Jake together with five others of his litter came to me in 1996. They were an 'accident' and under threat of destruction. I got homes for all except Jake and his brother Toby. These two little ones were very sickly and weak. It took a great deal of nursing and veterinary treatment to pull them through.
By the time they were strong and healthy, these two brothers had formed an extremely strong bond. Neither could bear to be out of sight of the other and would panic and cry if that happened. I knew I had a bit of a predicament on my hands. I tried to separate them, for a just a little while, every day for weeks on end, but it was no good, they made it plain that they wanted to be together. I made a decision. If I could not find them a home together, I would never separate them.
A home that would take the pair of them never materialiaed. Jake and Toby became permanent residents.
Quite early in his adult life Jake was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. It meant that he would be on medication for the rest of his days. One of the side effects of this condition was that he could not tolerate being cold. That meant that he could not live in the kennels. Even though they are cosy and warm, they were not warm enough for Jake, who was, in any case, never at his best with other male dogs, except of course his brother. That meant that bringing him into the house with the rest of the pack was not an option. I converted one of my bedrooms, often playfully called 'the Penthouse Suite', into a room for the pair of them.
Jake and Toby lived happily together in their apartment for many years with never even one cross word between them. I always worried though what would happen when one of them died before the other. How would the one that was left behind cope? In November 2008, my worry became a reality. Toby was diagnosed with liver cancer, and there was no option available to me other than to let him go. How would Jake cope? He was the more dependant of the two and I was deeply concerned that he would pine for his brother and go downhill.
I had to come up with a plan, and quickly. Who could share the penthouse suite with him and so distract him from the loss of his brother? I decided that one of the German Shepherd girls, Teaka was by far the best bet.
Teaka had always lived in the sitting room with the other German Shepherd Dogs, but she has Hip Dysplasia, and was finding that getting up and down on the sofa was starting to become a real problem. My plan has worked perfectly! Both Jake and Teaka are very happy together. The beds are easy for her to get in and out of and she has proved to be an excellent companion for Jake. She definitely gives him something different to think about every day!
