by Bruce Willis
Let me describe Jake to you. He was not a "furbaby"..or our "blessed bundle of joy". He was a fully functioning member of our family with the full rights, privedelges, and responsibilities of any family member. My wife and I found him 11 years ago while bycyling out in the country near our house. He was guarding the corpse of another dog-a big male sheperd-that had been killed by a car. We, being the good citizens we thought ourselves to be, left him alone, thinking to give him a chance to go home, or his owners a chance to come get him. It was summer..with the temperatures in the 90's each day. We went back the next day-and he was still there, pawing and tugging at the fur of his dead companion and starting to show signs of dehydration. We stopped, got out of our car and approached him. He rushed us with a snarl and a growl. The givaway was the frantically wagging tail. We left him for a very short time, coming back with water and hotdogs. He gratefully consumed both. The growl and snarl was all fear and loneliness. While I drove, my wife cuddled him in her arms in the back seat..and sang to him. He promptly fell into an exhausted sleep. We took him to the local animal shelter-because we couldn't have "pets" where we lived. We were due to move in 2 weeks. The local animal shelter keeps strays for one week. It's amazing how good a salesman you can be with the right incentive. In the end they agreed to keep him for two. We visited him and took him for a walk everyday. He joined our family on the very day that hurricane Hugo gave us a near miss. In short order, he became not a "pet"..or "our dog"..but Jake. I fly ultralights and always took him with me to the local airport to fly. I never took him up because the noise would hurt his ears. But he would always be waiting when i taxied back. However, I also fly regular small aircraft, and he went up with me many, many times in those. He became the "Airport Dog" known to all and would lay on the blacktop of the taxiway while the wing of a light aircraft passed over him.
Tales of Jake. I could relate a million of them. The day after my Dad died, and he jumped up on my mom's bed and licked her face. He would never have normally done that-my mom was the cook par excellance during or visits and was very high in the Jake awe and respect listing.
How he would ask to be let out-and when you got up to let him-he'd get in "his" place on the sofa. You had accidently sat down there and it was the most mannerly way to get you up.
Everyone thinks their dog is smart. I won't bore with tales of Jake's intelligence. Suffice it to say, we have two wonderful "dogs" that we love very much. They are beloved pets, and nowhere near as smart, or as adaptable, or as much a person as Jake was. Oh...as if it matters..he was mostly boxer with enough mix to have a long snout.
But the boxer heritage and tendency to develop cancer did come to matter. We lost Jake on January 14, 1999. He died in my wife's and my arms. Cancer. Inoperable.
I loved and liked Jake more than 99% of human beings i've ever met. Ten years was not enough for him-or us. Jake was no furbaby or our little bundle of joy. We lost a family member. I hope he runs thru summer fields full of good smells..then eats well and sleeps warm. Till I get there to go with him on all those new adventures.