Post by jason on Jan 24, 2010 17:33:38 GMT -5
It is with broken hearts that we had to say goodbye to our big, goofy boy Jack (‘aka ‘Mo Block’) this morning. For those of you that don’t know Jack has been battling bone cancer for the last four months. He was such a strong boy for his mommy and daddy and we feel blessed at how long we had with him after the diagnosis. We know others have not been so lucky.
Jack and his counterpart Bonnie first came into our lives in August of 2006. We visited GRA with the intention of leaving with one small, senior, female but Bill had other plans. The only thing we thought we wanted was a brindle-coloured pup. The morning of our visit we took two girlies for a walk but neither was the perfect fit. As we were about to leave, and as Bill was heading to his house to do the paper work on another adoption, he requested a favour of us to stay during the turnout of two bounced puppers……you got it…Bonnie and Jack!
We left the kennel that day torn, could we handle two dogs? If you’re walking one dog you might as well walk two. Right Bill? We returned a week later and of course brought Jack and Bonnie into our lives (Bill helped seal this deal by getting Bonnie and Jack to phone us during the week of our indecision).
Jack wasn’t without his issues in fact the idea of returning him came up several times over the first few weeks. Due to his size and his aggression towards other dogs Barb didn’t think she could manage him. She only outweighed him by 20lbs and would have to walk both of the pups on her own. Jack reacted so aggressively towards other dogs we called Bill for some help but he assured us that Jack was a sweetheart, those words stuck with us to the very end. Despite his issues Bill’s words rang true. Jack was the biggest sweetie pie EVER! It didn’t happen overnight but in time we became a tightly knit pack.
So to honour our boy Jack we wanted to tell you some of the things that made him so special.
He was big. But he didn’t know it. He thought wherever his nose fit his body could follow.
Jack couldn’t sleep on the couch unless he was touching one of us. I mean he would scooch from two feet away until the tip of his nose was pressed into your side. We miss his snuggles the most.
Jack was a Velcro dog to J. J proved on more then one occasion to Jack that he was Alpha and could keep Jack safe. There was an incident in downtown Toronto where two Rottweillers escaped their home and were stalking and killing pets in the West End. J happened to be out with the pups on that very day the dogs were in our hood and managed to get both himself, Bonnie and Jack out of the situation safely. Not only Jack idolized him for that but the rest of his pack as well.
Jack was scared of EVERYTHING. Every day when either of us would get home from work he would greet us at the back door but run away scared when we’d take off our backpacks.
Jack had the tone and vibrato of an opera singer and loved to show it off. When he got excited he would roo with such enthusiasm that at Grapehounds he got several compliments on his singing prowess which stood out amongst the crowd.
Unbeknownst to us Jack was a water dog. We picked up a kiddie pool for the pups but the one we brought home seemed to scare Jack silly. We thought he would never play in the water but that all changed when he went to Camp Greyhound. Jack would still be soaking wet when we came to pick him up after vacations. Such a silly boy.
Thanks for reading about our big guy. We wanted to end with the fact that more than anything else we learned a lot from Jack; patience, love, understanding, forgiveness, playfulness and beyond all else it’s not about the destination but about the journey.
A short video of Jack. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGiPR3kSB3w
Jack and his counterpart Bonnie first came into our lives in August of 2006. We visited GRA with the intention of leaving with one small, senior, female but Bill had other plans. The only thing we thought we wanted was a brindle-coloured pup. The morning of our visit we took two girlies for a walk but neither was the perfect fit. As we were about to leave, and as Bill was heading to his house to do the paper work on another adoption, he requested a favour of us to stay during the turnout of two bounced puppers……you got it…Bonnie and Jack!
We left the kennel that day torn, could we handle two dogs? If you’re walking one dog you might as well walk two. Right Bill? We returned a week later and of course brought Jack and Bonnie into our lives (Bill helped seal this deal by getting Bonnie and Jack to phone us during the week of our indecision).
Jack wasn’t without his issues in fact the idea of returning him came up several times over the first few weeks. Due to his size and his aggression towards other dogs Barb didn’t think she could manage him. She only outweighed him by 20lbs and would have to walk both of the pups on her own. Jack reacted so aggressively towards other dogs we called Bill for some help but he assured us that Jack was a sweetheart, those words stuck with us to the very end. Despite his issues Bill’s words rang true. Jack was the biggest sweetie pie EVER! It didn’t happen overnight but in time we became a tightly knit pack.
So to honour our boy Jack we wanted to tell you some of the things that made him so special.
He was big. But he didn’t know it. He thought wherever his nose fit his body could follow.
Jack couldn’t sleep on the couch unless he was touching one of us. I mean he would scooch from two feet away until the tip of his nose was pressed into your side. We miss his snuggles the most.
Jack was a Velcro dog to J. J proved on more then one occasion to Jack that he was Alpha and could keep Jack safe. There was an incident in downtown Toronto where two Rottweillers escaped their home and were stalking and killing pets in the West End. J happened to be out with the pups on that very day the dogs were in our hood and managed to get both himself, Bonnie and Jack out of the situation safely. Not only Jack idolized him for that but the rest of his pack as well.
Jack was scared of EVERYTHING. Every day when either of us would get home from work he would greet us at the back door but run away scared when we’d take off our backpacks.
Jack had the tone and vibrato of an opera singer and loved to show it off. When he got excited he would roo with such enthusiasm that at Grapehounds he got several compliments on his singing prowess which stood out amongst the crowd.
Unbeknownst to us Jack was a water dog. We picked up a kiddie pool for the pups but the one we brought home seemed to scare Jack silly. We thought he would never play in the water but that all changed when he went to Camp Greyhound. Jack would still be soaking wet when we came to pick him up after vacations. Such a silly boy.
Thanks for reading about our big guy. We wanted to end with the fact that more than anything else we learned a lot from Jack; patience, love, understanding, forgiveness, playfulness and beyond all else it’s not about the destination but about the journey.
A short video of Jack. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGiPR3kSB3w