Luke Ryan and Jany ("Yawn-ee") have been best friends for well over 7 years now. Luke grew up with dogs and always wanted one of his own, but for many years he didn't have the time and money to responsibly take care of a dog. Finally, when he hit that point in Tampa, Florida, he went down to the shelter a few days in a row. Eventually, he found a little brown, black and white mutt and knew they would go on a lot of adventures together.

The name "Jany" comes from Luke's military days. Luke was a Soldier of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and he served four combat tours to Afghanistan, leaving as a team leader at the rank of sergeant. On his last deployment, he was working with a military working dog named Jany. Luke was not his handler, in fact, he didn't get to interact very much with Jany at all during those days. Jany's handler, SGT Josh Hargis, and Luke worked together a decent amount over that deployment. On one mission, Jany went to engage the enemy and was killed in the process. An explosion meant for four Americans on the ground, Luke included, went off and killed Jany instead. This sacrifice from an individual that Luke didn't know very well at the time had a pretty significant impact on him.

Fast forward almost five years, and Luke and the Jany from Tampa met in a shelter. Luke named him Jany to honor the military working dog who gave his life for him and his friends. Jany isn't nearly as courageous and fierce as the Ranger Jany, but not a day goes by that Luke doesn't look at him and think of both Ranger Jany and his handler Josh, who saved his life.

Tampa Jany is a mutt, and the shelter said they found him on the street when he was barely old enough to be away from his mother. Luke has no idea what he was exposed to, but he's scared easily and has issues with his food. Still, when Luke is around he finds some courage which Luke will tell you softens his heart every time.

Since the early days, Jany and Luke have been on many adventures. Jany has lived for at least a year in Florida, New York, Texas, and Utah each. He LOVES to run fast and in straight lines (while he understands fetch, he gets bored of it fast), to play keepaway with a toy, and he's extremely, extremely smart. While perhaps too anxious to do stressful dog jobs professionally, a couple dog trainers have admired how fast he picks up on various skills. He has been with Luke when he was single, through when Luke married his wife, Kenna who loved Jany dearly from day one. 

Luke is no professional dog trainer, but he takes the relationship between him and Jany very seriously. They play multiple times every day, take walks all the time, and he'll go the extra mile to get Jany to eat when he won't. For example, if fireworks are going off, Jany won't eat — sometimes for a whole 24 hours. Since that's obviously unacceptable (but you can't force a dog to eat), Luke used to create concoctions that Jany would find enticing enough to find some bravery: shredded cheese, hot water, a bit of wet food, rosemary, all on top of his dry food. Now, Luke just puts YummyRade on Jany's dry food and it achieves the same effect: Jany licks the bowl clean. Selfishly, Luke is just glad to have that option over the insanely complicated recipe he was using before.

Despite his troubled puppyhood, Jany is one of the easiest dogs to have. All of his issues are internalized, which does pull at Luke's heartstrings, but he appreciates how Jany doesn't cause trouble for anyone — everyone loves Jany. He has no interest in bothering the family cats, he has never swallowed a small toy or anything else, he doesn't chew anything he shouldn't, and he doesn't have accidents in the house or other places (not since once or twice when he was brand new to the house). If Luke falls short of training Jany exactly perfectly, Jany always seems to meet him in the middle and understand what he's getting at. He loves to run and play, but he also loves to cuddle and sleep — he sleeps in like a teenager! If you don't bother him, he'll just keep sleeping and sleeping until about 10 or 11am. He seems to have a knack for knowing when he parents want personal space and when they want mega-cuddles.

Luke and Kenna hope to have many more happy years with Jany, but they are just so grateful for every day they've had with him so far.

Luke is in charge of social media for DoggyRade Unleashed, alongside Destinie Bruno, so if you see Jany on our pages, drop a comment and say hello! Jany probably won't read it, but Luke will!