About Jack.
15 years ago, I decided I wanted a dog. Shortly after we watched the Westminster Dog show, this was the year a Pomeranian won Best in Show. At that moment I knew that was the kind of dog I would get. I also had Oscar's (fish) which are very dirty fish and demanded constant visits to the pet store to buy various treatments to keep them healthy and the water clean.

This was back when pet stores had puppies for sale. A litter of Poms came in 3 males and two females, and over the next couple of months one by one they all were sold. Not many people are aware but but back then when a pet store did not sell and puppy at about 9 to 11 months they will euthanize them.

This Puppy was at the end of his 8th month in the store. It was Saturday and I told my husband I was going to "go look" at some Pomeranian's. I went to the store and spoke to the Assistant manager and offered to pay the outstanding vet bill on the dog, so they would not have to put him down. He got the Manager and for the price of his vet bill Jack was mine.

He sat in the palm of my hand. He was 7 inches tall at his highest point and weight just under 3 pounds. I trained him to heel and sit and lay down on the dining room table. He walked an average of 4 miles a day between walking with me and walking with my Mom and Dad. You see my parents would come and get him from our house and bring him to their's for Monday through Friday and then I would pick him up on my way home from work. He was their dog too.

Jack's adventures - Jack apparently wanted to walk more then we took him, for he ran away on a regular basis. He left the 2nd day we were in our new house, we believe to go see my parents. The problem was he did not know how to get there. He was up in the middle of the street by a student on his way to USF. This student, then gave him to other to watch while he went to his appointment at the college. When his appointment was over he considered keeping Jack and then started looking at his tag and realized that if someone did this to his dog he would hope they would try and contact him. He called the county number on the tag who called my work who called me at home, and later that evening Jack was returned. Another time he went for a walk on his own and was mistaken for someone else's Pom in the Neighborhood. My parent looked for him for hours, and finally spoke to a group of people, and asked if they had seen him. One of the women advised she had found a Pom and it was in her back yard, she thought it was her neighbors. So they open the fence gate and there is Jack, looking very upset and very happy to see people he knew.

Another time he dug out of their back yard, and the neighborhood kids brought him home. By now I had our home phone number on his tags. Their mom called us and let us know she had him and we picked him up that night. My Father's solution from that point on was to tie Jacks leash to a 100 foot electrical extension cord. Jack was very healthy and would attempt to take the cord and himself but the overall weight stopped the problem of him running away.

Jack and the police - Jack had one encounter with Police and from the Officers face I would say Jack won. He loved to ride in the back of the pick-up truck. Because of his size you could not see him in the truck. One day we pulled up along side a police officer at a traffic light who had his window down. At that moment Jack popped up and barked at the police officer who jumped. We all had a nice little chuckle when we got home.

Jack could answer yes and no. He would stand in front of you when he wanted something, you would go through the list of things food, water, out, treat toy...etc, and if the answer was no he would lie down, if the answer was yes he would spin in a circle. The spinning in a circle was also how he walked. 500 circles per walk was his best count.

Jack and other dogs - Jack like all little dogs thought he was a big dog. He never hesitated to get right in their faces right up to his elderly years. He was attacked once as a puppy I really believe the other dog thought he was a cat, as when he finally let Jack go and he started yelping, the other dogs behavior completely changed to "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were a dog man". 52 stitches later and he was fine and wanted to go for a walk.

His first toy was a squeaky Hedge Hog, which he would just squeak and squeak for hours at a time. Hence the cat would attack him.

Jack loved food. As my Father said "we do not feed him anything he will not eat" Jack loved little children. My niece and nephew and every child he met. He was very gentle and happy all the time. His walks in the morning included stopping to say hello to the children at the Bus stop. Who later, as they got older; would come and say hello to him when my Mom or Dad was walking him. He liked to chase the cows down the fence at the Park.

Jack grew up with cats so at times he would he behaved like a cat. He would bat their little ball toys around. He and Bud (his buddy a cat) would play sneak attack when he was younger and chase each other around the house, and then Jack would get into that excited Hyper mode and start bolting and Bud would just sit there and watch like what the hell just happened to him. He could jump or rather spring up to almost 5 feet. This would be how he would see what we were having for dinner or lunch or just in general.

At seven years old we though he was dying, as it turned out he had a tumor; which once removed returned Jack to his former happy peppy self. At 9 the damage from being attacked as a puppy resulted in him needing pain medicine. Once on the medicine again he was his happy peppy self. At 10 he had Kidney and bladder stones, and at 12 he was diagnosed with a heart murmur, more medicine and Jack was back to normal.

He started his days, even his last one with the same attitude; what's going to happen today. He was always happy to see you, he was always there. He was an adventure hunter. A day with Jack was always an adventure.

Unfortunately "always" is a relative term, and Jack's days literally started being numbered three years ago when he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. He did very well up until the first week of June. He had a very bad coughing attack as a result of the blood from his now failing heart backing up into his lungs. We took him to the vet and they put him on what would be the last medicine he would ever have to take. Over the next couple of weeks, Jack could not do the things he clearly wanted to. He could not go for walks, as he could not catch his breath, so he would stand and wag his tail and then lie back down. He only barked a few times for the last three weeks. Where as Jack and Barking were one and the same. He would watch you in the kitchen but he really did not want food, we were giving him his favorite things, like chicken and eggs, and bologna, and he was still eating. Jack loved Italian food, would actually be mad if you did not give him some and when he turned his nose up at pizza, and spaghetti sauce I knew he was not going to be around much longer. I came home from my last three day trip and he was not breathing well, and then I was told he really hadn't been eating for the last two days. So I had a long talk with him. I told him he could go if he was tired. I would be alright without him. I was positive that God would take very good care of him as a matter of fact better care of him then I had. That he was my angel, and it was probably time for him to be a real angel. He licked my nose and winked at me. Today He would not eat his food and he didn't want any water.

So this morning at 12:10 pm Jack and I said goodbye for now. He slept quietly while they injected the medicine to stop his heart, and he stopped breathing before he had received all of the medicine. I was there I owed him that much and more.

What Jack taught me

To love
To be happy
To never hold a grudge
To be ready
To be patient
To be tolerant
To enjoy life
To play
To be nice to everyone
To rest
To drink lots of water
To eat every meal
To have some treats
To accept challenges
To be ready to confront others
And the last thing he taught me was it is ok to let go.

So tonight when you go to bed, if you talk to God, ask him to pet my little angel. 6-28-07