There is a day that looms large for every dog owner. It makes no difference whether a puppy or a middle-aged or senior rescue. Dogs of all sorts capture our hearts and hold them captive for an unknown number of days determined by destiny. We enter into a contract on the day we allow a dog to claim us as their human, a contract which stipulates that on the human side we will commit to caring for them and meeting all of their needs while on the dog side the commitment is much deeper.

People have been known to breech the contract if for some reason it becomes an inconvenience. Not so with dogs. The dog’s commitment is one of unconditional love and absolute devotion for all of the days we’re together no matter what.

Dogs exemplify what is good and what is right and they are everything humans wish they could be but of which they so often fall short. Dogs are there by our sides, through the peaks and the valleys with nothing but love for us. It has been said that dogs are just a part of our lives but to them we are their whole life. Truer words could not be spoken.

And then comes the dreaded day. The day we have to say goodbye.

Today was that day.

Today we said goodbye to our beloved Jake after 12 joyous years. Today we are overwhelmed by sadness but at the same time feeling incredibly blessed to have had him in our lives through these years which have brought so much drastic and transformational change in the best way possible.

Jake’s arrival was a bright and cleansing light in a time of darkness.

Jake spent the first years of his life watching a plan materialize. A plan to leave the life we knew in Michigan to chase a dream in Montana.

Jake saw the dream come to fruition and spent the last nine years as an integral part of the re-making of our lives. New city, new state, new jobs, new careers, new business ventures, a middle-schooler making his way through the challenges of a major move and of adolescence and now navigating his way at the University of Montana. And of course, endless rivers to float and places to wander all with the backdrop of amazing Montana.

It’s been a pivotal 12 years, 12 years we wouldn’t trade for the world.

Many of you who frequent the shop likely met him here and he was always a favorite subject of mine for photographs and social media posts. He was a kind and gentle soul and a better dog we could not have had.

This is a day of sadness for us but a day of freedom for you as you are released from the shackles of arthritis and cancer and years to run the hills and the trails and swim the rivers free from pain.

Rest easy Jake. You will live in our hearts until our paths cross again.

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