Golden Gardens

Knowing that Jake's days are numbered we made him a bucket list and have been focusing on making family memories with him while we can. We recently took a trip to Seattle so Jake could run around on the Ballard beaches of his youth. We rode the ferry home as the sun was setting and it was absolutely beautiful. It has been a really nice winter with sunsets that photography dreams are made of. A lovely day that we will not soon forget.

Baby Jake

I vaguely remember the first dog of my childhood, Katie. She was an Irish Setter and "ran away" when she was old and ready to die. I was maybe 6 at the time. We had a few other dogs for brief periods- Spike who turned out to be a girl and had puppies and a German Shepard for safety at one point after our house had been broken into. In high school we got a pug named Chole and she died a dramatic death shortly thereafter. Heartbroken, we got another pug, Zoey, when I was either a junior or senior. I liked Zoey, she was a sweet puppy but I was in High School and it was all about me so I didn't spend a ton of time with her. My friend, Kristen- who I wanted to like, hated dogs and was very vocal about it so I decided I didn't really like dogs either. I remember the German Shepard destroying part of our living room and Zoey's short black hair on our white bathroom floor drove me crazy.

I met and married Ty Rallo and he made it clear early on that if I was going to spend my life with him a dog was a part of the package. As soon as we had bought our house and had a yard, he was chomping at the bit to get a puppy. A friend recommended a breeder and we went to see a fresh litter of golden retriever puppies. Jake jumped up on me right away and from that moment on we knew he was ours. I'm not exactly sure why but Matt Simpson drove us from the breeder to our house and Jake threw up in his car, he's always had weak stomach. We brought him home and he was the most adorable thing ever. There is really nothing cuter than a golden puppy. He was mild mannered and docile, snuggly and easily trainable. My rules about not letting him on the bed or furniture quickly went out the window and the next year of our life was heavily dedicated to caring for him. I remember not being able to go to dinner with friends because we didn't want to leave him alone and finding it difficult to travel. Jake ate every pair of shoes Ty owned, destroyed half of our furniture and despite my best effort his fur took up permanent residence on our floor, furniture and clothes. 

It was our first go at caring for something besides ourselves and working as a team to figure it out. Jake became part of our family in a way I had never known an animal to be. I loved dearly and finally understood what being a dog person is all about. We found hotels that allowed animals and planned weekend vacations around him. He had a stocking for Christmas and we insisted that other family members include him in the gift exchange. 

As smart and impressionable as he was, we didn't do a good job training Jake and he grew into a 100 pound pain in the ass. We love him none the less. As the years have gone by, our human children have taken over the majority of our time and attention but Jake has been a constant companion through it all. He was there when we brought each of them home from the hospital and lays by their beds at night. He doesn't have a mean bone in his gigantic body but I'm confident that if anyone messed with the kids he would rip their face off. He's loud and rambunctious when new people at our house but we've never had to worry about him around our kids or anyone else's. Since we moved to Gig Harbor Jake has been more anxious and harder to take care of in that our yard isn't fenced and it's just plain hard to get him out of the house. I hate to admit that in the last year I haven't been very patient with him and now the thought of not having him here forever breaks my heart. 

The final diagnosis that Jake his lymphoma and a few month left to live hit us like a ton of bricks. We've never really been a family without him so it's hard to imagine life without him by our side. Baby Jake taught me to love in a new way and made me a better person because of it. We'll always remember the way he leans in when being pet, his unruly behavior, his huge paws, wagging tail, his constant need for attention, his never ceasing love and loyalty.