Dear Knox: The New Guy

Hey Bud,

So you heard huh?  Well of course you did, I’m positive you had something to do with this. He’s pretty fantastic.  He’s like you in so many ways.  His head and body shape are the obvious – all of his weight is in his chest and head, his lil butt doesn’t compare to the rest of him!  And he’s pretty tall too…just like you.  Oh and handsome!  Duh, that wasn’t a question right?  Handsome boys you two are.

He loves his ball so much!  But not your orange fetch one, he hasn’t met that one yet.  He loves your CUZ ball (that one you and Tyson ripped the feet off?)  LOVES IT.

I can’t believe this toy is still around a year later…that’s a huge feat in this house!

He’s met Tyson who gives his blessing, but I’m sure your laughing up there… thinking of your buddy Ty; who does Tyson not love?!  I know, I know, he doesn’t exactly set the bar high, but it’s good news for us.

Chocko’s a bit anxious…ok maybe more than a bit.  I’m trying to remember if you were in the beginning… you turned into such a confident guy at the ripe old age of 3.  I was proud of you for that; you were kinda a push-over at first 😉 .

I’m hoping he learns to relax a bit… we’re giving him a lot of consistency and stability and hopefully that’ll settle him down some.  He needs to be underfoot all the time, so we’re trying to help him build his confidence in the house… keeping him in a different room where he can still see or hear us but can’t be touching us.  He’s not as bad as you were in the crate when we leave during the day, but I do hear him crying and barking when I lock the door in the morning.  His WIRES are still in tact so he must not be as bad as you!  I can’t believe you went and ripped metal wires off a crate!  Crazy boy.

He would have been a year older than you.  Perfect.  I was so defeated when we lost you… I couldn’t comprehend starting all over again.  I love that he’s four and we are essentially picking up right where we left off with you… He’s a perfect foster-brother in the making.  Of course we’ll give him some stability and not drag in any new fosters just yet, but I know he’s gonna be so great… he’ll make you proud.

But with all your similarities he’s still very different.  His personality is a lot less confident in the house (hoping that will change over time) and he’s pretty timid of Brian (though he also loves him a ton).  It’s different because you know we’d never ever in a million years, hurt you.  Chocko hasn’t completely figured that out yet… and if Brian raises his voice he immediately rolls on his back or pees.  We’re working on it.  He’s also very excitable, just like you were, but is still learning the most acceptable ways to show his excitement… that’ll happen with time too (you took like a YEAR to learn that one).

Well Knox, there isn’t a whole lot else I know about him yet…it’s only been two weeks…but I wanted to say thanks for sending him our way.  I think we were a bit lost without a dog of our own, but until now, we weren’t ready.  I’m thankful we waited.  Five months later and I still love and miss you more than I thought possible.  Everyday I’m thankful for this passion that you brought out of me.  I can’t imagine my life with all of ‘this’…the blogging, fostering, photography, rescue stuff… I owe it all to you and not a day goes by that I don’t recognize that.

Love you, Knox.

Here’s the rest of the letters to my boy, incase you haven’t read them

Dear Knox I, Dear Knox II and Dear Knox III