Our Dogs

For me dogs have been a top priority to have in family. Matt never had one as personal pet but only as a working animal. Ever since he married me he learned very quickly I can't go through life without a dog. So here is our history of family dogs. It began with........

Kasey

Matt had just moved to Baker City, and after a month of being unemployed and lonely I was starting to get a little depressed. I talked to Matt about getting a dog and he agreed that it was time. We started looking and were unlucky a few times, then one weekend we were at an auction in Ontario. I didn't want to go cause it was a Matt thing, but I decided to tag along. While there I came across a man holding a puppy. I approached him and started commenting on how cute a puppy he had. Then all the sudden out of the blue the man asked me, "Do you want her?" I couldn't believe it. My wish had come true. Of course I said yes and there began our canine family. She was so shy at first, but after about a week she made herself right at home and started to bloom. Of course like any other puppy she had her naughty moments but there were characteristics that I loved about her.She absolutely loved pillows. When she was a baby she would push me off of my pillow and sleep right at the top of my head. Eventually she moved in between Matt and I and then her main place she started sleeping at for all time was right by side under the covers. She always kept me warm. She was a very bright dog but she was also extremely stubborn. So stubborn she could out smart anybody. When we moved into our house we blockaded areas of our backyard to start our grass, and no matter what we did she would always find a way to get on the other side. She was also an escape artist. Whenever we would be out of town we would always get a call from our neighbor saying they found our dog. Matt didn't like her very much cause she would never listen to him. Whenever she would get the chance outside she would take off and go off exploring and would never come when called. I loved her very dearly, and I almost got her to come when called. Sadly, once she was starting to show potential of obeying commands she was taken away from us. We were on vacation in AZ and we left her Vale with Matt's parents and we got a call saying she was killed by a car. I was devastated but I knew she was in better place. Somewhere she could explore all she wanted and not get into any trouble or be in any danger. I will always miss my Kasey Kins.

Of course when you have a canine family the dogs should have a brother or sister to play with. So to make Matt and Kasey we started looking for another dog. More specifically a German shepherd. Matt's favorite breed. Of course we started searching but not too much. Then one week we were in Portland visiting a friend and we saw an ad for German shepherd puppies that wasn't too far away. Surprisingly there were 8 left, all girls, so we took the chance. And that is when we added

KIA

We fell in love with her immediately. Especially her big ears, they were so cute. KIA and Kasey became sisters right away. There was no shyness at all with KIA. She only was timid around new people, but once she got to know you she fell in love with you. We also knew that we would have the greatest potential when it came to training. She learned so fast and the best way she learned was thru food. This dog was such a barracuda when it came to food. Whenever I would cook in the kitchen she would sit right behind me and be on the hunt for anything that fell to the ground. Matt deeply loved KIA. They had a bond so tight you could automatically see she was a daddy's girl. KIA and Kasey also had a special bond. When Kasey died KIA didn't know what do. KIA would follow Kasey anywhere and do everything with her. But to our surprise we never thought KIA would join Kasey in heaven just 5 months later. We lost KIA the same way as Kasey. We were so upset you can't even imagine. We miss her everyday and realize how lucky we were to have her. We definitely miss her barracuda ways cause it made us laugh everyday.

When Kasey died and KIA was left alone, we knew she would need a companion cause she would not handle being by herself, so again we searched for another dog. About a month of searching we found our next family member at a shelter in Fruitland Idaho. She was the only mellow dog. Her name is Sadie.
It took awhile for KIA to get use to Sadie cause she had never been around anything so small. Sadie is a long hair chihuahua and when we adopted her immediately she was full of energy and ready to be part of our family. Like KIA we fell in love with her immediately and to our greatest surprise she learned very quickly what kind of behavior we expect in our family. Sadie and KIA had they sister moments together of playing and sharing love. They even got shaved together. Sadie was okay with haircut but KIA was too embarrassed. When KIA died Sadie had to get use to being alone cause we were too heartbroken to look for another German shepherd. Sadie still misses KIA like we do and she did accept the fact she would be the main dog for awhile. We love Sadie so much we hope we don't loose her so soon. She has scared us sometimes where she has escaped from the backyard and done some exploring, but it makes us happy to realize she knows where home is and when we call her she comes right back to us unharmed. Sadie started to really enjoy being the only dog, but to make Matt happy we found another German shepherd to add to our family. This one will never replace KIA but hopefully he will become the dog KIA was suppose to be. We found him in Yakima Washington. Our newest member is called Zander

Zander is only 5 months old and is a complete puppy. Sadie wasn't so excited, and wasn't sure how to handle his energy, but now they are brother and sister who play all the time. Zander can get rough sometimes and forget how little she is but she knows how to remind him. Zander's first night with us is something I will never forget. Being a puppy in a new place he was completely restless. He was pacing the house everywhere and would not calm down and go to sleep. I figured if he was alone with me he would calm down so I took him to the bedroom upstairs to be alone with him. It didn't work. So I grabbed a sleeping bag and pillow and went outside with him. it wasn't until 3 am he finally calmed down and layed right beside me and fell asleep. So yes, I slept outside on my back porch with the new puppy. It's a good thing I can sleep anywhere. I barely got any sleep but to my comfort every night since Zander calms down at night and goes to bed inside the house. We still have much to teach him but we know he will eventually learn.

That is our family and hopefully we can keep it this way for a much longer time than the last two.