dreadful.
So I will tell you about him. Jake was an undersized little beagle, strawberry blonde and white. He came to live with me one afternoon at the dog park. Chance, my current beagle, and I were going for a walk in the old soccer field near my house.
As we entered, some guy said “Hey, do you want another beagle?” I said, “Oh, everyday!” The guy said “I’m serious, there’s a lady who has another beagle she’s looking to re-home.”
He pointed to the lady and we went across the field to meet them. While the dogs played, she told me Jake’s story. Jake had belonged to elderly relatives, who had some medical troubles and decided they could no longer keep a puppy. So her family took him, but Jake was a runner and their house was on a busy street and had no fence. She had flyers she was putting up at the dog park.
Chance and I had been discussing getting a sibling, and the dogs got along well, so I said I’d take him. I told her where my house was and she said she’d be there around three. And she showed up in her mommy mobile with her sons and Jake’s bed, toys and food.
The dogs got along very well. The cats looked at him and I swear I heard one of them think “Not another one of those big nosed dogs,” but they learned to tolerate him and only infrequently had to apply the big paw of discipline.
But Jake was a runner and I chased that dog everywhere. Fortunately, if I told Chance to find his brother, he’d put his nose to the ground and track him. I called it Jake-a-robics. I sometimes thought that Jake was not the perfect dog, and not the most obedient dog (Chance would run, but he was bribable) but he was my sweet dog and I loved him, the little jerk.
Chance pre deceased Jake, so for a couple of years Jake was the only dog.
Sadly, he developed heart trouble, and he was going to the vet to have fluid around his heart drained and taking meds. Still, he was not having any noticeable pain and was eager to go out even if it was just around the house once or twice. The vet said “You should consider…” but I took him home that day.
A few days later, we were going to go out, and he got to the door, stopped and looked up at me, and we went back in. I called the vet. This was when Covid had first hit.
Now I am older and not in good physical shape so I do not have a dog. I am cheered by your pictures of Shadow.
One other thing. Chance had a poem. I wanted to give him a baseball name and he was kinda blasé when I was reciting names,
but when I said “These are the saddest of possible words, Tinker to Evers to Chance..” he perked right up. Would you like your name to be Chance? Yes! I had to look up the whole poem and memorize it. He liked to hear his poem.
I knew of no Jake poems, so I had to write one.
This is Jake’s poem:
Jake, Jake, he’s a miracle dog!
He came in a blur and he came in a fog
He came in a van and he came after three
But I am so glad that Jake came to me!
Jake, Jake, he’s the brother of Chance
The dog who has moves like that Tarheel McCants*
They run and play tag
And Chance is agog
At the wonder, Jake brother,
The miracle dog!
*Huge Tarheel basketball fan here.
Anyway, that’s my word picture of Jake for you, complete with what I flatter myself is a pretty good piece of doggerel.
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