Just Jake!! He's the man around here.  Keeps Lake (pup from next door) and Ranger 07-237 in line.  He won't fight for his tennis ball if it's laying between paws and one of the pups comes to get it.  However, if it's in his mouth, look out, he gives them what for.  I'm feeling rather full of myself as I am on the receiving end of kisses, both on the hand and face!!  How lucky is that.  A sure sign of acceptance, trust and love.

Jake has made so much progress the last couple weeks.  He is not so velcro anymore.  I can actually put his food down and walk out of the room and he will stay and eat.  I can visit a couple of other rooms without company....if you get my drift:)  He will check up on me but does not have that need to be right there anymore.  He does not like to be left on the deck, and sometimes will whine and cry.  I am trying to show him he will always get back in and it's ok to lay in the sun and enjoy the breeze.  After potty at night he waits for his treat and may or may not saunter upstairs to the bedroom.  If he waits for me, he doesn't feel the need to stand guard out side of the bathroom waiting for me.  He will many times to go the bedroom and settle in on his own.

We have had no lip curl or air snap for a while.  He has let us know that many things frighten him and so with ear scritches and belly rubs, you can relax him and he in return will allow you to clip nails, apply salve etc etc. Just as we want them to listen to us, Jake wishes for us to 'listen' to him.  And we do.  In his forever home, the parents will have to earn that trust from Jake and it won't be fast.  Patience is the key word.

This older gentleman ( he will be 11 on 11/10/07) continues to amaze us with retrieving and running.  He doesn't leave the yard, but will go a bit back in the field, but mostly he will do his 'business' in the field.  What a good boy.  If I walk over to the neighbors to get Lake, the 6 month old lab puppy (Ranger 07-237's playmate), Jake trots along, and every time, Lake comes barreling out, runs into Jake, Jake chases Lake, rolls Lake, and Lake moves on to Ranger.  Meanwhile, with the squirrels and chipmunks Jake has to explore and check all the smells out. If they are really good ones, he may stop mid-fetch and go after the scent.  But still and all, retrieving tennis balls is Jake's thing.  He knows when he sees the tennis racket, mom's ready to hit the ball and he just shakes with excitement.  He still does not give the ball up per see.  I have learned to keep an extra ball in my hand, when he comes with his ball, I show him mine and he drops his.   Sneaky but it does the job.  I try to not let Jake have a ball in the house as he will decide he wants to play and will bug you forever, and at 9 PM while I'm vegging, I'm not interested in playing ball.  I make sure we get that done before it's dark.  Besides if Jake leaves the tennis balls lay around, Ranger will chew them up.  He still has no interest in toys or chews.

Jake is the 'guard' dog here.  The neighbors come over with or without Lake, he runs barking to them, they say 'Hi Jake', his tail wags and he's fine.  If some one comes down the side street to go to the field out back, human or otherwise, he has to bark to let them know he's here and he's watching them. If the door bell rings, he lets me know. Which is actually nice as many times if I'm on the lower level I don't hear it.  I did discover that given the chance he would go out in the street if someone was walking by, and bark at them as he went.  So a little shorter tether is in order when out front watering plants.  He is friendly and I feel the barking and even the low growly part is from lack of socialization, and he's slowly learning it's ok for people to come and go and even walk by our house. I don't think it ever will leave him entirely...that protective/scared feeling, but hey it's ok.

Jake is really a very sweet, loving and well behaved boy.  He doesn't leave the yard, he comes when called, he knows sit, down, stay, 'give me 5', and of course 'wanna get up on the bed':)  Routine has proven to be a great help to Jake in settling in.  Where before he wouldn't eat at meal time, you now put his food down morning and night, he eats.  We would come in from last potty break and he would hover by the garage door waiting to get in the house and then would run right up stairs and lay on the landing waiting for me.  He now goes out, and will just hang out while Ranger goes potty.  We calmly go in, get treats and eventually head up stairs.  Sometimes Jake will go down to the family room, hop up on the couch and sleep there.  But 99% of the time he sleeps in the bedroom.  When I would get my purse and get ready to leave, Jake would head for the door, and start in, try to sneak out, I'd leave and I'd hear him barking and whining.   Now he just gives me a dirty look and walks away...... Progress.!!  He feels comfortable enough to get up on the couch without permission.  That family room couch must smell like a revolving dog massage parlor.  But best of all, it's a great place to cuddle up, get belly rubs and snore away during a movie.  He will even share space with Ranger, but not Lake.  Last night he shooed Lake off and in a less than gentlemanly way.  But hey, that's how puppies learn.  Other than that, he is not a resource guarding dog.

I know Jake will do best in a home without small children.  I would trust him around children that know how to respect a dog, and with adult supervision of the children, they could pet Jake without a problem.  He loves attention, but when he's done, he's done.  I would never leave any dog alone with children...never.  Jake will do wonderfully in a fenced or not  fenced yard.  He listens so well, and he doesn't want to be too far from his people.  He likes men and has no issues with them.  Cat?  He still loves? them!  Sedwick stays clear of him, but Coulter the younger one will walk right up to Jake and rub against him and Jake just backs up, he just doesn't know what to make of it. But if Coulter starts to run off, Jake will bolt for him.  I simply say NO and he stops.  When we walk in from outside and Coulter or even Sedwick is standing there I just tell Jake be nice and watch his body movement.  If he looks like he's gonna break, I simply say very firmly, NO!!  

To share your life with my senior, you will need, patience, love, understanding, acceptance, routine, rules, patience, ability to adjust, love to play tennis, go for walks and rides. It has taken Jake time to learn to trust us, to allow us to clip nails, put medicine on him etc.  He is just now feeling comfortable here, and when he goes to his forever home he will need time to re adjust all over again.  Patience on the new family's part is of the utmost importance.  He most likely will always give a lip curl to show you he is afraid or you are him hurting some how.  Just listen and love him and he will love you back 100 fold.  He wants/needs a loving environment where he can be the apple of someone's eye, feel safe and secure, loved and cherished, and spend his senior years doing what he loves best; being with his humans, playing fetch, going for walks and of course rides. He loves to go anywhere you go.  SO if you are an approved applicant and know Jake is for you, contact ragom at    placementragom [dot] org    Jake07-349 in subject box  We look forward to hearing from you.

Foster mom and the crew
** please see personal note below***

For those of you who read the ragom updates daily or weekly, you will note there was no mention of resident Reba. On July 9th we helped her to the Rainbow Bridge after a short illness.  While she spent her first year in an outdoor kennel with no toys or attention, we gave her all we could for the past 14 years.  She brought such joy to us, greeted each foster dog with acceptance, showed a few of them some manners and loved the puppies.  I have never met anyone that after meeting Reba didn't think she was the sweetest dog ever.  Never have I have been so unconditionally loved, accepted, listened to and enjoyed a dog's antics more than with  my sweet girl, Reba. We love and miss you....just wait for us.

Hi, Jake here.  Figured it was about time to let you all know how I was doing from MY point of view.  Let's see, I'm eating 2 times a day most of the time.  FM puts some of resident Reba'sTD perscription dog food ground up on my food and I chow down.    I am playing ball every day, before the parents go to work, after work and then in the evening when it cools off. Foster mom says I prance like a horse...is that a good thing?  I almost put a foot into the wading pool today, but caught myself!  I am chasing the cats less and less in the house.  If I forget one of the foster parents tells me NO and I stop.  I suppose FM tattled and told you I chased Coulter around the outside of the house......well I just couldn't help myself.  I haven't seen the chipmunk around so it was a slip, ok?   I have been sniffing at some things called chew sticks, bones, hooves etc., but they just don't interest me....yet.  I am not allowed to have the tennis ball in the house cuz I want to play and then Ranger wants to try and get the ball from me, so that gets to be a bit much for house time.  BUT sometimes I manage to sneak the ball in and as long as Ranger doesn't see I'm good to go.

I finally have got the foster parents to figure out I like to be in the kitchen by myself when I eat.  So if they put a gate up between the dining area and the kitchen, I will eat whle Ranger eats.  I knew what I wanted, but hey sometimes the humans are bit slow.  I'm still very good with Reba and Ranger, but if Ranger bugs me too much I will give him a growl and bark and he hightails it outta my way.  But we do have our good moments too, as you can see by the pics.

So the other night I'm licking my paw minding my own business when I get told to stop licking. Sure enough FM checked it out and I have a hot spot above my pad on the back of my leg.  So off to the vet.  FM told them they pobably should use the muzzle cuz I can lip curl when I'm scared or hurt.  But Dr Jennifer came in and did scritches on my ears, rubbed my tummy, rubbed my legs and talked nice and I let her examine me and my owie and never once fussed, lip curled or air snapped.  I think maybe I am beginning to understand that no one is going to hurt me.  When, for whatever reason, I have lip curled lately, maybe once or twice, FM stops, talks very quietely to me while petting me and then goes back to whatever she was doing and I'm fine. Guess I'm making progress there, huh?  Plus I get a lot of praise.

I am feeling more secure so now I wait for the nightly  treats before bed.  I would run right upstairs and wait on the landing for FM to come, but now I know I won't get left outside or out of the bedroom, so I stick around for the treats.  Coulter comes for his at the same time and I don't even bug him.

My coat is growing out and it's really nice and soft so FM is pretty sure it's gonna come back as soft as my head/ears and legs.  Can't say I miss all that hot hair, so it can grow nice and slow, as long it's back by winter, cuz I don't want to wear any of those sissy coats.  I would be too embarrassed.  After I had my teeth cleaned they barely got me off the table and I was ready to go.  I wouldn't go in the recovery kennel and the girl didn't know what to do with me except take me for a walk.  Later at home I seemed to have caught a chill, so FM put the heating pad on me to warm me up.  Then she put on a t-shirt and let me lay on the bed with a blanket on me and I slept there all night.

I am slowly trying to figure out how to interact with Ranger 07-237, my foster brother.  There have been a few times when I do go to him and sniff and stand real tall and put my ears back and wag my tail.  FM never has the camera, but maybe she'll catch on to having it at night when we come in after our last potty break...I seem to be pretty brave about checking Ranger out when we are in the garage.  Meanwhile I settle for getting on the couch with FM every night for some serious cuddling and scritches.  I just love being in doors and the a/c is awesome.  I may even try the pool out one day.

Well, that's about it for me.  So if  you want a young 10 year old who plays fetch, loves walks, enjoys some serious cuddling and likes to give the cat a cardio workout....just contact   placementragom [dot] org  and tell them you wanna meet me, Jake # 07-349  And I would be fine being any only dog or hanging with another older fur butt who is not interested in any serious playing.

Bedtime, gotta go
Jake