Jamie 1999-2014

OTCh., U-UD Ariel's Escape Through Time, 

UDX 3, TD, VCD2, MX, MXJ, MXP, MJP, RE

Jamie passed from this world on Feb. 19. I feel so blessed to have shared 14 1/2 years with this wonderful, patient, gentle, silly dog.

Soon, I hope to write a collection of Jamie stories. There are a lot of stories and they make me laugh.  Jamie was a very dignified dog but he had that off-the-wall tervuren sense of humor. (If you live with one, you know what I'm talking about.) The beautiful memories are what my mind keeps replaying while it tries to process this huge aching sense of loss.

Today I want to share some pictures of the years we had together. These are in no particular order of importance. I just grabbed them off whatever disc and thumb drive I had at hand. They capture the best of who he was.

Jamie was my partner in the obedience ring. He really didn't care what I asked him to do, he was just happy to be doing something.

Heeling with him was like dancing with a partner who could read your mind (and actually cared what you thought). A friend asked me if I taught him to "float"or if he just came that way. He just came that way. He made me look good without a great deal of effort on my part.

Jamie finished his OTCh. in 2005. (Yes, they made color film back then. No idea why this got scanned and saved in black and white.)

He was the first dog I tracked with. I took this photo while a friend handled him and "the rest of the story" is that Liz was on the other end of the line, touching down about every four feet. Jamie tracked with a great deal of power.

He got his TD at the Smithville Lake tests near Kansas City. The only regret I have about Jamie's life is that we didn't go back and pursue his TDX. He loved to track more than anything else we did together.

Jamie had a collection of nick names: Red Dog, Big Dog, Big Red Dog, Coyote (he howled), Bright Eyes, Furball. But I will always remember him as The Most Patient Dog in the World. Because he was.

This photo always makes me laugh because both dogs look so serious. Like this was a very solemn occasion of great importance. When Jamie and Phoenix were together, that was rarely the case. A friend calls this photo "Belgian Gothic." "A Portrait of Chaos and Mayhem" might be more appropriate.

Walking at a nature trail near our farm was one of Jamie's favorite things. He got to wear the pack and carry the water bottles, a job he accepted with great pride.

The couch at home was indisputably Jamie's. The Farmer and I joked that we spent a lot of money on a leather couch that no one but Jamie ever sat on. But he deserved every square inch of it.

I miss you, Big Red Dog.