Question: What makes a family?
Answer: Everything.
“I love dogs, hiking, and out door sports,” said Emily, “so I chose a rescue dog, for protection while jogging on hiking
trails.
At the animal shelter, I was bitten by the ‘puppy bug’ when I spotted Kahuna and his five eight-week-old, mixed Labrador, litter mates. They all had those irresistible-puppy-eyes, were soft, small, cuddly and adorable. I chose, Kahuna because he showed the greatest interest in me.
When my friends saw the size of his paws they rightly predicted that he was going to be HUGE. He needed a name to honor and fit his eventual adult
size. I love Hawaii and the puppy, so he was dubbed, “The Big Kahuna”. My friends were right! He grew into 100 pounds, with a beautiful mellow-relaxed manner. Kahuna is a very Zen-like-dog, calming and peaceful.
Kahuna was a year old when ‘we’ met Stefan. Stefan had been back-packing in Europe and on his return home he announced to his mother that his bucket list now had two things in it; a girlfriend and a dog. Well, a short time later, Kahuna and I met
Stefan and we all fell in love.
Kahuna has an obsession with rocks. On every trip to the beach he ‘hunts’ out the purr-fect rock, picks it up, rolls it around the beach, plunks it in the water, dips his head under the water to retrieve it, and then pushes the stone around the beach again. People stop and watch his great joy over a ‘simple-free rock’.
Kahuna is a spiritually-sensitive dog, with separation anxiety. With Stefan’s and my work hours
it was not fair to leave the dog alone. So we made the decision to add onto our family. Enter the dragon.....errrr Cedar.
We found an eight-week-old Shepherd-Husky cross puppy at an animal shelter. He was as wild as a feral raccoon and a total terror! I don’t know if he was starved or possessed, but the minute we put him in the car he nose dived into both our coffee mugs...and drank! Then he turned to ‘investigate’ everything else into a chaotic
state. What had we done to us and our Zen dog’s lives?
It was a small puppy for about five minutes. Once we began feeding him, what ever his growing size demanded, he grew and grew. He was malnourished, not just a coffee junkie, who now weighs 85 pounds.
We wanted to honor the pup with a West Coast or Native American name. The strength and height of the tall Cedar tree fit, so he was named Cedar. As wild as he is, he’s really an
80 pound baby who loves cuddling in Stefan’s lap. As a puppy he jumped on top of Kahuna’s head and wrestled with him on his vantage point.
Both dogs are gentle giants, and Kahuna is so relaxed that he still lies there while Cedar playfully dances around him. Cedar generously shares whatever toy he has with Kahuna to play with. Oddly enough, Kahuna’s ‘magnificent obsession’ with rocks has made Cedar more interested in rocks.
Expanding
our family by one little human not only was overwhelming for Stefan and me, but Thea’s arrival totally confused the dogs. They were not sure about the screaming human.
As a mother, it is heart warming to see the dogs’ relationship evolve with Thea as they adopted her into their pack. Actually having a baby in the house is a paws-itive benefit the dogs! They hover below her high chair and she enjoys feeding them as much as they love her
tidbits.
I am involved with a group of woman with dogs and babies who enjoy hiking. Motivated to get out and socialize, myself, Thea and the dogs means more walks and exercise than normal for all of us.
The dogs are also a great source of entertainment for Thea. Cedar dances within Thea’s vision, with a dog-toy hanging out of his mouth. You can tell he knows he is “baby sitting” and entertaining her - a job he takes
seriously.
The dogs are patient, and never snap, when Thea sticks a finger up their nose or pulls their fur. If she falls over and cries Cedar comes over and sees why she is upset. He then gently gives her a little reassuring lick. His level of compassion is touching. I am thankful to have such an amazing family!”
