Age & Memories

Today is my dog's (her name is Kobi) 9th birthday.

I can still remember going to get her. It was February 14, Valentine's Day. My mom, brother, and I went to a man's house in I think Onalaska/Holmen area. My mom had found this guy giving away puppies through someone at work or something; I have no idea. We got there and there were two dogs left. A chocolate lab and a black lab. He said that the town was getting after him since he already had 3 other dogs. We got there and the little puppies were out playing in the front yard in the snow. Well, to make a somewhat unclear story short, we ended up taking the black lab mixed with a Brittney Spaniel.

I can still remember the ride home.

My brother and I sat in the back seat of my mom's car and the puppy sat on the floor between us on the hump in the middle of the floor. I don't think she knew what was going on. We had to go to PetCo to get a small kennel for in the house because this was our first dog. We picked up a kennel and headed home. We setup the kennel and played with Kobi for a little bit. After a little while we put her in the kennel. At this point, she could fit across the kennel (about 2 feet). She laid there on her side, paws stretched out and quietly crying to herself. She was scared half to death. She had no idea what to do. "Where's mommy?" she thought. "Where am I?"

We ended up having to almost drag her out of the kennel to take her outside for the night. The next morning, she was yipping to get out. We took her outside and it seemed like she didn't know what to do. A big, old yellow lab and its owner were walking by and came up our driveway. The yellow lab "relieved" itself on the snow bank. Kobi proceeded to sniff the new yellow spot of snow. The owner said maybe it would give Kobi the idea of "relieving" herself.

Spring came along and Kobi got spayed. I remember this quite a bit because she had to wear a plastic cone on her head so she didn't lick or chew the stitches out. She hated it. One morning, I came down stairs and she had pulled off the cone, chewed on it, sat on it, and "relieved" herself on it. She most definitely never wanted to wear it again.








When we first took her to the vet, my mom asked them how long before she "settled" down. The vet nonchalantly stated "I'd give her 7 years." This was mostly due to the fact that she was part Brittney Spaniel which are apparently very energetic dogs. Well, that came true. She never did start to even show signs of slowing until after she was 7.

She use to always love to go to gramma's house. She had a big, fenced-in back yard where Kobi could run free. Whenever you get out of the car, she always climbs into the driver's seat. She'll either lay down or sit there staring out the window until you come back.

She got away from my dad a few times. She ran around the house a few times and one time she ran a block down the street. My dad jumped in the van, drove down the street with the side sliding door open, stopped, and Kobi jumped in. My dad never did have much luck with her. My dad was originally against having a dog, but I think she grew on her. After 2 or 3 years, my dad started taking her with him when he ran errands.

She always could pull my mom wherever she wanted to go. My mom never could hold her back. She has fallen on ice and in the snow a couple of times with her. She wasn't too happy about that.

When I got my first vehicle, I wanted a truck. I wanted a manual transmission (that's were you push in a clutch peddle with your left foot and shift with you right hand; for those that don't know), which was easiest to find in a compact truck and fairly cheap, and I wanted to be able to take Kobi with me. The only problem was that Kobi liked to stand on the wheel wells so if I turned to fast, she might have been thrown out of the truck.

Looking back on 9 years, I have a lot of memories with her. My gramma has always said "you'd miss her if she were gone tomorrow." I never thought that would be so true. A dog is more than an animal. A dog is a companion. A dog is there for you no matter how bad a day you had and they always listen to your whatever you have to say.

I have more memories than can ever be written down. I just hope that when I'm 80 (hopefully), I can remember my first dog. Kobi.