Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Jaker, Jaker The Trouble Maker



As most of you know, we have been fostering a Yellow Lab named Jake. We are volunteering with a local rescue and got Jake to take care of until he finds his forever home. From what I understand, his owners have had him since he was a pup. They recently had a baby and it was too difficult for them to take good care of Jake along with the baby. Other than some communication difficulties with the rescue (darn email), it has been a wonderful experience for all of us and I am so happy we have done this. Since we often refer to Rudy as, Rudy Tooty Fresh and Fruity, Joel felt we should refer to Jake as, Jaker, Jaker The Trouble Maker. I thought that was pretty clever. Jake is only a year and a half and I forgot that Labs are still puppies until 3 or 4 years old. So Jake has been chewing. Thank goodness not on furniture. We have or shall I say had a ton of chew toys and bones of Rudy's that he would play with for a little bit and then be done. Jake has managed to chew them all up. Natalie is learning very quickly that she cannot leave her crayons lying around. Jake loves to chew them up. The other morning I was woke up by a sick dog at 4:30. I cleaned up after him and realized that he had torn up and eaten one of Rudy's rope toys and also it appeared that there was black plastic that he had gotten a hold of. I discovered yesterday that he literally chewed up and destroyed a tennis ball! I could not believe it. He is a great dog, he needs lots of chew toys and dog toys to chew on, if he has those, he will leave other things alone.
We knew this about Labs, but Rudy is outgrowing his puppy stage now, so Jake has gently reminded us how important it is to have toys for him to chew on.

There are a few people interested in adopting Jake but he is limping and we need to get a second opinion on why that is. We will find out on Friday. Please send thoughts and prayers that it will not affect him getting adopted. It does not seem to affect his quality of life. He runs, plays, and is able to go up and down the steps. He is going to make the best family dog for whoever gets him. He is completely house trained; he comes when he is called. He does not need a tie out in our back yard. I call for him and he comes immediately. He has no aggression, is awesome with the kids, and gets along great with other dogs. We still have to get him "cat tested," we do not know if he gets along with cats or not.

Will has become very attached to Jake. We are quite surprised with that, since it took him until about 6 months ago to like Rudy. It has been really cool to watch that relationship blossom. Will does understand that we are only caring for Jake for a short time until he finds his forever home, but that is not stopping him from asking, "Can we please keep Jake?" We go through the whole song and dance again and he is ok with it after we explain. If anything, Jake has brought a ton of joy to our kid's lives and that makes it all worth it. I also know we have made a difference in his life.
We will continue to foster after Jake, so you will get more stories.

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