JAKE is 3-years-old and a retriever cross. He is neutered and micro-chipped. He is house trained. We would not re-home Jake with young children but he would cope happily with older children (12+). He loves the car and travels very happily. He is fine to be left but will bark for the first few minutes that you leave him. He then settles and can happily be left for up to four to five hours.

He is currently in foster with Val and Andy in the West Midlands and is settling in very well except for one very dodgy meeting with a visiting male dog, when Jake felt compelled to "get in first". Luckily, no harm was done and we all realise that Jake needs time to adjust to the huge changes in his life and begin to chill out.

Denise, who was his guardian for 2 years says, "Jake is one of the most wonderful dogs with people (once he get to know you, he loves nothing more than a cuddle on you lap) but we also own several other dogs.

He walks really well on the lead, but cannot be let of the lead as his recall is awful! Fortunately, he does love the car and is always happy to jump in. Unfortunately, he can be an escape artist and will try to follow you out the door so prospective owners need to be very aware of this.

His biggest problem is that he is unable to live with male dogs or dominant female dogs. He can go a few days and live in harmony, then he has what we call a 'Jake Day' where the boy dogs get picked on, sometimes in a serious way. He doesn't like cats too much either. Unfortunately, we foster and have dogs coming and going all the time and poor Jake doesn't do well under stressful situations and will panic.

It breaks our heart to re-home our Jake, as he has been part of our life for two years, but, for his sake and the sake of our boy dogs, he needs a home where he isn't going to get stressed around other dogs. Poor Jake is suffering as he is always in trouble for something he cannot control.

Rehoming Jake is the hardest thing we have ever had to do but he has issues with other dogs that we have worked on as much as we can. Unfortunately, Jake needs more than we can give him.

UPDATE ON JAKE FROM HIS FOSTER HOME

Andy says, "He's settled in very well, and is a very loving and loveable dog, who has benefitted from the calm and 1:1 attention this week. We think he'll make someone a very loyal and loving companion, as he so loves to be with you and be a part of what you're doing.

Jake was pretty determined not to stand still to be photographed but I managed to get this one."

FURTHER ASSESSMENT FROM ANDY

Jake's been with us for 4 weeks now, and has setlled in very well indeed. He's such a loving dog, who always wants to be part of what you're doing, and is never far away from you. He's also quite a character, and great fun to have around.

Apart from his aversion to sharing his house with other dogs, he's a very well behaved guy. Housetrained, good on the lead, and he absolutely loves going out in the car. He loves his walks, and playing with his squeaky toys, and is fine to be left for a few hours if necessary.

For anyone who is looking for an only dog, Jake is the perfect match.

JAKE IN HIS FOREVER HOME

Jake is now living very happily with Mary & Terry in Berkshire. He loves his daytime walks with Mary but he especially looks forward to his evening runs with Terry. He and the twin girls have developed a mutual respect and Mary is hoping that they will overcome their agoraphobia and soon be able to join her & Jake on their walks. Jake still has a few phobias but he is slowly overcoming them through gentle training and with the back-up of homeopathy and flower essences.

Jake is not just doing fine, he's doing particularly well because Mary is putting in a lot of time and effort with his training and is even planning to build him his own agility course in their garden. With a little help from Amy, one of our fosterers, who is a brilliant trainer and behaviourist, he's quickly learning the basics and is getting better all the time with other dogs when out & about. He is a very much loved member of his family.

HI FROM JAKIE

Hi, Jakie here

I just wanted to say my family are really nice. I don't growl at anybody any more cos I am very happy & trust my new family completely now.

I particularly like the children & enjoy running around the garden with them. I even climbed on to the trampoline one day which everyone thought was VERY funny.

I get 3 or 4 walks every day & I really, really love these. I also play ball every day and absolutely love it when the ball goes into the paddling pool, although I'm not quite brave enough to go in & get it out myself yet.

Thankyou to all you very kind IRR people for finding me my very, very special forever family
lots of love
Jakie xxx


UPDATE FROM MARY

Jake is the most amazing dog. He has added even more love and joy to our home & we all love him dearly.

He has taken to training like a duck to water and responds to the 12 steps of training amazingly well.

In 3 short weeks, he has become a fully integrated part of our family. My twins adore him and he is incredibly gentle when around them, which is so beautiful to watch.

Jakie is absolutely full of life and just needed a lot of love and understanding.

Jake is the perfect dog for us and I could not imagine life without him now.

©2008 Irish Retriever Rescue UK