12/03/2023
Friday we had to say goodbye to my sweet Koji. Our time together was way too short, he joined our family in 2019 from a rescue organization that brings dogs from Southern states to Minnesota. In the last week of his life he was diagnosed with acute Kidney failure caused by an infection, we tried hard to get him through it, but he was not able to recover. We learned a few things about his life before he was rescued from xrays and lab work. He was at least 3-4 years older than we had been told when we adopted him based on normal age-related spinal degeneration. He had an incredible capacity and bravery to love humans as we learned from the white dots scattered across more than half his body on his xrays that he survived being shot with bird shot in what the vet said appeared to be more than once, from more than one direction.
He loved to shadow me all day and even more he loved to follow the kids around and was especially curious about what Malik might do next, he would crouch his body down and keep his eyes trained on us as we played on the floor or if Malik wandered around the house I could hear Koji's nails clicking right behind him with a goofy smile on his face happily watching over his flock of one. Every night I would enjoy his cuddles until Bennie was ready to go to bed and would come to retrieve his dog for the night. Inspite of the heartbreak of losing him, I still feel the blessing his presence was to our family. He endured with us through the pandemic providing emotional support, athletic training and companionship to both his human family and our other dog, Olivia. He was always, always a good boy.
