Jak

Although I really like to keep this "blog" upbeat and fun for my clients, I think it's appropriate that I say a few words about Jak here.

Jak has been with me for just over a year. He came to me from my ex-partner's pack when she quit the business and moved on to other things. Right from the get-go, Jak was welcomed to my group, and everybody loved him.

A big, slow moving red Retriever, Jak was never in a hurry to go anywhere. Whenever I picked him up, he'd try to bring along a toy (an old sock, a shoe, a stuffed animal...) and would take his time walking to the van. He'd jump in, and make sure to sit right at the sliding door, blocking the whole thing, so the next dogs I picked up would have to jump over him to get in. They didn't mind, and Jak didn't care. For a 3 year old dog, he was the "old man" of my pack, and was quite content with it.

On Monday, during the heat wave, he collapsed when I brought him home. He went to the vet as soon as his "mom" could get him there, and nobody was particularly worried. We both thought that due to his size, and the heat/bad air quality, he was just having a difficult time regulating his temperature. It turns out he had a bacterial infection that had gone through his whole body. Jak was one of "those" dogs, who would investigate and eat just about anything. I once took him out for a walk around the block in the evening - on garbage night - and he proceeded to attempt to bring an entire garbage bag home with him. The vet seems to think that he ate something toxic over the weekend, and that is what did the damage (not the heat).

Jak did not recover, and was put down later the next day.

The pack will not be the same without him.