Our Jake
Jake’s Tale
This web site is dedicated to Jake who showed us how pets are more than “pets”, they’re family.
Jake was Carlson Pet Product’s model and mascot since the day the company was founded up until June 2008. Carlson is my family’s business and when it came time to photograph our gates, Jake was the natural and perfect choice for a model. He always had a smile on his face and was always at ease in front of the camera.
Jake even discovered our latest talent for Carlson, our cat model who now goes by the name of Sunny. Jake was always sniffing around and barking at something under the porch. He was barking at Sunny, a stray, and one day she came out to meet him. We adopted Sunny into our family and it’s our theory she thought Jake was her mom because she would follow him everywhere. They would even go for walks together. Jake and Sunny were a perfect pair, which made his death as hard on her as it was on the rest of us.
For about a month before he died Jake wasn’t acting like himself. He didn’t wag his tail very much, had no energy and didn’t greet us in the morning like he usually did. We took him to the vet countless times. The doctors didn’t think it was anything serious, but the prescribed medicine wasn’t working and we could see that he was in pain. Finally, a scan showed that it was cancer. We told the doctors we would do anything, but it was too late.
For nine years Jake was a tremendous companion to his human “parents” and three “siblings” and I find this harder to write than I anticipated. It’s difficult to accept the reality that Jake is not here.
Pets become members of our family and the laughter, joy, comfort and unconditional love they bring us are blessings that should never be taken for granted. I’m thankful for Jake’s life and hope that you experience the joy of having a pet too.
- Shannon Flannery
- Marketing Manager
- Carlson Pet Products