It was a sad weekend for country singer Jake Owen after the beloved country star was forced to say goodbye to his adorable German Shepherd, Slash. On Saturday night, July 10th, the singer paid tribute to his four-legged best friend on social media through an Instagram post. The singer stated "I lost one of my best friends last night unexpectedly. The drs said his stomach had 'flipped' and even with emergency surgery, it wasn't enough to save him."
According to medical experts, a stomach flip is known as a bloat, or as a Gastric Dilation Volvulus known as GDV. Unfortunately, this is a life-threatening condition that commonly occurs in large breed dogs with a deep chest such as these German Shepherds.
This occurs after a dog's stomach has expanded due to food, fluid, or gas and which causes the organ to twist and rotate. The songwriter continued, "Slash was my youngest German Shepherd and the sweetest most loving dog I've ever had. He was more like a human than a dog. While my other pups would run free across the farm, Slash just wanted to be by my side."
This isn't the first time that the country singer speaks about his dog on social media. Back in 2017, he announced that he had adopted a German Shepherd puppy, Axel, who joined his family alongside a 6-year-old bulldog, Merle. Admitting that it was very hard to lose a dog and it was difficult for him to post the news, the Florida native told his fans, "Losing a dog is like losing a family member. It was hard for me to even put this post together and share. go love your family. Go love on your dogs. See ya up there Slashy. Love ya buddy."
The 39-year-old country singer was originally signed to RCA Nashville back in 2016, where he released his tribute album "Startin' with Me." He later released three singles in which they all reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart including, "Yee Haw, " "Startin' with Me," and "Something About a Woman." This year he is set to make a one-night-only benefit show, Jake Owens & Friends: A Concert Made For You, which will be held on July 15th at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium and will benefit the CMA foundation's effort to support music education programs around the US.
