Kuma's Story

I adopted Kuma from a shelter when she was four months old. She was a stray. The papers I received at the time of adoption stated that unless adopted she was to be put to sleep that day. I believe she had some husky and golden retriever besides dominant German shepherd in her. She grew up to be an intensely loyal, smart and affectionate dog with the depth of human quality.

In summertime, while I was mowing grass on my tractor, she would watch me lied down at a distance. When I was working on a slope, I often realized that she was standing, watching me anxiously. As I caught her lying down again, I could almost hear her sigh of relief. And then as the tractor approached where she was, she would keep pretending to look at something. She took it as a challenge to stay put as long as possible, until finally I yelled at her throwing my arm in the air.

Walking in my property of 86 acres, I am repeatedly struck by a sense of disbelief that she is no longer with me. In my mind’s eye, she vividly remains a part of the view wherever I look. Running after a deer into morning mists in the hay field, forever hunting for field mice, chasing a squirrel on top of a stone wall, always ending with crying and whining at a tree, dipping to cool off in this pond or that pond - - - -.

Looking at her tomb, I remind myself of the consolation that helps; She was spared of what I had to go through.