Jack, the Border Collie

I saw a black and white dog in Chatacqua Park. I had seen a him a few times before. He used to have another dog with him, and now he was alone. His ribs showed, and he was very nervous. He was so hungry that he would lick the gravel even when there wasn't anything to lick. My feeling was that this dog wasn't going to make it much longer on his own.

He didn't come up to people. He was neither friendly nor unfriendly. It seems he was just so focused on his hunger.

Several times Lauren and I drove around Chatacqua Park looking for him without success.

One day not long after, Lauren and I were walking in the park, and we saw the dog we later named Happy then Happy Jack then Jack. He was lonely and agitated. Lauren made friends with him while I ran home to get the car and bring him some food and a bungee to use as a temporary leash. He was afraid of a leash, and he was afraid to ride in the car.

We got him home and in the fenced yard. For three days all he did was sleep and eat. He had so many ticks and fleas and mats that he was in agony, and we didn't know how to begin. The top photo gives you an idea of how Jack was when we first got him.

Lauren took him to a groomer who removed his ticks and all. The groomer said Jack was a border collie.

Jack loved all the other dogs in the groomer's house and her children. He loved people. Coming from no love, perhaps abandonment, certainly from hardship, he nevertheless knew how to love.

It was easy to tell that Jack only wanted to please. He would roll over on his back and lick our hands and show us how submissive he was. Never once did Jack bark. He didn't know how to play. He didn't know what a toy was. To the best of our knowledge, he had never been in a house before and didn't dare come in.

If I had the assignment to use three adjectives to describe Jack, I would have had to use seven: frightened, insecure, troubled, starving, nervous, sad, restless.

Little by little, Jack perked up. He finally understood that something called a kong filled with peanut butter was his. Lauren had bought him every kind of dog toy known to man.

Tahmi and Jason, friends of ours, brought over a Dogloo that they had kept long after their dog had died. We too had kept Sunshine and Ginger's Dogloo for a long time and then had finally donated it to Noah's Ark, an animal shelter.

In the next entry, I will tell you about all of Jack's progress and a great trainer Lauren had come over to train Lauren in the care and handling of Jack, the border collie.

Below, you will see Jack after he was groomed, and some of his toys, his leash, his Dogloo etc. Jack begins to get acclimated to his new home and becomes what we call a rich boy.