Levi's Big Boy Bed

Some of you may remember that Kobe had a bed that was personalized with his name on it.

In keeping with the tradition I thought it only appropriate that Levi have one too.  I'd been waiting until he was trustworthy enough to not have to have his crate set up in my room all the time.  Well he finally has graduated to a big boy bed and his new bed came last week.  On Friday I took his crate down and put his new bed in its place. 

He seems to really like it and laid down on it right away.  He loves sleeping up against things so I thought he would like a bed with sides like this and he sure does.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do without the crate in my room though, it was really handy to set things on top of.  ;-)

Happy 9th Birthday Kobe

Yesterday would have been Kobe's 9th birthday if he was still here.  He was just under 8 when he died, but I never really thought of him as getting older.  Looking back at pictures I realize that he was actually getting pretty grey in the face but I never seemed to notice it when he was alive.  He never acted like he was aging at all, he always seemed his happy, playful self.  Anyways, just wanted to wish him a happy birthday even though he isn't here to celebrate it.  Always missing you!

A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today was the day Kobe died.  Totally unexpected and devastating to me.  This was a tough week for me.  It didn't make things any better when we had to learn about hemangiosarcoma in the right auricle of the heart in systemic pathology on wednesday.  Our professor means well, but I think in an effort to keep the class interested and engaged he is very insensitive and talks very jokingly about death and the diseases we talk about.  He used an example of a golden retriever out playing fetch that slows and doesn't make it all the way back to you, and it might make it into the clinic but dies before it even gets on the exam table.  That hit way too close to home for me.  Quite embarrassing to have to leave class from the second row in a class of 133 students, but that was better than the alternative emotional break down in the front of class.  Thanks to my supportive friends who stepped out with me to give me a hug, I really needed that.

I always told Kobe that he had to live until he was at least 15.  I knew the average for goldens was a lot closer to 10, but he wasn't just any golden, he was my best friend so he had to far surpass that average.  I couldn't live with only 10 great years, I would have wanted 20 years if I thought it was even remotely possible.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have less than 8 years with him.  The 8 best years of my life though.  So much change and growth and growing up occured in those 8 years and he was there with me for all of it. 

I got him when I was 16.  My first dog that was all mine.  My responsibilty to train, to feed, to walk, to groom, etc.  I fell in love with the breed because my uncle had a wonderful golden, but I never knew at the time I would end up this hooked on goldens.  It wasn't easy convincing my parents (my mom mostly) to let me get a golden retriever puppy.  I had to agree to living at home my first year of college (meaning going to a junior college or going to Cal Poly) because I couldn't take a puppy to the dorms, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.  After contacting several breeders we were put in touch with Kobe's breeder who had a litter of 2 puppies, one of which sounded like exactly what we were looking for.  My parents and I drove the 7 hours up to meet him when he was 6 weeks old, which also happened to be my sister's 18th birthday.  (Sorry Melissa!) 

I loved him the moment I met him and never looked back (well to be honest the first couple days he was home were very stressful and I might have mentioned wanting to send him back, but that was the lack of sleep talking ;-) . He was there with me through the rest of high school, starting college and then moving out on our own.  He was by my side through vet school applications, interviews, and the excitement of acceptances.  He was my home and my support when we moved away from my family up to Davis.  And through the stress of vet school he was my rock. 

He was the happiest dog.  I don't think I've ever met a dog that was as constantly happy as Kobe.  Nothing phased him...which sometimes frustrated me when I would try to scold him for doing something bad and he would just smile up at me like I was lavishing praises on him.  I wish I could have that same sunny disposition all the time. 

There will never be another dog like Kobe, and I don't think any dog could ever hold my heart the way that he did.  Missing you today and everyday Kobe.

Thanksgiving Break

Bringing the holiday cheer to our house is this adorable little reindeer on the left.  These were Kobe's antlers (on the right) that I found when unpacking my Christmas stuff.  (I know it's not Christmas yet but we only get to spend a week and a half in our Davis house after Thanksgiving so we started decorating early so it would be Christmas-y when we got back from Thanksgiving break).

(Levi 7.5 months old, Kobe 8 months old)

Levi, Gypsy, and I made the journey home to Templeton on Sunday and we get to stay for a whole week!   We do miss our beautiful green belt when we're at home, but we find places to walk here.

Yesterday my dad got home from a business trip and guess what he brought home for Levi?  A souvenir!  Read the story about souvenirs here.  It is a cute stuffed lion that he got when he was in Washington.  Levi has really been enjoying it.

 

Levi's a Calendar Model

As a fundraiser last year for my vet school class our vice presidents came up with the idea of making a calendar with our pets' photos and selling them to our family and friends.  This year they expanded it so they accepted photos from the first and third year classes as well (in hopes that it would sell more calendars).  This meant that each vet school class would get 4 big pictures in the calendar.

Last year I entered a puppy picture that I had of Kobe, but it just got a small picture at the bottom of one of the months.  We didn't have a digital camera back when he was a puppy so I had to scan the photo.  There were a couple pictures that I liked better but they had dates on the front so I couldn't enter them.  Here was Kobe's calendar picture in January of last year's calendar.

This year I wanted to find a picture of Levi that I thought could win a full size picture in the calendar.  I finally picked one from my puppy visit when the puppies were 6 weeks old.  It is of Ronan on the left (purple boy at the time) and Levi on the right.  My mom and sister got to come meet the puppies for the first time this day, and my sister took this photo.

It turns out that the judges thought that they were cute too and they picked them to have one of the "month" pictures.  I might end up leaving the calendar on Levi's month the whole year. :-)

Halloween from the Past

I was just going through some old pictures and thought i would post Kobe's 1st Halloween Pictures. He was 7.5 months old.

Happy 6 Month Birthday Levi!

I can't believe Levi is already 6 months old!  Time sure has flown by. 

So 6 things I love about Levi:
1. He is a snuggler with his toys/blankets.  He really likes to curl up against things as well as to rest his head on his toys. 
2.  When he is tired he plops down onto the floor like it would take too much energy to lay himself down softly.  He has done this ever since he first came home at 8 weeks old.
3.  He is so well behaved in his crate now and he doesn't even whine anymore (I never thought that would happen).
4.  He loves coming to school with me and getting attention from everyone.
5.  He loves playing with other dogs, big or small.  It is really cute to watch him play with little dogs or younger puppies because you can tell that he is trying to be gentle with them.
6.  He is getting so much more interested in retrieving.

Sorry this has to be a short post today.  Tomorrow is the first test of the quarter, Oncology, so I have to get back to studying.  I think I have a new appreciation/interest in oncology since Kobe died.  It's kind of a double edged sword though because that is also what makes oncology class hard for me emotionally.

Surprise Pictures

I've been trying to get myself organized before school starts up again next week, so today I was going through my email accounts to delete/organize my mail.  In the process I discovered a couple pictures that I had taken of Kobe with my phone and then emailed to myself.  I guess I had forgotten to save them to my computer, so I haven't seen them since I sent them to myself back at the beginning of December.  They are really poor quality, but it was just such a nice little surprise, like finding money in your pocket that you didn't know was there.

6 Months

Today marks 6 month since Kobe's death.  It's been a long six months, and at the same time it often feels like it was just yesterday.  Having Levi is a nice distraction, and I love Levi, but he can't ever replace Kobe.  I wish I had blogged about Kobe's and my life together so I had written memories of all of his funny behaviors and our good times together.  One thing he did every time before I fed him as a puppy was what I called the lip quiver.  His mouth would open and close really quickly and his tongue would stick out a little.  Levi does it occasionally when I give him good treats and it reminds me of Kobe.  He loved food and would finish his meals in like 40 seconds (I timed him once).  He maybe chewed one or two of the kibbles in his bowl, and the rest he just gulped down.

He used to love lights and shadows (which made me frustrated sometimes) but it is part of what made him him.  He could stare at lights on the wall for hours.  I think it all started when we played with a laser pointer with him as a puppy, but maybe he would have developed that quirk no matter what, I'll never know.

He loved to have a toy in his mouth, and had to go find one before he could greet someone that came home.  If there wasn't one close by he looked so troubled because he really wanted to go say hi to the person coming in but he couldn't find a toy to carry.

That being said, he was always so good about knowing what were his toys and what wasn't.  He rarely took slippers or other items that weren't his.  One time I had brought home a stuffed moose from Washington that was supposed to be a souvenier for him but I decided I really liked it and wanted to put it on my bed.  He really wanted that moose but he knew that it wasn't his.  A few times when he was in a really playful mood he would grab the moose, but otherwise he left it completely alone.  He would sleep up against it, but he wouldn't ever chew on it.  After a few months I was ready to let him have the moose and he was so excited to finally get to play with it.

He loved riding in the car, and would go back and forth between the windows to look out at the world.  As he got older, he also would rest his head on my shoulder so I would pet him.  I still miss that.

He also loved to swim in the pool.  Once he learned how to swim we couldn't keep him out of it.  He didn't care if he was the only one in the pool, he would just jump in and start swimming around.  He liked to go in and out of the water, taking lots of water out with him each time.  He was so happy though so no one minded (except Melissa who was usually getting water shaken on her while she read her magazine or book).

I remember when he was around 6 months old I started letting him sleep outside of his crate at night.  This was also when I started allowing him on my bed.  I was sleeping in a twin bed and he would take up the whole bed so I would squish myself into a tiny ball so I didn't disturb him.  Shortly after this I got a queen bed because we both just couldn't fit on the twin.  I thought that with all that extra room I could sleep normally.  I thought wrong.  He just realized that there was more room for him to stretch out so I ended up sleeping sideways or crooked most of the time.  Sometimes it got so bad that I had to scoot him over in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep.

He always had plenty of energy if I took him out for a walk or hiking, but if I didn't have time to take him out for a couple days he was still perfectly behaved and would just sleep.  He definitely loved to sleep.  He would often sleep with his back legs stretched out behind him like a frog.

Another favorite position was upside down on his back.  He had some of the most unique sleeping positions.

He also loved it when I played the guitar.  When he heard the case open he would run into the room.  I think he really just liked to look at the lights that shined off of it, but I like to think he was my biggest fan.

Ok, I guess that's all the memories for tonight.  Most of my pictures of Kobe are on my external hard-drive back in Davis so I had to re-use pictures from other posts or take them from my facebook album.

From the beginning to the end, you were my best friend.  I love you Kobe and I miss you.

Kobe's Bed

I mentioned in a previous blog that mom had taken Kobe's bed home and was going to make it into a pillow for me. I realized that I forgot to post a picture of it when she was done.  So here's a before and after picture...


Thanks Mom!

Finished My First Year of Vet School!

It seems like it has been so much longer than 9 months since I started vet school in September!  I can't believe the amazing friendships that I've made and the fun times that we have had together!  Even if it was just studying together (which is what most of our time was spent doing), I have loved every minute of this year.

So many memories, good and bad (mostly good though :-)).  Orientation, and our pre-orientation gatherings where we all met for the first time.  Grey's and fro-yo nights.  Late night and weekend studying in the anatomy lab.  Late night studying delirium in general.  Oh yeah, and some more studying.  Halloween party.  Disneyland.  Equine dental wet-lab.  Equine Medicine Club rounds (my favorite part of vet school!).  Kobe's death :( .  Getting Levi.  Thanks friends and family for helping me survive all of this.


And now...SUMMER-TIME!!!!!

I can't wait to relax in the pool, take Levi for adventures, and ride Cisco and Gypsy.

Puppy Visit #4

Mom and Melisa came to see the puppies with me on Saturday for puppy visit #4.  The puppies are 6 weeks old now, and they are staying awake and playing longer than in my previous visits.  We put them out in their big pen on the grass when we got there and they were all so happy, running around and playing with each other.

They now have a red plastic Clifford slide that they all like to play on, and it was cute watching them climb the little stair and then stand at the top peering down before they decided to slide down it.  One puppy (I think it was green) kept trying to run up the slide part to get to the top but he only got about halfway before he would slide back down.  It was so cute watching him try over and over again and finally I just helped him up it (mostly because I was on the other side and I wanted to play with him).

They are playing with their toys a lot more and they really liked this cloth tug toy that they had.  We played tug with them and then two of the puppies played tug with each other with the toy.  Christine was telling us that Green boy was playing fetch a lot this morning with a baby tennis ball that they had, so I tossed the ball to see if he would go get it.  He got distracted the first time but the second time he chased after it.  He still needs to work on the bringing it back part though; he just wanted to lay down and chew on it.



It was really cute towards the end of our visit little green boy was running around the pen trying to follow Sport on the other side.  Then Sport came into the pen and the two of them played for a little bit.  She kind of scared him a little bit with all of her loud barking but then he would just run right back up to her to play more.  It was really cute to watch them together.

I've been doing a lot of shopping in preparation for the new puppy.  I just ordered a couple new toys and a collar and leash for it.  I already want to set up it's puppy area but Alicia tells me that it is a little too soon. :(  Ok, I'll try to wait one more week.

I just sent Kobe's bed home with Mom to make space for the puppy's crate in my bedroom.  It was hard to see it go, but Mom is going to make a small throw pillow out of it where it has his name embroidered on it, so I will get it back eventually.

(Photos professionally taken by Melissa Hampshire)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kobe!  You would have been 8 years old today.   I used to love throwing you birthday parties and getting you all sorts of presents.  I kind of think you always knew that it was a special day even if you didn't know why.  I remember the one party that we had when you were living with Mom and Dad at the rental house and you got to pull all of your presents out of that giant gift bag.  You were so excited at finding the presents that you would just pull something out and then drop it to see what else was in the bag.  You probably didn't get to fully appreciate all of the presents that way but it sure was fun to watch.  Today was a hard day for me.  You were all I could think about.  I never thought I would have to say goodbye to you so soon.

Here are a few other pictures from that birthday, as well as some other pictures just for memories.

Happy Birthday bud.  I love you and I miss you.  Thanks for all the love and happy memories you gave me over the past 8 years.