Hello everyone My name is John I live in TN and my boy is a 3 year old Fawn Boxer named Kaen. I was given Kaen as a gift shortly after my 7 year old fawn boxer Keylo passed away because of cancer. At the time I really did not know if I wanted to put my self through such a painful loss again and especially so soon afterwards, I also felt like somehow I was betraying Keylo by "replacing" him so soon. Right away I knew having Kaen was going to be a blessing because while he displayed so many of the boxer common traits that I knew from Keylo he was still very much his own dog and personality. For the first months of his life I was the only person Kaen knew, he was very attached to me since I was a full time student.
After having him for almost a year and the two of us being best friends and doing everything together, I got called to active duty in response to the war. My initial reaction was to return him back to my mother who had given him to me to, and I would get him when I returned. Before my planned visit to my parents house our unit bumped up its departure date and I found myself in a bad situation I had no way to bring my dog all the way to my parents house and return in time to make the deployment. Luckily (or at least I thought at the time) a good friend of mine told me she would take care of Kaen while I was gone so I agreed with out too much worry as I had no reason to doubt she would take care of him, she had a dog of her own and I had never seen her neglect or abuse her dog.
Much to my disapointment and my parents relief I was sent to Cuba instead of Afghanistan, and the estimated tour would be 7 months. After a month in Cuba I was making calls to people back home and I called my friend who had Kaen, she seemed like something was wrong and I became very worried and kept trying to get it out of her, finaly she admitted that she could not find Kaen that shortler after I had left he disappeared. I felt sick and my heart droped into my stomach. There was no way I would be able to be sent home because my dog was missing, I asked her if she had done anything to try and find him of course she said she did (lied). For the next couple days I was extremely frustrated and upset, I called another friend of mine who lived near her and asked him if he had heard anything. My friend told me that she had not been hom ever since I left for Cuba that she was staying at her parents house mostly in another city leaving her dog and Kaen at the house all alone. He said he saw Kaen earlier and would go look for him. I called him back later and he told me "there is something wrong with Kaen", basicly he found Kaen in a field across from her house looking completely dead...in fact he originaly thought he was dead. Kaen would have died that day if my friend had not found him in that field, the vets said they do not know how he was still alive to begin with. I became completely irate at this point I needed to be there but that was impossible, so I did the only thing I could I called my mom and she arranged a rescue crew to retrieve him and bring him to her house.
After 7 months in Cuba I returned home to find a very healthy and happy Kaen face eagerly waiting for me and happy to see me. For a long time he would not let me out of his site and anytime I had to leave him at the house my mom said he stayed by the window or door the entire time. His experience definately has caused him trauma and it is a HUGE regret in my life, but I am thankful for the miracle that he survived and is an extremely healthy dog. Kaen is not a dog to me, I dont own him, we are best friends and he knows me better than most people do. I worry about him anytime I have to be away from him as he does for me.
In the end I have come to the conclusion that while thier passing is extremely painful the joy that they bring during thier lives is irreplacable. I lost a part of my heart when Keylo passed on but my heart was twice as big as it would have been with out him. Kaen has helped me to realize that so I am thankful to all our fury friends.
After having him for almost a year and the two of us being best friends and doing everything together, I got called to active duty in response to the war. My initial reaction was to return him back to my mother who had given him to me to, and I would get him when I returned. Before my planned visit to my parents house our unit bumped up its departure date and I found myself in a bad situation I had no way to bring my dog all the way to my parents house and return in time to make the deployment. Luckily (or at least I thought at the time) a good friend of mine told me she would take care of Kaen while I was gone so I agreed with out too much worry as I had no reason to doubt she would take care of him, she had a dog of her own and I had never seen her neglect or abuse her dog.
Much to my disapointment and my parents relief I was sent to Cuba instead of Afghanistan, and the estimated tour would be 7 months. After a month in Cuba I was making calls to people back home and I called my friend who had Kaen, she seemed like something was wrong and I became very worried and kept trying to get it out of her, finaly she admitted that she could not find Kaen that shortler after I had left he disappeared. I felt sick and my heart droped into my stomach. There was no way I would be able to be sent home because my dog was missing, I asked her if she had done anything to try and find him of course she said she did (lied). For the next couple days I was extremely frustrated and upset, I called another friend of mine who lived near her and asked him if he had heard anything. My friend told me that she had not been hom ever since I left for Cuba that she was staying at her parents house mostly in another city leaving her dog and Kaen at the house all alone. He said he saw Kaen earlier and would go look for him. I called him back later and he told me "there is something wrong with Kaen", basicly he found Kaen in a field across from her house looking completely dead...in fact he originaly thought he was dead. Kaen would have died that day if my friend had not found him in that field, the vets said they do not know how he was still alive to begin with. I became completely irate at this point I needed to be there but that was impossible, so I did the only thing I could I called my mom and she arranged a rescue crew to retrieve him and bring him to her house.
After 7 months in Cuba I returned home to find a very healthy and happy Kaen face eagerly waiting for me and happy to see me. For a long time he would not let me out of his site and anytime I had to leave him at the house my mom said he stayed by the window or door the entire time. His experience definately has caused him trauma and it is a HUGE regret in my life, but I am thankful for the miracle that he survived and is an extremely healthy dog. Kaen is not a dog to me, I dont own him, we are best friends and he knows me better than most people do. I worry about him anytime I have to be away from him as he does for me.
In the end I have come to the conclusion that while thier passing is extremely painful the joy that they bring during thier lives is irreplacable. I lost a part of my heart when Keylo passed on but my heart was twice as big as it would have been with out him. Kaen has helped me to realize that so I am thankful to all our fury friends.
