Passing the torch one pup at a time.

Our good old boy Jake...notice he isn't even licking that plate!

Just when I thought I had nothing to say for the past two weeks memories of our old dog Jake inspired me.  I was thinking of our old boy, he was such a great dog and I realized in a funny way he had been instructed just as Elijah was in the 1 Kings reading to pass his knowledge on. 

Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.”

            Jake had been king of our house for 14 years when our son brought home our little boy Roger.  Bringing home another dog was not an easy decision for us, after all while we were preparing for the loss of our beloved Jake and admittedly I was also imaging a life with worry free travel (I worry the whole time I am away from my dogs...yes I said dogs but I digress) and let's be honest I also dreamed of a time when there would be no more dog hair!

            Our son plead Roger's case saying "Listen, we need to get a puppy now so Jake can teach him how to be a good dog...and he doesn't shed!"  That was all I needed to hear, Roger came to live with us and soon so did his brother Coda.  For quite a while every time Jake looked at me I felt like he was saying "Seriously, must I tolerate these little rats?"

            Let's remember Jake didn't ask for this job and he would have been perfectly fine passing his last two years alone with us but some interesting things happened with our fine crew.  Jake began to run again, there was a new spring in his step as he tried to keep up with the puppies.  He ate more, there was of course a certain urgency to get what he could before they did, but he WAS eating more.  Once Jake realized we were not forgetting him with the attractiveness of the pups he actually began to mind them and the house while we were away.  Yes his hair was falling out in clumps and he could no longer see well but he was never going to be replaced.  Jake grew up with our children, we can't think of summers at the cottage, mountain climbs or the way he cared for me when I was sick, without thinking of him.

            Without even knowing it Jake did a fine job raising up, passing the torch on, to Roger in particular.  He did such a good job that in his last months, two years later, Roger took care of Jake lying by his side whenever he could.  On the day we had to put Jake to sleep at the age of 16, Roger stayed under the kitchen table with his head between his paws for two days.  When it was time to go out both dogs would stop and wait for their lumbering mentor before I had to physically shoo them out the door.  The torch had been passed and now what were they suppose to do?

            Roger is seven now and he has survived all five of the pets we had when he arrived, all cats and dogs have gone and he, who seemed like the weakest link (I won't lie) has remained strong.  Lately my husband and I have found ourselves more than once calling him Jake--our best old boy--by accident, each time we do we look at each other with such fondness for him.

            Last month our middle son had to come home to live for a bit bringing with him his two rowdy pups!  Roger had been lonely but maybe not "that" lonely.  While he was happy for the company there are many times he looks at me with the same eyes Jake did saying "Seriously?"  The first time he gave me that look I pointed my finger at him and said, "It is your turn now, someone did it for you, now teach these boys how to behave!"

 

Roger in the back "seriously?"