Edgewater Greyts
A Year of Jack!

SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT JACK?

he didn't miss a lick

Jack is a counter-surfer extraordinaire.

He scopes out everything and catalogues where all the edibles are. Then when your back is turned he does his thing.

Oh, the mysteriously disappearing loaves of bread from the counter ... the unattended hotdog on the kitchen table that disappeared without a trace ... the pack of saltines that vanished. With five other dogs in the house how could we suspect the old fellow.

The first time I caught on to his finely-honed talents was when I was loading the dishwasher with the Easter dinner plates. I had placed a platter of sliced leg of lamb on the the kitchen table behind me. Well he silently snagged a slice and was already out the kitchen door before I knew it. I did catch him and he had to share that slice with the others, chopped up on top of their dinners.

in the kitchen with Knight you can be sure he knows what's on the table and on the counter

Then one other time when we had some friends together for a gathering (it was Kimba's 12th birthday) he got hold of the carcass from the turkey we had - TWICE. We're sitting with our company at the dining room table, look over, and lo and behold Jack is settling himself down in the hallway between the kitchen and dining room with the entire carcass in his mouth, preparing to leisurely dine in style. He had gotten it from where it had been pushed to the back of the kitchen counter. Then later he appeared with it again - it had been tossed in the covered trashbin which clearly was not a deterrent.

There was hell to pay last December when he decided to unwrap and consume a one pound Christmas package of Marshall Fields Frango Mints. I stayed up by his side with him until dawn as he paid for his crime with the puking of minty chocolate pudding stuff all over the place, and with the restlessness that an overdose of chocolate can produce. Fortunately he was healthy and the dosage was well below toxic levels. He lived.

Jack's counter-surfing gets him into an unexpected kind of trouble though. He messes himself up physically with attempting acrobatics that he's just not up to, and either sprains a wrist or pulls a chest or shoulder muscle. Twice now. We think. The first time he wouldn't move or eat for a day - that night I figured out that it was his wrist and iced it which helped. He was back up to his usual activity levels in a couple of days. The second time fortunately didn't set him back as long, and he learned not to mind being carried up and down stairs when he's messed up a leg. He is heavy though - needing to carry him hopefully will remain a very infrequent thing.