Remembering Jack – Part 1

"Till we meet again, my love"

I was thinking for a while about writing this post. And I hesitated. The main reason is that Jack was larger than life, and any attempt to describe him would end up inaccurate – an understatement.

Another obvious reason is that he was such a deep part of my heart that it hurts to lay it out bare.

I will try, though.

Everyone who didn’t know him, the “founder” and inspiration of JDC rescue group, may think that he was a kind, wise, affectionate old dog. He was none of that.

He never had the chance to grow old. We’ve been robbed of his old wise version. He was 9 when he passed. He never learned to slow down and wear a dusted muzzle. He was tired for only 30 min. His last 30 minutes.

And his love, loyalty and intensity were not kind, nor wise: they were fierce. Unstoppable. The fact that his will, whatever that might have been, was carried out by 75 kg of pure muscle on 4 x 4 traction didn’t help.  He was built like a tank. And, at times, acted like one. His determination was a force of nature.

But Jack had his own rules. Rules i never taught, rules that came from somewhere deep inside the fabric of his soul and made him be him.

He adored children. All children. He was very gentle with all female dogs, even stranger reactive dogs. And he was a fun and dedicated teacher for puppies. He mentored bunches of small puppies to be dogs, in his style: play hard, work hard, show off your agility skills, survey the yard and fences and pay attention to some specific unruly leaves.

He did a great job with us, as well. He was so willing to share his world perception with us. Justify it. Insist to teach us what to do and how to react – and why. Stare at us, his clueless humans, in utter disbelief, then find another, and another creative way to get his message across.

He literally saved our lives more than once. He was an anchor through very dark times and dark corners. We wouldn’t be here without him. And he never flinched. He never hesitated. He was never more than few meters away from us – by choice. He was my shadow, in particular. And he took that job very seriously.

He had an uncanny ability to look straight through my eyes into the depths of my heart and spot exactly what I was feeling in every single moment – especially what I didn’t want him to know. He was the one soul I could not hide from.

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To be continued….