Jack

Barbara and Jack

Jack

We adopted Jack from the York County SPCA in October of 2005. He is a husky/lab mix with loveable golden eyes, like a wolf. My husband had been diagnosed with Parkinsons a while back and had a series of mini strokes so we thought a companion for when I was out of the house would be a good idea. We had no idea what we were in for. A few days after bringing Jack home I put some groceries away in the refrigerator and Paul and I went out for lunch. When we came home the fridge door was open and the meat drawer was pulled out. Jack had gotten the new pack of hot dogs out and eaten the entire thing. So we put a bungee cord around the fridge door. The next time we went out, we had the same situation, except this time it was lunch meat, he hid the cheese in the sofa cushions. A second bungee cord did the trick. A little while after that, I made chili for supper and let it cool on the stove top while we went out to run errands. Jack really liked the chili, but he needed a bath. We spoke with the vet about his behavior and she thought maybe he got anxious being alone. We tried doggy valium to see if that would help. After learning my lesson with the chili, I put a pot of bean soup in the oven to cool while we went out. Turns out Jack can open the oven door too. Having a self cleaning oven is nice, but there were beans everywhere that needed cleaned up. Hard cement like beans are not your friend. I was getting a little frustrated with our new friend but was already in love with this attentive gentle dog. The next time I had something to cool while we were out, we gave Jack his valium and I put the pot in the oven and locked the oven door. Haha - I had a winner. We were able to eat supper that night, although there are some fairly deep bite marks in the oven door handle. We gave up on the valium, it clearly wasn't helping. So the kitchen was secure. A few days later we went out again. When we came home the living room looked like a tornado went through. What did Jack do now? The refrigerator was closed and nothing was in the oven. Hmmmm, so I started a tour of the house. I noticed a lump in our bed which was odd, because it was still made. I pulled down the covers to find a frozen chicken. We now have a lock on the freezer in the basement. One of Jack's other feature qualities, is he likes to run out the door at any given opportunity. He also knows how to open storm doors, you can only imagine how we learned that. We tried the invisible fence, but that didn't phase him in the least. While waiting for the 4 foot fence to be installed, Jack got out. Paul took chase after him on foot, but his walking isn't so good and running is not an option. We live close to a busy interstate and Paul was terrified that Jack would get hurt. While calling to Jack and walking, Paul fell into a ditch along the side of the road. Jack came running back and supported Paul so he could get up. A man stopped to help and took Paul and Jack home. That one incident made all Jack's kitchen antics acceptable. To know that Jack would always be there to help my husband when I wasn't home means the world to me.