Jack would always pop up in the corner of most photos
A very sad day for us yesterday as Jack finally succumbed to the suspected brain tumour and had to be put to sleep
Jack after his all night battle with the badger
The indomitable Jack is sadly no longer with us after showing tremendous courage and determination during his battle with what appeared to be a brain tumour. He has given us so much happiness over the years as he was what only can be described as a 'joyous dog'. he was still playing with his ball just a month ago when he could barely walk and absolutely refused to let his illness stop him from joining in on all our walks, often having to be carried home. The way he got on with his life with such zest even after he was completely blind was quite amazing.
He lived his life to the full and we were very lucky not to have lost him before as he was somewhat accident prone - he should have died some years ago when he decided to stand on the folded up roof of the soft top car and flew off as we went around a bend at 40 mph in the middle of Hungerford, when he decided to slip his collar to join a race at Garthorpe and was on the landing side of the open ditch with 12 horses jumping around and over him, and then after his total blindness (seven years ago) - when he fell in the swimming pool and got stuck under the cover, when he was 'hunting' for rabbits on the front of Doug's quad, fell off and the quad (and Doug!) went straight over the top of him, when he went missing on the busy A45 for three hours (hunting), when he fell in the canal, when he decided to take on a badger with young and was stuck down the set all night, when he 'helped' with the schooling and got trodden on by a horse, and only recently when the silly old fool followed Poppy because she was in season, fell into the icy river, and was stuck under the bridge for hours. By some amazing chance I heard his faint barking coming from the river and Doug managed to rescue him before his strength gave out and he slid back into the water. A very lucky dog indeed!
We buried him in the woods with his ball. He was my loyal, devoted and constant companion for 16 years and has been by my side through good and bad times. Thankfully we were able to give the lion hearted Jack a very dignified end. I will miss him terribly.
