My life with Sandee

My life with Sandee started in 2017, a few months after she was brought into this world. For all purposes she was the dream dog I always wanted, in my opinion the perfect combination a Labrador Golden Retriever. A friend of our sister actually found her for me as she had already gotten her dog “REMI” Sandees brother, she could not keep two. We flew to Hawaii Island to pick Sandee up and take her back to our home on Oahu.

She was full of spirit and energy, exploring what we had in the car and then eventually at our home in Pali. She adapted well to the house and the household. And quickly found her spot in our hearts.

By the time 2018 came Sandee had started to get bigger, her legs so long and head big but the body not matching either. Clumsy and sometimes awkward she played in the yard, dug holes and had an incredibly playful spirit. She enjoyed car rides, playing with water and of course making a big mess. She moved to Hawaii island for this time as we were in the situation of moving and starting a new business. So she stayed there for about 4 months with our mom and dad.

In 2019, when we got Coal-boy; Sandee returned to Honolulu. So that Coal would have a friend. To my surprise, Sandee did not like Coal. She avoided him, didn’t want to play with him and pretty much did whatever she could to hide from him. This went on for most of his first year of life. Though, she tolerated him during car rides and walks.

By the time 2020 started Coal had become full size and Sandee finally accepted him as one of the pack. They played together, went for walks and played at the dog park all day long. It was a strange time for them to have both humans at home all the time due to the pandemic. But I think at the end of the day they loved it.

In 2021, we moved to Hilo to wait for our move to Japan. Here Sandee played all day, drove around in the car a lot, explored the island and went camping. We made many memories in this one year and it was so worthwhile for all of us.

Then in 2022 we finally got approval to move to Japan, so we started the move. Sandee fly from Hilo to Oahu, Oahu to Narita and then drove 5 hours to our new home in Saitama. It was a new house, new environment and new climate. All of this was something we would learn how to deal with together.

Because of the time difference she would wake up at 4:00AM to go to the bathroom. So I would take her for walks then to see the town and what was around us. We saw raccoons, snakes, crows and a bunch of other random things we haven’t seen before. She sniffed till she could not sniff no more.

That same year our house was hit by a massive flood, that destroyed it. We were all inside when it happened and Sandee was understandably scared. We made it through as a family and were just happy to have made it out alive together.

Towards the end of 2022 we moved to Hokkaido, where we experienced our first real SNOW and change of seasons. A new experience as Hawaii is almost always summer. We played in the snow, took walks and drives in the snow and learned how to adapt to the cold. Although she wasn’t the biggest fan of it, she enjoyed playing with us when we were outside.

In November of 2022, Sandee gave birth to her babies. Starting her own family it was a learning experience for us all again. A new mom, new dog grandparent we had no idea what we were doing but we made it work. She was an amazing mommy.

In 2023, we went through the seasons again while raising her pack. Sometimes playing with the babies or others hiding from them on my bed. She still provided them a lot of love when she was with them. During this time we spent so much time together as a family and the memories we made will last me a lifetime.

Then in 2024, she started experiencing medical issues and in result was diagnosed with a brain tumor….. And on July 2, 2024, she passed.

Our life with Sandee was full of love, adventure and wonder. Theres a thousand or millions of things I could say but theres no real way for me to put them into words. At the end of the day, the only thing I know i can say for certain is that I love her with all my heart, always and forever…