Golden Retriever Solves Puzzle - Review Puzzle Toy for Dogs

Closing out and changing the blog's title - Makana then

8 week old Makana born in Hawaii Oct 2001

Cali at 8 weeks of age and Makana at 15 in Jan 2017

Makana then...

It's been two years and I'm finally doing this update.

In 2016 we moved out of Orlando, FL to temporarily stay in NC for a month before going to TN for three months and then settled near Charlottesville, VA around Oct 2016. At each move, since Makana was diagnosed with acute liver disease while we were still in Orlando in 2015 - we never knew how much time we had with her. She was the last of our three dogs and no plans for another.

Thankfully my precious girl from Honolulu-FL-NC-TN-VA - lived another year before we got our golden retriever puppy in Jan 2017. I had wanted another dog but there was never a "good time". However, my hubby finally gave in and Cali dogger our golden came into our lives. Makana was annoyed and 15 at the time, but after Cali realized that she couldn't rough-house with Makana, they two adjusted to each other's company.

In Feb 2017 there were a lot of changes in our lives and we ended up traveling more. With the moves, Makana was accustomed to staying in hotels but she was annoyed once again that we were moving and moving and again when we finally reached VA - she seemed to settle down and didn't have any new health scares.


I took Makana back to FL on two occasions for work. We fleed from hurricanes on more than one occasion while living in FL and on my first trip with her, we again had to leave early. It took over 22 hours to get from Orlando to upper Atlanta before we could check into a hotel on our way back to NE TN. On the second trip to FL, I again left the golden with hubby and took Makana to FL for a two-week work trip. She was always a little slower, poor appetite, and had a bum-knew from years ago when she slipped off the couch. But she was still alert, oriented, and if she could talk, she would tell me the day and time. LoL - those are questions we used to ask patients when I was a social worker to figure out if they were oriented to person, place, and time.

Anyway, at the end of my first week on a Saturday evening, Makana was having difficulty breathing. Similar to how her sister Nala was (14 yo), about a day before she passed.

Makana 6.5 yo and Nala 8 y.o.

This time, Makana could sleep, so neither could I. I was doing a load of laundry on the 3rd floor of the hotel and would take Makana with me from the first floor, put the laundry in, and come back down. It was the wee hours of the morning and this time, I walked to the bathroom and Makana followed me into the room and just stared at me. I took her in my arms as I was going to check the wash again.

As I was walking down the hall to the elevator she made this weird noise, her body went sort of stiff and I thought, "oh no, what's happening?" Prior to that, she had not eaten so I bought her favorite burger and she actually took the meat and ate it.

So this was maybe a few hours later when she was off and on making strange noises, which she had off and on for years due to allergies. As I kept walking to the stairs this time, she jerked and went stiff and then I feel wetness on my arms. I knew I was losing her. I got up the laundry and kept saying, "no, no, no, don't leave me." But it was over in a few seconds. I got a towel and wrapped it around her and quietly wept. She had lost control of her bowels and bladder. I cleaned that up and washed up a bit and went outside to the parking lot.

I think it was somewhere around 5 or 6 am. I carefully bundled Makana in the towel and walked around the parking lot crying and checking to be sure she wasn't breathing. I asked her why did she leave me, and my only thought was that it was time, she knew I would be okay if she left me now. Oh, how I ached. She was my last baby, 16 years old. She had been through so much with me, or shall I say she was there with me through every aching moment of my life that I needed comfort and was there for the joyful times too. But she was also my last connection (dogwise) with what I brought from Hawaii with me, when I moved to FL, away from my family and friends.

Makana at 15 as we entered back into FL from a road trip 

Other things happened and I was glad we were in FL because we knew who to call. My friends were there and a few of them came to sit with me. I knew from Nala's passing since it was a Sunday that I could get her picked up when I was ready or wait until Monday as the pet crematory happened to be nearby.  Hubby drove down with our golden to offer support and to drive me back to VA. It was sad to see our golden run to the hotel room obviously looking for Makana. And when we arrived back in VA a week later, Cali ran to the house as soon as the door opened and searched throughout the house. It was so sad, she didn't get to say goodbye. By the time hubby and Cali got to the hotel it was a couple days later but Makana's scent and her bed was still in the room so I'm sure that was confusing for poor Cali.

It's been 2 years since Makana's passing.
Cali is now a little over 3 years old.
We've moved two more times since Va.
I still miss my gift, my Makana.

But I have many great memories and of course, I have my Cali girl, she holds the secrets that Makana has passed on to her, so now, whenever, someday we get another pup - Makana's stories, that were told to Cali - can still be passed on. ###

Makana's first snow walk Dec 2016