December 5, 2009

Hi LRR,

First I wanted to let you know that Scrabble has changed his name to Jake. We didn’t intend to change his name but he didn’t respond to Scrabble very often and we picked a short, crisp name. We sat in the family room and tossed out names. When I said Jake, he whipped his head around, came over and put his paw on my hand. So, Jake it is!

I wanted to let you know that Jake is doing very well. We purchased a gentle leader and the difference in Jake’s attention span and the control on walks is amazing. It’s a pleasure to take him for a walk now, although I was looking forward to shaving 2 minutes off of my mile run by the end of November if he kept the pace he had before the gentle leader. Jake walks gently along side us. We took him on a mile walk tonight around the lakes in our neighborhood. It was raining but it sure didn’t stop Jake from taking in the sights and sounds of Columbia. He was great.

Mike and Jake went for a walk and Jake was great until they were attacked (this was Mike’s telling of the story - you know, the fish was that big) by a band of crazy squirrels. Mike said one loud bark and the squirrels ran for cover. Jake threw his chest out and after saving Mike’s life, showed the gang of squirrels who owned the neighborhood - now.

Jake has now mastered (he is such a quick learner and eager to please) “sit” and “lay down”, “stay” and “come”. He really watches Skipper and Toby and has no problem following their lead. That and a handful of Cheerios makes him do anything. Jake really wants to play with the cats but still hasn’t figured them out. One cat has accepted him but the other is a typical cat and will come around when they are ready.

Jake is still very gentle and curious. He is definitely a counter surfer and this morning I caught him trying to take the butter dish off of the counter. Needless to say, everyone in the family had a counseling session tonight on making sure everything is put away and far from Jake’s reach.

Last night Jake had a dream and barked so loud and deep that it woke us up. He raised his head as if to say “who was that” and then when he realized it was him, had a funny look on his face. He followed that up with a cold nose in my eye to let me know that he needed to go out. He’s a really good boy.

Jake woke Mike up at 2am with a cold wet nose in his eye but he just wanted to go outside and “Go Potty”. Once he finished business he came back upstairs to his new bed. Well, he certainly has learned what is “his” quickly. When he went outside Toby took the liberty of moving into Jake’s nice new fluffy bed. When Jake came back upstairs he looked at Toby. You could see the wheels turning in his head then he figured out what he was going to do. He squeezed himself between the side of the bed, the nightstand and the wall - just enough to lay on the edge of his new bed. Then, of course, with his horse length legs, he had to stretch. Unfortunately Toby was in the line of fire with the legs and was pushed right off of Jake’s bed. Toby found himself on the wood floor dazed as to how he got there. Jake sighed heavily and went to sleep. Toby headed straight to his bed. I even think Jake smiled a little.

Today Mike left him home for about 3 hours. We came home to a perfect house. When I finished with dinner and dishes and cleaning up, I sat on the sofa in the family room. Jake decided to climb up on the sofa behind me and hide. Right - he’s 85 lbs and looks like Marmaduke. He couldn’t hide if he tried! Mike took a picture and we will upload and send it to you soon.

Jake loves to go on car rides. Today he decided he would fit in the trunk of my Honda Accord. I had him out front ready to go for a walk. Mike had the trunk open unloading a few things and Jake jumped into the trunk. Hard to believe a 90 lb. “tall” lab would fit but he did. He immediately jumped back out, took a part of the leash in his mouth and walked me to the lake. He is so funny.

Jake has decided to keep our bed warm when we leave the house. This morning we went to the gym. We came back and our bed was all rumpled and the wooden mini-blinds on the windows over our bed were pushed up. The bed was still warm. Jake was obviously keeping the bed warm and watching out of the window between snoozing to see if we were home or not.

On Sunday I was doing laundry and changing sheets on the beds. I was putting clean sheets on the bed in my room and was having a heck of a time because of the location of the bed. So, after a little pulling, pushing, yanking I was finally able to get 2 corners on. Well, when I went to put the 3rd corner on, the sheets wouldn’t budge. I looked up and Jake was standing in the middle of my bed pulling on the sheets with his mouth. He wasn’t trying to tear the sheets, just trying to help me make the bed — I couldn’t stop laughing. I fell on to the bed laughing. Jake laid down next to me trying to understand why I was laughing so hard. I just hugged him and told him he was a “great boy” and “tons of fun”. He jumped off the bed and I was able to strip the bed again and put on clean sheets. He is quite the clown. His name should have been Barnum or Bailey or both!

Jake runs through the house and his nickname is “Jake the Seismic Earthquake”. He is very active but will settle down as soon as we sit down or relax. He snuggles into his bed next to my side of the bed with his special LRR blanket and reindeer every night but always makes sure to give me a kiss before closing his eyes. He is such a wonderful boy and I love him dearly.

More stories, I am sure, to follow.

Anyway, all is well and we couldn’t be happier. I really appreciate Lab Rescue and all that you do.

Jake’s Proud Parents