Kai's Story

Well I had to opportunity to watch my nephew while Dad was in CA for a conference. So I was up closer to Portland. Perfection I could put my plan into action. I contacted the rescue here in Oregon and was pretty much shot down. The rescue here would not place a Dach into a 2 Dach home. It made me mad but it's not my choice who they give and don't give to. Oh well. I contacted shelters and no one seemed to have the perfect match. So I ended up looking at CL and found a few on there that looked like they needed a good furever home. I called on several only to hear "oh they've been rehomed" I left a msg with one and had by the end of the day written it off. God wasn't ready for us to add a third.

Well then the phone call came. Yes he still had the pup and yes I could come view him. So I made the drive with a bit of an excited heart. Who wouldn't be huh?

I arrived. The house was beautiful, manicured lawn and garden areas, 3 nice rigs and the fellow was out under his truck working on something. He led me to the garage ( first red flag ) and punched in a # to open the garage. ( I still find the number doors neat .. a few of my friends have them on their homes.. haha ) I followed him in to find a somewhat hashed together pen full of pine shaving, that's where the dogs go to potty he said.. I saw beds lining the row. They sleep there he pointed, except for my girls they stay in the house with me. My skin is crawling at this point. What have I gotten myself into as he stuffs a beautiful 7 yr long hair "retiring for sale stud" into my arms. Then he takes him from me and stuffs another "retiring for sale stud" into my arms.. this one is an Isabella. He's talking non-stop and I'm just ... dumb ( nothing new it seems ) then I asked him could I see them all play in the backyard? He says sure sure and takes me through the house ( spotless ) and I see two beautiful dams inside. He tells me the one has to stay inside for a few because she may nip. Eventually they all get to come out. I am utterly overwhelmed by these beautiful faces. Then I see the chocolate dam's claws up close she was the first to jump up at me. Curved over/under like talons. My gut drops. I even asked him and he says.. Oh she's so hard to clip I do them here and there. ( in my mind here and there will have them much shorter than they are now )

So he's rambling on and on and on. I see a few chocolate pups like the one I saw in the picture not sure who is who and decided to ask about the retiring males. We wanted a boy and older. I couldn't touch either of them with a 10 foot poll in price. I would have loved to have brought the LH home. He was white with black. So I sit there trying to decide ... do I take one or just walk away. My mind says don't do it you will be supporting what you hate the most and my heart is saying don't leave without one, save one. I was just taking it all in, petting them all, telling them all how good and beautiful they were. Not knowing if they ever got affection or attention like that. I decided to go with one of the chocolate pups. They had had "bad reactions" to shots and had some fur loss so they were "cheaper" he said to me. I chose the runty guy that was being picked on.

So I signed my heart away for this little boy. He was shaking in my arms. I wonder how often he had been held. I kept looking at the others feeling my heart sink knowing I had no way to take them all. How do you walk away from something you know isn't right? He gave me a crate, a blankie the pup slept on, some shot record and off I started to go when I moved too quickly tho they all started to bark ...

and then .. I heard the bark I know so closely to my own heart. BeBe's bark. I stopped and asked him if he by chance knew the lady that I had gotten BeBe from. Why yes .. yes he did. I told him BeBe's "recorded" name and he pointed to the Isabella and to a LH choc Female and said why those are his parents. I was bringing home a brother. . from a different mother tho. My heart sank knowing I was walking away from not only these beautiful babies but family.

My tale becomes bittersweet.

During our prior conversation of the Pup's Mom as I had pointed to a chocolate Dam and said he has a pretty Mother.. Oh no he says.. His Dam died during puppy birth. One was stuck. I pretty much went silent after that with an "oh"

So we brought him home... At first he was No Name... until I found the named Kai...

Kai means Beautiful in South African... his Dam was beautiful so it's a tribute to her.. In Welsh and Scadinavian it means Keeper of the Keys ( he has the keys to our hearts ) and Earth .. his fur is such a rich earthy color. And in Hawaiian it means Sea. We love the sea, live close to it and during the summer are almost always there.


So that's our story of Kai. I may have supported something I so hate but in doing so I brought one into a world of love. He will be fixed. He will never know greed and will be spoiled like our other two.

Kai was whelped 12-05-09 so he is 4 months going on 5. I did talk to a few of you already about him and where he came from and by suggestion he has had a 5way shot and is home bound until the 3rd of next month. He bathes well, allowed me to not only take little clips from his nails but also let me get the dremel close and touch them. BeBe and Molly for the most part have allowed him into their world but he likes to hump so he's been nipped a few times. Nothing bad just some warning shots as I call them. So far only two tinkle accidents in the house but I have been taking him out every 30 mins. As I know nothing about puppy food and I admit that I have him eating Halo Puppy food. If you have a suggestion about puppy food please PM me as I'd rather this not turn into a food war post. LOL

So ... enough of my typing.
Please enjoy the little face behind the story...