A Wise Dog Named Jake: Lessons on life, survival, tolerance and love from an extraordinary stray dog

A Wise Dog Named Jake: Lessons on life, survival, tolerance and love from an extraordinary stray dog

When Jake ran into the darkness, teeth bared, Brigitte’s heart started pounding. The stray dog she had rescued the prior year was now ready to fight for her. This is the story of one woman, her dog, the danger and adventures they experienced together and the lessons that will shape her life. It is also an incredible journey inside the pain and hurdles that everyday can bring and the extraordinary dog that helped her through it all. “A Wise Dog Named Jake” is a moving and uplifting story that will take you on a learning adventure where emotions run high. This book is not only for a reader who has rescued dogs, but for anyone who wants to be inspired in transforming a difficult experience into a growing phase of their life. I wanted to write a book about more than the usual sad story of a lost dog. This book is about triumph over life hurdles and the growing lessons that I learned along the way. Yes, your favorite character will certainly be Jake, but you will meet so many others worth loving. I won't lie to you, you will cry, but you will also feel the power that we all have in directing our own destiny. Come with me on the journey, this is just the beginning! Chapter 3 Getting Back Home One evening, Jake and I set out for our usual last walk before bed time. The apartment complex had a grassy area dedicated for dogwalking, in the back of the buildings. It was a dark night, so I could barely see the fence that was running along the back of the grassy area. Jake was offleash, enjoying freedom, roaming and sniffing at every bush. I was walking slow, staring into the darkness without a thought, without a worry. Suddenly Jake took off and disappeared into the night with a bear growl that sent chills down my back. His tenacious bark resonated in the night, followed by a male voice screaming desperately, "Get your dog, get your dog!" My heart jumped in my chest. I still could not see where Jake and the man were. I followed the screams in the dark, the adrenaline pumping through my veins. When I reached Jake, he stood tall, a few feet from the fence, chest out, his teeth shining in the night, the hair on his back raised up, and drool foaming from his mouth. I had never seen him with such anger and determination; it was frightening. He was facing a tall dark man I had never seen before,who was clinging to the fence, staring with horror at Jake and begging me to hold him back. What had this young man been doing in the darkness before Jake found him? Was he stalking me, and because Jake was off leash away from me, did he think I was alone and vulnerable? My mind was filled with terrifying questions; my blood was boiling, and my heart was beating so fast that my hands were trembling. I grabbed Jake's collar, composed myself as well as I could, and addressed the man in a stern voice, "You should NOT sneak up on people in the dark like that! I am not sure how long I can hold my dog back, you better be going." "Yes,ma'am," was the last thing I heard from him, as he disappeared into the darkness. I realized as I was following his shadow fade like a ghost in the night that I had stopped breathing. I inhaled deeply as if I had just emerged from water, bending over, almost nauseated. Jake was standing by my side, quiet and focused, still looking toward the darkness. I kneeled down and put my arms around his strong neck; burying my face in his soft thick fur,I said softly: "Thank you, my guardian angel. You are a good dog!" Several studies have shown that violence against women is rampant in many countries including the United States. Penn, Schoen andBerland Associates conducted a telephone survey of 612 adult women between June17 and June 19, 2000. They found that 87 percent of American women in the age range of eighteen to sixty-four had been harassed by a male stranger during their life, and over one-half of them experienced "extreme" harassment, including being touched, grabbed, rubbed, brushed, or followed. Every ninety-eight seconds an American is sexually assaulted, and every eight minutes that victim is a child; meanwhile only six out of every thousand perpetrators will end up in prison. A 2014 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 19 percent of women in the United States have been raped at least once in their lives. That evening I curled up next to Jake, with a strong feeling that without him, I would most likely have been another number on one of these surveys. Even though I was married, I was too often living alone and, thus, most likely to be a victim of aggression. I decided that learning self-defense was the first step to take control of my environment. Allan had mentioned his desire to start training in karate when he returned home, and I thought it might be a challenging and fun activity to do together. After researching the Houston area for different martial art clubs, I stumbled on to an organization called American Society of Karate, which also taught in