This is just a quick message to let you know that Jake and his sisters are adjusting wonderfully.  He is learning about the invisible fence, although it caused him a little stress.  We will just take it slowly, and soon he will be romping around, digging holes in the woods, and playing with Luna
and Keely safely.

Two photos are attached.  One is our handsome guy observing my brush-clearing at the invisible fence boundary.  The other is the three of them in snack position.  That one isn't the best photo; they all have the devil eyes due to the flash.  More photos will come after
Jake and his crazy sisters are all romping together.

Well, I have to say, I soon fell in love with our handsome Jake after I got him home!

Thank you so much for all the great work you do!

Update November '14

Jake is doing so very well!  He is enjoying his time romping and wrestling with his sisters outside, and sometimes inside!  I trained him so carefully on the invisible fence, but early on with his off leash time he had an unpleasant reminder of the boundary location.  I think he just lost his head running out with Keely and Luna and forgot everything.  I heard him yelp quite a bit, poor guy, and he came running back.  So for some time he was afraid outside even though I continued to show him the boundaries.  I know he understands the boundaries because he did not want to even see those little marker flags.  But now he is venturing farther, running and playing, and having fun.  I just love to spy on him when he's playing outside with Keely and Luna.

Jake is learning so much and listening, and making eye contact with me.  He seems not to understand how big and strong he is, and every once in awhile he crosses a line that upsets the girls.  The three of them are working on their social skills and improving every day.  Now when I see Jake doing something that might cause problems, I tell him to ease up or gentle, AND HE PAYS ATTENTION TO ME (most of the time).  Our Jake is very people-social and seems to want to be with us and behave well.  Yes, he is so people-social that he attacks which means he jumps up to give kisses!  It's very funny, but can be unnerving to someone who's not expecting that kind of behavior.  So I'm starting to discourage him from doing that unless he is invited to jump up (because I enjoy it!).

Jake is very well liked at the vet's.  One of the vets in the practice has a Malamute, so she really likes big dogs like Jake.  Oh, speaking of BIG:  I guess I'm not a good judge of size and weight.  Keely and Luna are each about 50 pounds.  I couldn't help notice, ha, ha, that Beef Jaky is bigger, but I didn't realize how much bigger.  He weighs in at about 67 pounds, AND he's a bit underweight!  Anyway, at the vet's, Jake was entertainment for the day when he jumped up (attacked with kisses) one of the vet techs.  She made the mistake of making that kissing sound, and before I knew it he was happily in her face.  Everyone was very amused!

We had an incident of aggression when our good neighbor brought his THREE MALE DOGS over to visit.  I wasn't home, but my husband was.  Jake was inside and they just let him come out unleashed knowing that we're not sure how he gets along with males.  They had another incident on our property also.  Thank goodness the neighbors, a couple, are really GOOD neighbors.  I have been taking Jake on leash to visit their dogs just for short, positive times.  And they have brought their dogs partway up our driveway for desensitization.  No physical contact, Jake must just sit and be calm.  Later I'll use treats when he gets used to the situation. Right now in his excited state, he isn't so interested in treats, but we're almost to the point where treats will help in this situation.

I've been working with him around the horses, too.  Up the road, there are some horses, and Jake initially got VERY EXCITED to see them.  Now we go visit the horses, and he has to sit calmly.  With every visit he behaves better and better.  On one recent visit, we used a loose leash, and mostly verbal reminders got him back in sit position.  I really think that we can get the possible aggression under control.  Even if I feel like I can't let him run loose with the male dogs visiting, I think Jake will become more handle-able and less crazy-excited.  He is so good and responsive.  It's just that everything is so new to him.  Hey, I couldn't get a dog that has nothing to improve.  What fun would that be?  It's during training, learning new things that we really start to bond and trust each other!

Jake and I go out running along the road with him in front in harness.  Well, I attempt to run with him.  He is SO STRONG!  He's learning over (move more onto the shoulder when a car approaches), on by (no, it's not time to stop and smell something!), and gee and haw (right and left) will come eventually.  We have very little traffic, so it's safe.  And he is becoming road/car savvy from this activity.  It was so fortunate that Keely was road savvy when she went AWOL once.  Such a scary thing to experience, but we got her back safely.  And she was less likely to be hit by a car because of her road knowledge.

Well, I've babbled on and on and on ........ I just want you to know that we really love our funny, goofy, Big Jakee, and I think he is happy with his new home.  In fact, he's snoring on the couch right next to me.  What a loveable lug!

On a totally different subject, I want to express my sympathies for the recent violence and tragedy right there in your area with the armed man at the capital in Ottawa.  I so hope that these things will not become so common in Canada as they are in the U.S..  It's very sad.

I hope all is well with everyone at the shelter.  I send kisses to all the dogs and cats!  Thank you for our sweet Jake!

Update December '14

Jake is a funny, sweet guy!  He and Keely are working some things out regarding his place in the pack.  He has had some aggressive episodes with her, but we are really on him when it happens.  It's usually during play when he escalates into some aggressive behavior.  I'm pushing discipline with him: he has to do something (sit or wait or lie down, etc.) for many things like going out, coming in, getting treats/meals, etc.  That's a start for curbing aggression at least to keep me as his 'alpha'.  He is SO TRAIN-ABLE.  Great listening. great eye-contact, especially when food is involved.  He is catching on to much of the safety routine for our runs on the road.  Also, he is such a youngster.  Things are so new for him, and he will behave better and better.  Yes, the horses in the neighborhood still are such a challenge for him.  So we're continuing to work on sitting calmly and watching them from a distance.

Our Jake is too smart for me.  Ha, ha!  He figured out when his invisible fence collar stopped working (battery was new) and went AWOL for a couple of hours one early evening.  We put out the All Points Bulletin to neighbors. So where did he show up?  On our good friends' porch up the road.....uhmm, the friends who have the nice (male) dogs Jake attacked once.  Apparently, sweet Jakee jumped up on the porch, in the dark, just as our neighbor stepped out of the house.  'Scared the be-jesus out of me!' he said.  No aggression involved, just Jake's way of saying 'Hi'.  What a NUT!

I hope for a very happy 2015 to all of you, and loving, forever homes for all the beautiful pets!

Update April '15

He loves the snow!

He is doing very well with the invisible fence, too.

Thank you for taking care of all those wonderful dogs and cats.  Hugs to everyone!

Update July '15

I'll try to keep this short because I know I tend to go on and on!  I am so VERY HAPPY to report that Jake has learned better manners with my girls, Luna and Keely!  You might remember that we were having some aggression problems between Jake and Keely.  It was caused by Jake being very excited running outside, being too rough, making Keely mad, then the 2 of them fighting.  With advice from good dog people, I decided to go back to square one with Jake socially.  He and Keely did not run off leash at the same time.  I would have one of them on leash in order to reinforce good behavior, scold when necessary, and just have them experience each other and get used to each other.

We did it this way for several months.  I wanted to be very careful and take as much time as needed, and I wonder if Jake was ready to move on much sooner than I thought.  I was scared by the aggression and my Keely was getting the worst of it since our Jakee is so strong!  Recently, I felt we were ready for both to be off leash.  SUCCESS!  Jake, Keely, and Luna all run around, but Jake does not do that aggressive charging up on Keely.  I think I can really see that he understands that certain behaviors are not acceptable.  Also, as time has gone by I'm sure he feels more comfortable and secure with me, with his new family and new home.  I'm keeping an eye on all of them outside just to be careful things don't turn bad again, but I don't think we will have any problems.

I am so happy about this!!!!!  And so happy for Jake!!!!!  Jake is such a sweetie.  He is always a favorite with people he meets!  And what a smart guy he is.  Jake just has an innate sociability. There are times when he has his own time to run around outside, dig holes, try to catch chipmunks, etc.,  but he'd rather come back inside to be with his family.  He and Keely must have been stressed out with each other's different way of dealing with things.  So now he has outside time off leash with all his family!

Wow!  You should see him run!  He is very fast and powerful!  Now that we have warm weather he likes to get in the water.  We have a little wading pool for the dogs.  While Keely and Luna step into the pool and gracefully dip their noses and bellies in the water, Jake comes running full speed to the pool.  He jumps in, dunks his head and belly, attacks the side and bottom of the pool with his front paws, jumps around and splashes!  He is so funny and such a big, playful boy dog!

Jake was a little skinny when he came home with me.  He weighed about 67 pounds maybe.  Well now he is up to 73 or 74 pounds and has filled out just enough.  He looks lean and strong but not boney.  Maybe he has even grown a little more.  Our Jakee is so handsome!

Thank you for the GREAT WORK you do at the shelter!  Thank you for taking care of Jake!

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