Two

Want to know a secret? The first half of last week was kind of rough. I found myself tearing up almost every day; it was like this weird relapse of mourning, and I just missed Kai a lot. I had weird moments where I would be putting away laundry in the closet where Kai frequently hid, and would suddenly feel tears welling up. I was vacuuming on Thursday and literally thought to myself, what I would give to have a couch full of fur again.

Before we lost Kai - way before - we had made the decision that this summer we were going to get her a sister. She was pretty bored, always howling at me when I tried to get work done, and was the most happy when she was at the dog park.

Fast forward to this spring, when we were suddenly dog-less and devastated. We pretty much immediately knew we wanted two together this time -  siblings - when the time was right. Yet we also knew we needed time to grieve Kai, and get through a busy spring.

So for the past month I started scouring husky Facebook groups and classified ads for two siblings, either two females or male/female pair, we didn't care as long as they got along and were located somewhere in Israel.

Side note: The amount of Huskies (and dogs in general) that we've seen living in Tel Aviv has possibly been more than I've seen in my entire life. Being well aware of this, I quickly became panicky that we would never find two together who needed a home. I saw plenty of single Huskies who needed homes and they would almost immediately get scooped up by a willing party.

This past Friday night, I received a message from a man I had contacted awhile ago. He was active in a Husky Israel Facebook group I belonged to, always posting pictures of his 8 huskies - three adults, and five puppies. I had messaged him simply asking where he had gotten his dogs, that they were beautiful and I was struggling to find Huskies who needed homes in Israel. He told me how he had rescued the three adults separately, and the male and female had mated and had puppies. I told him they were all beautiful and we left it at that.

His message read: How is the search for two huskies together going?

Me: Not great, I look every day though...

Him: Well, after a lot of discussion with my wife, we've come to the conclusion that we can't afford to take care of/raise all of the puppies - it's just too much. If you and your husband are willing to raise them together and give them the care they need, you can take a brother and sister home...

Me: Yes.

Coming home!

The next morning, we drove the two hours south into the desert, near the Dead Sea, and met the pack of 8 - and brought home the brother and sister - Kira and Dakota. They weren't too sure about us at first, but after a few trips to the dog park and some treats this past weekend, I think they're warming up.

They're six months old, born in November (just like Kai was). Dakota currently weighs 3 kilos less than Kira; she kind of acts like an alpha and is my shadow. We kept the names they came with as they both already know them, but we abbreviate Dakota to Koda.

They were trained in Hebrew (sit = shev) so we are working on training them in both English and Hebrew - bilingual doggos. All of my time at the dog park with Kai has taught me most of the basic commands.

Is three months after losing our first pup too soon to get two more? Really I don't think there is a right answer. I don't think you ever fully get over losing your best friend way too young, and I also don't think you are ever ready to take on raising and training two Husky puppies together in a foreign country. I do know that Kai loved all other dogs and this is what she would have wanted for us; to grow our pack and love them well.

Stay tuned, they're already a furry handful and we love it.

Cheers-

Kait

Backwards

Fun fact: Our pup Kai turned 11 months this past week, meaning she is officially in her last month of 'puppy-hood'

Kai @ 4 mos - the first day we got her

Speaking of Kai, have I mentioned that she's a huge spaz?  I wouldn't call her uncoordinated, but she does gets distracted super easily.  Her biggest spaz-moments usually happen on walks and runs - something will catch her eye, usually above or behind her.  She stops looking forward, but keeps walking forward, and then runs straight into something.

Scenario from our run this morning:

- Run past another puppy on the beach.  We say hello to puppy, keep jogging.
- Kai decides to look back at the puppy, seeing if perhaps puppy is following us home.  We keep running forward.
- Kai runs into large wooden pole, very startled and momentarily confused.

It's always hard not to laugh at her in those moments; the things she has run into are absurd (sometimes it's me) and there are usually people around who witness it and then look at me like 'what is wrong with your dog?'

good question

The simple answer is, she's looking backwards too often.  

Why am I telling a story about how my dog is a ditz? Because I got to thinking after watching her plow head first into the pole, and realized that there's really not a lot to gain from looking backwards.

Yes, now I'm getting a little bit deep.  Looking backwards is distracting, and usually results in either 1. getting thrown off track and/or 2. Not trusting what is forward.

"Fall" here now has me day dreaming and reminiscing hard.  We've hit a beautiful point in TLV (correction - it's always beautiful) where mornings are dropping into the 50's and it feels fall-ish. The cooler air has me flashing me back to autumns that I've had in Illinois, Colorado, and Baltimore.

Yet looking back like this typically gets me emotional and occasionally sends me yearning to be back in that past situation; back in consistency, and comfort zones.  But the reminiscing game simply isn't very healthy, as I think it takes away from the beauty of current situations. These crazy journeys we are all on has us walking forward for a reason. No matter where you are in life, there is simply more to be gained by embracing the present, and trusting the process.

That's not to say looking back on memories isn't a wonderful thing.  I just think there's perhaps a difference between clinging and longing for the past versus valuing the past, and putting trust in the future. Because if you find yourself looking backwards for too long, you may miss a stair and end up face planting on the marble floor - just ask Kai, who was set on watching the pigeons take a bath this past weekend.

And in the meantime, I'll work on getting Kai to stop with the glancing backwards so often on walks. Although I'm pretty sure that this metaphor doesn't necessarily apply to her - she's always happy, no matter where she is or what she's doing.

The things dogs can teach us.

Cheers friends - 

Kait

The pup

Fun Fact: the dog population in Tel Aviv has tripled in the past 20 years

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  I'm not going to go into *extreme* details because it could very well turn into a 20 chapter novel, however, if you ever want more details or advice around flying your dog - whether you're moving or not - reach out to me. I mean it, I'm passionate about it.

Immediately upon learning that our move to TLV was a 'for sure' thing, I began the extensive research process around what would go into bringing our husky pup Kai along with us (there was never a doubt that she was coming).  All countries have different rules and regulations - Israel falls somewhere in the middle in regards to the strictness and complexity of their import rules, at least that's what I've been told.

The planning started months out.  There were strict timelines around certain shots/when lab tests had to be sent, etc.  The last ten days possibly took a month or two off of my life, as she needed a Health Certificate no more than 10 days prior, then the USDA had to sign off on all of the paperwork (I had to drive up to PA for this) and then 2 days prior to flying all paperwork had to be faxed to Ben Gurion Airport in TLV to be approved.

Ben Gurion's fax wasn't working... so after a few international phone calls, and some googling, I found that their fax actually never works. I spoke with one Israeli who basically told me 'not to worry about it' which wasn't the answer I was going to accept.  I eventually ended up getting an email address, that immediately bounced back to me saying the inbox was full.

After a few more persistent phone calls and re sending the email about 10 times, I got the OK from the Veterinary Inspector at the airport. 

My biggest worry (I'm not joking I sometimes laid awake at night running through worst-case scenarios of Kai's first flight) was the water situation.  The flight from Newark to Tel Aviv (we drove up to Newark so that she would be making zero connections) is roughly 10 hours on a good day, gate to gate.  We had to drop her off 3 hours minimum prior to the flight.... plus tack another hour on upon landing, that's 14 straight hours in her crate.  A MASSIVE crate for the record - I could sleep in it if I needed to.

The dog drinks more water than I do, so the tiny ass plastic water bowl that comes with the 'travel kit' wasn't going to cut it.  Not to mention she ripped it off and chewed it up upon our first time leaving her in that crate.

(Panic ensued, I then ordered 3 different travel bowls online to try)

Long story short, I ended up leaving her with 2 metal water bowls on her crate door - United filled both with ice upon her boarding - another plastic water bowl on the side, that I had frozen the night before so that it would slowly thaw... and a hamster waterbottle feeder (also frozen) that I zip-tied onto the outside (because again, she had ripped it off several times in the past) with the nozzle sticking through the crate.

Yes, it was a lot, but better safe than sorry.

I was crying when we entered the Pet Safe office at Newark to drop her off.  If you aren't a dog person judge away, but if you are then you understand dropping your 9 month old puppy off to be put in a plane for 10 hours is heart wrenching.  I'm going to give the Newark office props, because I think they deserve it - the lady I dealt with was great, she reassured me several times, and allowed me to take out Kai twice while we were waiting for them to come take her away.

Her words were "Heck, I think our program is so great I would fly via. Pet Safe if I could"

Unsure why you would opt to fly down under the plane, but I appreciated the reassurance.

Once she was carted away, there wasn't much more we could do besides drink some wine and get ourselves through the next 12 hours.  Prior to boarding, the employees at the gate verified that Kai had been boarded into her temperature-controlled room under the plane - separate from luggage. Regardless, I didn't sleep much, grimaced anytime there was turbulence, and watched the screen on the back of the seat in front of me slowly track our progress across the Atlantic.

Upon landing, it took roughly 45 minutes until we were reunited with Kai. We stood by the over-sized baggage area, and all of a sudden a large garage door opened and Kai was carted in on one of those trucks that are always zipping all over airports.  I saw her little head watching through her side window, probably wondering WTF happened the past 12 hours, but looking perfectly fine nonetheless.  Upon seeing us she starting barking and I again started crying, and the rest is history.

Kai splashing around in the Mediterranean Sea at a local dog beach
<3

Some other time I'll write about why Tel Aviv is actually an awesome dog city (or you can google it, it's actually insane how dog-friendly it is), but in short her transition has been pretty easy. Not to mention she's made my own transition easier - I honestly can't imagine not having her as a companion out here.  She's a handful, but we love her, and can't wait to go on more adventures with her.

Anyways, that's my moving Kai to Israel story.  Hope you have an awesome long weekend!

Cheers - 

Kait

Below is a list of specific advice that I kind of just want out on the internet for those who may need it or be interested. 

- I strongly recommend not to get too deep into the online reviews of the different airlines.  EVERY airline has haters, as well as lovers - but who are the people taking the time to actually get on there?  The haters. I read some scary reviews about the United Pet Safe program, but at the end of the day it seemed to be the most used program to ship pets, and our best bet for a direct flight.
- Know that crate requirements are different per airlines and per domestic vs. international travel. Read crate reviews and know what you are buying. Sizing definitely matters.
- Buy the dog's travel crate a month or two before you fly, so that they can sleep in it at home and get familiar with it.  Try out the different travel bowls as well and find out what works best for your pup.
- Our vet (and it seems most vets) won't really recommend much when it comes to sedating.  Airlines will not fly dogs if they 'look sedated' however, you will find there are things you can try to help them remain calm/more chill.  We experimented with children's Benadryl prior (it makes some dogs actually more hyper, hence why we tried it first) and it chilled Kai out a bit, but not to the point that she was knocked out or didn't have her bearings.  Therefore, we gave her two Benadryl (50 mg total - they say one MG per pound) about three hours prior to the flight.  I also put a pheromone collar on her because why not - you can read more about those here.
- Kai is super high-energy, another reason I was so worried about putting her in a crate for so long.  I did some research, and found a dog park actually fairly close to Newark... so we got up to the area roughly 6 hours before our flight so that she could eat, run around and wear herself down.  I'm actually really glad that we did that.
- $$$ - without going into exact numbers, it's expensive to fly a dog.  Even outside of her actual ticket, the crate, the vet bills, etc. - all of that added up.  Obviously you can't put a price tag on having your best friend with you in your new home, but it's something to keep in mind going into it, to prepare for.