Published: March 30, 2026
Meet Jack!
In this section of the blog I plan to share adventures and musings from Jack's day to day life as a lazy and loved house dog to a busy northern Virginia family.
Jack, also known affectionately as “Jackie Jack, Jackie, and Jack Jack,” is an 11-year-old Australian shepherd and (we are pretty sure) golden retriever mix. His mom (the shepherd) was a pregnant foster. We adopted Jack in September of 2014 when he was about 12 weeks old.
Here's his first home photo for the puppy tax:
A fun fact about Jack is that, for a working breed mix, he's rather lazy! His favorite activities are snacking and taking naps (honestly, same). But for all his sleeping he loves to chase and destroy stuffed squeaky toys, run after a soccer ball in the backyard, and go for long hikes! He doesn't hike as long as he used to because of his arthritis, but he can still go a couple of miles before getting too tired. His last long hike was on our traditional first day hike on January first of this year. If you aren't familiar, "First Day Hikes" is a nationwide event that takes place on New Years Day in state parks across the nation. Our family has participated for over a decade, and we look forward to planning every year! We usually sign up for guided group hikes in our local Virgina state parks, but since we wanted to bring Jack this year we opted to hike on our own in New River Gorge National Park! It was breathtaking in the winter, especially the silence of the woods, but I imagine fall would be a site to behold as well. Highly recommended for a hike!
Here's old man Jack having a blast in the West Virginia snow:
I know what you're thinking, his feet are probably freezing! Sadly, Jack won't wear dog booties. We've tried. But, he thankfully wore a coat and seemed to fair just fine for the hour we were outside. Which we were grateful for because not only did it kept him warm, it also kept a ton of mud off of his belly,and made cleaning him up after the hike a lot easier! He definitely still needed quick a bath afterward, but having the coat saved our car for sure. But, as my granpa always said, “dirt don't hurt,” and he happily hiked and sniffed as many trees as he could get to, greeted (and was petted) by almost every human we encountered, and even met some other pup friends on the trail. He also took what I'm sure was one of the best naps of his life afterwards too!
Along with being the perfect lazy house dog, Jack has one of the sweetest and attentive dispositions of any dog I've ever had the pleasure to care for. If anybody is upset, Jack is there leaning on them for comfort. He has never met a stranger, animal or human, and he is always happy to be wherever people are. I've said for years that I'm sure he would have made an excellent trained therapy dog due to these personality traits.
But at the end of the day, Jack is our happy hair dispenser on legs (seriously, he sheds SO much hair), and we couldn't imagine life without him snoring somewhere nearby.
A final photo for the tax. One of his many daily snore fests:
I hope you enjoyed meeting Jackie Jack, and come back to check out more of his adventures.
Running on caffeine and dreams,
Your Millennial Adapting, B