Broken Hearts and Best Friends
As I sat down to compose my thoughts, the song “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton started playing. Wow! How fitting?! The tears starting flowing and just poured down my face—my hoodie catching every single one of them. March 19th marks 1 year of losing Kelty from our pack. That dog was my everything. Mama’s boy to the max! He was so in-tune to my emotions and always knew what I needed. Always! I swear if he was a person, Kelty would have been my soul mate. No doubt about it. Losing our sweet boy rocked me to my core. I was an absolute wreck and depressed for quite a while. As I navigated through my grief, I knew that at some point I had to move on. I knew everything would get better with time, but how long would it take? And what would it take?
Nick and I were heartbroken. That’s the only way to describe it. After receiving a sudden and unexpected terminal diagnosis and having to make the decision to euthanize our dog in a matter of days was the hardest thing we ever had to do. It required us to put our selfish desires aside and think of what was best for our sweet boy. I think we made the right choice, although I wanted to love on him forever.
About 8 months before losing Kelty, we added a pup to our clan. Well, let me back track for a second to help set the scene. Shortly after getting married, we brought Kelty and Sierra home. They were litter mates and truly inseparable. They did EVERYTHING together. We even spayed and neutered them at the same time, and left Kelty overnight with Sierra so they wouldn't be apart. I know, crazy!! The only time they were apart was literally a month before he passed, when Sierra had to stay overnight at that vet following her 2nd knee surgery. That’s it! The two of them had an incredible bond and loved each other so much. Although the life expectancy of a GSP is fairly decent, we knew at 9 that they were getting older and didn't know how much hunt they had left in them, especially Sierra with all her ortho injuries. So we thought it was a good time to add a 3rd into the mix, not knowing what was lurking up ahead.
You can imagine what it was like adding in a puppy with 2 senior dogs. Both were skeptical at first, as expected. However, it wasn't long before we realized we had a problem on our hands. Kelty was, well just Kelty. He was such a sweetheart and a giant baby, so we knew he would eventually come around and take to Sage—and he did and they became really close. Sierra on the other hand—totally different story. It had always only been her and Kelty and now another pup was coming in and threatening their relationship. At least in her eyes that’s what was happening. She was pissed. I'm not sure what she hated more—the mere presence of Sage or the fact that WE (mom and dad) brought him home. How dare we? Either way if she could talk, I know we would have heard, “Are you fucking kidding me?” at least 20 times a day. It was all over her face. We literally could not leave her and Sage unattended. Not even for a little bit. She would've probably killed him and I’m not even kidding. There were no interactions with those two unless Nick or I were right there and if we weren't quick enough she put holes in him—quite literally. Poor little thing. He was annoying though, just as puppies are. Sierra just didn't tolerate any part of him. Nothing. It was bad. I was nervous that this was not going to work out.
As the months passed and Sage learned boundaries, Sierra started to tolerate him. But not much more than that. We at least weren't on edge with every waking moment. Still didn't see much of a budding relationship with the two of them, however. Luckily Kelty just adored him and they became the best of friends. They were the definition of brotherly love. Wherever Kelty was—Sage was right there with him. He wanted to be just like his big brother. He loved Sierra too, but from a safe distance.
After Kelty passed I was worried how Sierra and Sage would be together. Their relationship wasn’t great when Kelty was alive so this would be interesting. For the first few weeks, I could tell they were both really depressed. It was mostly visible in Sierra. She would look for Kelty all the time, checking all the rooms. Then she would just go lay down. Every sound she heard, her head would pop up. Other than that, Sierra had very little interest in anything. We made the extra effort to get her out to the park as much as possible to run around and get fresh air. She mostly just walked and moped around as she was still recovering from surgery. Sage would try to engage her and get her to play but the interest just wasn't there. We entertained him and kept him occupied as best we could ourselves. Gosh, that was a non-stop job! Still is!!
After about a month I think Sierra learned that Kelty wasn't coming back to us. So sad! She finally perked up a bit and had a change of heart. She knew it was just her and Sage now and he wasn't an enemy after all. Thank goodness! He always loved her so much but she wanted nothing to do with him. Things were different now. The two of them became closer with each passing day. I think Sierra knew that Sage really needed her and quickly realized she needed him just as much. I was in awe watching their relationship grow. They mended each other's broken hearts for sure.
It's now a year since Kelty passed and the love and bond that Sierra and Sage have is nothing short of amazing! They truly are the best of friends and love each other very much. I didn't think this would ever happen. The youthfulness and playful personality that Sierra exhibits right now, is something we haven't seen in maybe 4 years or so. To be honest, I always thought we'd lose her first because for quite some time she just lacked interest in most things. Wouldn’t really play, snapped at everybody and everything. I never could tell what was going on, but knew she was off. If it wasn't an injury, it was something else. But this past year has shown us a completely different Sierra. One that we absolutely enjoy. It makes our hearts explode with happiness. We needed to see this so much!
In our house we have routines, especially with the little guy. And if we deviate from them, Sage is sure to let us know. He starts his first round of waking us up around 5:30ish. Gross! Us ladies like to sleep in later than that. Crazy, I know. Sierra is always the last one to come downstairs in the morning. When Sage hears her jump out of bed, he immediately pops up—tail wagging uncontrollably, and he waits for her to make her way down. As soon as she hits the last step, he runs over and greets her and then follows her to the couch. And he does this every single day. It's the sweetest thing! Who wouldn’t want to be greeted like that every day?
Sage and Sierra have finally figured each other out. They know when the other wants to play and when it’s time to take a break. If Sierra isn’t up to playing, Sage will taunt her until she does. He eventually wins. They chase each other around the house, going from room to room. Soon enough, I yell and they take their shenanigans outside! But it’s so hard to get angry when they’re jumping off the couches and being crazy because it makes my heart so happy to watch Sierra with this new found energy. I don’t ever want it to stop. She’s so happy and playful every day, which if you know Sierra—that’s not her, at least it hasn’t been until now. She’s always been more of an RBF kind of dog. Just like her mom! I’ll also add that she never really wanted to snuggle, unless it was on her terms, which was rare. That was Kelty’s thing. He was such a snuggle bug. Now we can’t get Sierra off of us. She even lets Sage come up and snuggle next to her. This can’t be the same dog. Who switched out our dog?
Losing Kelty was painful and devastating. It felt like my heart shattered into a million pieces that would never fit back together. But as I continue to see so much of him in Sierra and Sage, I feel my pieces coming back together. He may be gone but his love and playful personality sure shines through his siblings. Watching the love and bond Sage and Sierra share, brings us so much joy and happiness. If it weren’t for Sage, I think Sierra would have died of a broken heart, shortly after Kelty left us. I hope they have each other for as long as possible!
To our sweet boy in heaven—we love and miss you so much. Thank you for loving us unconditionally for 9 years. You can never be replaced, Kelty Ryder! Sage and Sierra miss you more than you’ll ever know.