baby jack's story

three years ago, baby jack was born. he was an orphan and was bottle fed and hand raised. his best friends were kissy and annie who were the same age as he. the place that he was born, bred rottweilers and taught sheep herding classes to the public. baby jack and his friends joined the flock for the weekly lessons. when they were almost a year old, the woman died. all of the dogs and all of the farm animals needed places to go. some were euthanized, some were sent out to rescues and some we are not sure of where they went. two dogs, jesse and jazz came here, jess died of cancer within a few months and jazz is still with us. nine runner ducks came to saints and found a permanent home. some of the sheep, baby jack, kissy, annie , freckles and aunty mary came here too. old freckles and aunty mary went to a great place to retire in quiet dignity. and the little ones stayed here. there were a couple of homes available to them in the last couple of years, but always, something held me back. part of it was a lack of faith that they would be safe forever and part of it was the absolute gift that they brought to all of us here. baby jack was the one who trusted us the most and because of his trust we learned the most about them all. sheep are incredibly soft and gentle creatures. they are curious, and friendly, and playful and they love food. they like to hang out with humans and they figured out pretty quick that gideon was the king of the world. whenever they were afraid or unsure, they ran and stood underneath gideon, peering out between his legs. he was the biggest thing in their pasture and therefore he must be the most powerful. i used to go and sit in the buttercup field and eat my dinner with them. they would stay close to me and i would feed them the vegies from my sub. baby jack always came first, he was the bravest and the most trusting. he would follow anyone around. one day i found them out of their field and following frodo down our driveway. i am not sure where they were going, but since frodo was leading, they were ready to follow. carl has somewhat stolen them away from us since he came. he is their guardian now and he watches them like a hawk. i will never forget the day that baby jack knocked the gate over on top of himself and he just knew he was in trouble with carl for putting himself at risk. baby jack became our barn buddy, keeping mo and i company while we cleaned out the barn. he would let us rub him and i could even kiss that innocent face. i took a huge amount of pride in the fact that kissy, annie and baby jack would forever have the very best of life for sheep. they had a very comfortable home, they had friends to play with and bigger animals to make them feel safe. they had humans who catered to every whim and just loved to be near them. they had everything they ever needed or wanted and all of it was given for free. never would they face the auction, never would they be de-valued, never would they be exploited to serve any other purpose than their very own.

baby jack not only shared himself with us, but he taught us how difficult is the life of a regular sheep. they are a commodity and their only value is in the price of what their bodies can produce. most of all they taught us that no species is better, or more notable, or is more special than any other. if we take the time to know them, and value them, and really care for them, they all will teach us something new.

i never thought that we would lose any of these three so early into their lives. maybe i could never let them go because somehow, someday, i knew that one of them would need us some more. tomorrow baby jack, mo and i will hold you as you pass from this life to the next. i don't know what comes after but if there is ever a chance for you to come back again and try some more of this world, please say no. baby jack, when you leave us tomorrow, do not come back again. the real world is not like we are here. stay where you go and wait for us, someday we will find you.