Some may look at Jack and see a scary, mean, dangerous dog however when you meet him, he
is the exact opposite. As soon as we walked through the first door of the shelter, I could hear
the pitter-patter of his excited paws on the hard floor on the other side of the door. When we
entered the main area of the shelter, we were immediately greeted with kisses and loves from
a very curious pup.
Jack came to the shelter through the city shelter, B & R Bunkhouse, as a stray. He was then
transferred to Second Chance Animal Shelter which is located at the Jamesville Correctional
Facility and functions as a work-study for the inmates. After several months at the shelter, Jack
ended up getting adopted by Josh who was a veteran. Although Jack was not a registered
service animal, Josh came to the shelter specifically looking for a dog to help him with his
traumas from his time in service. Jack and Josh spent all their time together and especially
loved their rides in the truck together. He is a very lovable and loyal dog who would make any
home complete. After about two years together, Josh, unfortunately, passed away after a
terrible motorcycle accident leaving Jack without a human. Second Chance thankfully took him
back in and immediately started to try to find him another home. “We really would love to
honor Josh’s legacy and see him go [to a veteran].”
Due to the pandemic, the shelter is operating as a foster-only shelter, so they didn’t have
anyone available to take care of Jack. In order to participate in the work-study program, people
must be sentenced and serving time, but right now, due to COVID, there are not enough people
who have been sentenced at the facility to run the shelter. Jack had been spending his days as
the only dog on-site at the shelter while volunteers took turns coming to visit and take care of
him. “He was much more well-adjusted than he was when we had him in the beginning, so Josh
did a good job with him.” The shelter really wanted to find Jack another veteran family in need
of a loyal, lovable dog so that Jack could continue his work helping veterans. The shelter
reached out to several different local veteran organizations including, Clear Path for Veterans
and the Student Veteran’s Organization at Syracuse University. It took some time and patience,
but Jack has now finally found his new home. He was recently adopted by a Marine family who
found him on social media. The family had recently lost their previous pup to cancer and
decided that the house was too quiet. They went and met about eight other dogs, but Jack was
the first and they couldn’t deny the connection they had with Jack. Not only does he get to
continue his important mission of helping veterans, but now they can all heal from their losses
together.
If you would like to donate to the shelter or volunteer your time, please visit
www.jamesvillesecondchance.com for more information. They are always looking for
volunteers to help at fundraising events and are especially looking for people who would be
interested in fostering right now.
