A Tribute to Dakota

7/12/2006 – 9/1/2019

We got Dakota from Pam and Pete Polling from Illinois as a nine week old pup. Dakota came from some good lines and her dad was exceptional in the hunt test world. Her favorite spot was sitting near me as I taught piano lessons. She loved to lay on her bed under my chair or would curl up under the piano. As long as she was near me she was happy and well behaved. She loved retrieving and was easily trained. When she was 9 months old we took her out to Jeff Weber for some professional training. She did great with him and came back a finished retriever. Kirk loved to hunt with her and she loved to go hunting but Dakota was probably the first of all of our dogs that was more devoted to me than Kirk. Because of that I had a strong connection to her. I knew this dog would always be looking out for me and doing all she could to please me.

I’ve always described Dakota as being more independent than our other females have been. I’ve noticed female dogs are a lot more needy of love and affection than the couple of males we’ve had. If you are sitting down every female we’ve had needs to have their head on your lap getting scratched and petted. If you stop they’ll nudge your hand for more. Dakota loves some attention, loves those pats and a good belly rub but she’s also good to be content laying at my feet or nearby where she can see me.

When it was time to go for a walk oftentimes Kirk would be ready before me and would head out with the dogs while I was still getting my shoes on. I would step out the front door onto the porch to see that Kirk was already 100 yards from the house with all the dogs but Dakota would always be lagging quite a ways behind watching to see if I was coming. The minute she would see me she would come a running to escort me on the walk. When we were done walking she would escort me up the sidewalk, onto the porch and inside the front door before going around the house to come in the back or to explore the yard. Again, she was very devoted to me. I love that she taught that trait to her daughter River who is now the one to look out for me.

When Dakota arrived in September 2006 we as a family and myself individually were entering into some very difficult times. She came as a little ray of sunshine and a distraction from the trials and hardships we were experiencing. Our youngest son Damen had just been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and was in end stage liver failure at the age of 19 and had just been put on the liver transplant list at the University of Utah. Our oldest son Josh and his family, wife Lindsey and 4-month-old baby girl McKinlee had just moved in with us in transition and needing a little help. Dakota was snuggly and sweet, just what I needed to give me a little extra love and comfort through the months and years that our family was in turmoil. Since that time our family has had more trials, more joy and many tough experiences and Dakota has been here through it all. She’s been here through the growth of our family with 2 more of our children getting married and the addition of 15 grandchildren. She has been a wonderful alpha dog in our dog pack as the older dogs passed on and she became the matriarch.

Dakota was a little on the shy side around strangers and other dogs or perhaps it was her protective nature towards me but she did not like having strangers approach her to pet her. She had a deep bark and could sound very scary. It was her way of keeping others away from her. She wasn’t mean, just a little shy. She was also that way around other dogs she didn’t know.

Dakota was an awesome mom and loved it when a new litter arrived! She produced 45 puppies in her career. You were lucky if you got one of her pups as she passed so many of her good traits on to those puppies. We have had so much positive feedback on our Dakota pups. You can see some of these pups on our webpage in the references page. We were smart enough to save a pup from her last litter and I am so grateful we did! River is an awesome dog, probably the easiest we’ve ever trained and is so much like Dakota in her devotion to me and her independence. She is a little more affectionate than Dakota but still very good about being close by without being underfoot. Even this morning as we returned from our walk it was River who escorted me up the sidewalk and waited until I was inside before running off to be with the other dogs who were already around the back of the house.

Dakota loved being with me in the house and I could tell she was a little offended when I had to restrict the dogs to only being in the family room end of the house. I started teaching a few students who had dog allergies or who were afraid of dogs so I had to keep the dogs away from the piano room. They each had nice beds in the family room and enjoyed their time lounging there through the cold winters. A couple of years ago Dakota started developing some arthritis. I could tell she needed more time inside even through the summer so she has been inside for 100% of the time for a couple of years now. She still loved to go on our walks every morning and evening and had developed quite a limp the last year or so. I have tried many different products to help her out from expensive medicines to natural remedies. The natural stuff helped more than the medicines and CBD oil seemed to give her the best relief so that is what she was on for the last few months along with the other natural products.

Every now and then we would go out of town to visit our family, the grandkids, etc. and my Mom who lives right behind us would become the caretakers of the dogs, letting them out of their kennels in the morning, feeding them, making sure they have water and what they need. Then in the evening she would come back around dusk to put them in the kennels for the night. Although we have an underground fence around our property to keep them home during the day, the kennels are a great spot for them overnight.

This past Labor Day weekend we took off for Washington to visit our daughter and her family, leaving the dogs for Mom to care for. The weather was great and I didn’t want my Mom to have to come let Dakota out of the house every 3 or 4 hours so just like many other times when we were gone, Dakota was left out with the other dogs. I knew she may not want to go in her kennel when Mom put the others in so I told Mom “If she doesn’t want to go in the kennel that’s okay, just leave the door open so she can get in and on her bed when she wants to”. Everything went great, just like clockwork until Sunday evening when Mom heard a huge commotion around 10:30 p.m. with the dogs barking frantically, growling, etc. She came out on her porch and turned on the light but didn’t dare go over to check things out. We live in a wooded area and rarely but occasionally in the last 29 years of living here we would hear reports of someone seeing or hearing a mountain lion. With her porch light on the ruckus stopped so Mom turned it out and went back to bed. A few minutes later she heard it all again and after a few more minutes it was done and all was quiet. The next morning when she went over to feed the dogs Dakota was not there in the kennel and she didn’t come to her calls. She fed the other dogs and went around to the front of the house looking for her and that is when she discovered Dakota’s mutilated body lying on the edge of the yard next to the driveway. She called my brothers to come move her into the garage and when they got there one brother felt like this looked like it could be a mountain lion attack and he called the Sheriff’s department. The deputy came out along with an experienced trapper who looked at the evidence both on Dakota’s body and in the yard. He discovered 3 mountain lion tracks and the measurements of the canine marks in the gash of the neck of Dakota indicated this was indeed a mountain lion. They put up a game camera to see if they could spot it coming back but so far nothing.

We got home late Monday night and our neighbor who owns a little tractor came over and dug a grave for Dakota. I put her cushy dog bed in and then we lowered her body into the grave, covering her with another of her beds to protect her from the dirt and rocks. She is out by my little memorial garden I planted the summer after my Dad died. It looks like there will be a beautiful bed of hollyhocks blooming there next summer. It is an honored and treasured part of our property. Of course I have been through all the would have, should have, could haves that I could go through. It is like torture to think of what my dear Dakota went through as she was only trying to protect our home and her sister dogs from this awful attacker. She didn’t stand a chance against the powerful predator of a mountain lion. I feel so bad that I wasn’t here to let her in the house, to protect her in her time of need. I had not thought once about the fact that having her in the kennel was a protection to her. It isn’t like mountain lions are real prevalent here. It is in fact a residential community with many homes and families, etc. I take solace in the words of the deputy who said that Dakota gave her life to warn all of us of the dangers around us and hopefully because of her death she may save the life of one of the children in the neighborhood. And I am SO grateful my Mom did not come over to check on the dogs that night.

I’m still flooded with tears now and then as I think of Dakota and the wonderful companion she was. I come down the stairs every morning, walk down the hall and still have that feeling that she is just right in there in the family room on her bed but of course she is not. I am glad she is no longer in pain, no longer struggling to do all she feels she need to do as my companion even though it hurt her to walk but knowing the way she went will be painful to me for a very long time. A couple of well-wishers have expressed how awesome it is that she has such a great story to share of how she died! How many can say they died trying to defend their home from a cougar? I’d like to think she is accompanying someone else on their heavenly walk. My dad loved to walk in our neighborhood. Perhaps Dakota is by his side or with someone else who knew her here. There are several dog lovers from the neighborhood who have passed on. I will look forward to the day when I will join her, put my arms around her and tell her I am sorry for what she went through to die and also tell her thanks for being such an influence on me. I am a better person for having had her in my life these past 13+years and I will treasure my River and the other dogs I still have. Dogs are such a gift to us.