Daisy and Lulu

Lulu is Daisy's squid toy friend. She's likes to carry Lulu outside with her. I got this toy off of Etsy when I was looking for a cute crate bed (I ended up getting some cute daisy material at JoAnn's and neighbor Jan sewed a bed for her). It's been a busy week for Daisy. She had to go get a rabies shot and thus her first visit to my vet. It was kind of weird taking her after taking Kobi there for his final hour a few weeks before. A bit emotional for me. I love my new puppy, but I miss my old "puppy" too.

This past week was also Daisy's first dog obedience class. I am taking her to the same dog trainer I took Kobi to 16 years ago, Dan Brutsche. Dan has a great memory with dogs and he remembered me and Kobi. Kobi was a great dog in part because I trained him with the basic commands within a week of getting him. My plan for Daisy is no different. I think all dogs need training to be well mannered around humans and other animals.

I have to admit that Daisy is a very quick study. She is heeling and sitting as soon as I stop. Tonight I decided to get a jump on next week's session by teaching her "stay". It didn't take long. I had her staying with the leash dropped and walking circles around her without a problem. I even got her to do "down" (lay down) on command. We had a backyard play session of Fetch with her new tennis ball afterwards. I think she's now actually starting to put the word "fetch" together with the play time and she "gives" the ball back quite nicely.

She's a lot of fun and I'm enjoying an active puppy. I'm looking forward to 16+ years with this little dog. After dog obedience, she be old enough to go up the street to Partners for dog agility. I think I'm going to give that a go. We'll both have a blast!

Puppy time...

It's day 3 since Daisy arrived and she's already showing lots of puppy "tude". There's not much that can make this little girl's tail stop wagging. She plays and sleeps very hard. She is my little shadow and has to be where ever I am. However, she likes the fact that she can still see Matt—when he is in his office through the french doors. Kobi's Cool-A-Roo bed is like her play area while I'm working. Somehow that's soothing to me to know something I got for Kobi is still useful. She just loves to lay on it and play with her toys and take naps while I'm working during the day.

She's getting lots of walking time around the neighborhood too. Today Matt, Daisy and I walked across the street for lunch. We had a slice of pizza from Brothers and coffee at Scooter's sitting outside with Daisy. I'm taking her on a little adventure each day to get her used to being around people and places. Yesterday she had a REALLY big adventure going to Bonnie's Barkery. She got a new harness, collar, crate bed, ID tag and toys. She loves her toys. In fact, she made a point of pulling off the displays the toys she wanted. Plus she had to wow the customers with her cuteness. One girl was trying to describe her to a friend on her cellphone and she just said "I don't even know how to describe how cute this dog is... and I certainly can't describe what breed it is!" That about sums it up. To me she is 100% purebred mutt. But she sure is cute and smart too! She's not my Kobi dog, but she's going to be another one-of-a-kind for sure.

We'll see what tomorrows adventure will be. For now, I thought I'd share some Cool-A-Roo photos.

I got this Blow Pop stuffed toy out of the sale bin at Bonnie's Barkery. It's her favorite now.

I don't know what toy to play with first. So I'll play with all of them at once!

I love my toys and my Cool-A-Roo bed.

Meet Miss Daisy...

After saying goodbye to Kobi there was a huge silent void in our house. I'd start tearing up as soon as I saw my neighbors walking by with their dogs or crying when I walked by a bush Kobi liked to leave pee-mail on. I just felt lost without our dog in the house. I really miss Kobi. He was one-of-a-kind. On Saturday I accepted that I would always miss Kobi and that we had given him the longest, best possible life we could. Another dog deserved the same... For the last few years I toyed with getting a Cairn Terrier but I didn't really want to go through a breeder and I wanted to help a dog that otherwise might not have a chance. Plus, I decided I wanted another "one-of-a-kind" dog.

I found Daisy (formerly Chloe). First off, I want to mention that I changed Chloe's name to Daisy because I have a friend who has a dog named Chloe and several other friends with little girls named Chloe. So I kind of felt funny about keeping her name Chloe. She had Daisies on her collar and I thought that fit her perfect. She seems to respond to Daisy just as she did Chloe so I think it all works out.

I found Daisy after surfing the web and ending up at 4 Peaks Animal Rescue site. I was about to end my search and put off a new family dog for a couple of months when I saw Daisy's (know as Chloe) photo. I knew this was the dog to bring back doggy life in the Diethelm household. I contacted 4 Peaks and learned she was not adopted yet. Today her very nice foster Mom, Deb, brought her to my house and she proceeded to fit right in. The cats have all sniffed her over even though they have that "WHAT IS THAT??" look on their face. Nobody's hissing and they're all keeping a respectful distance until they decide to get closer. I can tell Daisy's on her way to eventually having cat buddies. She doesn't bother them at all and they seem to keep inching closer to her.

Daisy is 5 months old and all puppy. She was on the euthanasia line but was saved by 4 Peaks. Personally, I can't even imagine how a cute little puppy could be up for euthanasia but I do know that I'm very glad she was saved and I was lucky enough to adopt her. She is so cute. She plays hard and she sleeps even harder (she snores a little). Her first quasi day here has been really good. She follows me every where just like Kobi did. She's quiet and her tail never stops wagging. She's already gone for a neighborhood walk with her new next door neighbor buddy, Teddy (Pomeranian) and she's learning that the backyard is where she is suppose to go to the bathroom. She loves her Nutro puppy food I bought her and she is constantly slurping down cold water from the big water dish. She is such a happy-go-lucky little girl. I'm really looking forward to taking her to dog obedience, hiking with her and taking lots of neighborhood walks.

So... with a new puppy, I was quite distracted and my eyes stayed drier longer. I think Daisy helped cheer up my neighbors Tom & Jan too. They miss Kobi too.

Here are a few photos of Daisy's first day. I'm sure there will be more to come.

My brother Alan and his grandson Logan stopped over. Logan played tug-of-war with Daisy. She really like him. She ran to the door to watch him leave. So I guess we add "good with kids" to her list of good traits.

Here she is laying by my desk while I'm doing computer tasks.

This is a bed I bought for Kobi that didn't work for him. However, Daisy really likes it. Especially with her blanket and all her toys on it.

She likes to lay on my feet. Right now she's sitting in my Herman Miller chair and is getting way too comfortable!

This photo is one Tom took when she first got to our house. She's just too cute!

Saying Goodbye to Kobi....

With great sadness Matt & I said goodbye to our beloved dog of 16 years...

He was such a big part of our family and I will miss him terribly. Kobi lived 100% up until the night before we took him to the vet. He was struggling to walk and I knew his arthritis was getting bad. Even so, he attempted to follow me where ever I went and he would not let me out of his sight. This morning he could not walk--even though he tried.

Kobi did not cry or whine. He just kept looking up at me with his big Kobi eyes and I knew that I might have to make a decision I wasn't ready to make. The vet confirmed my suspicions that he had neurological problems and his back legs had become paralyzed. He also said that it was unlikely he could ever regain the strength. He was a 90 year old man.

It's true what they say, that it never gets any easier. I think it was especially hard to say goodbye to Kobi. He was my first dog of my adult life and for 16 years he guarded our house, left "pee" mail on his daily walks, befriended all the neighbors (Tom & Jan--his 2nd parents--who were there to say goodbye as well. Bless their hearts, they rushed to the vet to say goodbye. Tom even did an illegal left turn in front of a cop... ), shared his dog bed with the cats, awaited Thursday "steak night" like a puppy—running back and forth from the garage to his dog dish when Matt pulled into the garage, and he provided an infinite amount of unconditional love. He was a beautiful dog. Matt and I used to joke that he was the "Brad Pitt" of the dog "hood". He was truly a really GREAT dog. I loved him dearly and I will continue to love him in memory. R.I.P. Kobi Dog.