A Little Lonely...A Little Lost

Kuma and Mishka

10 February 2011

So, although Kuma is gone, we still have our little Mishka. Mishka is 2 years older than Kuma was, and she will be 10 in December. She often limps on her back right leg, but other than that, she seems pretty healthy. She has always been a sweet, lovable dog who yearns for all the attention you could possibly give her. She is calm and fairly quiet. She and Kuma had some great playing times when they were younger. They would do tug-of-war with pull toys, dragging each other back and forth until one finally tired out and gave up. They would roll around out on our porch when it was all screened in, stretching the screens to the max. One day they were both out there, and after awhile it seemed rather quiet. I let Mishka in, then looked around the corner for Kuma. No Kuma. But a large tear was visible in the screen at the far end of the porch. Had Mishka followed her brother out the hole? No, she was a good doggie. Had she barked to let me know he was running wild? Nope, not a peep. In fact, I suspect she was rather glad to see him go, and was happy with the peace and calm for awhile. They shared toys and treats and often finished each others food when no one was looking. They sometimes slept close to each other, but other times went their own way too. But if we went for a ride in the car, they were always together in the back seat.

Now, there's only Mishka, and she still seems rather confused. She won't lay in her normal spot in the living room. She takes awhile to eat in the morning. like she's waiting for us to put Kuma's food down too. At night, when I take her out before bedtime, she lags back because Kuma always took forever to get up. But the hardest is when we have to leave the house. She comes downstairs and goes to the door of the garage like she doesn't want to be left alone in the house. She sits there looking at me as if to say, "Please don't leave me by myself. It's too lonely, I don't know what to do." We have a trip coming up, and we have debated what to do with her. We had planned to take both of them to the kennel where we always leave them and where we also take them to be groomed. We do have a neighbor who would come over to check on Mishka if we wanted to leave her at the house, but we think it will be best to take her to the kennel. She will be with other dogs and people nearly all the time because it's also a doggie daycare, and we are thinking that may be best. We don't want her to feel completely abandoned in the house. It will be hard on her and on us, and I know we will be so glad to see her when we get back.

Mishka

10 August 2014