Here are the very first pictures of my baby boy back in November 2016. Look how tiny he was!! No bigger than a water bottle but you can be sure he's had the confidence of a lion from the start! Kobe's mom was a Maltese, and his dad was a Yorkie. He came into our lives when he was 8 weeks old and it's so hard to remember what life was like without him.
Life was harder then...harder because just a few months before Kobe, my 12 year old yellow Labrador Emma passed away. She was my first dog that I waited all of my childhood to have! You see, my parents, my sister and I lived in town without a backyard big enough for a dog to play in. My parents didn't feel as though it would be fair for us to have a dog where they couldn't run around and play. I totally understand now, but of course as a child this is absolutely the hardest thing to wrap your head around. Why couldn't I just have a puppy like my other friends? It must have killed my parents to have to say no to two little girls who used their birthday and Christmas wishes for a new puppy every year!
Finally when I was 13 years old, we moved out to the country on 30 acres of land which meant I could finally have my puppy! There was only one problem left standing in the way of my dreams finally coming true and that was the weather. You see, Pennsylvania winters are super harsh and again my parents felt it wouldn't be the right time to bring a dog into our lives. You have to take a puppy outside to train them and with some winters giving us negative temperatures and many feet of snow, it was hard to argue the fact that the whole puppy process would be an easier one if the weather was a little more pleasant. With that being said, that was the longest winter of my life! I felt like I was never going to see green grass ever again under all of that snow! Spring sure enough came around however and that's when I finally got my little girl. I think because my parents felt so bad they had been unable to give us what we wanted most up until this point, they let my sister and I each get a dog of our own! The day Emma came into my life was one of my happiest and one I'll never forget. We drove almost 3 hours to a pick up two puppies from a family that had a litter of purebred Labradors (my sister wanted a male chocolate lab) and let me tell you that it was love at first sight! She slept on my chest the entire ride home and never made a sound. I had never loved something so much in my entire life! I was 14 years old and I had my best friend in the entire world by my side. Nothing will ever replace that feeling. Growing up, she was there for me when no one else was. She would love me when I would forget to love myself. So many of you know the bond that I am speaking of. She forever left her paw prints on my heart...and forever there she will stay.
Here is Emma and Toby as babies! Seeing these photos again makes my heart so happy!
Here are a few more of her all grown up!
She passed away in July of 2016 due to a cancerous tumor on her spleen. The day my baby left this world was one of my worst and even now brings tears to my eyes. I believe even 50 years from now it'll do that same thing. Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong, but there was something extra special about Emma. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her, but know she's still here with us. There have actually been a few times where I have SEEN her out of the corner of my eye! It may seem silly to some, but I know that I truly still have a connection with her even after her passing. She is one of my many guardian angels watching over me now and for that I am forever grateful.
I wasn't sure how long it would take me to actually want another dog again. My heart was too broken from my loss to even think about getting a dog to fill her place. I knew Emma wouldn't want me to ever be sad, and to this day I know she had a part in placing little Kobe perfectly into our lives. Paul and I waited 4 months before we decided to take on the responsibility of another puppy, and we have loved him from the moment we laid eyes on him!! He has made us the happiest dog parents in the world and we couldn't be more thankful to have him be a part of our family!
Here are a few more of his baby pictures :)
Every now and then I get lucky enough to see pieces of Emma in Kobe when he plays with his puppy pals or when he wants to cuddle with me after a long day. Dogs really are the greatest in the world. I hope if you've made it this far in my story that you've been lucky enough to experience the same loving relationship with your own fur baby! After all, the only thing wrong with dogs is that they can't live forever <3
XOXO - Kylie
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers