Jake came into our life in 2013, just as we bought a cabin in the Colorado mountains. We adopted him from Mile High GSP rescue as an adult. Thank you Judy and Caleb! We don’t know much about his life before us except that he was found on the side of a road in Kansas with pneumonia in both lungs. He weighed 45 pounds (his weight later was 64 pounds). Caleb at Mile High GSP nurtured him back to health and also did some strict obedience training with him. He would stay to heel even when there was a deer running in front of him. We had a similar experience with a mama bear and her 3 cubs in Chautauqua.
Jake’s breed – the GSP – German shorthaired pointer or Kurzhaar is bred to be a multipurpose hunting dog. For anyone who has not known a bird dog, Rick Bass’ book “Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had” is worth a read.
He was a good looking dog, we got at least a couple of compliments about our “handsome and well behaved” companion daily.
I started getting serious about photography right around the time we adopted Jake. He was an awesome (nude) model. Since that day I photographed “landscapes and nudes!” You can see some of the work below, he makes it beautiful!
Jake wanted at least 2 runs a day and if we could squeeze in a third one, he was in heaven. When in the house, he needed to be close – usually snuggled up against one of us.
GSPs are supposed to be “bird-dogs” and Jake did the bird-dog thing but he enjoyed fishing in the Crystal river much more.
His favorite walks were in Chautauqua, Dry Creek and the trails in Marble. But really, he was happy to walk anywhere, anytime. In the 7 years that we had him, there was only one hike where we truly tired him out – the walk to the Crystal Mill in Marble (and to be fair, it was very hot that day). The hike is 8 miles, but as usual he probably ran three times that.
He was a brave soul. He was attacked by another dog once while he was standing at heel next to me. A chunk of his front shoulder and part of his lip came undone. It was Memorial day and we took him to the emergency vet but they released him because they were too busy and he was “stable”. They told us to come back that evening. My friend, Bryan who is a heart surgeon came and sewed him up with some local anesthetic for pain control. Another time I was hiking with a friend and his 2 GSPs and Jake tore a nail. We could not stop the arterial bleeding from his nail with pressure and I had to rip out his nail in the field in order to apply pressure directly to the artery – he did not even yelp! There were multiple occasions where he let me take out thorns and brambles from his paws. And yes, he let me scale his teeth monthly.
He was very adaptable. About 2 years ago he had a localized cancer in his front paw and one of his toes needed to be amputated. We thought it would slow him down but it hardly made a dent in his mad rushes through the forest.
Some nicknames for Jake – “Triple Toe”, “Devil Dog”, “Jakie baby”, “Hoover”.
Jake had significant separation anxiety. He could NOT stay in a kennel, the one time we put him there the kennel had to sedate him. Since that day, whenever we took our trips, Jake would stay home with a dogsitter/housesitter or sometimes with Caleb or with Bryan his “vet”.
We did not have to vacuum the kitchen after cooking – Jake took care of that. One time after his toe surgery he had the “cone of shame” and he still continued with his kitchen vacuuming duties. He did not get any other human food besides that but he compensated for it in the end. In the last 6 weeks of his life he subsisted on homemade pita bread with peanut butter and generous doses of ice-cream.
Jake could nap whenever he wanted. However, even if he was sleeping on the 4 hour drive to Marble, as soon as we made the last turn into Marble off the highway, he would be on high alert. He did this even on his last trip to Marble. In addition to walking and fishing in Marble, he loved harassing the beavers and the ducks in the back yard.
Like all other dogs we have had before him, Jake taught us to stay in the moment and to extract the maximum meaning out of life.
He was diagnosed with inoperable bone cancer in April 2020. The day we brought him home from the orthopedic surgeon he was in so much pain despite medications that we made the call to the vet to come home and euthanize him the following day. But the next morning he made a 180 degree recovery and hopped around on 3 legs. He wanted to start going on walks and did walks up to 3-4 miles. Yes, he would be exhausted after that but he still wanted to go out twice a day. COVID-19 gave the kids and us a chance to spend more time with him during his last days.
He fought death for 6 more weeks. And then on June 30 he told us it was time…
Near this spot
are deposited the remains of one
who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
-Epitaph to a dog – Lord Byron
Jake fishing for trout 
