origin of the puppers

Part 1: the sad stuff

A friend told me that at least a few readers might be interested in how we ended up with #fourdogsandsteve

Well, pour yourself a glass of wine and pull up a seat. Let me tell you about how we ended up with a pack.

The story begins with the fact that my husband has always wanted a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Always always, as long as I’ve dated the man, he’s wanted a Rhodesian to run with him wherever he may go. He also (very responsibly, I might add) wanted to wait for a house with a big ol’ fenced-in yard to keep this Rhodesian in. His boy would be named Ragnar. Being the snowflake I am, I convinced my kind-hearted man that he should adopt instead of shopping, aaand this became more of a project than either of us expected.

So we looked.. far and wide for a studly Rhodesian to bring home to our new ranch life. We had the big ol’yard fenced. We had our old girl, Kika, mentally, and as best we could physically, prepared for the new addition. Finally it happened! An adoption website that I was tracking (obsessively) posted a RR mix that needed a loving home wth a yard, so we asked if they would hold him until just after our destination wedding. It didn’t seem fair to bring a dog home and then ask a sitter to care for it for the seven days we’d be in the Bahamas. Thankfully, they said they would hold him.

Nevermind delayed flights; the day we landed from our honeymoon (and in torrential downpour) we (including Kika) set out to Ohio. Yep, thats right, Ohio from Tennessee after an international flight. We drove for hours to pick up this perfect little love nugget and then turn around and drive him home. If this doesn’t tell you have excited we were, I don’t know what else could. Once we got home he proceeded to steal our hearts and fit it in to our home and hearts damn near perfectly. Yes, he ate our shoes, and destroyed the cables under our fancy bed, but dang he was everything we waited for. We were happy parents, bringing home our baby after many months of waiting. Something about him just fit.

That being said, our sweet angel was the highlight of our life from fresh after our wedding date to early that fall. He was suddenly and abruptly stolen from us by a hit and run speeding through our country back-road.

We were devastated. Devastated was an understatement. We had fallen in love with the boy of our dreams and he was taken from us too soon. I’ll spare you the details, but it was not a good day for either of us. Ugly tears quickly ensured and still do when I think about our boy taken so suddenly. I used to joke that he was a good boy, but not too good, just an okay boy that was working his way up. He was trying to be a good boy, but still liked eating a remote or two.. or the rug. We buried him in the yard with the best view of the sunset. He liked it there. We left him with his favorite toy and ugly cried with WAY too much whiskey.

He deserved the best and we did our very best to give it to him.

So the tears continued for a few days and we mourned the dreams we had buried with him. After a few more days, I told my husband we were going to the shelter and I was damned-well getting a kitten.

*Part 2 coming Friday, March 27th. RIP little buddy