Jak (a.k.a. Jaky Boy, Babey Boy, Skid Marks)

 

Joy, Affection and Kinship

what all dogs offer to those willing to open their hearts and home to one.

 

September 9th, 2001 ~ October 21, 2006

Forever in our hearts

    Jak is our Big Baby Boy!  Here he is as a puppy (picture is compliments of SFTH):

    

    He's very aggressive when it comes to getting attention.  If he's not the center of attention, he makes damned sure he will be.  If one of the others is being petted, hugged or kissed, you can forget that continuing for long.  He pushes his way right up front, even on top of them and you if he has to. He has gone so far as to stand on my shoulders for attention...  Then he will proceed to kiss the crap out of every inch of your face not leaving any room for anyone else or for you to breathe.  

    Here he is running through the field towards me at the end of our road.

When we get home from work, he refuses to go outside until we give him "kissy time".  He sits at our feet looking up with those angel eyes and a whimper while his tail is thumping away on the ground until we put everything down, sit on the couch and do "kissy time", then and only after then will he go outside and do his business.  At bed time, he waits in the hall with his sister until we're under the covers.  As soon as those covers are just about over either of us, BAM! he's on top inches away from our face.  

    He reminds me of the "Close Talker", (Judge Reinhold) on one of the "Seinfeld" episodes.  He is constantly within inches of your face.  Most nights, he'll sleep with his head on our pillows, and when you think everyone is asleep, think again.  We'll open our eyes to find him laying inches away from our face, looking at us, then he'll quickly shift his eyes away as if to say "I wasn't just staring at you".  It used to creep us out, but then we came to  understand the little freak.  "He just a little guy!"

    We consider Jak to be very "Special", as we like to call it.  We've learned that, Jak really isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean.  What made us come to this conclusion was, well, first, he couldn't do stairs all that well when he was over a year and a half.  

    Then came the time he was trying to find his sister, Cowgirl, and Weiser who were under the covers.  He proceeded to punch at them with his nose, then we showed him how to get under there.  Well, we're not sure what he expected to find under there, but it sure sounded like he didn't expect to find other dogs by the surprised bark he let out upon discovering them.  You had to be there... It was hysterical.

    Then of course there was the time we heard him crying in the bedroom, we frantically run in there, to find him stuck under the covers with the profile of his head, trying to look around.   Yes, our "Special" Jak, we love him so!

Updated 12/2005

Updated: 8/2006

This has been very difficult for me to update, as I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with it.  2 Weeks after we lost Weiser in January of this year (2006), we had to bring Jak to the vet as it was apparent that he had lost a significant amount of weight.  We noticed it, but we were so preoccupied with Weiser. He was eating healthy and did not appear to be in any pain, it was just noticeable that he had lost weight.  VJ had to bring him, as I couldn't step foot in the vet office at the time without falling apart.

Well, the news from the Dr. was not what we expected at all.  Jak has Kidney Disease.  His kidney's are shutting down.  We'd be lucky to have him for another year, we were told.  Our hearts sank lower than we ever thought they could. 

We were so angry at first.  How could this happen to our Jak?  He's only five! Then it was, "What options do we have? Can we have one of his sisters give him one of their kidneys?"  We figured they do it for humans all the time, the tissue match shouldn't be an issue, we have TWO of his sisters!  We didn't care what the cost would be, but when explained by the Dr., that it would only buy him another year or two MAYBE, if it was successful, the disease would more than likely affect the new kidney, then the fact that the procedure has not been reliable in dogs yet so his chances of even making it through were slim, and the topper, we'd be putting one of the girls' lives at risk...   

What were our other options? 

Keep him as comfortable as you can.

OK.

Every few days, we hook him up to IV to give him fluids under the skin to re-hydrate him, feed him Prescription Kidney Disease canned food daily, and sneak him a blood pressure pill twice a day in whatever we can find to entice him.  He's onto us with the cheese thing, so we use cold cuts, scrap meat, peanut butter sandwiches, or whatever else he thinks is a treat.  You'd be amazed at what just those three things do for him.  He's still a strong and very happy boy.  He tries to play with his sisters still, but gets tired quickly.  He's all skin and bones and looks malnourished, but believe me when I tell you, he eats good.  We feed him whatever his heart desires.  Steak, chopped meat, chicken, rice, and whatever leftovers we have that are good for him along with his prescription food.  Of course his sisters have to have what he's having too, so you can imagine how healthy their looking now!

At least he is comfortable for now, what more can we ask for....

On October 19th, JAK was the name officially given to the Stray From The Heart mascot.

On October 21st, Jak lost his long hard fight with Kidney Disease.  He will forever be in our hearts and immortalized as the SFTH Mascot.

Joy, Affection and Kinship is how he will always be remembered, and now will represent strays everywhere.

Rest in Peace our Baby Boy.

Pet Pals!            UrgentHELP!!        The Sundance Kid           Cowgirl      Daisy Mae        Our Buddy Weiser      Jak     The CowPuppies       Zoe         War Dogs