Last night we built a bonfire and spent the evening sharing Charka stories with My mother in law and our friend Johnnie. That dog had such a life.

The story of how she came into our lives was always favorite of mine.

Eric found Chakra one rainy morning on his way to work. She ran in front of his car as she was crossing Federal Blvd, which is a very busy street. He was afraid she might get hit, so he did a u-turn and pulled into a parking lot- from there all it took was one whistle and she happily ran over to him and jumped in the car. He showed up at home with this skinny wet dog, he pretty much plopped her in our living room, and then ran out the door saying "I don't know what to do with her, but hopefully we can find her owners." Mocha, our lab-greyhound mix knew just what to do with her. She quickly greeted her and then guided her around the house, showing off her over flowing food bowl, her water bowl and finally her bed. Mocha had never been one to share anything with other dogs, in fact she is quite teritorial. I was amazed at how the two of them were best friends from the moment they met. Upon further inspection, I realized just how poor of shape this beautiful dog was in. She was a full grown Siberian, however she only weighed 40 lbs. She was incredibly friendly, but if you raised your voice or made a loud noise she would cower and wet herself.

Against my better judgement, I made some "found dog" signs and posted them around the neighborhood. Everyday I was a little more relieved when no one came to claim her. About two weeks later she dissapeared during the night. She was no where to be found, and since I now felt responsible for her, I took down the "found dog" signs and replaced them with "lost dog" signs. I called all the shelters and left lost reports where I could. The city shelter doesn't take lost reports, so you have to call daily to see if they found your dog. Two days later, they had a dog that matched her description. We hurried down to the shelter, and sure enough, It was HER! I went up front to pay her bail while Eric and his mother waited to get her out of the cage. As I was paying I heard a lot of commotion and a woman saying "Excuse me, that is MY dog- are you trying to steal my dog?!" It turned out that as Eric was walking out with Chakra, her old owners were walking in. Chakra seemed excited to see them, and other than the lady accusing us of stealing her dog, they seemed nice enough. Her boyfriend quickly thanked us for taking care of the dog and gave us $75 for the troubles of feeding her and then bailing her out of doggy jail. I chalked it up to fate. Here were the people that we had been trying to find for weeks, they may not be the nicest people, but Chakra seemed excited to see them, and it was just too coincidental to fight it, so we handed over the leash and kissed her goodbye. As we drove away I watched in horror as the woman scolded Chakra (who they were calling Kenda) for running away 2 weeks prior. I felt sick to my stomach, what had I just done?! 

On our way home we stopped and cleaned up the "lost dog" signs that we had posted and went on our merry way. But I still had this nagging worry about the dog that I had grown attached to. I hoped what I had seen, how her owners treated her, was not how she was always treated by them, but I couldn't help but worry.

About two weeks later I recieved a very strange call. I picked up the phone and there was a woman who said "hi, I think I have your dog, and we have a problem" Well, I look over at Mocha and replied "no, my dog is here, you must have the wrong number" She went on to explain that she had seen the sign about her that was posted at Speer & Zuni and that's when it clicked...we had fogotten to take down that sign. She went on to say that she had found Chakra at the park across from her house, she was half starved and terrified of people, and she would be taking us to court for animal abuse. Holy cow, hold on...no no no, I tried to give her the quick version, that she wasn't really our dog- and that only brought more resistance from this concerned woman. So I had to give her the whole version. She told me that she wanted to give her to us, but we had to promise to do everything in our power to keep her from her old owners. This put me in a tough spot, I now knew that this dog had other owners, and I could see thier faces in my mind. The next day I went to pick her up. She caught my scent beforeI could even see her, and she went balistic. The woman happily handed me her leash and laughed that she had even worried about giving Chakra to me. As I took her home, I made her the promise that I would do everything in my power to give her a forever home with us. I called animal control immediatly and told them the situation. I had a meeting with the head of animal control, he documented the state she was in (she was now down to 34 lbs) and then told me to wait- not put up any signs that I had found her, and not leave any found reports with the shelters. He would give the old owners two weeks, If they put in any lost reports at the shelters for Chakra or put up signs, we would have to take it to court. Thankfully, they didn't try. And after one month we were awarded official custody of her from the city & county of Denver. The rest is history...

Tonight we lost one of the lights of our life, our dear dog Chakra. It came as a total shock. I have been preparing for months for the loss of my other dog, Mocha who is 16. Chakra was only 12, and if you spent any time with her, you never would have guessed it. She still played like a puppy and was in good health as far as we knew. As near as we can tell, she suffered a heart attack and was gone instantly. We found her layed out in the backyard and it was clear she had just passed.
She was a classic Siberian Husky from sled dog lines, she could go all day and always still have more to give. Freedom was her passion, and we considered ourselves lucky to be her pack leaders. She was unlike any dog we have ever shared our lives with- a far cry from our happy go lucky labs. Somedays, she would frustrate the heck out of us with her stubborn streak, yet there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't make me smile. She and Eric shared an uncanny bond, and were like perfect mirrors of each other- if he was down, she was too, and vise versa. Every morning she and Eric would get up early for his morning meditations. I would look out to see the two of them sitting motionless as the sun greeted them.
I fear what I will feel when the sun rises tomorrow. I have her laying next to me as I type this, in the morning we will take her to be cremated, but for now she is sleeping one last night in her bed. Rest in Peace my sweet silly dog, you were one of a kind. Thank you so much for choosing us to share your life with.

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