Your Pet Loss Diaries

'Jake & KC', USA

About Jake

Jacob Marley Osmialowski, was a beautiful black lab, German Shepard mix.

When did you lose Jake?

Today, October 16, 2008

At what stage of pet loss grief do you feel you are currently at?

Anger - I found him, he had been hit by numerous cars, but I knew it was him right away. I stood in the middle of the road so no one else could run over him. His collar was still by him and confirmed my nightmare. So I'm past the denial.

Jake and KC's story so far

One of our daughters rescued Jacob Marley (Jake, for short) in 1998 from the APL. When she moved out, Jake stayed behind with my husband, my youngest daughter and myself. We lived in Ohio then. We also had a shitzu, that we had to have put to sleep, and Jake was lost without his little friend.

We moved to S Carolina 4 years ago. We also have 2 cats, and Jake always got along with them wonderfully. Last summer, my oldest daughter was living with us, and came home from work one night with a Siberian Husky, that was given to her by a homeless man. The man had 5 husky pups living in his van with him.

So, when Luca (our husky) came to live with us he was about 6 months old. Jake immediately began to "father" him. He was very tolerant of the rambuncios pup. Within a few days they became inseparable.

Someone broke our lock to our backyard gate the night before last, we don't know if they were planning on breaking in or stealing the husky (a very popular thing here in SC). We didn't know the gate had been jammed open and both dogs got loose Wednesday evening about 6 pm. They are both house dogs, usually only going out to pee or play.

When I went to feed them dinner, they were both missing from the yard. My 19 year old daughter (who is my youngest) and I began a frantic search for them. Before we realized that husky's like to dig, Luca had dug a hole under the fence and went for an adventure. Jake, who never leaves the yard, went with him, to protect him, I'm sure! Anyhow, they were found by some people about 1/4 mile away, and they called us from info on the dog's tags. We were so relieved.

We took extra measures to safeguard this from happening again. There are huge boulders on both sides of the gate. No more escapes or attempts till last night. When the dogs were not in the screened in porch and didn't come running when they heard the door open, I knew something was wrong. My daughter and I went to check the gates and that's when we found our one gate had been broken in to.

The lock is on the inside, but there is enough of a gap between the two gate doors to put a long screw driver through and jimmy the lock. I called the police, who came out immediately and took a report and alerted officers in our area to watch for the dogs. When my husband got off work at 10 pm, he came home and looked for the boys till 2:30 am.

I couldn't sleep, so I went back out at 6 am this morning. I went up to the highway, which is about a mile from our home, but it's the only way to get to another area that is blocked by trees. It was as if I was drawn to go that way. I almost knew... I was going to find one of them. I turned onto the 4 lane highway and went about 1000 ft, and saw pieces of an animal in the road, I ran over them before I could swerve, but swerved in time not to run over the larger part of the animal.

As I passed, I looked in my rearview mirror and my heart felt like someone was squeezing my life out. I saw black fur, not much... I made a U-turn in the road and had to go farther than the body because of concrete columns in the median. I made another U-turn went back, pulled off the highway into a parking lot and ran to the road.

It was then I saw the red collar, and I knew it was my best friend. Semi's and cars were running over him. I called my daughter and told her to wake her dad... she started crying right away, she knew in her heart too. I told my husband to bring a shovel and a box and come NOW! I then walked out in the road to try to get cars to go around my baby.

I called 911 and in hysterics told them to send an officer to stop traffic. People must have thought I was crazy...not that I care on bit. One side of his head was still intact, with his red collar around what was left of his neck. I've been a trauma nurse for 15 years, seen it all, never bothered me. But...when it's your baby, your best friend, your guardian...well... now I know how the people feel when a loved one has been in a bad accident.

Jake was the best dog ever. He never bit or even attempted to. Our grandkids could walk up and take bones out of his mouth and he would do nothing. I'm really worried about my husband. They were big time buddies! Jake still thought he was a puppie, so all 75 lbs of him would sit in the recliner with my husband in the evening.

It's hard to belive he's gone, even though as I sit here typing with his red collar on my lap, I can't imagine life without him. We are going to miss him so much. Maybe, I'm not to anger yet. Maybe... I'm still in denial. My heart is breaking.

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