Altadena man may be first to rebuild — for his best friend

He's pushed to finish to get his aging Daisy back where she belongs

- STEVE LOPEZ COLUMNIST

KOERNER says his dog Daisy "has saved my life more times than I can count. ... If she dies before I get home, don't finish building it."

The doors and windows are done. The appliances are on the way. The hardwood floors are stacked and ready to lay down.

In January, Ted Koerner's Altadena house was incinerated in the Eaton fire along with thousands of others.

But today, he and his 13-year-old dog, Daisy, are just weeks from returning to their property after spending most of the year in temporary quarters, and they might be the first Altadenans to move into a completely rebuilt house.

"We're starting to practice being home," Koerner said in his front yard, with Daisy at his feet and a work crew applying finishing touches in the living room.

Daisy, a dark-eyed golden retriever with a coat that looks like a luxurious white bathrobe, is the star of this story and the reason Koerner is determined to have the house completed as soon as possible.

Daisy, or Daisy Mae, as Koerner sometimes calls her, is well beyond the average life expectancy for a golden retriever, and he wanted her to live out her life on the property that was their sanctuary. He feeds her salmon and bottled water; no impurities for his girl, who has Russian and Danish lineage and is as smart as she is sweet, according to the proudest of dog owners.

"That dog has saved my life more times than I can count," said Koerner, 66, who is single, suffers from bouts of depression, and bonded with Daisy the day he rescued her as a puppy.

"She is my service dog." They lost everything but each other, and for Daisy's sake, as much as his own, he has pushed and prodded, eager to get home.