Jack Update

A little over a month ago, we adopted Jack, an extremely obese lab/basset mix.  You can read the original blog about Jack right here.

Since we adopted him from out of town, and he was at a pet store, we didn't get his paperwork from the Humane Society right away.  We just got all of his info this past week, and we learned some new things about Jack.  He is 8 years old, was supposedly surrendered by his owners for "landlord problems", and his weight the day after he went into the shelter was 140 pounds.  As for the "landlord problems", I don't know if that's true or not, given the condition he was in when he was brought to the shelter. If a landlord had problems with Jack, it certainly wasn't for things like barking, digging in the yard, or messing inside the house. He has never done any of these things with us, and we've only heard him bark, very briefly, a handful of times since we got him. Anyway, whatever the reasons he was given up for adoption, I'm so glad he's with us now!

Jack gets weighed every other week, and so far he has lost 20 pounds!  He has A LOT of very loose and sagging skin, and still has some weight to lose, but he is looking and feeling so much better.  We are able to see some shape to him now, other than just round, and we can even feel that there are some ribs in there!  When he came home with us, he just sort of slowly lumbered around, only moving around as absolutely necessary, and had a hard time with his right shoulder, like he had arthritis or something.  As he's trimmed down, Jack has become a different dog!  The limp from his sore shoulder is gone.  His personality is coming out more and more, and he's becoming playful.  Rather than the slow lumbering walk, he trots much of the time now, and will do some running and jumping, usually in the yard when he gets to playing.  He loves to play tug-o-war, catch with a tennis ball, and there have been some pretty epic wrestling matches in our living room floor.  When he gets tired of wrestling, his strategy for stopping the game works very well...he simply sits or lays down on his opponent, effectively pinning them!

In the evenings, when it gets close to bedtime, or what Jack thinks should be bedtime, he likes to cuddle.  He will either crawl up onto the couch and onto anyone sitting there, or curl up on the floor with Megan, if she's there watching TV or something.  He really is just a giant teddy bear.

Chad and his 120 pound lap dog. Jack is perfectly comfy and doesn't care that Chad is having a little bit of difficulty breathing. After all, oxygen is way overrated!