Jackie
Jackie came to us from a shelter in Salinas on Thanksgiving weekend, 2009. She was 11 years old and had a three-inch-long pendulous tumor under her tail. An 11-year-old dog with an unsightly tumor sounded right up our alley, so sure enough, she landed at our house. Before the tumor could be removed and much needed dental extractions could be performed, Jackie also needed to recover from pneumonia! Jackie was a lovely dog, very sweet and gentle, and with the softest coat ever! Anyone who ever petted her remarked on how soft she was. Jackie immediately got along perfectly with our other senior dogs, Kirby and Gus. In June, 2010, Jackie had to have one of her eyes removed because of painful glaucoma. She recovered from the surgery and did fine with just one eye. Jackie attended Spring Fling, 2010, the 2010 Fourth of July Waddle in Novato, where she stood in for Queen Alice, who was unable to be there, and went camping at Lake Del Valle the week after the Waddle with some of the other GGBR members and dogs. When Gus and Kirby died in June and August, 2010, respectively, Jackie easily accepted newcomers, 7-year-old Billy in August and 10-year-old Riley in October. Jackie underwent acupuncture and prolotherapy treatment in August and September to try to slow down the progression of lameness due to arthritis. Jackie died suddenly of bloat and torsion on March 27, 2011. Jackie was laid to rest with our other departed dogs in our little cemetery in Mt Aukum. We miss our soft, sweet girl. Mark and Fran Madden, Billy and Riley. March 27, 2011.

Jerry
"Hellooo, Jerry". Jerry, whose shelter name was Frank, came from the Sacramento County shelter in March, 2016. He was another of our “foster failures”. The shelter guessed his age at “6”, but from the looks of him, he could have been older. His coat was a beautiful and somewhat unusual color of red-brown, almost liver, with white and lots of brown freckles. He was quite thin, his face was already grey and showed hints of black markings that had faded to brown. He had a big chunk missing from his left ear and both ears were thickened and showed signs of having had hematomas, at one time. As I put Jerry into the car to drive him home, I looked at his left ear with the missing piece and said, “I sure hope you’re not a scrapper!” Jerry wasn’t a scrapper, although he was set in his ways and let other dogs know, if he wanted his space. He was generally good natured. At the time of Jerry’s arrival, we had bassets, Billy and Bob, both of whom were getting on in years. For some reason, Jerry never wanted Billy near his bed, but he tolerated Bob. Our black cat, Earl loved Jerry. Jerry was friendly and playful with people, but in all the years we had him, I never saw him play with another dog. After Billy and Bob passed away, we adopted Chuck, the bassador, in March 2018. Jerry and Chuck shared the responsibility of racing across the lawn to bark at the neighbor on his quad vehicle, or at the neighbor’s chocolate Lab, through the fence. Jerry was a watch dog and took his job seriously. He would sit at the top of the slope where he could watch the neighbor’s yard and bark idly, in their direction, off and on, all day. Jerry went tent camping with me only once. He was too much of a watch dog to be very welcome in a public campground. He was a funny old fellow with a mind of his own. Jerry outlived Chuck and was with us to welcome 14-year-old Skippy in July 2021. Jerry left us on March 12, 2022. Fran and Mark Madden, and Skippy