Jenny was an awesome dog. She loved people, the beach, growling at chipmunks, playing with stuffed animals and eating any type of food she could beg, borrow or steal. We brought her home in 2004 from the Humane Society when she was about 3 years old and she immediately won us over with her friendly disposition: as soon as she met people, she was their best friend. If you stopped petting her, she’d push you with her head to get you to star again.
She loved to play fetch with her duck stuffed animal and then sit right next to you after she got tired. She loved people and was always there to be the perfect companion. Whenever I would change rooms when were were home together, she’d follow. She was always there to greet me at the door whenever I came home, especially after I came home from Chile after being away for six months. She went absolutely crazy and couldn’t stop jumping around for what seemed like forever.
She stole food with reckless abandon. No amount of disciplin could stop her. We always had to make sure bread, meat, fruit, anything edible or potentially edible, was high enough up so that she couldn’t find a way to reach it when we went out. One time, we were defrosting a huge tbone steak in the sink and we left the house. When we got back, no steak, no paper, nothing. Jenny got it. When we took her to the vet for an xray, she’d eaten the entire frozen steak, bone, paper and all.
Her favorites were honey baked ham, chex and chicken. She literally couldn’t concentrate on anything else if there was ham around until she got some. She’d catch 100% of the food I’d toss in the air, sometimes jumping with all four paws off the ground.
She loved long walks, going swimming and being in the water. Sometimes she’d swim out toward us to make sure we were ok. She’d chase ducks until the ducks decided to fly away and hunt for frogs by the shoreline, but never got one. She was a happy, fun loving dog who was in her element outside.
Last week, she was playing with my parents in Northern Wisconsin, having the time of her life. On friday, she was breathing heavily, and our vet Marcy (our next door neighbor for all of my life, and the biggest reason our family ever had a dog in the first place) said everything seemed fine. On Monday she stopped eating. On Tuesday, xrays showed she had late stage lung cancer and today she went downstairs and died. It happened so fast, nobody could believe it. Even Marcy couldn’t believe how quickly things went. Everyone commented how healthy she looked and less than a week ago, everything was completely normal, but in reality nothing could be done. She didn’t suffer much at the end and had an amazing life right up until the very end.
Jenny was everything you could ask for in a dog. I’m glad I got to know her so well.
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Jenny learned to fetch very late in life, but only because her people were too dumb to realize that she wanted to fetch large branches that would float in Lake Michigan when there were big enough waves to make it interesting. She loved to welcome overnight guests by jumping onto the guest bed that swung on heavy chairs from the ceiling, like a porch swing; one jump and she was up, and the bed swung from side to side til the inhabitant was almost seasick. She slept on a loveseat that had belonged to Grandma, and looked very regal from her throne. She loved people, but was indifferent at best to most dogs; she was very discriminating about her kind, making good friends only with those of our wonderful neighbors. She had a beautiful shiny coat, carried her ears as if she were a seal sometimes, and was in great shape, walking 5 miles a day only a week ago. She enjoyed life, till life was no longer there. I hope I go that way….eventually.
She loved to play fetch with her stuffed animals though, just not outside!