When I bought a house after my divorce, we were a pet free home. But not for long. My daughter was babysitting and one of the neighbors had a litter of Labrador puppies. Of course, she fell in love with them and begged me to let her have one. I had to admit they were cute, and we adopted an little white female we called Kaicee. She was a handful at first, as all puppies are, but she learned quickly and with a lot of training she became one of the best dogs I have ever owned. She was huge… about 100 lbs and mostly white, although her parents were golden Labs.
So why do I call her “the Wonder Dog?” Because she did things I have never seen done by another dog.
Kaicee never ceased to amaze us. She had tons of toys… stuffed animals, balls, Frisbees, squeaky toys, chew toys… and she knew the name for everyone of them. “Kaicee, go get your stuffed pink pig” and she would find it and bring it to me. “Kaicee, where is your squeaky mouse?” She would find it and bring it to me. One day, one of her toys was in my daughter’s bedroom. We had the lever-type door knobs. Kaicee lifted the knob to open the door, and brought her toy to me. When we finished playing, she picked it up and took it back to my daughter’s room.
Chasing a ball was probably her favorite game. And she never got tired. You could throw your arm out and she was standing there waiting for you to throw it again! She was definitely a “retriever!”
When Kaicee was several months old, my daughter came home with a kitten. Now, I am not a cat person, but she couldn’t keep it at her dad’s, so I said we would try having a cat and a dog. Poor Kaicee. The cat had the bad habit of getting on the table and pushing stuff off… like an ink pen. Puppy Kaicee would then chew it up, getting ink everywhere. Then she would be punished by being put her in her crate. The cat, Samantha, thought this was an even better opportunity to annoy the dog. She would sit on top of the crate and bend down, looking at the dog upside down which annoyed Kaicee. Samantha would also stick her paws in and out of the crate quickly, daring Kaicee to grab her. Samantha was a very needy cat and would sit outside the bedroom door at night and cry. Kaicee was allowed in the bedroom but she was not… because she would not settle down and go to sleep! Finally, Kaicee and I had enough, and I found Samantha a good home with an older couple whose cat had recently died. She found people who would give her a lot of attention and Kaicee and I had peace once again!
One day, I was in the dining room and the sliding glass door to the patio was closed. Kaicee went to the door and nudged the door handle until the door opened and she could go outside. I had noticed a couple of times that when I came home from work the slider was open… I figured one of my kids had left it open, but now I knew it was Kaicee. I got out my tools and took the door handle off… solved the problem of my door standing open all day in the summer when it was over 100 degrees, causing my A/C to run constantly!
Kaicee also knew how to “communicate” with us. When we forgot to feed her, she would bring her dish to us. I called her “Snoopy.” She had one of the automatic water dishes, where a 1 gallon jug is filled and attached to the bowl so water refilled each time she drank. We kept it in the laundry room. One day I came home and the empty jug/dish system was sitting in the middle of the hallway. She had pushed it out so that we would see it as soon as we came home. My son, daughter and I were all in college so we were coming and going all the time. When we left, we would give Kaicee a small treat and say “be good. We’ll be back soon.” My son refused to give her a treat when he was the last person to leave. So, she would go into his room and find something, bring it to the back door, and tear it up, leaving the remnants on the floor so they were the first thing we saw when we came home. When I asked if he had given her a treat before he left, he said “no.” This continued for the entire time he was in college. She never tore up anything major… usually a pack of gum or a Chapstick, or some other small thing from his room. During all that time, she never bothered anything that belonged to my daughter or me, because we always gave her a treat when we left! After my son graduated and moved out, Kaicee never did this again.
My daughter’s boyfriend (now her husband) adopted an adorable Bassett Hound they named Charlie Brown. After a few months, he was unable to keep Charlie, so my daughter begged me to let him stay with us until her boyfriend could take care of him. Kaicee was good with other dogs, but she was several years old by then and a puppy has a lot more energy than she did! But, with some training, Charlie turned out to be a really good dog, too. And, although she would probably never admit it, I think Kaicee enjoyed having him around since the humans in the family were gone so much.
Finally, I graduated from seminary. When I received my first call as a pastor, it was 1000 miles away in rural Kansas. Kaicee was going with me and it was time for Charlie Brown to go back home with his owner. My daughter traveled with me to help me with Kaicee when I drove to my new home. She and her boyfriend eventually married, and Charlie lived to an old age, and was always good with their kids, too. And, he always remembered me, and got super excited when I would go visit them! He wasn’t my dog, but he loved me just the same.
Kaicee, Part 2, will continue with our new location and another dog who unexpectedly entered our lives. Next, Kaicee and Shadow.
(So How Did I Get Here? is a journey down memory lane of the dogs who have touched my life in such special ways. I lost my most recent dog, Beau, in July 2021 and have experienced more grief than I thought possible, mainly because my living and working circumstances prevented me from getting another dog. It’s been eight months, and a health crisis changed my circumstances unexpectedly. I’m feeling better, working through the grief of losing Beau, and soon will go back to work, this time with another dog to share ministry with me).
Grace Notes 