Kish

Our family enjoyed the company of a female German Shepherd named Kish for the last 10 years and 11months. Tuesday morning, November 25, 2008 she made her last trip to the vet...I can't imagine how hard it was for Delbert to do that...he is SUCH a good guy.

We had had a German Shepherd, Sarge, when we first got married, but when we moved to this house, we didn't have a fenced in yard so Sarge stayed with my in-laws...he died shortly after my father-in-law passed away. We had a smaller dog, Kismet, that did make the move with us, but when Carly was old enough to get around on her own, she was afraid of him, so when he died we didn't get another pet...then came Christmastime 1997. We were celebrating the holiday with Delbert's family, and his nephew suggested that since he needed to find a home for his German Shepherd, and Delbert LOVED German Shepherds, we should take his dog home with us. Delbert said, "No.", but somehow by the end of the afternoon, we were loading up that 75 pound dawg to bring to Post with us.

MERCY! I had no idea what we had signed up for. She HAD TO BE to BEST dog in the world...and she had so many of our family's characteristics: she had my allergies, she was super protective like Delbert, she was moody like Lindsey (okay, so maybe like me too), and I forget what she did like Carly, but I know there was something. She was meant for our family...she was a perfect fit.

When Delbert was gone overnight, she wouldn't eat...she was his dawg.

She kept us so safe...friends, family and letter carriers were NOT allowed on the front porch without an introduction. Did I mention she was a house-dawg? That was my idea (Delbert didn't much like it, but he gave in...I'm not sure why.)...it seemed silly to have a pet that stayed outside, when none of us were ever outside for very long...ESPECIALLY a German Shepherd because they thrive on human interaction. So our house has been hairy, and crowded (her favorite place to walk...or stop...was right in front of you. The trainer said that was her way of showing us who was the big dog)...and very safe for almost 11 years.

I was a little concerned when the grandbabies came along. She had never been around babies, and I wasn't sure how she'd react...BEST DOG EVER. For the better part of the last 8 years, she was crawled on, crawled under, ridden, pulled on, laid on, licked in the face (yes, TO her not BY her), punched, poked and prodded, and not one time did she ever snap, bark or scare those babies (I can't say the same for the humans of the house)...not even when she developed hip dysplasia and arthritis and hurt so badly did she take it out on us or them.

She was a big dawg (@ 85 pounds I think the last time I took her to the vet). We knew from the get-go that the life expectancy for big dogs was "only" about 10 years. Her age started showing @ 3-4 years ago I guess (Her aging snuck up on me kind of like mine has.), and for the last year we've expected every day might be her last, but Monday afternoon Delbert found her under the house...that was new, and it caught me by surprise. She had broken the cover off the crawl-space and gotten under there. When he got her out, she followed him around while he worked in the back yard, and got where she couldn't pick up her back end at all...that broke his heart. He called me at work to tell me what had happened, and that he was taking her to the vet that afternoon, but he couldn't get there before they closed, so I got to say, "Goodbye" before she left us. I didn't even bother to put on makeup Tuesday morning...I cried all the way to work, and half the morning.

On one hand it seems silly for me to be as torn up as I am about this...she was "just a dawg", but in so many ways, she was SO much more:

She always acted like she liked me no matter how I acted.

She was always glad to see me...even when I ignored her.

She always had time for me even though I didn't make time for her.

She never got mad at me.

She never got impatient with me.

She showed me absolute and unconditional love.

She was always there to let me cry on her shoulder...and now she's not.

I know she's gone, but I still hear her (that's a little scary when I know I'm the only one here)...walking over the squeaking boards in the house, or the noise that her ears made when she shook her head, or her licking her big dinosaur bone. I still expect to see her lying in the middle of the living room floor or in the corner of the bedroom. I still look to make sure I don't step on her when I walk through a dark room...but she's gone...and she won't come back...and I miss her more than I ever imagined I could...and it seems SO silly...she was just a dawg. Ecc 3:1-8