Doggedly Dogged: Raksha Akmenu Gele - the passing of a great dog

Raksha, our second Caucasian Ovcharka, our Sweet Girl, passed away on Saturday, April 25, 2015.
Akmenu Gele means "Stone Heart," but Raksha was sweet, kind to those she loved, funny, full of life, brave and strong. Our sweet girl. My girl. I cannot say it often enoough, and I said it to her every day, "My Girl."

Born in Lithuania, on June 3rd 2002, Rocky lived a long and healthy life, just barely missing her 13th birthday.

This is what I posted on my facebook page, along with 50 or more photos of our beautiful girl.

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Her name is Raksha Akmenu Gele (Raksha Stone Heart). She was born in Lithuania in June 2002, and moved to the United States in late July 2002. She stopped in Texas, with Kat Thomasson and her son and dogs, as the airliines could not carry dogs in the heat. Next, she went to Oakland, California and stayed with Galina Chernikova until I could drive north and get her. Galina fell in love with her and so did everyone who met her. Next, I came along and picked her up. She rode home with Kazbek and me. She lived with me, my pack and my sister in the desert for two-+ years, then moved to Montana, where she had two beautiful litters of pups, boys and girls (where are they now?). But soon, we loved and missed her too much and wanted to care for her, so Kat retrieved her and took her home for awhile in Idaho. When Kat moved to the not-so-far-away Vegas area, I was able to drive to Las Vegas, pick Rocky up, and bring her back home. She then lived with us by the beach in California, until - at long last - we moved to our little place with acreage here on the Central Coast.

RAKSHA LOVED IT HERE. She told me "this is my favorite" of all the beautiful places she and we have lived. Here, on the Central Coast, she helped foster our puppy, Yanqui, teaching him that the gates and fences need a watchful eye and it is important to bark at cats hidden in the bushes. She taught him that substantial dowagers like herself were to be deeply respected but it was okay to have a few laughs, even sometimes at her expense. She taught her Papi (whom she nicknamed "Biscuit" due to his propensity to give her treats) that you have to respect a CO and if you want something from them it's okay to be firm, but a heavy hand gets a heavy answer from a CO. She taught her Mamma too many things to be listed. Too many. Brilliant, beautiful, affectionate, silly, a banana thief, brave, powerful, strong, faithful. Faithful.

We all hate to lose our friends; and we hate to lose all our friends. But Rocky is and was the last of an era. Together, we walked as two wolves, deep and safe in the forest or running free on the prairie. She taught me that.
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Our beautiful girl had so much to offer, and was such a great friend, protector, companion, and source of inspiration. Source sometimes, too, of exasperation (oh, those bananas! She would steal them, peel them, and leave a greasy black mess in her bed that was all the forensics needed to catch a thief! How I often wondered, "where did the bananas go? Did we eat them all already?"). Raksha was an enormous part of my life for almost 13 years. How do you say goodbye to that?

Rocky changed all who knew her, simply by sharing the gift of her unique Dogness. She taught us to be patient, to focus on happiness, to be strong against pain or fear, to trust in love. My Raksha. My Sweet Girl. I shared her, happily, with my husband, and sometimes with friends, but she was always - and, to me, only - My Raksha.

Love forever,
your mom