Nathan and I took him to the vet to have him put down and it was miserable. Everyone at the office was disturbed at what was happening, they all had bonded with Kona when he had been there in the hospital for pancreatitis. They all loved him. The tech that put the catheter in his arm even gave him a gigantic hug before she left the room. It was a very tearful goodbye, and we held him when he died, whispering to him how much we loved him over and over again. I felt the life leave his body and I sobbed.
Over the last few days I have noticed that even though I know he's gone, sometimes I think I hear him or see him out of the corner of my eye. I do a double take and remember that he's gone, then the replay of the life leaving his body haunts my thoughts again. Tears come and go, but I still am comforted by the fact that we did what was best for him. It was only a matter of time.
I want to write down what I loved about Kona so my memory doesn't fail me later in life. As much as I tell myself that I could never forget things about him, just like how I swore I'd never forget things about my kids, it happens. So the point of this entry is to celebrate Kona and what made him unique.
I remember:
- He loved socks. He never chewed them up, he'd just pick them up in his mouth and move them to a different location. He even found Harrison's baby socks at the bottom of Beth's diaper bag once. He did this with shoes too, usually only when Patty or Mimi came into the house through the garage door.
- He loved to snatch Patty's cleaning rags out of her bag.
- He loved the ocean in California. He would start whining when we'd get to the 101 and not stop until he was there. Then he'd poop in the ocean.
- He ate his own poop, and any other poop that smelled appetizing. NASTY.
- He licked people incessantly... especially after he had eaten poop. Just kidding.
- He loved the taste of lotion. But he also ate poop.
- He drooled a lot before we gave him his food dish.
- He ran figure eights in my yard in Cali. It was too small to do anything else.
- He loved to wrestle with Nathan. I had to put a stop to that when James was born. We didn't want Kona to think he could wrestle with James.
- He laid in front of the oven, only when I needed to cook on the stove or in the oven.
- He had circles of fur by his butt... like cowlicks.
- He was very sensitive about his paws. He didn't like anyone touching them, except Nathan or me.
- He was very gentle with the kids, except when he would knock them over since he didn't realize he was so much bigger than them.
- Walking him without the prong collar was impossible, he'd take us for a walk. Right, Marilyn? :)
- He loved to run around in the fields in Northridge Heights, especially in the snow.
- He loved to swim in the river in Ames and in the pond at Northridge Heights.
- He didn't really get in the pool at our house without me coaxing him a LOT. Then he loved it once he realized that it was fun.
- When he was excited about something, you could physically see his eyes dilate.
- He fake barked when he wanted you to throw the ball to him.
- He jumped in the air when he got excited.
- He loved to eat ice and would catch it 98% of the time when we'd chuck it into the air.
- He jumped on everyone that came to our front door and even knocked the kids over a couple of times. I never said he was a well trained dog.
- Every time the kids would play with a toy that made noise through a speaker, he would howl/sing. My mom could get him to sing also by belting out a few notes.
- If I winked at him, he'd sometimes wink back.
- He took two rounds of obedience classes in CA and knew commands by hand signals. We used the sit and down hand signals.
- After fetching the ball, he would always loop around to the left.
- He loved tennis balls more than anything. He would rather get foamy at the mouth than give it up. We'd have to bribe him with a treat bone to get the ball.
- If he had a rawhide bone and I got to close, he'd growl at me. I didn't like that at all.
- When he was a puppy, he chewed up my coffee table. He also peed on the couch when Nathan and I were watching an ISU football game and we both jumped up when they scored a touchdown. We scared the pi$$ out of him. ;)
- He got a stick stuck in between two of his upper teeth when he was a puppy, and we had to have him put under so the vet could get it out. That was an expensive stick.
- When we'd take him to the dog park in Santa Barbara, I'd pour water into a fabric travel bowl. He refused to drink it. He would only drink water coming out of my water bottle as I squirted it out at him.
- He pouted when I bathed him in the shower.
- The first time he felt cold weather (when we were driving from CA to IA) he could hardly walk he had stiffened up so much.
- A dog took a chunk out of his ear when he was boarded one time. He had to be rushed to the vet to have his ear stitched up because the other dog had hit a main artery in the ear.
- He chewed his way out of the back yard in Santa Barbara once, and took himself for a walk. A neighbor found him (across APS, the busy street I lived on) and took him to the vet. They called me and I panicked.
- Whenever we would put a pillow in his kennel and didn't walk him enough on a certain day, we would come home to a feather snow storm. We finally stopped putting pillows in the kennel.
- When I would rub his ears, he moaned. Every time.
- When we brought James home from the hospital, he would not look at me in the eyes. He was MAD at me.
- When Nathan would come home late, he would always go greet him when he walked into the bedroom. It didn't matter what time it was or how hard he had been sleeping.
- When he was dreaming, he growled and barked in his sleep, very high pitched barks.
- Words he knew were: walk, eat, hungry, dog, ball, kennel, go, car, ride, stick, cat, Nathan, Meredith, shake, down, sit, roll over, ice, treat, wait, bone, bed, outside, potty
- He found Saki under the deck in Iowa. We had been looking for the cat and I took Kona outside and told him to find Saki. He ran around and stopped where Saki was hiding.
- When the kids would blow bubbles outside, he would eat them out of the air.
- He loved to have his belly rubbed and would roll over when I'd walk up to him, especially at night.
- He loved to run around my parents' yard and find tennis balls that were hit over the fence.
- The day he died, he walked into the vet's office with a tennis ball in his mouth.
This list could go on forever, and there isn't any doubt I will come back and add to it.
We love you Kona but know you are in a better place. We will miss you forever buddy.
