Kera Memorial Page

?? - July 22, 2002

(Kera's story follows at the end.)

Kera before we bought the cabin. Notice the chain. The previous owner had no clue how to deal with this dog. Classic case of pet being smarter than its owner.

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Kera after:

Here she is last November at the site of our new house.

My favorite

Kera's Story

Kera
?? - July 22, 2002

In 1994 Jeff bought a small cabin in the mountains of Colorado that was in pretty rough shape. It had been a rental for many years and in need of repair. When we went with the owner to look at it for the first time, there was this scary looking dog on a huge chain in the front yard. As we approached it was obvious she wasn't scary at all but instead a very soulful creature. It turns out that she had lived there since she was a puppy and through a few sets of renters. The current renter immediately got in our face and told us he was taking her. Fine, we thought. We don't want a dog anyway.

Fast forward a few months later. Jeff had gutted the cabin and was living there in February without a steady source of heat or water. It was miserable and depressing to say the least. One particularly snowy night after getting off work, he drove up the driveway to see Kera there as happy as could be. It seems that she had broken away from the renter's new location and proceeded to run about 10 miles back to the cabin. Jeff was thrilled to have a companion and tried to get her in the house, but she ran off. He jumped in his truck desperate to find her and almost slid off the road in the snowy conditions, but she was nowhere to be found. Sadly he returned back to the cabin only to find her waiting for him there on the steps. She stayed with him ever since.

About a month later the renter came over and bragged to Jeff that he had broken Kera's jaw with an ice scraper. He claimed that she had actually broken away from his new location 4 times and run back to the cabin; the first 3 times he came and picked her up while Jeff was at work. Initially Jeff feared that renter-loser was going to take her back, but instead he said, "I've had 3 wives and she's the worst bitch I ever had, you can keep her." Thankfully, Kera's life had just taken a u-turn for the better.

She was probably about 5 or 6 then and she was just full of it. She had all the beauty and stubbornness of an akita but also came with an absolute love of all humans. She never met a kid she didn't like and loved everyone. She looked like an absolute teddy bear, but with an attitude. Initially, when we used to call for her, she'd take off running the other way. I guess it is safe to assume she had experienced a lot of negative reinforcement during the first part of her life. Her coat was terrible and it appeared she hadn't been indoors for years. She quickly adapted, however, to sleeping on the couch!

Kera was an outstanding companion and over the years she mellowed into the most wonderful dog while never losing that independent streak that was so…well….Kera!

Despite the fact that she developed arthritis in 1998, we managed to keep her going through, initially, supplements, a knee surgery, and finally anti-inflammatories until the summer of 2002.

She was an amazing dog! There will never be another one like her!