Love, Brittney: Kamiah

I'm very sad to say that Kamiah died a couple of days ago.

We got her when McKenzie was just a baby. Some friends of ours were shipping an Australian shepherd from this prestigious breeding family and asked if we wanted one of the litter? We did, and not long after, we got Ellie. I hated the name Ellie (weird this now is I don't hate it, haha). I didn't just not like it, I hated it. I thought everything about it was dumb. So, even though all her genealogical breeding records had her as Ellie, my parents asked if I had a name I'd rather call her?

I thought about it, and in my 7^th grade choir class (this really says how long we've had her!!) there had been a girl named Kamiah. I guess I loved the name, so I submitted it for review and it passed!! She was officially named Kamiah (I cannot think of the name Kamiah for a person any longer. It is a dog's name!!).

We had her 12 years. She was getting old, but no one expected her to die this soon! It was really without warning.

Here is the story:

Kamiah was acting a little weird the last 2-3 weeks so Mom took her into the vet just to see, and turns out her kidneys were failing. The dr. said we could put her on an IV and it might flush out her kidneys and give her a little bit longer. Mom called Dad, and he was having a bad day at work and was so busy and hard to reach. Mom told him the situation, and expected him to say to put her down, as putting her on IV's would be really expensive. But Dad said to do what Mom thought best. So she called the vet back, intending to say we wanted to put her on IV's and see if we could give her kidneys a kick. When she called, the vet told her he hadn't painted a very good picture, and told her the IV's would be painful for Kamiah, and would most likely extend her maybe 3 days, and not a good 3 days. He suggested we put her down. When Mom left Mia at the vet, she said she was just laying on the cement floor, just staring at her like, "why are you leaving me?"

It was almost time for McKenzie to come home for lunch. Mom didn't know what to do. She knew if she told Bob, she wouldn't be able to go back to school. She wasn't sure what decision to make and couldn't reach Dad. When Bob came home, she told her, and Bob started to cry and they went to the vet to tell them to put Mia down. It was hard because they had to make a decision by noon, as all the medical staff was leaving.

Mom said she and Bob held Kamiah as they put her down, and just cried and cried. They took her home, and that night Taylor and Bob (let's be honest... Taylor) dug a hole in the backyard. Then the family had a memorial service for her.

I've never been as close to Kamiah as Mom or Dad or Bob. I loved her a lot, but was more of a distance lover J. More than anything it was just nice having her around, she was part of home.

I'm doing ok... I get teary when I look at pictures of her, but I'm ok. I was mostly worried about Bob. We got them at the same time, so they've grown up together. She took it really hard and kept crying and crying and saying, "I don't know life without her!!" Which is really cute, dramatic and true all at the same time. She slept with my parents last night and fell asleep crying, poor kid. My parents are both really sad... She was the best dog... It'll be so weird going home without her... when I'd come home at Christmas I was so excited to see her. She'd get SO excited, and jump on us, and her butt would be wagging all over the place.

She was so even tempered, and so freaking smart. She rarely barked. Really, the best dog ever.

Just for memories sake – because in 5 or 10 years from now I will have forgotten all of this, I'm going to list her nicknames and memories of her.

Names:

Kamiah (obviously)
Mia
Kamiah Bear
Mia Bear
Myes

Memories:

How hard she was to walk. She was trained to walk right by your side. And she'd do it for Dad because she loved and respected him, but she wouldn't do it for me and it drove me crazy. I'd yell heel!! Over and over and she'd do it for a split second before pulling on the leash. She'd never just take off running and leave your side – but she would push her limits.
She didn't have a tail. So she wagged her butt. Funniest/cutest thing ever.
She looked seriously nasty when she was shaved - but it's so hott in Saudi it really is the only option in the summer. I think she knew she was really ugly shaved, too. Self-conscious about it.
When not shaved, seriously the most beautiful dog ever.

You would take her somewhere, and tell her to sit. Then walk away and she wouldn't move. When you were ready, you'd yell, RELEASE! And she'd come tearing to you.
Going rollerblading with her on the leash and trying to get her to pull me.
Walking with Samar and her dog, Julie. The two of them together… and this one time, we were at the hills soccer field really late at night, and Julie and Kamiah were running all over the place and would run at us and miss us at the last second, and we were screaming like little girls and having a blast. After an hour of this, I noticed a floating light at the other end of the field… I showed Samar, and after squinting it became clear the floating lights were the end of something (we'll just say something) on fire in some peoples' mouthes… we freaked out and left. On the way home, we saw a group of guys from BISA (Boarding school in Bahrain). So we knew the guys, who had been watching us act retarded with our dogs for the last hour. So embarrassing. Hopefully they were to out of their minds to realize it was us or to remember it come Monday.
Arabs in general are afraid of dogs. Having a dog in Saudi was so fun. The weird looks we got, the people running to the other side of the street when they saw her, etc.

One time, Dad was taking the kids sand sledding. This was right after the terrorist attacks, and so security was really tight. So Dad decided to take Kamiah in the car to the dunes and roll down the window so the soldiers would see her and freak out and let us go without going through the iqama and other checks. When we got to the security station, they looked at Kamiah and everyone got jittery. It was at this point Bob reached her head out the window next to Kamiah's and yelled, "PUT DOWN THE CASAROLE AND STEP AWAY FROM THE MINIVAN!!!!" (That is a quote from the movie The Singles Ward. She was probably 6 at the time).
Kamiah bit Bob one time in her whole life. When she was maybe a year old or less. She made Bobbie bleed. Bob deserved it, of course. Messing with Kamiah. But Kamiah didn't mean to hurt her. After that one time of lashing out, it didn't matter how much Bobbie abused her or mauled her or pulled her hair or stuck her fingers in her mouth – Kamiah never again bit her.
When we were going on repat, Kamiah could tell. She'd get all weird and clingy. It was kind of amazing. Even if just one of us was leaving, she could tell.
How we had to have Nilo come dog sit for repats and stuff and it made me mad.
One night I was home alone when I was in jr. high school and scared, so I made her sleep in my bed with me. She hated it.
She was prejudiced against people of color. And she only ever lived in Saudi Arabia where 98% of the people she saw were not white. Go figure.

She never barked. So when she did, it FREAKED me out. I heard somewhere animals are really sensitive to earthy stuff, and would bark before a natural disaster. So i'd be terrified a natural disaster was coming, or some unsavory character was lurking outside our house.
This one time Mom was trying to give her a bath and she didn't want to, and kept hiding underneath my desk at my feet. Mom would pull her on the tile, and she'd slide and fight and get away and come back and it went on for a long time and it was the funniest thing ever.
How she had no self-control when it came to cats or food. She'd chase cats and go under cars after them, and hurt her front legs really bad after years of doing that and had to get surgery. She even face planted into a couple of cars chasing cats and didn't duck soon enough.

(Eating grapes off Camree's forehead. That is really wanting food...)

She loved going through the trash if there was food. She'd make such an awful mess and we'd get so mad at her and she'd cower and cover her face with her paws, but she didn't care. She wanted food.
We had to put any piece of food as far back on the counter as possible, or she'd manage to get it. I still to this day instinctively push my food to the back of the counter, before realizing I don't need to…
She ate Camree's birthday cake one year. The whole thing. We have no idea how she got it off the counter. That is a whole lot of willpower and perseverance.
I loved the freckles on her snout… very favorite.
She followed Mom everywhere.
She had to be next to someone at all times. She was always sitting on your feet. Her favorite spot was under the desk, on your feet. And you'd roll over her paws on accident with the chair but she stayed there right there on your feet anyways.