I still remember the day that “Pochi” our first dog arrived on our doorstep. We had initially thought the dog was lost, and upon further inspection noticed that it had no collar. My mom insisted on us not feeding it since she knew that once you feed the poor animal, he would never leave. She was right. We put up signs and waited for the owner to call at any moment. Secretly my brothers and I wanted to keep him. I think my mom had initially thought someone would one day call, but that call never came. So Pochi became our dog. We loved Pochi. We took him everywhere. My family moved around every few years, and Pochi went with us. We had Pochi from when I was a young girl ( I think I was like 7 or so) until I was about 16 years old. Then Pochi became really sick. You could hear him crying at night in pain. I didn’t even realize how bad until my mom told us that we were going to have to let Pochi go. The veternarian had told my parents that Pochi had developed some type of cancer that was growing fast. We were devastated. I started thinking about all the times I didn’t spend with Pochi. I was the typical teenager who didn’t have time to walk the dog or play with him. I felt a sudden surge of guilt and then I just cried. It’s that feeling you get when you wished you could do anything in the world to get some time back. I knew I didn’t have it now, and I was so sad.
I remember our last walk together as a family. Pochi couldn’t even walk himself because he was so much in pain. As my mom carried him, we walked and talked with him for the very last time. As I look back at that time I realize how much our dog meant to my family. He was a part of us–we loved him like a member of our family.
Years later, after I had already gone off to college, my parents missed having Pochi around so they adopted another dog Shiro. He looked just like Pochi, but much bigger. And a couple years after Shiro was adopted into our family, then came KINA. Kina was rescued from a previously abusive owner and was a perfect fit for our family. She was best friends with our other dog, Shiro. Shiro passed away a couple of years ago, and we could all tell how badly it affected Kina.
So since I told you about my family’s dog history, finally on to the reason for the post…this is Kina. She is a our lab–a beautiful, loyal, friendly part of the Warner family. I don’t get to see her much since she lives with my parents in Washington, but they all came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. My girls LOVE her. She is so gentle with them. They so badly want a dog, but my husband isn’t having it (he’s a cat lover). Who likes cats anyway? Pfffft… So these pictures will have to do. Now that I look at these pictures of Kina, I so wish I had some good pictures of Pochi. I miss him.
