Kiwi

August 18, 2024

Kiwi was our dog for the past 14 years. He was a little over 1 years old when he got him from the Humane Society. The one thing about young Kiwi was that he had so much energy. He was always playing and running around. Kiwi always took a liking to both Malia and Jared. He really stayed with Jared while in the house. Kiwi was always protecting the kids, he did not like when others threatened them. Kiwi would always get defensive by parking or paying close attention when someone was not being nice to Malia and Jared. Kiwi always waited in front of the closed door when either Malia and Jared were in the bathroom. 

In the early days, we took Kiwi on many hikes. He was really excited to go outside. Every time we went away for a few days he would miss us, but when we came home he would get so excited. One of Kiwi's quirks was that he always ate the tissues. He would take it out of the garbage and bite it into a million of pieces. I always remember picking up all the tissues. Kiwi always loved to eat table food. He would go into the trash and take out the food. 

In 2019, when we moved to Germany Kiwi kept active. Michelle would take him on walks everyday. Kiwi loved Germany, he loved the walks, the cold. Unfortunately at this time we saw him slow down a little. I first noticed it when he had difficulties going up and down the stairs. By our last year in Germany, Jared had to carry him down the stairs. 

In 2022, we moved to Texas. Kiwi still had some energy. He loved to play with the cats and always took care of them. We also saw Kiwi decline. When we moved from Holy Springs to Horizon, Kiwi really slowed down. He struggled to walk and you could tell he was getting bad because he had a hard time running and his muscles were getting weak. It appeared that he hurt every time he took a few steps. 

In August 2024, one day after we helped Jared move into his dorm, Kiwi started crying and he was in obvious pain. Michelle took him to the vet and we made the faithful decision to put him to sleep. We all cried that day. I was in a daze for a few days thinking about what he meant to our family. I never gave a thought that a pet could make such a huge impact, but Kiwi was such a great family dog and he will be missed deeply.