Goodbye Old Friend. Jake has been part of our family since before our kids were born. He was never anything but a good dog. Kind, intelligent, so patient, and an old soul always. Stoic until the end, when even he could no longer hide the pain he suffered from a degenerative spinal disease. I'm so sorry that I could not do more for him, because he did so much for me. There are a lot of great dogs in the world, but there will never be one exactly like Jake. I am so glad we crossed paths so many years ago, and that I was given the chance to show him that life could be better than he had known up to that point. This picture was taken just a couple weeks ago, when there were still warm days when he could let the sun bake away some of his aches. Elly is in the background. Jake and she were best friends of course. Our loss is great, but tempered by knowing that Jake is not hurting anymore. Although his life had changed over the years, as our lives changed, he had a great doggy life. Lots of sun, plenty of deer chasing (or rabbit, or whatever other imaginary animal he could smell the track of as an excuse to go running through our woods), love, treats, people to bark at, and one big daddy (Keith) for his entire life from 6 months (when we got him). So, goodbye Jake. And thankyou so much.