Jack

It's hard to believe we've had this dog for 6 years now, and he's turning a ripe age of 7 (mostly a senior, but Springers start to mature at 7 :) Often when I look at him, I'm seeing the extra toenails that need to be clipped, another set of ears to be cleaned and the bathing required. This week we had 9 kids in the house and 6 adults, and a little 1 1/2 year old that liked to grab Jack by his sensitive parts to get him to stand up. And this dog handled it with great patience, and would even tenderly lick the youngest as the child pushed legos in his ears. Jack got laid on, stood on, hugged, pulled into forts, ears pulled and kicked out of his kennel all while dealing with a tender paw, and while I worked on educating the kids about proper dog care and tried to make sure Jack did get some time away from the torture, it was such a relief for both me and the kids parents to not have to worry as he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Even our vet has treated him without muzzling or sedation for certain procedures because he was one of her favorites. I do watch him a little more closely as he's getting older, but so far I haven't seen any evidence of senior-dog-crankiness.

Who would have thought that this formerly-crazy, extremely hyper and nervous shelter dog would become a household pet that deals so gently with the love of little ones. Now it's time to go give him a bath :)