Jackson
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Unlike Twix and Aikman, Jackson does not really have any fantastical stories. He does have a few though.
With us from September 14th, 2008 to December 29th, 2017
Jackson's Story
Shortly after moving to Utah, the wife and I headed out to the pet store to pick up some dog food. This is about four months after we had moved into our new house, now complete with a dog door (which was Aikman's saving graces). As we pulled up to the pet store I knew I was in trouble. There was what they called a "Super Pet Adoption". It was this huge event where tons of dogs from all over the Salt Lake Valley were in cages from various shelters and all up for adoption. As we were walking around we passed by this one black and white dog with a black head who looked to be the happiest dog ever. I immediately recognized him as the dog I had seen one month earlier while at the same store. Previously, though there was only a couple of animals and they were inside the store. This current adoption event was something different. I noted this to my wife and she said we should take him for a walk. And so we did. I knew right then and there that we were not leaving that store without that dog. He was the most playful dog we have ever had and just a plain happy animal.
Jackson was much different than both Aikman and Twix. Aikman was an old man and Twix, we were pretty sure, thought she was people. But Jackson was a dog. He barked. He played fetch. He was everything that anyone could want in a dog. There was only one problem. His back hip was terrible. He was 6 years old when we adopted him and his previous owners overfed him (so he was fat) and he didn't get a lot of exercise so his back hip was in need of surgery. The adoption agency said they would pay for his surgery but after several months of contacting them and trying to get everything arranged, it never happened. Our vet at the time was also less than useless (we eventually switched vets), so by the time we could afford to do the surgery, Jackson was too old and it would have been too much for him. I think this was one of the biggest things that held him back as he was getting older.
We ended up bringing Jackson home and he was the happiest puppy ever. He was a puppy until the day he died at the age of 14 years old. He never grew up, and I will miss him for that. We would play a game called "Jackson in the Middle" where the wife and I would throw the ball back and forth between us and he would run back and forth trying to get the ball each and every time until one of us would drop it. He was also a huge swimmer. He would love to walk down to the local lake and go swimming out for balls or sticks for hours. One time, we went to a reservoir for camping and the wife floated out into a river on her floaty, well Jackson went out to "save" her, almost popping the floaty in the process. Jackson was also our only dog who would ever open presents. He would love to tear at the wrapping paper to get what was hidden inside. He always knew he could do it and he got excited every Christmas for his gifts.
As Jackson got older, his hip started to bother him more and more. We tried several techniques and treatments that our vet suggested but eventually it was too much for him. Mentally he was all there when we had to say goodbye but physically he just couldn't do it anymore. He could barely get up and he was falling back down a lot. So we decided to let him go. We had decided after we lost Twix that we would never be without two dogs at a time. We also knew Jackson was going to leave us shortly so we adopted a new dog towards the end of Jackson's life. This one would become our new Twix. But so far, no one has replaced our Jackson.
