My husband and I were invited to a friend's wedding in Massachusetts and Jake was invited to come along! Not only were they prepared for the noisy, boisterous ways of the cattle dog but they were ready to spoil Jake rotten with a guest doggy bed of his very own. My friend has her own zoo on her farm, which includes 30 horses, 2 cows, random barn cats, a small donkey and, luckily for Jake, a female cattle dog named Zoe and a male Australian Shepherd named Harley. Poor Jake had been subjected to a 16-hour car ride up to New England but felt the ride was worth it once he met his new friends. Zoe, in typical alpha female cattle dog fashion, couldn't contain herself from barking and barking. Jake and Harley were pouncing around and wrestling in no time with Zoe darting in to take a few nips to keep her status as Queen Bee. 
The following morning the donkey Poncho, fulfilling his role as farm rooster, began braying at the first crack of light. Jake went crazy, having not ever heard a donkey, much less that not-of-this-earth noise that prefaced the normal hee-haw. Not long after getting up we took Jake down to the donkey's pen to meet Poncho. Jake gave the donkey a lick on his nose in his usual fashion.
We explored the rest of the farm, meeting all the horses and checking out the brand new barn and covered riding ring. Jake went nose to nose with a few of the equine boarders and even made a foray into one of the corrals to take lots of zooming laps around one of the occupants. We were dying to introduce Jake to the Beltie cows and their furry ears. Jake licked a cow nose and then ran off into the field to roll in something disgusting. A hose bath took care of the offending odor in question. After all the animal introductions, Jake and Harley went back to wrestling in the front yard grass. Jake pounced on Harley and walked around on his back legs swatting at Harley like some tiny black and white speckled bear. Harley would nibble on Jake's chunky little legs, "corn-cobbing" them as we call it. Zoe would insert a bark here and there just for show.
Once inside the house Jake began to steal everyone's socks, as is his routine at home. The sock can be dirty or clean, makes no difference to Jake. His particular favorite was a striped sock of my friend's. Jake doesn't chew on socks. Rather, his joy is in the stealing and then the pleasure of having you notice the sock in his mouth. Charlotte, a teeny weeny house kitten, took great interest in whatever was hanging from Jake's mouth. Charlotte stood on her back legs with her little paws on each side of Jake's wide nose and would bite the vulnerable nose until Jake dropped his prize sock. She would steal the sock from him with her needle claws and then go streaking through the house with Jake chasing after her. Great games of hide and seek were established from day one. Jake couldn't have been happier to finally have a cat that would play with him. And, Charlotte, well, we know she's not scared of anything!
The sad day finally came when we had to pack Jake, his backpack of toys, and all of our luggage back in the rental car. The bride and groom had already left for their honeymoon and we spent an extra night at their house, keeping their animals company. Zoe and Harley watched quietly as we put everything in the car. Lots of kisses and wiggling came our way when we said goodbye. We slipped Jake into his seatbelt harness and into the back seat. He stretched up all tall as he could and still be seated to look sadly over the door at his new friends. We had a really depressed dog on the way home. It's so wonderful to see our puppy having a great time but it's so hard to take him away from it, too! Thank goodness, agility class is tomorrow night and will give Jake a little boost.
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