It's going to be tough to go home and not find Kaiser there wiggling his little tail nub at me. Kaiser's tail never wagged, it wiggled and when it really got going, his whole backside would move along with it. And while Kaiser was a Dobbie, his ears were not clipped so they were long and floppy and so soft. But the fact remains that even with his cute tail and ears, Kaiser was still a Doberman and he was big and strong and I guess could be scary although I would never see it. Like the time there was a rash of robberies around Meadow Creek (if you can believe it...) and one day, it looked like our neighbors were the next victums. Two seconds after their car alarm starts going off, Dad is up and out the back door and as he is running down the deck he yells back "Let Kaiser out! Let Kaiser out!". I would be lying if I said I didn't hesitate for a half second before I came to my senses (probably more like a quarter of a second, Dad!) and called Kaiser and he went tearing out after my dad barking like mad. It was the strangest thing because this is a dog who usually would get yelled out for charging out the door without being let out and whether it was the tone of my voice or what but he knew something was up and he was going to protect his family.
And then there were the times Kaiser found himself, not the hero, but in, shall we say, the doghouse. I know my brother is probably saying to himself, "Oh, geez, now she's going to bring up the garlic bread..." and yes, dear brother, I am. I was making dinner and had just finished an entire sheet of garlic bread, all buttered and garlic'ed and cheese'ed and sitting on the counter waiting to go into the oven when I left the kitchen for some reason. When I came back, the ENTIRE sheet of bread was gone from right off the counter and Kaiser was no where to be seen. Gone! All of it! I stopped rubbing out his occasional paw prints on the carpet for several weeks after that incident.
I used to like to think of myself as the cool older sister or cool aunt to Kaiser...I would give him an extra treat. I would keep his meanderings to no-go zones to myself. I would let him sleep on the bed although I would always sheepishly admit this to my brother after the fact (good cop/bad cop, maybe?). He had some minor surgery and had to wear one of those cone things so he didn't lick his bandages. Oh, he was NOT happy about that. He used to walk around all pathetic and embarassed...and maybe it was all his plan but it worked and I caved and let him sleep on my bed. All pathetic and embarassed was gone really quickly after that...cheeky. Up he bounds and does not curl up at the end like dogs do in the movies but plops himself down, happy as a clam, right smack in the middle of the bed! He slept like a lamb. I did not...and he went back to his bed soon after that but I like to think I got bonus points for at least those nights.
This was a dog who had me the minute he came bounding out of his little cage as soon as I walked into the room while hiding from everyone else. This was a dog who was such a freak about catching frisbees that "the F word" took on a new meaning in our house because you didn't dare say it if you weren't walking to the special shelf in the garage. This was a dog who was loved so much that when he didn't eat much in his last days, got special meals of double cheeseburgers. I am very sad that I was not there for Kaiser's last days but I'm not so good at stuff like that anyway. I knew that when I said goodbye to him back in November before coming back to Tokyo that I was probably saying goodbye for the last time. And I think he knew it too. Kaiser was a member of the family and while we loved him desperately, no one loved him like my brother. He was Branden's boy and even though his not here anymore, always will be. While there will certainly be other dogs in our lives, there will only ever be one Kaiser. We will miss you, Crazy!
