The Jake Walk Blues

"I can't eat, I can't talk. Been drinkin' mean Jake, Lord. Now I can't walk." - The Jake Walk Blues, 1930

Jake is our Rat Terrier. Like Coco, he was a rescue. In this case, he had been abused, ran off and was hit by a car, and was found by a friend of a friend who works at a vet. They were looking desperately for a new home for him but would soon be faced with putting him down. I liked Jake as soon as I met him. He's got those upright ears that seem to express more than any eyes can, and a great disposition. His leg was banged up badly from the car. His hip was shattered, and he had a terrible limp. He needed surgery.

Back in grandpa's day, during prohibition, there were many ways for obtaining alcohol illicitly. People tried everything: bathtub gin, Sterno, shoe polish. One favorite was a concoction called "Jamaican Ginger Extract". Nicknamed "Jake", this stuff was very high in alcohol, and sold legally as a tonic. When the government started cracking down on tonics and medicines that were high in alcohol, Jake was reformulated to get by the new rules.

Only problem was, the new secret ingredient was a plasticizer called triorthocresylphosphate, or TOCP. This was pretty bad stuff, a potent neurotoxin that left many, many people crippled. It affected mostly the legs, and often it's victims would develop a lopsided gait that pegged them as Jake drinkers. This special walk became known as the "Jake Walk", and the victims were said to have the "Jake Leg". Many blues songs were written about this condition. Since it was mostly lower-income people affected, this situation was largely ignored at the time.

After considering my new dog's potential candidates for a name (Lucky?), I finally settled on the one that seemed to fit both his condition and my love for old blues. So he became Jake.