Keepers' Jess RN TD - born in British Columbia sixteen years and two months ago, left us yesterday. Regardless of her age, we were not expecting this. Jess was completely normal, enjoying the snow when we went out, until last Saturday night when she suddenly stopped eating. We went through thorough physical checks, bloodwork, and more bloodwork; it was not a good week for her or us. When the final diagnosis was finally confirmed, there was just no time left. She was calm and quiet, mainly sleeping, and we helped her by letting her go. We have the best vets in the world, who care almost as much as we do. 
This was Jess the day she was finally turned in to Sheltie Rescue in B.C. She had gone through ice on a pond, and brought in still wet and dirty; the owners had had enough of her. She was no longer good for breeding as she was over 9 years of age. 
And here she is, when I took pictures to apply for her Performance Event Number with the CKC.She wanted so badly to go out and work like the other dogs, and finally I thought "why not"!! Jess had been "working" as a pet therapy dog (with Storm) but really wanted to do some physical things. So, as an "older senior girl", she began to train for Rally Obedience.
This picture was actually from Storms' birthday party on the 18th. Jess had turned 16 on Dec. 4th. I used the picture as it's the last one I took with Jess in it.
Jess BEGAN tracking when she was 13 1/2 yrs. old. She loved it! She was super slow, but nose down, and just motored along. This picture was after she finished a track..Miss Happy.
This giant chewie is her reward at the end of the track. Jess never learned to play due to her rotten early life, and I could never find anything that really turned her on...other than food. One day, I thought of these chewies, which I can't say I like, however, it worked a miracle for her. She got to keep it for about 10 mins. of chewing and sucking on it and she was happy. She never had any interest in the article at the end of the track. Didn't really matter - she stopped dead when she reached it, which was a good enough indication. So she got her chewie...it always looked brand new.
And this is the day that Jess earned her Tracking Dog Title! A very slowly worked track, but she finally finished it. I'm holding her glove and she's wearing her rosette. Dawn Sanderson from Thunder Bay was our (very patient) judge. Jess was 2 months short of fifteen years old when she got her TD. We think she "might" be the oldest dog to earn a TD.
Here's Jess with her friend, Emma. What ARE they looking at? "It's a butterfly"! "No, it's not, it's a bee"! They did some agility, rally, and tracking together....travelling companions.
The day Blast arrived. Jess is quickly putting him in his place - she was great with puppies, and the bigger, the better! He had run up and barked in her direction, so he's now getting the evil eye
Jess earned her CKC Rally Obedience Novice title at the Muskoka Club when she was thirteen. This was fun for her, and we would have continued into Advanced, but she had some arthritis in her shoulder and I didn't want her jumping. Doesn't she look proud and happy here!
And Jess' most important 'job' (along with Storm) was visiting weekly in a local nursing home. They were so loved and looked forward to by many in there. She began shortly after arriving here, as she had a perfect, quiet personality for this. Jess visited for six years, they both were retired this past September, both well over 15.
And nothing was better than snow! We couldn't believe the first time we saw her actually DIVE into snow here. She loved it. She would go head first and bury herself, roll around and then just lie in it. If there was a snowbank, she would go part way up, lie down and roll and tumble down it. Never saw a dog love snow this much.
This picture was actually from Storms' birthday party on the 18th. Jess had turned 16 on Dec. 4th. I used the picture as it's the last one I took with Jess in it.
Jess BEGAN tracking when she was 13 1/2 yrs. old. She loved it! She was super slow, but nose down, and just motored along. This picture was after she finished a track..Miss Happy.
This giant chewie is her reward at the end of the track. Jess never learned to play due to her rotten early life, and I could never find anything that really turned her on...other than food. One day, I thought of these chewies, which I can't say I like, however, it worked a miracle for her. She got to keep it for about 10 mins. of chewing and sucking on it and she was happy. She never had any interest in the article at the end of the track. Didn't really matter - she stopped dead when she reached it, which was a good enough indication. So she got her chewie...it always looked brand new.
And this is the day that Jess earned her Tracking Dog Title! A very slowly worked track, but she finally finished it. I'm holding her glove and she's wearing her rosette. Dawn Sanderson from Thunder Bay was our (very patient) judge. Jess was 2 months short of fifteen years old when she got her TD. We think she "might" be the oldest dog to earn a TD.
Here's Jess with her friend, Emma. What ARE they looking at? "It's a butterfly"! "No, it's not, it's a bee"! They did some agility, rally, and tracking together....travelling companions.
The day Blast arrived. Jess is quickly putting him in his place - she was great with puppies, and the bigger, the better! He had run up and barked in her direction, so he's now getting the evil eye
Jess earned her CKC Rally Obedience Novice title at the Muskoka Club when she was thirteen. This was fun for her, and we would have continued into Advanced, but she had some arthritis in her shoulder and I didn't want her jumping. Doesn't she look proud and happy here!
And Jess' most important 'job' (along with Storm) was visiting weekly in a local nursing home. They were so loved and looked forward to by many in there. She began shortly after arriving here, as she had a perfect, quiet personality for this. Jess visited for six years, they both were retired this past September, both well over 15.
And nothing was better than snow! We couldn't believe the first time we saw her actually DIVE into snow here. She loved it. She would go head first and bury herself, roll around and then just lie in it. If there was a snowbank, she would go part way up, lie down and roll and tumble down it. Never saw a dog love snow this much.
It's a very long story how we came to get Jess, and another one how she lived. Should you be interested, I wrote a story that was featured in Dogs In Canada magazine in January of last year.
There is a link also from a sheltie rescue site that had a fund raising contest. I was asked to enter a story for this about Jess, which I did. She is number 4 on that. Be warned, if you read some of the other stories, they are pretty sad....BUT they all have a good ending. As did Jess. We hope she never remembered her life before coming to us, already a senior. She was a small dog that thought she was a big dog.
Just recently gone, we can't believe it quite yet, I will keep looking for her for some time I imagine. She was truly a little princess, even without the birthday hats.
www.dogsincanada.com/jesss-story-an-old-dog-learns-new-tricks
www.mistyisleshelties.com/rescue.html
