Kevlar was born in June 14, 2003. I had seen a miniature pinscher at a bait and tackle shop in Pinehurst, Idaho the summer prior and wanted one, the breed fascinated me with its tiny stature and protective nature and Ed said we could get one when we bought a house. Ed and I got married in August of 2003 and bought our house in September of 2003. We were in the house for a few days when I told Ed that I had found my dog at a breeder in Kuna. The breeder met us at the Flying J truck stop in Twin Falls. When she opened the door a tiny little puppy got out and took off across a parking lot full of semi trucks, running straight for me. He was a tiny big trepidatious at first, but I was in love. We paid the breeder and took our little 4 pound (if that) dog and he sat in my lap during the 1.5 hour drive home. We were trying and trying to think of a name for him and we were throwing out cop related items (for obvious reasons). When I said Kevlar his ears perked up and Ed said, "Yup, that fits." And so he was named after a material that is light and underrated, yet bulletproof and invaluable in Ed's line of work. Kevlar only ever weighed as much as 12 pounds but in his mind he was ten times that size.
He potty trained fairly easy and was a hoot to have around. He was our first "baby" together. Ed called him my "boyfriend" because he never left my side, until I got pregnant many years later. We found Siren through the paper and she came to join us in February 2004. Siren was a little bit smaller than Kevlar at that point, but a week later she was bigger than him and she continued to grow. Kevlar potty trained Siren for us, we had to do pretty much none of the work. Kevlar and Siren never left each others side after Siren got spayed and had to stay the night at the vets in August of 2004. Kevlar was annoyed by Siren because she took some attention off of him, but Siren loved him every second of every day. He was her best friend, her mentor, her boss, and her hero. If he got in trouble, she'd never let him take the "punishment" alone. They did everything together, he was the brains behind their antics and she was his brawn.
Yesterday (06/14/09) we all went for a drive up Parachute Road. Since the Rausch's were here visiting and our truck only seats 5 people, or 4 and G's carseat, Brianna and I sat in the back of the truck with Siren and Kevlar. Siren & Kevlar go apeshit when branches hit the side of the truck, trying to attack the branches, and they were doing that with G, me, and Bri sitting in the back of the truck. I was afraid that one of the dogs was going to jump on me and G so I told Ed to pull over and we let the dogs out to run behind the truck so they could expend some energy, something we have done for years. For some reason, shortly after doing this, Kevlar took off alongside the truck. The next thing I knew I felt us hit a bump and saw Kevlar laying on his side in the road. He looked at me and tried to get up, but he couldn't. I started screaming at Ed and jumped out of the back of the truck, still holding G. When I got to Kevlar I could see that it was BAD. I yelled to Ed to get his gun but he only had a large revolver with him. It wasn't needed because very soon Kevlar was gone. Siren kept running up to him and licking him, and when Ed moved his body off the road, she tried to go with him. One last act of devotion to her lifelong companion.
We will miss you little buddy, but we are happy to think about my Dad welcoming you after you crossed the rainbow bridge and letting you sit in his lap, like you always got to do. I can see him now, saying, "Hey - let's go for a walk in the woods!" and of course you are more than happy to run through the woods just ahead of him, always looking back to make sure you could see your human, like you had with us for so many years.
Ed and Siren got up at 6 am this morning and drove back up to where we had left Kevlar (we had no way to bring him back with us yesterday so we gave him a proper "mountain burial"). They went up there together and brougth back Kevlar's teeny little broken body home so that we could bury him here near us. The thought of his body out there far away from us and alone kept me awake all night, so Ed took care of that. Kevlar hated to sleep alone and always wanted to be around us, always. He was our little shadow. Our shadow is quieted now, but he'll never be forgotten, buttbreath and all.
I'm sorry you died on your birthday little man, it should have been a day of celebration, not the day you left us.
We stopped at the shelter in Missoula yesterday, just to "look around" and we found a pup we just couldn't pass up. We've named her Taser, to continue our obnoxious cop tradition. She's part lab (as are most pound puppies in this area we've discovered) and something else but time will have to tell what that something else is. She's got a blonde cap on her head and blonde between her toes. She has a black stripe down her back and the underside of her tail is almost blonde. She's got really interesting coloring! We asked the shelter workers if she is potty trained and all they would tell us is "she's a puppy." But she hasn't pottied in the house since we brought her home. 
