08 Jul Sad Times on the Farm – saying goodbye to Malakhi

The past few months has been rough in many ways.  The weather for one,  has sucked.  My health has left me incapable of doing many things I love – like gardening, horseback riding, running, or even standing for more than an hour at a time…awesome right?  But hey, I’ve learned a lot about kidneys.  Aside from work and family, many other things have been pushed to the back burner, including this blog.  The one thing I am really thankful for is that I was able to spend a lot of time at home with my dog Malakhi before he passed away earlier this week.  He has been a huge part of my life for the past 13+ years.

Malakhi 1997-2011 My sweet boy loved kids and the warm sunny deck.

If you ever spent time with “Mali”, he was one of those dogs you’d probably never forget.  He was incredibly sweet with soft eyes and a big heart, but had the classic intimidating  look of a male pit bull: stocky, large head and jaw with beautiful markings.  Mali was a perfect poster child representing the American Pit Bull Terrier breed as a family dog, he had wonderful temperament with people and other animals.  If fact, he played mommy to our kitten and was trained to watch over our chickens. He lived a long good life – just shy of his 14th birthday he passed naturally at home, but had done more in his lifetime than many people I know.  He was well traveled, had lots of adventures from running agility courses, hiking on glaciers to winning Best in Show and having his picture in dog magazines.  We have a huge boxful of awards, ribbons and trophies he won and he even held doggy titles such as “UKC Gr. Ch.” (Grand Champion) and AKC’s CGC (Canine Good Citizen).

Not having him around has left a huge hole in my heart which will take some time to get through.  He was like my first child and we spent a lot of time together- nearly half of my life!  Unconditional love is hard to come by and I will miss having him happily greet me everyday and keep my feet warm at night.  Our younger dog Spanky seems depressed, confused and doesn’t really know his place yet.  I will plan to schedule doggy play dates for him but I figure he also needs time to grieve.  Its a good thing I have a million photos of Mali…. being silly, being handsome, having fun and loving us.  He will be missed…

kisses from Mali

Mali – the puppy mentor