Jack had an incredible adventure ~ yep, involving a very scary bear! This is one lucky dog. Here is Jack’s story as written by his very loving mom.

“Jack has an indomitable spirit that has gotten him through some unexpected twists and turns in his life. Our family first met Jack in April 2005, when he was living in Rohnert Park with his beagle friend, Buddy. Jack was about 5 at the time. His human owners were preoccupied with a toddler and an infant. They realized Jack and Buddy needed more attention and more exercise, so they put them up for adoption on the Northern California Beagle Rescue website. That’s how we found them. We learned that Jack and Buddy had both lived with several different human owners. In fact, Jack had suffered a broken leg when he was a puppy and his owner at the time was unwilling to pay to have it mended, so he surrendered him. We know that Jack must have passed through the Modesto Animal Shelter, because his AVID chip was implanted there. At some point, Jack and Buddy had linked up and become fast friends. We decided we better keep them together. Sadly, Buddy died from nasal cancer earlier this year.”

“Jack’s big adventure took place over Labor Day weekend in the Sierras. We set off on an afternoon hike at a remote lake off Hwy 88 with Jack and our rat terrier, Kelly, who joined our family this year. The dogs were not on leashes. Suddenly, Jack took off. I heard barking and a woman yelling. I arrived to find a woman holding a Great Dane with a German Shepherd nearby. Kelly was standing there, but no Jack. My husband and I spent two and a half hours searching until almost dark, but couldn’t find him. It was awful. We posted a Lost Dog sign at a campground on our way back out to the highway. We cried. The next morning we got a phone call. Some hikers had found Jack under a bush. They had wrapped him in a towel and carried him out to the campground. A nice couple then drove him down to an emergency vet in Minden, NV, and authorized his surgery. The doctor’s best guess was that a bear had taken a swipe at Jack and pulled a huge strip of skin off his shoulders. It took more than 50 staples to put him back together. We drove back to Pleasanton two days later and brought Jack to Dr. Godfrey for his follow-up care. After five weeks of healing, Jack has finally taken off the last bandage and is ready for his next big adventure. Thank you to the wonderful, caring staff at Pleasanton Veterinary Hospital.”