04/10/2020
Cap'n Jack Sparrow was released back into the cosmos tonight. He was 13 years, 3 months and 9 days old. He was preceded in death (almost to the day) by Carport Cat (who hated his guts because she hated all dogs). He is survived by me, his sister, Lindsey, his brother, Nick, his dad, Michael, step-mom, Julie, his dog sister Ke$ha, and his cat brother, Isaac.
As a puppy, he was rescued from a puppy mill and was the last of his litter when I saw him at an "Angels Among Us" pet adoption event. I walked up to his crate and he was laying on his back looking at me upside down. Our eyes locked, he flipped over to see me an a lady came over to the crate to tell her husband to "come look at this little guy!" Rules be damned, I opened the crate, picked him up and carried him to the volunteer so she could begin my application. I didn't put him down until I got him home.
Jack was a delightful puppy. We trained him how to ring his bell that I hung off the doorknob when he needed to go outside. He mastered the potty bell after 2 days and then quickly moved on to master many other tricks. He was truly an intelligent and gifted dog.
He could wave, shake, sit, lay down, crawl, whisper, roll over, play dead, leave it, take it, close the door, beg, high-five, cry, speak, fetch and would even put his paw on his dog-sister when we would ask him "Who's your best friend?"
He captained every car ride he ever went on, preferring to keep his paws on the console between the front seats so he had a clear view of all that was happening. If anything was ever wrong in his world, he would come alert us with the communications skills of Lassie. Sometimes, it was a toy that rolled under the couch and out of his reach or an empty water bowl. Whatever it was, he always made plain what was the issue.
Jack was so kind-hearted. One day, I gave him his breakfast. He trotted over to his toy box and got his stuffed blue puppy (his baby) and brought him over to his bowl to "share" his meal.
He loved playing hide-n-seek, chase and roll in the grass. His true passion, though, was swimming. When we took him, he would swim to the point of sheer exhaustion. We would fish him out of the water and he could barely stand due to muscle fatigue. But the allure of the water was irresistible and he would leap back in for another round. He was also no stranger to the diving board at the pool and would impress all with his fearless dives.
He loved to lay in my bed with me at night while I read or watched TV. His feet or butt had to be touching me at all times. When one of the kids would come get him to take him off to sleep with them, they would announce "Jack, time to go night-night!" He would slip into "I dare you to take me" mode and thus would begin a fun night time ritual of them reaching under to pick him up and him making grumbling noises that sounded exactly like Chewbacca. Then, they would pick him up to carry him to bed and he would look at me with his head upside down like he did the moment I first saw him.
Jack will be missed by us all. We are all SO thankful for the time we had with him and for all of the expressions of love and support from our friends and family. -Shannon Hames
