RIP KOTA! 

Just over a week ago our lives were forever rocked by the death of our beloved dog. It would have been 3 years in October, when we brought Kota home. It had taken MONTHS to talk my husband into letting the kids & me to get a dog, so it was months of looking at different sites to find just the right puppy.  We weighed the good & bad, over & over. We knew getting a dog wasn't going to be easy. Of course we asked friends if any of them would be willing to help watch a dog for us, when we needed to leave town. We had many that said, yes, but in the end we ended up with only one who we could count on.
My son new what he wanted from the first day he saw a picture of Toy Australian Shepherd puppies. There was one puppy, with just his nose sticking out, who just happened to stick out from the rest. "MOM, THAT IS THE PUPPY I WANT!", are words that will forever ring in my head. My husband went on a trip & said if they are still there, when he gets home, he will think about it. Well, he came home & all the puppies had been sold. We went back to looking for just the right puppy. Months went by & then a picture of a puppy came up for sale. The lady & I messaged back & forth for a few weeks. My husband & I went to a concert & met up with the family to see the dog. She gave him to me to hold & I was in love. He snuggled up into my neck & I knew then this was our puppy. I asked the family where they got him from & the lady started to tell me where. Well, come to find out that the little guy I was holding was the same puppy with just his nose sticking out from under the other puppies. He was meant to be part of our family all along, but another family had to have the chance to love him first.  One of the main reasons we got him was for Devin, to help Devin with his anxiety. Having Kota helped him with that & so much more. Kota helped us all, in many ways & we thank him for that.

The next day the kids came home, after spending the night with friends, to our newest member of the family. They were so excited & I am very glad I recorded them meeting for the first time. It's a recording that will forever be part of our lives so we will never forget.
We decided on Kota for his name. Of course he ended up with many nicknames, Kocopuff, Puffy, KT Puff N Stuff, Kokies, Koco, Kodie, Sir Puffy Pants, Koco deMarkers & many more. He answered to every single one too. Oh, his name, before we got him, was Raider, yah NO, we weren't going to keep that name.

Kota, in the short time we had him, brought us a lot of joy. Of course there were times that we were like UGH, KOTA!!!!!!! He gave the BEST hugs ever!!!!! We had trained him to do a few tricks. One of our favorites was playing football with Devin. He had been doing so good about staying in the yard, when we were out there with him.
This past week has been so hard & when I think of him all I want to do is cry. :( He had become a HUGE part of our lives & more then just a dog.


Kota was hit by a car, a week ago, this past, Friday.   He was getting so good at not running towards cars, when they went by. That day he got away from Taryn & took off after the SUV, but this time he ran right into it. The vet said he got caught & was drug a bit, which tore him open. We never thought he would leave us forever. All we thought was we were going to have a long hall to get him healed up & no longer in pain. This was going to take a long time & we were prepared to figure out what it would take to do this. He had a rip from his pelvis to his collar bone, with road rash inside & out.  We were able to spend some time with Kota, the morning before he passed away, while we talked with the vet about where to go from here. That afternoon, we got a call saying he had passed away.  Life has not been the same, this week. It is hard to wake up & go to bed knowing he isn't with us. We had a routine with him so now not having that routine has really messed our lives up. There will never ever be another dog like our Kota. We miss him so much!!!! :(  After he passed away, the kids & I were like no more animals, we are done. For what ever reason animals don't stay with us for very long & I am tired of losing them so early.

Last night, the kids both said, "Mom, we need a dog!".  I had been looking here & there, this past week, at different sites to see what there was to be adopted or buy. Nothing really stood out, not even a cat. There were a few, last night, but they are in States a bit to far to drive for a pet.
We know Kota will give us a sign, when it is time for a new pet & will lead us to just the right puppy.

Am I ready for a new dog? Yes & No!!!  We have found out how hard it is to have a dog. It wasn't easy at all to make plans & figure out what we were going to do with Kota. He hated going to the kennel. He hated to be alone & would get depressed when ever he was alone. He even hated when the kids were in school. He slept all day & hardly ever came out, until he knew it was time for his kids to be home. He loved his kids so much & his kids loved him.

We don't do a lot as a family but we try to do some stuff here & there. We had to change plans because of having to babysit another friend's dog, but they take Kota, so I had to deal with not doing anything this Summer.  I would not have changed a thing though because Kota was part of our family & to keep him happy, it was worth it.   Am I ready to give up my life for another dog? I don't know because even though I miss him so bad, I won't miss having to worry about what where he will need to go so we can go out of town. :(  Time will tell.