Kaiden and I have a new family member as of February 13, 2023!!

Kaiden has been by himself since Baby Jake passed in May. It was the very first time he did not have a “dog sibling” with him. He missed Baby Jake as he missed Sir Lukas… but seemed to be doing alright. I was home so he was seldom by himself (He doesn’t like that at all… but knows he has an important job of protecting the house when I am not home). It’s not the same as having a dog sibling…

I looked for a while. Initially, Kaiden’s sister was going to go into heat (thus getting Kaiden’s grandfather in the line) and I was going to get one of her puppies. She had a split cycle… so no pups. Then I found the breeder who had Kaiden’s grandfather – Certik Bertik – and was going to use AI (from some frozen sperm since that dog had passed). It didn’t take. So I continued the search.

Then, on my big sister’s birthday in December, I saw a post of a litter born in Virginia. Kaiden’s grandfather was in both the mother and the father’s line. I contacted the breeder and put money down on a blue merle pup. There were only three blue merle pups… a female, a large/the biggest male and a small male (last one born and one of the smallest in the litter). I ended up taking the small male..

Initially his name was going to be Caleb. I liked that name a lot! Unfortunately – it sounded too close to Kaiden. So I started looking for another name… made a list of names in my book – with the meaning!!

Ended up going with a Dutch name – Koen – which means brave, bold, capable. We picked him up in Paw Paw, West Virginia. He was so small… on February 4, 2023, 7 weeks old – he weighed 7.69 lbs. When I took him to the vet on March 8, 2023, for his vaccine, he weighed 13.70 lbs. Still one of the smallest (his brother – the big blue merle – weighed 16 lbs.

Koen was so very shy.

Kaiden was wonderful with him. He walks with him, stays close to him, plays gently with him. He’s a great big brother!!

The first night, he slept well in the crate by my nightstand. Welcome home Bold and Brave Sir Koen!!