3 Years with Baby Kota

This precious pup was born on May 8, 2016 in the heart of Arkansas. She was my 10 year anniversary gift that year, but she was really a gift for her older sister, Lucy Lou. Lucy was 5 years old at the time and she’d become rather…lazy. We thought it might be a great time to introduce her to a new best friend!

Enter: Dakota.

AKA: Bad dog, Kota, Kota Bear, Sissy, Fun Ruiner, Scaredy Cat, Hugger and Lover, etc.

The first six months were h a r d. I’d forgotten what puppy life was like. I mean, I faintly remembered crying on the bathroom floor, desperate to drive Lucy back where she came from…but, besides that, I’d forgotten that puppies are terrible 99% of the time and incredibly adorable the other 1% of the time.

Kota was the perfect dog. For 4 WHOLE DAYS. Then, real life hit.

And it hit us hard.

Unless she was in the crate, and even when she was, we weren’t able to leave her alone for more than a few minutes at a time. She was also a sick pup, just like her sissy. We spent many nights bathing her and cleaning the entire crate after an “episode.” It was just the worst.

The second half of her first year was still hard, but much more manageable. But she was still sick. A lot.

She ended up in the puppy hospital in February of 2017. We thought she had a food allergy or some serious issue with her liver. It turned out that she’d been snacking on the roots of a dead, diseased tree in our backyard the whole time. After Bry uprooted the tree, her tummy stabilized and she was healed!

The last three years have flown by with this hairy, chubby pup.

She’s still crazy, but she’s also still my favorite hug at the end of a long day.