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Jessie "J-Dog" has passed away
- Thread starter Comprehensivist
- Start date
Mistwalker
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I am sorry to hear of your loss Phill. I can only imagine how sad you are at the moment. Thank you for all of the photos of Jessie, they bring back a LOT of memories of my lab Thor from the early 80s. Labs are all like that I think, very special creatures. Thor was my best friend from the day I got him till the day we parted ways.
When I was 16 (1981) and hadn't long had my driver's license, I guess he was about a year old when we rode down to a spot on the Chattahoochee River behind the River View facility of West Point Pepperell textile mills. You couldn't keep that dog out of the water, regardless of time of year. I was winter and we were playing fetch. I would throw the stick out in the mill race and he would go get it. He was covered in red clay mud. Some really big burly guy, that made me feel tiny, pulled up by us in a brand new Silverado and without warning opened fire into the mill race with a semi auto 30-06 from the look and sound. He nearly busted my ear drums emptying the first mag and inserted another. and started again. Now Thor was not a hunting dog, he was very gun shy. I had guns but had never taken him hunting. He had spent hours with me while I shot my bow, but had no experience with fire arms. I wasn't much interested in guns at the time due to a previous situation at home. Well...Thor disappeared and I could find him and guy just kept shooting. Since he had like 3 boxes of rounds sticking out of each coat pocket I figured it was going to go on a while, so I kept hunting my dog and calling him. The guy just shot me a mean look like I was distracting him. Then I noticed something odd. The radio antennae on guy's truck was vibrating. I thought to myself surely not, but yes the guy had left his truck door open, and when he opened fire and scared Thor, then Thor had found the first hole to crawl into and hide. There was my dog all curled up in a ball in the floor board of his truck, with massive amounts of red clay mud all over the new crushed velour seats. I was rather scared, we were a bit away from houses and people. I looked at the guy and he was loading magazines not paying any attention to anything else. So when he opened fire again I thought to myself to hell with that guy, and was wishing I had brought my 12ga with me that day. I reached in, grabbed Thor by the collar and pulled him to me, and then shut the guys door with my leg and literally threw Thor over the side of my truck bed, jump in my truck and drove off all covered in mud myself. I didn't go back to that spot again until 2012 after my father had passed away. It had been a spot we hunted in when I was a kid. He and my grandfather both were born near there in Lanett Alabama.
For most of the next year, before I had taken all of my stepmother I could and just left town, Thor hung out with me on the river on the weekends when we were doing commercial fishing. He would bug me so much to play that I tied a three foot section of rope to a section of tree branch and would throw that branch forty meters out into the river, and I would be able to get some work done cleaning fish between throws. Man that dog had beautiful muscle tone. A friend of our's, I only knew him as "Sarge", was a black hat at the Airborne School at near by Fort Benning. He had four kids, two boys and two girls, ranging from age 7 to 12. They just loved Thor, and he just loved them, and I just loved it when they came and kept him busy while I worked. Thor loved kids period. They had as much energy as he did lol. More than once I had parked at a local store on our way out to the woods only to come out and find him in the back of someone else's truck playing with their kids. Anyway, every weekend, without fail, Sarge's kids would ask me if they could have Thor and I would laugh and say no, you can't have my dog. Then had finally had my fill of my step mother, very long story, and signed up for the army. The month before I was due to go to basic training Sarge was relocating to a base in Alaska. I didn't want to leave Thor with my father because by that point I hated my step mother with a passion. So that weekend when they started asking if they could have my dog, I surprised them. I asked the youngest daughter, the one whose eyes always lit up the most when she played with Thor, if she would promise to take very good care of him, and told her that he was very special to me. You could have heard a pin drop the next second and then they were very serious (for children anyway) and swore that they would take very good care of him. I said well then, I suppose you will need to take his things and gave them his water and food bowls and his favorite tennis balls.
My last memory of Thor was watching him looking back at me from the back of Sarge's truck, tail wagging, and soaking up the love an adoration of four very special children, as they drove away down a dirt road. I had never seen him happier, and I haven't own another dog since. Maybe some day, when life settles down again, I will try it again
When I was 16 (1981) and hadn't long had my driver's license, I guess he was about a year old when we rode down to a spot on the Chattahoochee River behind the River View facility of West Point Pepperell textile mills. You couldn't keep that dog out of the water, regardless of time of year. I was winter and we were playing fetch. I would throw the stick out in the mill race and he would go get it. He was covered in red clay mud. Some really big burly guy, that made me feel tiny, pulled up by us in a brand new Silverado and without warning opened fire into the mill race with a semi auto 30-06 from the look and sound. He nearly busted my ear drums emptying the first mag and inserted another. and started again. Now Thor was not a hunting dog, he was very gun shy. I had guns but had never taken him hunting. He had spent hours with me while I shot my bow, but had no experience with fire arms. I wasn't much interested in guns at the time due to a previous situation at home. Well...Thor disappeared and I could find him and guy just kept shooting. Since he had like 3 boxes of rounds sticking out of each coat pocket I figured it was going to go on a while, so I kept hunting my dog and calling him. The guy just shot me a mean look like I was distracting him. Then I noticed something odd. The radio antennae on guy's truck was vibrating. I thought to myself surely not, but yes the guy had left his truck door open, and when he opened fire and scared Thor, then Thor had found the first hole to crawl into and hide. There was my dog all curled up in a ball in the floor board of his truck, with massive amounts of red clay mud all over the new crushed velour seats. I was rather scared, we were a bit away from houses and people. I looked at the guy and he was loading magazines not paying any attention to anything else. So when he opened fire again I thought to myself to hell with that guy, and was wishing I had brought my 12ga with me that day. I reached in, grabbed Thor by the collar and pulled him to me, and then shut the guys door with my leg and literally threw Thor over the side of my truck bed, jump in my truck and drove off all covered in mud myself. I didn't go back to that spot again until 2012 after my father had passed away. It had been a spot we hunted in when I was a kid. He and my grandfather both were born near there in Lanett Alabama.
For most of the next year, before I had taken all of my stepmother I could and just left town, Thor hung out with me on the river on the weekends when we were doing commercial fishing. He would bug me so much to play that I tied a three foot section of rope to a section of tree branch and would throw that branch forty meters out into the river, and I would be able to get some work done cleaning fish between throws. Man that dog had beautiful muscle tone. A friend of our's, I only knew him as "Sarge", was a black hat at the Airborne School at near by Fort Benning. He had four kids, two boys and two girls, ranging from age 7 to 12. They just loved Thor, and he just loved them, and I just loved it when they came and kept him busy while I worked. Thor loved kids period. They had as much energy as he did lol. More than once I had parked at a local store on our way out to the woods only to come out and find him in the back of someone else's truck playing with their kids. Anyway, every weekend, without fail, Sarge's kids would ask me if they could have Thor and I would laugh and say no, you can't have my dog. Then had finally had my fill of my step mother, very long story, and signed up for the army. The month before I was due to go to basic training Sarge was relocating to a base in Alaska. I didn't want to leave Thor with my father because by that point I hated my step mother with a passion. So that weekend when they started asking if they could have my dog, I surprised them. I asked the youngest daughter, the one whose eyes always lit up the most when she played with Thor, if she would promise to take very good care of him, and told her that he was very special to me. You could have heard a pin drop the next second and then they were very serious (for children anyway) and swore that they would take very good care of him. I said well then, I suppose you will need to take his things and gave them his water and food bowls and his favorite tennis balls.
My last memory of Thor was watching him looking back at me from the back of Sarge's truck, tail wagging, and soaking up the love an adoration of four very special children, as they drove away down a dirt road. I had never seen him happier, and I haven't own another dog since. Maybe some day, when life settles down again, I will try it again
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Final Days:
For the last two plus years, Jessie has been battling a number of physical issues. First she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition, then osteoarthritis in her lower spine, and finally Cushings disease. She has been on a number of prescription meds for most of that time to keep these conditions under control. Through it all, she always maintained a happy loving spirit around us while knowing that we were doing our best to love and care for her. Despite our best efforts, her body started to weaken in the last couple of months. In the last week, it became acute and she struggled to use her hind legs to get up and go potty. She lost her appetite and really struggled physically. When she lost interest in her favorite dog treats, we knew things had reached a critical stage. She might have suffered through a couple more weeks, but that is not how we wanted her to go out. We decided to preserve her dignity and schedule an appointment to have her put to sleep. That was a tremendously difficult decision for us, but it was the right thing to do for her.
For her final day, we pulled out all stops to make her feel as loved as possible. I grilled a couple of grass fed beef steaks that way she likes them. She became excited when she smelled the meat.
She suddenly regained her appetite when I gave her the first bite. We repeated this one piece at a time process more for my benefit than hers. I cut up the rest of the two steaks and set aside 1/3rd for breakfast the next morning.
I set the rest down and let her gorge to her hearts content. She was a happy dog.
The next morning I literally woke up crying because I had been dreaming about what this day meant. We took a couple of selfies to start the day before she had the rest of her steak for breakfast.
With a full belly, she settled onto her dog bed with her favorite toys to relax a bit.
She gave me a big time tongue lashing to say she loves me and thanks for all the special treats.
Before we left for the animal hospital, we went on one final walk together. We did a tiny loop that spanned only ten houses total. By the time we got back, she was exhausted and had to lay down to rest and fight for breath on our front lawn. I knew for sure then that we were doing the right thing at that moment.
At the vets office, she was completely relaxed knowing that we were doing our best for her right to the end. She sat up one more time to say goodbye. Despite her failing body, her loving spirit never faded.
In the end, the process was very quick and seemingly painless for her. It gave us a feeling of peace to know that she is not suffering anymore. We laid her to rest in a spot where we spent a lot of memorable times together.
I know that animals dont go to heaven, but wherever she went she took a big chunk of my spirit with her. I feel like a ship that lost its rudder right now. Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life and writing this thread was the hardest ever too.
We miss you so much Jessie. Rest in peace girl. You were the best friend we could ever ask for.
Phil
My deepest condolences. Your post brought tears to my eyes as well. May she rest in peace.
Phil, I am absolutely heartbroken. Man I really feel for you. I am a "dog person' and have lost several dogs over the years. I think the only thing harder than losing a dog would be losing a child. My thoughts, prayers and tears are with you. Although our dogs don't have a soul or go to heaven, I think God does have a special place for them. Who knows what our great Creator has in store... maybe we do see our dogs in heaven.
I know how strongly you feel about paid membership to this forum and I want you to know that today, in honor of J-Dog and her contributions to this forum, I have upgraded my membership to gold.
Rest in peace Jessie
Paul
I know how strongly you feel about paid membership to this forum and I want you to know that today, in honor of J-Dog and her contributions to this forum, I have upgraded my membership to gold.
Rest in peace Jessie
Paul
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Phil,
I'm so sorry for your loss. The passing of our beloved pets is always so devastating. We lost our Australian Shepard, Bubba, to epilepsy last year at the young age of 8. I'll always miss that dog, but he and we dealt with 5 years of seizures. He just never came out of the last one so we had to put him down. I still find myself tearing up sometimes when I think about him.
Like now, I'm sitting here at work with tears in my eyes thinking of beautiful J-Dog and your wonderful tribute to her, and our dog Bubba, and all the pets my family has lost. They add so much to our lives when they're with us, but it seems like they always take a piece of us with them when they go. I hope you can find some peace knowing that she's not in pain any more. I bet she, and Bubba, and every pet that we've all lost are out there doing something they love right now. Thank you for sharing her with us.
I'm so sorry for your loss. The passing of our beloved pets is always so devastating. We lost our Australian Shepard, Bubba, to epilepsy last year at the young age of 8. I'll always miss that dog, but he and we dealt with 5 years of seizures. He just never came out of the last one so we had to put him down. I still find myself tearing up sometimes when I think about him.
Like now, I'm sitting here at work with tears in my eyes thinking of beautiful J-Dog and your wonderful tribute to her, and our dog Bubba, and all the pets my family has lost. They add so much to our lives when they're with us, but it seems like they always take a piece of us with them when they go. I hope you can find some peace knowing that she's not in pain any more. I bet she, and Bubba, and every pet that we've all lost are out there doing something they love right now. Thank you for sharing her with us.
ncrockclimb
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I am so sorry.
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Very sorry for your loss Phil. They certainly are members of the family. I hope you find peace in knowing that you made the best decision for her. My sincere condolences to you and your wife.
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Phil... tears in my eyes. Thanks for sharing J-Dog with us.
...when I am in the company of my dog and am speaking to him as I would to a human friend just shooting the shit or conversing about how the day has gone or when I am admiring the sunlight in his eyes, or patting his head, marveling at the physiographic fit between the curve of the palm of my hand and the top of his broad head as if both had been sculpted just for that fit on those occasions, I dont concern myself with my inability to feel such comfort amidst humans, but, rather, am simply thankful that at least dogs exist, and Im humbly aware of how much less a person Id be how less a human if they did not exist.
Colter by Rick Bass
...when I am in the company of my dog and am speaking to him as I would to a human friend just shooting the shit or conversing about how the day has gone or when I am admiring the sunlight in his eyes, or patting his head, marveling at the physiographic fit between the curve of the palm of my hand and the top of his broad head as if both had been sculpted just for that fit on those occasions, I dont concern myself with my inability to feel such comfort amidst humans, but, rather, am simply thankful that at least dogs exist, and Im humbly aware of how much less a person Id be how less a human if they did not exist.
Colter by Rick Bass
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LoveTheBlade
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I had to put my afghan hound down two weeks ago, so I can sympathize. Looking through your pictures it's easy to see that your dog had a fantastic life and was treated like a princess. So while you'll always miss her, know that you gave her the best life she could possibly have had, and in the end that's all you can really do.
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I feel your loss Phil, I still get choked up 3 years on from the loss of my own best 4 legged friend. From your lovely photos and remembrances, it's more than clear that she was well loved and that you provided her with a life that any dog would be jealous of. My heartfelt thoughts go out to you and yours as you try to adjust.
~Jim
~Jim
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I am sorry that you lost your buddy.
Jason
Jason
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Thank you for the wonderful and moving tribute and for sharing your dog with us through the years. We can learn so much through the eyes of our dogs, if we only stop and listen long enough. I hope your family can find some joy through these days of sorrow.
Osprey Knife & Tool
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Sorry for loss, I know how special some animals can be for us. I lost this guy last year on Memorial day. He helped me through some though times after I got out of the Army. It gets
better my thoughts are with you
Hosted on Fotki
better my thoughts are with you
Hosted on Fotki
