National Dog Day Is A Time to Reminisce

As National Dog Day approaches I reminisce about my first and only dog I ever owned that was such a sweet heart and so good with my son when he was born. She was a pure bred Alaskan malamute and incredibly gorgeous. We named her Kenzie and she grew up in Salt Lake City, UT where we had bought our first home. I took Kenzie on a daily walk around the large park with a lake in downtown where she would visit with pedestrians, bark at other dogs to play, and chase after ducks on the lake. We didn't have much of a yard and she spent the majority of her time in our home or her kennel. She liked to dig to our dismay and had quite a few projects including digging out of her kennel a couple of times. Luckily we had her chipped when we purchased her and were able to track her down the few times she escaped.

Kenzie loved me unconditionally. She was there for me when we moved to Seattle, WA where a cooler climate and rain seemed to be more tolerable for her. After building a home there we added another addition to our family, a gorgeous son named Dallon. Kenzie was gentle and gave a lot of kisses. She had a tendency to knock the baby down with an excited tail but her cooed with joy over her antics.

When my husband and I decided to divorce Kenzie was about 4 years old. With selling the house and moving in with my parents for awhile I knew that neither my ex nor I could keep Kenzie with our situation. She would be extremely unhappy and have nowhere to roam. I remember putting the listing up on Alaskan Malamute Rescue online. I was hoping that someone would find her and fall in love with her as much as I had. One day the phone rang and a sixteen year old boy and his mother asked to see the dog. I hoped it would be a good match as he was a track runner and ran along Green Lake in Seattle often. I knew Kenzie would love to be near a lake again to chase ducks and get the exercise she longed for. They ended up loving her and decided to take her home that day.

As they drove away the tears began to flow as all of my memories flashed in my mind of Kenzie from birth to now. I wanted so desperately to keep her but I knew it would be impossible to keep her happy and rebuild my life caring for my new infant as well.

I lost contact with the family and it's been over 10 years now. I hope that she is still alive but I'm not sure as she would be an old lady by now. Sometimes I think I'd like to have another dog for our growing family (we've just added another son and I'm remarried). We ended up purchasing 2 cats, a pure bred Bengal and a Pixie Bob Cat. They are easy and low maintenance and keep each other company when we travel. They aren't as interactive as a dog but I know that as much as I love dogs, the responsibility was often more than I could handle. With our litter robot there is very little uncomfortable maintenance and the cats are pretty self sufficient with automatic feeders as well.

Having a dog is a fun and exciting venture, but it's like having another child and as much as I miss and enjoyed Kenzie, I know that for my family, pets are a huge undertaking and before venturing down that path again I will contemplate all of the reasons I couldn't keep my dog before committing again to a new one.