Jake

Jake + Jordan 

"He walked up and sat down and looked at me. And I was like, oh yeah, you don't belong in here. We're going to take you home." That's Jordan, about Jake, a beagle who had been returned twice and was on his last day at the shelter when she refused to leave without him. 💛 Because sometimes you just know. 

Transcript

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0:00

Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! www. circlelineartschool. com

Kate 0:14

Hey, Jordan. I'm really excited to have you here today to talk about Jake. Would love to hear, um, how, how you met Jake.

Jordan 0:24

Okay. So I always wanted a dog my whole life. One of those kids who never had a dog growing up and always wanted one. So I finally got one of my own around 21. And my friend had was going to get this puppy. She'd been at the pound every day watching this puppy, right? Going to come up for sit for, for adoption. And one of the days she's there, she know I had been looking for a dog for a while. And she sends me this picture. We're supposed to go to Disneyland, like, I live in California. We're supposed to go to Disneyland on this Friday night. She goes, but look what I got at the shelter. And his picture was so cute. Disalarmingly cute. Aww. And so, you know, I go, you know what? It's on the way, Disneyland. I'll just stop by and take a look. Right, right.

Kate 1:07

Innocent, innocent stop just to check out a puppy. You know,

Jordan 1:10

just, I already had the bed at home and the first bag of food at home. I'd already done a lot of research looking for a dog. And, um, I went to the pet, yeah, I did a lot of research looking for a dog. And, um, I thought I was going to get a much bigger dog than I got when I got Jake because Jake was a beagle. He was a big beagle. He was 35 pounds and really tall on the legs. But um, when I went to the pound, I went through the whole shelter and didn't see him and I'm like, Oh, maybe he's gone. So it's a first come first serve shelter. Right? Like, okay, guess he's gone. Whatever. But then I walked through one more time and this little hedgy dog walked out and he was still wearing his harness and when he'd been surrendered that like earlier that day, somebody hit me. Just. Yeah, and I would come to find out a lot about the dog in the days following me adopting him. But I look at him and I go, you know what? You do not belong in here. I'm gonna take you home with me. And that's how we met.

Kate 2:04

How old was Jake when you met him? Was he a puppy? He was a puppy or you were?

Jordan 2:08

He was a puppy. He was about two.

Kate 2:11

Ah, that's perfect. So he's probably already fairly trained and ready to call your house a home. So I, I assume you wish Disney lands.

Jordan 2:22

Oh yeah. That's the story of how I got Jake, like how he came to be a family as a whole another conversation of that same day that required me because the first time first, it's a first time first or kill shelter. So This was Jake's last day, so there was no tomorrow. Oh my

Kate 2:38

gosh.

Jordan 2:39

Yeah, he was, it was, he was a final day dog

Kate 2:41

and,

Jordan 2:42

um, he

Kate 2:42

just arrived. The line was very sad. Wow.

Jordan 2:46

Yeah. Well, cause he already been returned. I come to find out he's been returned twice. But they don't tell you that, like, they don't tell you that. I only found out like through looking into this dog later because of all the issues I had with the dog after I got him. And I was like, Oh my God. So I got, I got this very troubled and he wasn't, he was a great dog. I'm going to purpose that he ended up being the best dog. If you take the time to work with a dog, they become the best dog. Right.

Kate 3:10

But that's like very young.

Jordan 3:14

Yeah. I was young and impulsive and I go, I'm going to get this dog. He's cute. Why not? I had to wait in line for four and a half hours. Standing. Wow. Standing. Standing in line behind their people, people getting kittens, people getting dogs, people getting puppies. And I asked everybody in line if they were in line for this dog, because if they were in line for Jake and their dog, I wasn't going to get them. Everyone in line. I mean, nobody wanted that dog. So I finally get to the counter and it's four o'clock. The shelter's closing, like closed. And it's finally my turn. It's me and a lady behind me. And the deputy had already told us we were in the door before time. We're going to get help. Right, right. Cashier just wanted, she wanted to go home, you could tell it's Friday. Right. This lady's burned out. She wants to go home. And she told me, I'm sorry, I can't help you. If I didn't have one of the most Oscar winning performances, crying at this counter, telling them how they, how they had my dog in there and I, my dog needed to come home with me today and I'm not leaving without my dog. It's that simple. I will stand here until tomorrow. I'm not leaving my dog here. It got to the point that finally the manager had to come out. She's bottle feeding a little kitten in her hat in her hands and she's like, what is the problem out here? Why is it so noisy?

Kate 4:24

And you're like, because I'm taking Jake home.

Jordan 4:27

I go, you guys have my dog in there. It's the last day. And I want my dog

Kate 4:30

clearly. And

Jordan 4:33

it got to the point that when the lady, the lady walked me back, like the sheriff's lady, the little animal control lady walks him back to get him. She got How long has he been missing? He's been coming and going from the shelter. I met this dog like four hours ago and she just looked at me like we all thought this was your dog that you had lost. What do you mean? And I'm like, no, this is my dog though. He's mine now. Had to come home.

Kate 4:55

Oh, I love that. I love, love, love that. And you, yeah, you're like adamant, right? Like you knew immediately. The first time I saw him,

Jordan 5:02

he was my, he was my dog. All the dogs in the shelter, they were nice, but when I saw him and I contacted him, he was my dog. He's been waiting for me. We've been waiting for each other.

Kate 5:11

I always usually ask, like, if he picked you or you picked him, but it sounds like it was a mutual instant, instant love and connection, especially with him, coming out from around the corner when you didn't first see him and just walking up. That's awesome.

Jordan 5:25

He walked up and sat down and looked at me and I was like, Oh yeah, you don't belong in here. We're going to take you home. Don't worry. You're not going to have to come back here ever again. Yeah. Did

Kate 5:33

he come with the name Jake or did you name him Jake?

Jordan 5:37

His name was Jake, and at that time, I didn't know you could, like, rename dogs from the shelter. I had been kind of guilted. Like, that's his name, and I had been told that people, Oh, that's probably been his name since he was, it wasn't. I found his video later on the internet. His name was Jenkins, before somebody else adopted and named him Jake. So I'm like, I mean, at least Jake was better. No offense, people named Jenkins, but he wasn't, that wasn't his personality. So I'm happy that that wasn't the name he got stuck with, that wasn't his personality.

Kate 6:03

Is there a song that reminds you of Jake or like that time in your life where you, where you brought him home? Like if you hear a song, is there a of reminds you of him now?

Jordan 6:13

There are songs that remind me of us because we used to spend a lot of time, I used to, I was young. We were going dog, beach, we were going to the mountains, we were going everywhere together. So almost any radio hit from like 2000 and like 11, 12, 13 is us. I can think back to us literally cruising down the streets in Pasadena, like going to go off to the dog park. Spending a lot of time, a lot of time at the dog park. So almost any Adele song from 22, all that stuff, I'm like, it reminds me of him.

Kate 6:42

If there were three words that come to mind to describe him, how would you describe him?

Jordan 6:47

His personality? Oh, he was funny. He was, he was a hilarious dog. Oh, I love the goofy dog. He was very goofy. Um, he could be very determined. And he was very food orientated. He was like me, the foodie.

Kate 7:00

Right. I love that. is there, any particular story or adventure or experience y'all had together that you want, like, that, Um, like made an impact on you. It could be funny. It could be sad. Just anything that you can think of

Jordan 7:18

and that kind of like shows off

Kate 7:19

your relationship.

Jordan 7:21

I learned a lot from Jake. Like I learned a lot about life and that dog. I didn't have him for very long because cancer took a boy from me. But the years that we, yeah, the years we were together, those three to four years we had, um, a lot of lessons came out of like having that dog. But I think the most, the most important one I ever had was not to give up. To find is a better option than giving up. In most cases, when it comes to a dog or even people, because I'd had Jake for about three weeks and then the first three weeks I had Jake, he cost me over 10, 000 in damages to the house I was renting.

Kate 7:54

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wow. He destroyed,

Jordan 7:56

he destroyed a garage door. He went through two wooden doors. He broke a window. He ate through the carpet on the floor because I didn't know dogs would have separation anxieties I think. And this is what he had been returned for. He was a nutcase. He was a nutcase. He was. Total nutcase. Total nutcase. But I also didn't know that dogs could be crated, they could be crate trained, they could be trained in general, I have no idea.

Kate 8:19

Right,

Jordan 8:20

right. I remember going to PetSmart, people at PetSmart where I used to live, knew me, even though I didn't have a dog yet. I would come in every day and ask questions, and I would ask about food, and I'd ask about what kind of pet bed is best. Wow. I come in, I come in, they're all upset, and I have all my stuff in the cart, and I'm bringing all the stuff back, and they're like, Why didn't you just get it? I go, no, no, that dog is defective, he's going back, I, I can't, I can't handle this anymore, he's already cost me so much money. And I'm Brian, I'm like, they're like a friend that consoled me that I hadn't made a mistake and maybe just the wrong dog for me, you know, it's okay. There's going to be another dog. Sometimes you just can't, you know, it's the experience and everything and I'm over here crying about this dog where I thought I had proved my point that I made a mistake. Right. And I wasn't ready for a dog, even though I was 20 something years old. And this nice trainer walks over and he goes, So do you want to just try a class? And I'm like, I can't afford your class. And he's like, how are you going to return the dog? 75 bucks is the return fee, right? And there's a fee associated with dropping them off. You can't just drop them off. He goes, well, we're having a special right now. Just use that money instead and buy a class. And if he doesn't work out, I will help you rehome the dog. Wow.

Kate 9:29

That was,

Jordan 9:30

I go, I go, intervention

Kate 9:32

right then and there, right? A little earth angel. I love that.

Jordan 9:35

And I literally went, do you hear that sound in the parking lot? Because my dog, he was so, he tried to go through a car window to get in a motorcycle. It's because they'd gone past the car. He was just triggered by everything. Yeah. This dog needed some attention. So much attention. And like, um, you hear that sound in the parking lot? You can hear my dog baying from the parking lot. So I had gone into the store without him. But the window was down a little bit. He wasn't like gonna die or anything. It wasn't hot. But I couldn't bring him in because he was just so reactive. He would drag me around. He would sit me. He would go after other dogs. Like he was just so excited. Not in a dangerous way, but he was just so excited to meet them. It would trigger other dogs. He was just, he was a mess. And the guy goes, just give him a chance. And I said, okay, you know what? Fine, whatever. This is the last day. Well, this is the work for I'm getting ready with dog and it worked. He went on to become a canine good citizen. Uh, we did, we did, he, he sat so well and behaved so well, and all these people were asking if they could breed, like, they could breed their, he was such a well behaved, I don't know, he's just really well trained. This is a really well done dog. This is not a knack of personality. I mean, you had to put

Kate 10:36

in the work too, right? Like, you should be so proud of that also.

Jordan 10:39

I had a behavioralist come. I had an animal behavioralist come and deal with me with this dog. I got the professional, professional, super professional dog person. Like, like a dog psychologist almost came and dealt with him. I had a pet medium at one point come and talk to him. Like, I'm like, what is wrong with this dog? But I went in all in and it, it worked. It, it saved our relationship, saved my dog and it saved us. And that's the one thing that I've learned about dogs. I mean, I have a dog, we have a dog now at my house and he's trouble. And I'm like, We're going to call the behaviorist and we're going to fix him and he's on his way to being fit.

Kate 11:10

Right. Right. Yeah. I mean,

Jordan 11:12

I learned not to give up.

Kate 11:14

Yep. Not give up. I mean, that's an amazing story, right. Of love, not giving up and Taking the time, right, and finding the right tools and the right resources to help. Because you put in the time and it, it definitely, you know, paid off and that, that's awesome. That's an amazing story of not giving up.

Jordan 11:30

And, and then I always tell people I, because Jake had cancer and when I was in college, I had a professor who brought somebody in to speak with us from like one of those healthcare companies for dogs. And he goes, if you had an animal and you would give up your house to save him, raise your hand. Anyone who raised their hand needs to have pet insurance. And I always remembered that. Because I went and bought pet insurance for Jake. He's a dog, so dogs bite and stuff, but whatever, I'm a good pet insurance. I never used it. For like three and a half, four years, never used it. I was like, cancel it. So I took Jake in to get a physical. And that's when they found the cancer. And wow. Yeah. I took it. I was going to cancel the next month and I go, let's just get your one physical to make sure you're healthy. And I'm going to cut your young, young dog. What do I have to worry about? Right. Right. They told me, they showed me the x ray of his, of his, I'll be an expert at it done. And they go, you see that, that is a problem. We're going to refer you to an oncologist. And I'm like, and I'm all of this, he's like, he's like four or five years old. What do you mean? Oncologist? And they're like, yeah, we have to refer you to oncologist. So I went to an oncologist and I paid all this money and I, this is the 20, I'm making 20 bucks an hour. You know, I'm like, this is not a lot of money and I'm doing it. And my insurance is going well to send us the bill. And we're sending the money back. It gets insane. And I remember I went to the specialist and they go, okay, so your dog has cancer. And, um, the cancer is very aggressive, right? Most dogs die in about two to three weeks. So you want us to put them down and look at my dog who's happy and healthy and just living his life. And I'm like, how much is treatment? They go, ma'am, it's here. I go, no, I have pet insurance. I'm worried about how I'm going to screen it. And it was a whole different conversation at that point. Like, when they found out there was going to be, like, money behind this situation. I got nine and a half months with my dog. Wow. Because my pet insurance made it. I mean, I was born, get me wrong. I was broke. My, my vet office worked with me. They kept my tail open all week long until I got paid. I was going right up to work, pay my bills to make the form be broke all weekend and get reimbursed 90 percent on Monday morning. Wow. For nine months, every single week until my dog finally decided on his own, he was finished and stopped eating. And then he was put to sleep. Wow. I got, I got time to be able to say goodbye versus trying to, to save, not to save money, but like to save the agony because he, until the very end, he was himself in the very last two weeks.

Kate 13:51

Right. Yeah.

Jordan 13:52

So I always tell people, that's my story. So as pet insurance, if you're ever wondering about, I would have given everything to save my dog and he was never going to be saved, but I was able to have more time to make memories. You know, all that stuff. Right. So that's why I always share about Jake because I learned the value of like, of, um, you know, not giving up on the value of pet insurance. I learned the value of a lot of things. And planning

Kate 14:13

ahead. Yeah.

Jordan 14:14

And I broke even. I broke even after when he passed away, all the money that I've been paying and what his treatments cost broke even Wow. Like, I was, I was very lucky that I had it.

Kate 14:24

I'm a big fan of pet insurance as well. I think it allows you to make the choices that you want to make for your dog. Right? And, um, and then also in your case, right? Like, get that, like, you didn't have to question. You were able to at least try to get him the best treatment possible. Okay. Well, wait, we're almost out of time, but I would love to know, if you had one more day with Jake, like, how would you spend it?

Jordan 14:49

Oh, if I had one more day with him, I think we would just hang out, watch TV. We used to watch TV all the time. I don't watch TV much anymore. I'm so busy now. But like,

Kate 14:58

yeah,

Jordan 14:58

we would probably watch Scooter.

Kate 15:00

And like Cuddle. Any specific shows? What was your go to shows back then?

Jordan 15:06

Back then it was cooking food TV. We used to watch Food Network. I was at all when I was at home, like it would be food network all day long. Yeah, we would just watch food network all day long. Like that was our thing. Awesome. That's what we would probably do.

Kate 15:19

Well, that was an incredible story of Jake and Jordan. There is something so special about that first dog you have as an adult, especially the dog that you have in your early twenties. Um, one word that comes to mind when thinking of Jordan and Jake is determination, determination. When she chose to fight for him at the shelter determination, when she fought. Through like the hard times of getting him properly trained. And then of course, at the end to determination to stand by him during his cancer fight. Um, the story is incredible and it's just a beautiful story of a girl and her dog. And. Um, that, that process of, of growing up together.

15:57

Tooo. Do. Do. Do. Bark.