Jack is thriving in his forever home. His weight is down to just over 80 lbs. (from 100+) with a combination of diet and walks. He still has most of the traits that endeared him to his Iowa foster home, such as digging for ice cubes and looking at you and “talking” as if he has something important to tell you. And he would still rather be inside with his people than outside -- unless there are bunnies (and squirrels) to be chased. Jack has many fans as he accompanies David on most errands. He has a wag for everyone he meets and he is positive that anyone that comes to the house -- visitor, FedEx, UPS, repairman -- is there just to see him. Men at work are his favorites and he will attempt to work his way under the sink with the plumber (or resident DIYer) or right next to the carpenters as the wood chips fly. His response to basic commands is now “almost” flawless after obedience class and lots of consistent repetition.

Jack is looking forward to summer because he loves to go fishing. The lures are as exciting to him as the few fish David catches, and so far we have managed not to hook him. He has to wear a life jacket on board the fishing boat, but David promised not to take any pictures. Jack hates the jacket, but if that is what it takes to go for boat rides, what the heck! Jack is no longer afraid of wading in the lake although he doesn’t like to swim and he absolutely will not jump off the dock. His favorite activity seems to be “rocking.” That means finding lemon-sized rocks in the lake, pawing them up to shallower water and then bringing them up to the deck for some praise.

Jack’s adopted sister Tara (Terah 05-211) went to the Rainbow Bridge last month after a too short six-week battle with aggressive cancer. Jack and Tara got along exceptionally well although Jack could never entice her to play. They enjoyed short walks together because Tara didn’t like to venture far from her secure home. At the end, as Tara was being relieved from her pain, Jack lay down touching her as if to offer comfort. He is a special boy.

Jeannine and David

	Jack and Tara before she got sick
	These are a few of my favorite things

Jack continues to do GReat in foster care.  Over the Memorial Day Weekend we had our neighbors 12 year old Golden, Tillie the resident Golden, and Jack.  I was a little worried about Molly, as she has bad hips and other age related issues, but Jack learned very quickly that she was not going to put up with any of his puppy antics.  He tried to get her to play over and over, but at 12, her idea of play is to just wander around and sniff the smells in the yard – after a while he just gave up.  Jack knows sit, down, shake – we are working on stay (that one might take some time), leave it and come.  He has a high prey drive, but that is probably from having a farm to roam on and being able to chase those pesky rabbits at will, until he came into foster care – he looks at me so sadly when we are walking and he tries to take off after a rabbit and I won’t let him.  He also has no recall and we are working VERY hard on that one – again probably because he had free roam for the 1st 2.5 years of his life, but coming on command is probably the single most important thing he can learn, so we will diligently work on that command until he gets it!  Generally, he is a total Velcro dog and prefers to be right with me or my husband.  He also loves to go for car rides and walks and loves to stop and visit each and every house on our walks.

The vet visit was exactly as I expected – he is 20 pounds overweight and really needs to loose it now L  So we are working on decreasing his food intake and increasing his exercise.  Other than the weight issue, he is healthy as a horse (no pun intended) and the vet's comment about him was “why would this dog be in rescue?”  His coat is improving daily, but will need a great amount of brushing over time, as his coat is very dense and probably has never been brushed in his life, so every day we work on it.  Luckily he loves to be brushed!

He has a couple funny traits – he looks you in the eye and barks right at you when he is trying to tell you something.  The way he moves his mouth is more like talking than barking – we laugh at him every time he does this, we still don’t know what he is trying to tell us, but we can tell that whatever he is trying to say, it is something very important to him!  Also, he is quite good at using his nose to investigate things – he was able to open the cooler over the weekend to get ice (loves ice) - he was quite pleased with himself once he mastered that trick J

He is going to meet a family the beginning of next week – cross your fingers for Jack that they fall in love with him as much as we have – he is a GReat dog and deserves to be a valued member of someone’s family, not just a lawn ornament on someone’s farm!