Jake

by Rita Lockwood

My sons and I know that Kerries are strong willed, intelligent, and challenging beings, we've had them before; so when we were ready for a new puppy, there wasn't really a question about what breed we wanted.  I contacted Berni Kusch, who had introduced me to Kerries,  to see if she knew of any puppies available.  She only knew of two possibilities at that time, neither one here in Oregon.  Of course we could have waited, but it seemed like we had been waiting forever.  I talked to both of the people who had puppies, and it seemed like the puppy in California was a good candidate, so I talked to my sons.   I assured them we could wait if this didn't seem right, but right away my youngest son, Brian, seemed to think this little guy was the one.   Three way conversations between Diane Lee, of O'Mara's kennel, my sons and me, went back and forth for days.  Bri kept saying, "Just get him, Mom"   We made the decision, and his refrain changed to "When's he coming?"    I talked to Diane about flying him up here, dates, times, etc.  Bri was in the room with me saying,  "Just tell her to put him on a plane."  She and I were trying to figure out a flight that worked with her schedule and mine, and finally my normally polite son stopped what he was doing, walked up to me and said, "Just tell her to put him on the first flight she can get, your schedule doesn't matter.  I'm going to pick him up."   I should have known then whose dog this was going to be...  He was like a new parent waiting for the big day, he even had the puppy named, Jake.   We had been forewarned that a puppy on his first flight might arrive upset, wet, messy and nauseous.  Bri said he didn't care, he'd clean him up.  I waited anxiously at work for the call, expecting to hear gruesome details from my son after he picked up Jake.   Nope, he called and when I answered he volunteered only one word,  "Touchdown."   I had to pull the rest of the details out of him.  Jake arrived clean, dry and happy.  Bri was so enchanted with the puppy I could hear it in his voice.   I told Diane not too long afterward that it was love at first sight for boy and dog, and I thought Jake might end up being more Brian's than mine.  It's been about 8 years, and it's like watching a child with his hero to see the two of them together.  And sometimes I'm not sure which one is the child and which one is the hero.

Many qualities make a dog unique, one of the things about Jake that we treasure is his willingness to love and protect whatever he thinks is his, even temporarily.  At his birth home, there was a young girl in the house.  When he came to us, we had no little people here.  Then about 6 weeks after he arrived, a young female relative came for 10 days.  They bonded easily, which was fortunate, because she was having some emotional/family difficulties at the time.  When she went back to her home,  Jake couldn't understand where she went, and he walked the house looking for her, sometimes staring at her bedroom and crying.  One day I telephoned the little girl, and after explaining what was happening,  I put her on speaker phone and she talked to Jake.  He recognized her voice, and perked right up.  After that, when he walked the floor and stared at her room, sometimes he would stare at the telephone, then look at me.  I would call and let them talk, it seemed to help both of them. 

Jake's love extends to "all creatures great and small", including a little scared kitten.  Actually, Charlie shouldn't have been scared at all.   He came from a bighearted friend whose rural home housed lots of dogs and cats that had been dumped in their area.   Charlie's pregnant mother was lucky, and so were Charlie and his siblings.  He came to us from having lived with about 23 critters, so he shouldn't have been upset by one dog.   We thought he should have been happy to come to a home where he didn't have so much competition for attention.  Mostly Siamese, Charlie howled the entire trip home, AND for the next week.  We tried several times to introduce them, but he seemed terrified of Jake, who never barked or chased him.  Jake just wanted to smell and lick and Charlie just quivered and hissed.   Some of the time I let them both have the run of the house,  part of the time we closed Charlie in one room with food, water and litter box, and some of the time we closed Jake in a room and let Charlie have the run of the house.   Didn't make any difference to Charlie, he just paced and howled, constantly.  I was about ready to take him back.  One afternoon a close friend and I had been out on errands, and came back to my house.  I opened the door to let Charlie out, Jake rushed into his room and just froze.  Charlie was on a chair and Jake almost ran into him face to face.  Neither one was moving.  Then Charlie started sniffing Jake, who didn't move at all.  It seemed unreal, Jake was as still as a statue.  Charlie stuck his nose in eyes and  ears.  He grabbed beard with kitty claws and brought it to his face.  He got on the floor and started sniffing and Jake stood without moving.  My friend and I just stared.  Charlie moved toward the back of the dog, standing up with his paws on the dog sniffing, occasionally grabbing dog hair with little claws and tugging.  When he got to the back legs,  Jake still hadn't moved, but when he reached a more delicate area, Jake backed off and the kitty stood still.  Jake nosed him and wagged his tail.  Charlie didn't run away, Jake planted him on the floor with a front paw  and gave him a good bath.  Charlie stopped howling, and very rarely says anything now.  He and Jake are close friends.

Even though we know Jake pretty well, we hadn't realized what a good security guard he was.  A woman my son was acquainted with had a relative with some "issues" who was back in town.  The woman lived alone and was concerned that among other possibilities, the relative might break into her home at night while she was asleep.  Jake had met her several times, they got along fine, so Bri offered to leave Jake with her temporarily so she wouldn't feel so alone.  She accepted, and Jake stayed a couple of weeks until things were more stable.  She was so impressed, she said he never made a mess of any kind, never barked needlessly, and never tried to run away.  He just stayed close to her, and seemed to be "alert" all the time.  She said she felt better just having him with her.   So do we.
     

Last Update: 12/11/05, 23:56:12  Terms of Use and Disclaimer.