Niko 1998 - 2010

After 13 strong years our good friend and faithful companion Niko was put to rest. She was a terrific dog. The kids loved her and are very sad to see her go. We didn’t think she would survive the move to Seattle, but she did and still had enough in the tank to make her presence felt to several dogs that got to close. Her health had been on a steady decline in the past 6 months. She had lost most of her ability to see and hear.

Libby and I had many exciting times with Niko. In her early days she was great to take on hikes and got to make the trip into Ryder Lake several times. At our first house in Bountiful we would often wake to find dead rats placed outside of our bedroom window. This offering was small token of her efforts to keep us safe throughout the night. Vermin and critters, both large and small could find no harbor on her watch. The adrenalin rush of standing outside in your underwear in the middle of the night shining a flash at a raccoon up tree as she went nuts at the base will not soon be forgotten. She never really made much noise unless she was treeing a Coon or barking at the Jehovah’s Witnesses. (This was fine unless you lived next to Jehovah’s Witnesses…like we did in that first house).

She was all business with other dogs, but she couldn’t have been kinder to the kids. My true affection for her came from watching her with my kids. She was always gentle and tolerant. The kids never had trouble sleeping at night for fear of monsters because they knew Niko was watching the house while they slept and Niko ate monsters.