A Year On

One year ago today, almost to the minute (since I started writing this post, at at least), since Daisy crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We still miss her every day; we keep pictures of her up on shelves and as backgrounds on our phones. We went so far as to get a plush replica of Daisy made that we keep on the counter near the front door.

With all of this you’d think we haven’t moved on. And to some extent, you’d be right: Daisy was with us for 14 and a half years, and it takes more than a year to get over a loss like that. My son is still younger than that as I write this — imagine the magnitude of a loss like that. Some people never get over that.

Before Christmas of last year, Kasha joined the family. I stand by what I said — that she is not a replacement for Daisy. It would be unfair to put that expectation on any dog, and it would be stupid for us to think of her in that way. Indeed, when we brought her home, she hid in a corner and generally kept her distance from the family. She refused to wear a collar or harness, had no clue what to do with stairs, and didn’t even want to eat. The “not eating” thing ended pretty quickly as she realized pretty quickly that it’s necessary for life. She also warmed up to the collar and harness, making walks a lot easier, and eventually figured out stairs too.

Kasha still has her moments. She occasionally forgets that she can go outside to poop and lets loose on the family room floor, at which point her more traumatic puppy mill memories take over and she cleans up after herself — meaning she eats the poop. It’ll take longer to train that out of her, but we’re making progress as that doesn’t happen all that often anymore.

She still has this one weird habit: she jumps up on the top of the sofa and licks the top of my head. But while she is 100% distinct, her own dog as it were, she has filled Daisy’s shoes in a very unique way — a way that only another Shiba Inu can. Yes, we still miss Daisy terribly, and we love Luna because she’s been here for us the whole time, but Kasha has found her place in this family and we love her just as much.