“Yoga is about creating healing energy… Dr. Jake was the master.”

During the first four years after the opening of DOWNdog yoga studio in 2017, Dr. Jake was co-instructor with myself. He was four years old but had already mastered the most important pose in yoga: savasana. Subsequently, he and I became the co-administrators for three years from 2021 to 2024.

I don’t think I would have had the courage or the oomph to start the studio if it hadn’t been for Dr. Jake, a beautiful Australian Shepherd. One lady I met on our many walks, confided,”Your dog is the most beautiful dog I have ever met.” I always believed this to be true. He had such a big heart and sensitive spirit. He was beautiful inside and out! And what a smart dog he was! He had you pegged from the moment you walked in the studio. One student told me the following story: “I wasn’t feeling well that day. My arm was giving me lots of pain. When I came into the room, Dr. Jake came and sat on my mat and stayed there. He knew!”

Some of you may remember the classes when I taught and students would enter the studio and be tacitly greeted by my companion who remained quietly lying at my side. Sometimes, during the practice, he would get up and share someone’s mat. Everyone was more than happy to share. Students were honoured to have been chosen. His beautiful energy was so healing.

When I was teaching yoga with Jake, I sent out weekly emails in which I shared some Dr. Jake wisdom. He was my mentor you see. I would ask him…”Ok Jake! What bit of wisdom should I share with the students this week?” Invariably, he would guide me, inspire me. Students looked forward to his wisdom. There was no wiser dog.

When I look back on the very special bond we shared, I miss him so much. I sometimes feel his very real presence, or hear a bark, a quiet woof. (Once in the middle of the night, he came back to me as real as in dear life. There was no difference. It was as if he were alive again. I was awake in the night and there he was, coming back from his noon time walk, at the patio door, running up the steps and saying,”Hey, where’s my lunch? I’m hungry!”)

I sometimes wonder why it had to happen. Why so young? Why so suddenly? There are no answers to these questions. We all have questions that will never be answered.

My only consolation is that Jake will not have to move into old age with all its challenges. I often talk to him and tell him how I miss him. I ask him how he is doing. He reassures me that he is watching over me.

His spirit will always be with me. This I know.

He will be remembered by so many for his big heart. He was a beautiful, kind, and sensitive soul.

I would like to thank everyone who shared my loss. Please know that your words of condolence meant so much.

Jocelyne