Name/Age: Jake - approx. 10.5 y/o
Family Members: David, Christy, Charlie (age 16), Katie (age 15) and Tugg (pibble brother from another mother, age 9)
How long has Jake been in the family? About 9.5 years
Professions: David – residential builder, Christy – estimator
Location: Douglasville, GA.
Nicknames: Jake-Jake, Jakey, Moose, Jeeky, Jeepers, we make up new ones all the time!
5 words/phrases that best describe Jake?
Snuggly & Sweet
Curious
SQUIRREL!!
Mommy’s Boy
Hungry (All.The.Time)
What makes Jake unique? I love Jake’s curiosity that is always making him do the head tilt. I also love how Jake is totally unaware of how HUGE he is. He wants to snuggle no matter where we are sitting or laying and will try to fit his 100-lb self in no matter what. On the couch, he sits in my lap, when I lay down at night, he wants to lay right beside me, even if there’s very little room. And those sharp doggy elbows!!! :)
Happy Pibble Boy!
Rescue Story: I was previously a teacher, and one of my co-workers, Liz, needed an estimate on some home repairs. So my husband went to her house. He met Jake. Liz had found Jake in the area after his owner skipped town. She took him in temporarily but could not keep him. She begged us to take him. I was skeptical but my husband had other plans. When he returned home, he brought Jake with him. We dug into his past, locating the man who abandoned him, finding out that the man had Jake in the back of a moving truck and Jake was thrown out. We also learned that before that man, there were two other owners. One of the other owners lived in Texas and sent me the vet records she had, which were incomplete. The story never really all lined up for me, how he got from Texas to Georgia, why he was abandoned over and over. Regardless Jake was now safe. We took him to the vet, who guessed by looking at his teeth that Jake was around a year old. All that in ONE YEAR!!! Jake took quite a bit of training and tough love to get him past his fear and mistrust. He was pretty aggressive toward my husband at times, scared of a lot of things, still untrusting for a while. He’s terrified at even the sight of a gun. Makes you wonder… Through persistence (through training mainly on my husband’s part) and LOVE, Jake is now a big teddy bear. He follows us everywhere we go! Tugg and Jake are best friends and brothers. Jake has helped change people’s minds about the breed, people who would not let their kids around our dogs.
Heading to his final and forever home!
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Hiking and playing Frisbee. When Jake was younger, he was AWESOME at catching the frisbee in the air!
What is life like since you rescued Jake? Our dogs are our kids. We love them just as we do Charlie and Katie. We look forward to seeing them everyday after work and they feel the same way. They have made our lives so much more fun! Rescuing Jake was one of the best decisions my husband ever made for us! :)
Photographers Note: I love that all of our volunteers stories seem to have a lesson or a tidbit of knowledge that people can learn from when it comes to these misunderstood dogs. Jake’s could be, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. After such a rough start to his life this senior gentleman is just a sweet and goofy boy; all he needed was love, persistence and structure to get there. His family never gave up on him, like so many before them had. For that they are rewarded with the unconditional love of a dog named Jake. & Jake gets the family he and all the dogs like him deserve from the day they are born.