Dogs of My Life – Jack

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This series is in honor of the latest addition to my canine history, Sydney, a Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie pup that will be joining our family on October 17th, 2015. As I approached this date I thought it would be neat for me and hopefully you to see and read about all the dogs in my life that proceeded Sydney.

Of all the previous DoML posts up to now, the unifying matter is that all the previous dogs were ones I had while still unmarried or living at home. There was a long stretch between 1992, the year I married and the year we got the first dog for my son and daughter. My wife never had a dog growing up, so there was a process of convincing her a dog was important.

Our first choice for a dog was a Labrador/border collie mix. Jack was a small black mainly  Lab looking dog with a very white patch on his chest. I can still remember riding in the back seat holding Jack as we brought him home. While my kids were happy to have a new puppy I felt like a big hole had been plugged in my life.

Jack was my constant companion, following me everywhere I went. At that time we still had a greenhouse business operating and it was the time of year I would plant a couple thousand fall mums to get them ready to sell in September and October. When you arrange them it is in long rows with specific spacing to allow them to grow and spread to a full size. Jack ran through and bumped them, causing the spacing to be off. I cannot tell you how many I had to rest, but I didn’t care, having a dog was worth the trouble.

Unfortunately, Jack was the dog that had the shortest stay with us. At the time we weren’t thinking as much about containment as we needed to be and Jack met an unfortunate end when he did not understand the relationship between a heavy car tire and a little dog. Jack was the first of three dogs that had either part or a full Labrador influence, unless you count the eight Labrador puppies we had in 2007. If you want to read about that adventure you can click here: A Chocolate Lab Summer -Part One and A Chocolate Lab Summer – Part Two.

To read previous posts in this series you can follow the posts here: Snoopy, Puff, Master and Sparky.