We (my husband and I) were very lucky when my daughter brought home Jake from the shelter. Jake was golden retriever who had been abused. When he came to us he was timid and untrusting. But with love and kindness, he saw that humans weren't so bad afterall.

He had a tough road at times. He had cancer twice, but with the help of Garden State Vet. Hospital, he had more good years in front of him. Everyone loved Jake at the hospital. Even with all the radiation he had to go through, no matter what they had to put him through, his tail was always wagging.

He was an incredible companion. He just wanted to be where you were and a pet now and then to let him know we loved him. I've had dogs all my life and he was without a doubt the best behaved dog I have ever had.

I miss him soooo much! The worst part about having a pet is having to make the decision to let them go. We had to put Jake down last week because he hurt his leg in the snow and with the loss of muscle mass he was just to weak to recover. Jake was about 13 or 14 years old. We never knew his exact age because he was from a shelter.

We have another dog who keeps looking for Jake. It is bad enough for us knowing what we had to do, but for our other dog it looks like he can't understand where Jake is. I know in time I will get another dog, but for now I have a hole in my heart where Jake is missing.

I know he is at Rainbow Bridge waiting for us and playing with our other pets there. It's just very hard not seeing and petting and playing with him. He was such a GOOD BOY!!!

I will always love and miss him. He was my BIG BOY!!