One Good Friend

If you are lucky, you will have at least one really good friend. If you are really lucky, that friend will be a dog. For my wife that dog was Elroy, for me it was my Katie. As I recall I didn’t want to bring another dog into our household. We already had two dogs and a cat, and I didn’t think another one was needed. Elroy and Virgil were going on seven and I never experienced having a pup to grow up with. My wife knew if I would see the pups, I would want one. She made arrangements to see a litter of pups and we had second pick.

The day we went out to see the pups I decided I wasn’t going to break down and pick one, nope, we don’t need another dog. We get there and the pups are sent into the area where we are. They are all playing around when this cute little girl comes up to me and starts playing with my shoelace. She ended up untying my shoe by the time she was done, so I retie my shoe only to have her play more with my shoe. Ok, I’ll pick this one. This one had picked me. On the day we went back to take her home, she came out, greeted us, and then went back to the rest of her brothers and sisters, barked a couple of times and then came running out to us again. She was saying bye to the family. Kaitlyn Nicole was now a part of ours.

Taking trips with a dog can be very hard. My Katie loved car rides and one of those rides took us up to Mackinaw City where we spent a few days. While there we also took the boat over to Mackinaw Island. Katie was the perfect little girl. The people in the motel said we were welcomed anytime, especially Katie because she was so good!

Katie loved water. She would love to go to the lake and jump in. If we were home her favorite summertime activity was to take a bunch of pails and fill them with water. Then the fun was to take those pails on dump them on her big brothers. While her brothers didn’t like it, she seemed to enjoy it, like there was a little smile on her face.

As she became older her mother instincts kicked in and she began to raise Kricut, our new kitten as if she was her own. For the longest time the Katie and Kricut were inseparable. Kricut is an indoor cat only and when she managed to venture out without us noticing, Katie wouldn’t come in until we found Kricut outside.

In 2011 Elroy passed and a decision to get another shepherd was made. Enter Gabriel Grover, the amazing puppy with the biggest feet I ever saw on a puppy. Katie immediately bonded with Gabe and began showing him the ropes. Katie taught Gabe all about the pool, how to fill up the pails and even how to dump the pails on Virgil. Virgil didn’t like that part. Gabe had learned so well that we took him to school to learn how to be a therapy dog.

By now Katie is starting to show her age. She isn’t running as much and chasing balls. Her biggest activities is just sitting in the yard or finding a comfortable place next to me. She had raised Kricut and Gabe and was content. We finally moved from our little house in a bad area and got into a much larger house. Katie never went upstairs; she had a hard time moving around. A decision was coming on what we should do. This is not one I like to make, but I didn’t want her to suffer either. Katie was in her crate, her house, her safety place and I talked with her. She was having more accidents in the house and she was becoming too weak to stand.

She very smelly and dirty so I carried her upstairs for a bath. I washed her as I talked and she gave me kisses. I got her out of the tub and dried her off and she checked out the upstairs. She had never been up there before. Once she was satisfied, I carried her back down to her house. She went to sleep, and I did too.

The next morning, she looked at me as I headed out the door for work. I stopped to say hi and to wish her a good day. That was the last time I saw my Katie girl alive. My wife found her in her house passed away after she had gone to the neighbors for about an hour. She had made the decision for me and while I miss her, I know she is no longer suffering. Those short fourteen years were packed with so much love from that little girl. If you’re lucky you’ll have one good friend, if you’re really lucky it will be a dog.