Our big, beautiful Golden Retriever died Sunday, most likely of hemangiosarcoma.  (Evidently, cancer kills a large percentage of male Golden Retrievers by the time they are 7 years old.)  We miss him terribly.  Last night, we read Judith Viorst's book, The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, and then we worked on our own list of the ten good things about Jack.  (Note--The adult in the book doubts the existence of heaven, but a child adamantly believes.) 

Of course, the Bible is silent about our animals and if they do go to heaven; I don't know.  I hate to think I've said goodbye to Jack forever.  But Jack was a great dog.  He loved us so dearly.

When Noah was about 7 or 8 years old, he got out of bed during the night.  I was taking my bath.  (The middle of the night, ok, 11 p.m., is about the only time I can be absolutely, almost sure of having an uninterrupted bath!!)  Noah was afraid.  I told him I would be out in just a minute.  Before I got out, it got really quiet, which for Noah is really unusual.  I finally got dressed and out of the tub and found Noah just outside our bathroom door,  cuddled up next to Jack, asleep on the floor.

Jack never jumped on us.  He was always very gentle.  But if he had stood up and put his paws on my shoulders, he would likely have looked over my head.

We took him on several trips to the grandparents house.  On one Christmas trip, he smelled the food just as we entered the house.  Gran always makes steaks on Christmas Eve.  I guess he wanted one.  I had hold of him on the leash, but that wasn't going to slow him down.  He dashed between my legs, bucked me into the air, but never managed to get that steak.  I landed flat on my seat.  I laughed so hard I cried.  (Remember, I am less than 5 feet tall, and Jack was huge!!  150 pounds and NOT fat!)

On one of our return trips, Gracie was asleep in the van when we got home.  We thought we would carry our things into the house before we carried her in.  Jack would not get out of the van until EVERYONE was out.  He was protective of all of us.

He liked to sit in the seat next to Grace in our van.  Gracie would look at him and laugh, "Jack thinks he's a human!"

Jack loved to chase toads with the children.  He never learned, though, not to put them in his mouth.  If a dog puts his mouth on a toad, the toad releases a toxin that makes the dog foam at the mouth, drool and slobber.  Jack would drop that toad like a hot potato and shake his head slinging slobber everywhere.

We have a tiny pond in the backyard with a little lily growing in it.  That is one sturdy lily because Jack dug it up and hauled it out of HIS favorite drinking hole more times than I can count.

He was a great dog, our dog Jack.

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