Has Jess Come Back?

I can’t believe that it’s been over a week since I made an entry. I think that’s the longest I’ve ever gone. Did you miss me? Huh? Huh? Did ya?

It certainly hasn’t been due to a lack of things to talk about – just a lack of time to sit down and compose something readable. I’ve had all these pieces of things floating around in my mind so forgive me if this entry is disjointed. But then what else can you expect from a ScandiHOOvian!

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a very large black lab out by the end of our driveway one day when I walked out to get the mail. As I came closer to the mailbox he took off across the highway and kind of peaked up out of the ditch at me. I waited for a bit, hoping that he would come closer, but instead he took off down the ditch and across the railroad tracks. Later that afternoon when we took the grand doggers for their afternoon spin, the same black lab was again in the ditch along the driveway. He was interested in our dogs, but a bit leery due to their barking. They can be somewhat intimidating when they’re both barking, their big white chompers are showing and the hair all along their backs is standing up. Beau even has the ability to make all the hair on his tail bush out just like a cat. Anyway, when we returned home, the lab was gone.

I saw him several days later, again out by the end of our driveway, just kind of hanging out. It looked like someone had dropped him off and he was waiting for the return of his owner. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Last Saturday afternoon we were invited to a graduation barbecue in our little village, and who should be “attending” the party but the black lab. He was extremely well mannered, didn’t beg for food at all, even though I’m sure he was hungry. He just kind of sat around and waited for someone to invite him over for a scratch and a morsel. At that time I found out that he belonged to a guy who lives in a little town six miles down the road from where I live. The guy is a trucker so spends several days a week on the road. Along with this black lab he has two other dogs that he keeps in a kennel when he’s gone. I don’t know if he has someone that comes by and checks on them or not, but apparently the lab somehow gets out of the kennel and goes looking for attention. Last night I spoke with the mother of the graduate that had the party and found out that the lab is still at their house and sleeps on their deck at night. She gives him water, but hasn’t given him any food because she doesn’t want to encourage him to stay. People who know the dog owner have tried to contact him but haven’t had any luck so apparently he’s either STILL on the road or on the road AGAIN.

This little scenario has touched my heart deeply because the lab is the spitting image of the black lab I used to have named Jess, right down to the few white hairs on his chest and a few on the toes of his front feet. His head is shaped the same and he carries himself the same. Now people who don’t know dogs would say all black labs look alike, but that’s not so. Just ask any dog owner and they’ll tell you that each dog, even though it’s the same breed, has very distinct physical and personality features. Daisy and Beau are both German shepherds, but they are as different as night and day. Even Ole commented on how much like Jess this black lab was.

This really wrung my heart because Jess’ death was very sudden and unexpected. He was ten years old and sleeping on the floor by my side of the bed when his loud panting woke me up one night. I got up to see what the problem was and the poor dog was breathing extremely hard and foaming at the side of the mouth. I thought maybe he was choking on something so tried to encourage this 80 lb. dog to get up and get a drink of water. I even brought his water bowl into the bedroom but he couldn’t get up on his feet to take a drink. By this time we knew there was something very serious and I called the vet – it was 3 a.m. He told me to meet him at his clinic. Ole and I managed to get Jess loaded into the back of my van and I took off the 10 miles into town. Jess was still alive when I arrived at the vet clinic and the two of us managed to get him inside and onto an x-ray table. After a lot of checking and a couple of x-rays the vet determined that Jess was in the process of having a very serious heart attack, and if he did live through it would be seriously impaired. I had to make a very difficult decision that night and opted to have Jess go to Doggy Heaven. I brought him back home and Ole and I buried him in our pet cemetery as the sun was coming up that morning.

I’m so upset with that dog owner for not taking better care of his dogs. Apparently this dog has escaped numerous times, and fortunately to this point has not suffered any serious accidents from being out on his own.

Maybe this is Jess that has come back to me in another dog’s body?