Kuma was born on January 13th, 2001. My birthday is three days before. On April 13th, 2001 - I was 14 years old. I was going shopping with my mom. As we were walking into the store, there was a lady sitting on a bench with a rather large box in her lap. Inside this box there were two little puppies. I instantly fell in love with them, being puppies and all. I had asked my mom if we could get a puppy, and she said no... as we already had a 10 year old dog at the time. While shopping, I begged and pleaded with my mother. Finally, she gave in and said yes. I picked up one puppy, a female, who was all black. The lady had said they were half Akita and half Lab, and that they were exactly three months old. I went and sat in the car with the little black puppy, and my mom had just realized she forgot something. So she went back into the store. While she was in there, this puppy started to whine and whine. I realized something didn't feel right. So while my mother was in the store, I went back to the lady and had given her this puppy back - and I took the other puppy in the box, which happened to be a half brown and half white female. I sat in the car and waited for my mom. This puppy whined only a little, and then went to sleep. Something felt right about this puppy.

Later, we would come to name her Kuma - meaning Bear in Japanese, as Akitas were trained to bring down bears, and also happened to resemble a bear... which Kuma certainly did!

Kuma was MY dog. My first dog that was solely mine. She was my baby, and she was so spoiled!

Sadly, on June 27th, 2011 - ten years after we had brought her home, she left us and went to the Rainbow Bridge. Right before Kuma passed away, I heard a song on the radio... "Far Away" by Nickleback. Kuma was telling me it was going to be alright. She was telling me she loved me, and that she knew I loved her, but that God was calling her home. I believe she asked God to send me a message because she could not talk. A few weeks prior to her getting sick, I wasn't home as much as I should have been. One of the lines in the song goes like this: "And I forgive you for being away for far too long." The whole song fits the way I felt about Kuma, as I loved her very, very much. She was my Heart Dog. We did everything together. I also believe the song fits very well with how she felt about me, and our situations together.

To this day, I will always love you Kuma. You were my Baby Girl and I will never, ever forget you. You were such a wonderful dog, and I will miss you until the day I die. One day, Baby Girl, we will meet again - together at the Rainbow Bridge - and when I get there, we will go hiking together, just like you loved to do when you were here with us on Earth; I will give you so many belly rubs to catch up on lost time, and we can go swimming again, and go for car rides. You are in Gods hands now, and He is taking good care of you. Thank you for visiting me, and for sending us Bu, and thank you so much for being the best dog - friend, I could ever ask for. We all miss you very much, Kuma... and we all love you so very much. You send me signs all the time, and you brought us Bu. Thank you Kuma. You've taught me so much these past ten years.

In Memory of Kuma January 13th, 2001 - June 27th, 2011 We love you, Baby Girl.

Light a candle in Kuma's memory, for a sick, abused, or special needs furbaby, or perhaps just someone who needs a prayer and a candle lit.