gave me this short growl and scowl.  The first growl ever but certainly not the first scowl.  He stopped limping after that but kept licking at it through Thursday.  On Friday I noticed that there was still a small fragment hanging on and that he had split the nail higher than I had clipped.  We went to see the vet who did a great job at trimming up the nail.  During the trimming I held Jake in a hug.  When she clipped the nail he winced, yelped and turned his head and got my thumb in his mouth.  It was the most amazing thing, Phyllis.  On instinct he bit down.  But I could sense that he suddenly realized my hand was in his mouth and he actually restrained the bite to some tolerable pressure!  The two of us had a great little moment of eye contact that communicated more, I'm sure, than some folks communicate in a year of encountering one another.  What a guy!
Kitties are doing great.  And the three boys have become really good with each other.  I love to watch the encounters (mostly quiet) between the three and to see how they work out all of the potential issues by some super-human intelligence.�

Sunday, March 25, 2007
�Seems to me that none of the dry food was impacted by the recall.  I feel pretty safe since the bag I am feeding from is over a month in my cupboard and we do not feed any wet food other than Jake's tasty chicken concoction.  Hope you and the furries are well.  Jake is a dream boy and particularly sweet smelling after his buddy wash bath this weekend.�

Sunday, April 8, 2007
�We are all well.  Kate�s Dad is coming for a week-long visit on Wednesday.  He has never met Jake and I am excited for the two to meet.  He loves dogs and I am sure that he and Jake will get along famously.  Sham is still going on walks with Jake and I (as far as the woods down the street).  Then Jake runs in the woods and Sham hangs out with me demanding a lot of petting and conversation.  I introduce Sham as my 'other' dog.  He goes on walks, begs food, and does a pretty fair fetch (except for the part where he brings the fetched object back... maybe I should rename it 'chase')�

Monday, May 21, 2007
�Jake is truly just wonderful.  He gets sweeter and more loving with each day.  I have been enjoying the developing relationship between him and Kate.  They are wonderful friends.
Also, I wanted to ask.  It really does not seem that Jake or I am significantly interested in the whole agility thing.  We find ourselves liking a lot of other things more and quite honestly the agility equipment is just gathering dust in the basement.  Do you think you might have an interest in having it back long term?  I know your apartment is quite small and we would happily store it for return to you if you think you might want it after you finish school.  Also, we have a friend who is training her two dogs currently and she would likely put it to good use.  I have a life philosophy that includes not hanging on to stuff that could be useful if I were not secreting it away from the world.  If I am storing it for you I would find that a good thought or I can see that it gets into some use.  Which would you prefer?
Thank you again for checking in on us and for taking this sweet dog into rescue in the first place.  What a gift he is and what a gift you gave.�
I replied that it would be fine to give the agility equipment to their friend to put it to good use.

Monday, August 20, 2007
�Jake, Rocket, and Sham� and Kate are all fine.  Jake has really settled into his life with us and he and Sham are incredibly close friends.  They truly must relate on some soul level.  They lay right next to each other quite often (as much as the current heat would allow).  Sham almost always seeks Jake out when he comes in from outside and touches noses and then brushes up against Jake for two or even three passes.
Jake is absolutely healthy and happy.  It is wonderful to see him with Kate.  The two of them are closer than I could have ever hoped.�

Monday, October 29, 2007
�I am sending along a picture of Jake and I that Kate took only this afternoon.  He is such a wonderful, sweet guy (sleeping on the bed as I type � I should say on Kate and my bed �with two tennis balls in his mouth).  He is healthy and loving and getting the hang of off lead distances that I find comfortable.  On lead he is truly much improved (for me) but still a struggle for Kate.  Kate has become his savior.  Whenever I give him �the evil eye� he simply turns his gaze over to Kate and will not look back at me.�
And Kate gave me a jar of orange marmalade that she made.  Tara sniffed and found Jake's toys that were on livingroom chair and tried to take one, but Kate was fast enough and put them away.  Tara was getting sleepy by the minute, but Jake was energized after his nap and was excited.  Then Tara barked and lunged at him, luckily again I had her on leash, so she didn't get Jake while he went to Kate.  Kate and John petted Jake (I don't think Jake was scared, but I think he was confused why Tara barked) and I hugged and petted Jake, and Tara and I proceeded to leave.  Kate gave me the rest of the cookies and some more of the delicious soup.  They told Jake to stay in the livingroom while we walked to my car.  Tara slept the whole way during the drive back to Auburn.  
Jake still loves to play fetch.  He still doesn't drop the ball immediately after bringing it back, but John is generally able to get it back from him without much difficulty. 
John also did some fetch where he would have Jake wait before telling him okay to go after the ball.  Kate said it's a littler harder for Jake playing this way because he really wants to go after the ball. 
I went to visit Jake in Birmingham before the Petsmart Santa event yesterday.  John greeted me at the door, and told me that Jake's in the backyard with Kate.  From the deck, I saw that Kate had a basket with her and was picking out stuff from the back of the yard, and Jake was following right behind her.  John called Jake, and at first Jake just looked at him but didn't come, but when Jake slowly walked up and then saw me, he ran the rest of the way.  He licked my face and I think he remembered me.  Jake had a red tennis ball in his mouth, and John said that their neighbor was cleaning out her garage and found 3 tennis balls and threw them into their yard because they know Jake loves tennis balls.  He said that Jake played with the yellow one, but they thought it was weird that he didn't touch the red one.  When he finally found it, it was more like he found it by smell than by sight.  And when they play fetch with the red ball, John said that Jake seems to have a hard time finding the red ball unless it's moving.  Then he finally drew the conclusion that maybe it's hard for dogs to see red, and John asked me if that's true.  I told him that dogs can't see orange and reds as well, especially if it's against a green background (from reading Stanley Coren's "How Dogs Think" book). 

John played fetch with Jake in the yard for a while, while Kate and I watched.  I also saw one of their cats, Sham the shorthaired one, walking around in the yard.  Kate said that Sham and Jake have become great buddies, they even hunt together.  She said she once saw Sham tossing a chipmunk he had killed to Jake (they later got the chipmunk away from the boys). 
Then John would get ready to throw the ball again, Jake would walk backwards in anticipation, not walking backwards on flat piece of grass, but Jake actually walks backwards down to the grassy area of the yard, without looking down or behind his shoulder, while he keeps his focus on the ball in John's hand.  I've never seen a dog walking backwards on stairs so fast.  I wish I had videotaped it. 
John would tell Jake to wait, then throw the ball, Jake would turn around, John would remind him wait again.  Jake then would remain standing, until John tells him okay, then he would run down the steps to retrieve. 
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