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Continued from Home page Blackjack.html Some of my employees “rescued” Blackjack from his unsatisfactory home. Blackjack adjusted to his new home very well. He had over 1/2 an acre to roam and of course he lots of people around during the day. Blackjack enjoyed all our employees and they played a little rough with him at times. That worried me, but he was really a gentle dog. I discovered while he was young that he loved to ride in the car and visit us at home. My wife was always surprised that he was so well behaved since he lived for about ten years as out watch dog at the office. He stayed there day and night and was good at scaring people off when he thought they did not belong. When he came home he did not steal people-food like one would expect. If we had cheese and crackers out he would just walk by like they were of no interest to him. When we broke down and fed him something like that he would accept with relish but still was surprisingly well behaved. Blackjack would have made a good therapy dog. He was gentle with children and although he would chase squirrels and stray cats he made great friends with Norm, Bailey and Abbey our three cats. As you can tell from the ball in his mouth, he was not all watchdog. Blackjack retired about six years ago and adapted to being a spoiled member of the family. In his last year he developed problems with his back legs and had a hard time getting up. He could no longer jump in the car so I got a dog ramp which worked well for some time. I used a leash and at first he really balked about climbing up the ramp. As he got worse, though he developed a trust that allowed me to help him make the climb. For the last nine months of his life we took him for acupuncture with Dr. Head Hut maker of the Steel Creek Animal Hospital. This treatment was recommended by Blackjack’s primary vet Bill Cooper of Saint. Francis Hospital for Animals. It might sound strange, but this treatment did him a world of good, and Blackjack had a good quality life that would have been much shortened if not for these fine caring doctors. We miss the old boy. I wish I had taken more photos of him.
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Blackjack at Pete and Jessica’s wedding |
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Blackjack on the driveway. |
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Blackjack and Abbey.... the early years. Actually Blackjack found Abbey one Sunday afternoon when I was working on my sailboat. Abbey was about 6 inches long less tail and just wandered up to where the two of us were. Blackjack started to chase the kitten and I told him not to and placed the kitten up on a pile of lumber out of the way. The next morning, I came to the office with some salmon which my daughter did not eat. I showed it to Blackjack when I entered the office and he turned up his nose at it. Then I took the meat and placed it in his bowl on the back porch. Out of no where the kitten showed up and started scarfing down the food like she was absolutely starved. Blackjack had a look of total bewilderment on his face. I kept Abbey at the office for a while and took her home on the weekends. The idea was that she would be an inside office cat. After a few weeks of taking her home for the weekend, she would not let me pick her up and put her in the carrying cage. It became a real hassle and that is how Abbey ended up at home with our other two cats. She is a great cat. In the photo above you can see Blackjack’s ears laid back and Abbey is quite interested. They became good friends with Abbey often sleeping in Blackjack’s bed. Below: Blackjack came for visits from his full time job as Watchman at the office. He liked sitting on the sofa watching ACC basketball.
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Blackjack had lots of toys and although he appeared pretty ferocious, he was a very gentle dog. Being exposed to tree climbers every day didn’t seem to make him a worse pet. He retired about 5 years ago and came home to stay. Until the end he enjoyed going for a ride in the car to most any place I would go. Below he is playing with one of his favorite toys. |
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An Earlier Topic Blackjack showed up at my shop 14 1/2 years ago as a pup. Some of my men decided that we needed a watch dog. At first I was reluctant, but Dave told me he knew of a dog someone wanted to give away because it was too big for them. I agreed for a trial period. After I was hooked on Blackjack, I was told the real story. Blackjack had been tied up to a table leg, and then when Blackjack got a little bigger he was tied to a hand rail outside while the owners were away at work. More Photos of Blackjack. |
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jackmcneary.com Park Road Charlotte, NC 28210 |
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