A TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF K KID KARLY DAWN WELDER
by Krista Welder
December 22, 2018

I flew to Indianapolis in a snowstorm in early December 2010 to adopt Karly.  This is the first picture of the two of us in the airport.  She was a show dog surrendered to rescue by a breeder after her prime breeding years were done.  She was five.  She was gorgeous beyond belief and looked like she was wearing black mascara…oh those eyes… 

I was nervous.  Would she like me?  Would she be quiet on the plane?  Would they cancel our flight?  It was close, ours was the last flight out.  Would she and Kody like each other?

During her first couple of icy weeks, Karly had some potty issues probably having to do with her never having been leash walked and associating a leash with the show ring LOL, but after that she settled right in.  She and Kody were instant buds.  She was very sweet, very charming, very food and treat motivated and in every respect a daddy’s girl.  Paul called her Karly Flower.

Occasionally her good girl MO was interrupted by what I decided had to be across the Bridge messaging from our first K Kid Kassie, the hooligan of the four, who seemed to say:  “Good girls are boring.  Why don’t you just chew up my old sweater to make Mom cry or better still, why don’t you jump up and try to nip at the UPS guy?”  And Karly would comply but then go back to being a little angel.

Most of you know about the role she played as Nurse Karly to our Miracle Boy Kody.  She helped bring him back from the brink many times as he fought his own battles with autoimmune diseases.  When Kody finally left us, Karly welcomed her little sister Katy, another breeder girl. 

When Karly’s Cushing’s Disease kicked in with a vengeance this past February it seemed like an all out assault on her organs: first her pancreas, then her kidneys and then her gastrointestinal system.  Karly’s medical veterinary team was amazing and we owe them a big debt of gratitude.

She started getting subcutaneous fluids every day and it was a struggle to try to maintain her weight and keep her clean much less heathy, but through it all she kept her roaring good appetite, which included a home made diet of turkey, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, and her love of Dad’s treats, which in those final months were a special kind of freeze dried sweet potatoes which she ADORED…crunch, crunch, munch, munch…

Even while Karly was wasting away she managed to be charming, and she eked out some happy months for all of us.  Our granddaughters, Paul and I took her and Katy on a picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway this past August and she rallied so much she was running around like a puppy.

Fly high, K Kid Karly.  We pledge to honor your memory through helping medically needy dachshunds.