Kiki

Well, it hasn’t been nine months, but it’s been almost six… time has been going so fast! So where were we? The house right? *Update* I totally destroyed the garden and have no plans of growing avocados yet (actually, I have no idea if they grow in this part of the country given the cold temperatures. I hope so).

The most exciting news is that my family has received the most beautiful blessing, a little Kiki. Such a beautiful 7 month old Golden Retriever. In case you didn’t know, I had been looking to adopt a dog for months. I checked the SPCA and all of the rescue centres in my city constantly, but had no luck finding a doggo that would fit my household (they had dogs that needed to be the ONLY dog, or dogs not suitable for a house with children… just in case you know?). On Facebook I followed every single adoption page in the country, sent a few emails applying but sadly got no responses. I didn’t feel comfortable buying a dog, it felt so wrong considering all the work we are doing in Colombia with the Storm Paws Foundation. I always thought people that bought dogs were a bunch of selfish assholes that wanted a pure breed dog for social status reasons and I have been very vocal about it… so yeah, kinda choking on my own words right now. Tough!

When you grow up in Colombia you become used to seeing dozens of animals being abandoned on a regular basis. The shelters are full of dogs that the foundations struggle to feed sometimes. The overpopulation of cats and dogs in my home country is heartbreaking, the cruelty and horrible things that happen feel almost unstoppable. All we can do, and all we can focus on is spaying and neutering. That is our reality and that is always in the back of my mind, so thinking about buying a dog made me feel like the biggest asshole (like why buy when there’s so many dogs that desperately need a home?). With time I started to grow frustrated that everything in New Zealand feels “difficult”, I always joked around that I wanted “a free dog” like Simona was, a tiny ball of fur that was on the streets looking for something to eat or a safe place to sleep. I have been in this country for over 4 years and I have never, not even once seen a street dog (and believe me I was always looking out for that).

I then started to consider buying a dog. It took me months to be comfortable with that decision, but adopting one felt impossible at the time, –“Ok, maybe I could buy a dog… but what kind of dog hypothetically speaking”– I started to wonder. The obvious answer to me was to get another Jaco (my 7 year old Golden Retriever). I mean, he’s cool, why not get another right? Also, just to clarify I DID NOT buy Jaco. He is sort of a rescue/given to me because they couldn’t look after him at that time. I couldn’t care less about a dog’s breed, but I had a Jaco, why not try getting another one but the girl version lol. I started doing my research and got in touch with the most reputable breeders of the country and to my surprise there were SEVERAL YEARS on a waiting list to get a Golden Retriever. Not going to lie, but I felt a bit, I don’t know, sadly confused? Like you’d think it wouldn’t be this hard right? I wrote on different pages asking for more info but barely got any responses, it was tough! I mean, obviously you can buy a dog in this sort of… website New Zealand has named TradeMe.  A place where you can sell your old fridge, your car, the tools you no longer need, aaaaand they have a section for pets. This felt wrong to me, I then wondered if people were just making money from breeding dogs and I was supporting these horrible people that profit on animal suffering, I decided that was a no-no to me.

Not long after I signed the papers for my house, the most wonderful woman contacted me. She saw my posts asking about Golden Retrievers, then told me her Goldie was pregnant. This felt right instantly and I can’t exactly tell you why, it just did… perhaps her vibe that I could feel over the conversations we had over texts. They have done all the medical tests, genetics, hips, eyes and a bunch of other things I had no clue they needed in order to be able to breed a dog. She wanted to do one litter and one litter ONLY to keep a little puppy, then she was working so hard trying to find “top homes” for all the puppies. Because of one of my posts, she knew about Jaco and how I brought him all the way here from Colombia and we bonded instantly! I had a sense of peace all over me… I had found my little puppy. I then asked her when the puppies would be born and she said August 4th… AUGUST FUCKING 4TH!!! THAT WAS THE EXACT DAY I WAS MOVING TO MY FIRST HOME!!! I was mind blown at this particular moment, was that a super random coincidence or a sign from the universe this was absolutely meant to be?

When trying to think about names, I was walking through the mall and this song by Drake In my feelings came to my mind. The little part that goes -“Kiki, do you love me? Are you riding? Say you’ll never ever leave from beside me, ’cause I want ya, and I need ya…”- I then stopped and Googled immediately what the name Kiki meant and, I’ll simply copy and paste right here what I saw:

KIKI: -The name Kiki means ‘house owner’ or ‘lord of the manor’. -The name Kiki is a girl’s name of French origin meaning “double happiness”.

See? It was absolutely the perfect name, double happiness as double doggo and house owner #Perfecto. Kiki has been with us for 172 days. I won’t say it was all butterflies and everything was flowing easily. I have never had a puppy and I didn’t realise how much work it actually takes to look after a little doggo. How you can literally not leave them unsupervised for fear they might choke on something, or destroy the ethernet cable. I was very stressed at first and had a serious conversation with my partner, about how I didn’t think it was a good idea to have a baby anymore, considering how much work the puppy was. I couldn’t even start to imagine how much more difficult it is with a baby. It made me very considerate about parents. Guys, you are fucking amazing and I don’t know how you do it, bravo!!! *clap, clap, clap*

The day I got Kiki, I thought it was only fair to make a donation to spay and neuter 30 dogs in Colombia. I couldn’t make a difference for a dog in New Zealand, and there will be some of you that will think I am an asshole for not being more patient with my search for adopting a dog. I will continue my journey of doing all I can do to support foundations and organisations dedicated to better the life of animals in Colombia.

Life is much more beautiful with Kiki around, she is a very loving dog you know? She has a very similar personality to Simona, always cuddly. She follows me around to every room I go just to be there, she likes to sit down on my lap and take little naps and boy, she is so clever! My little ray of sunshine brought a lot of beautiful colours to my world and it made me think, how much more you would love your child? At this point I can’t imagine how that feels because man, it only takes me a look at her and all the stress fades away, she is perfect to me.

I still think about Simona every day, but I feel Kiki has helped heal that pain. For all the people that have lost an animal companion, I am deeply sorry. It took me 5 years to stop tearing up when her memory came to my mind. Her memory will live forever with all the amazing things that have been done in her honour.