Christmas 2013

I should have been writing this blog for the past several days as I have been experiencing Christmas from a dogs point of view. Well actually it is if it is on the floor it is fair game. It started with me wrapping presents and bows disappearing. I had to keep finding ways to wrestle them back from her. Needless to say when you wrestle a bow back from a dog you do not wish to put it on a package, but I did not want her to ingest the glue of the back of the tab. The second problem came when I started to put up our tree. I am allergic to pine so I have an artificial tree, with lights already strung. First I had to get it in the door, while Kai jumped all over the bag trying to bite it. Then it was putting the three pieces together and connecting the lights while Kai crawled under the tree with me. Once I got all connected and started fluffing the branches Kai started helping by biting them. I finally got her to stop and I plugged in the lights, a couple of head turns and ear perks, and she went straight for a blue light. I got her before she chomped. Tree skirt down and then back up again. Kai found out that not only could she pull it away from the tree but she could run and slide on the tree skirt and go under the tree. Several times at this game and the tree skirt was put away. I decided to wait to put the ornaments on. Third problem, ornaments finally on the tree. I thought she would be all over them, but she is only really interested in what we have deemed evil Santa. It is a Santa ornament that I forgot about and when I pulled it out we were instantly thinking there is a problem with this Santa. Kai must think so to because it is the only ornament peaking her interest. She goes up and pokes at it with her nose. Actually, there is another ornament that has feathers and I have found several on the floor. Since she has a problem with anything hanging I thought the tree would be on the floor but she has kept a good distance away from the tree. Maybe she actually learned a lesson when I told her no. Christmas morning, Kai gets treats from an Aunt and a stocking from us, she is very content with all her things and is quite happy sharing in our morning. She has decided that the ribbons and bows are for her to take apart as well as any boxes left too long on the floor. She still has not taken the tree on and she has left everyone's gifts alone. She has finally pooped out and is lying on my back after she kicked me out of my chair and I sat back down in front of her. I really love this dog.

Clumsy Human

We were out on a walk one drizzly day when quite to my surprise a mud puddle lay. Me in my cold weather gear and Kai on her leash were strolling along at our usual pace. When up went my legs and down to the ground I fell with a whoosh, will my dog be found. I rolled over onto my back to see my dog hovering over my nose, she looked quite shocked, "Get up clumsy human we haven't finished our walk." I told her it was time to go home, realized my ankle was not very happy, though I hobbled quite gracefully. The bridge of my nose betrayed me, as my glasses had pounded into my face, and blood trickled down like lace. I had mud on my legs and looked quite weird, all the cars that went by kept moving don't blame them. My husband said I must have looked like the homeless, but that made me sad why judge by my mudness. My dog stayed beside me and didn't bother the squirrels, we arrived to my house, I did my assessment, no broken bones, just sore in some places, though I look like some boxers who got punched in their faces. Kai does not care she has let me be and occasionally licks my sore knee. Though she I am sure she has in her head, "Clumsy Human go to bed."

Kai the Christmas Tooth Monster

How do you get your dog to stop destroying things you are trying to do? I started pulling out my Christmas decorations yesterday, the next thing I know my dog is in the middle of the wreaths. Now I use fake wreaths so I do not et pine needles everywhere and also because I have pine allergies. So now I have a mess of fake pine needles all over my floor. She has also grabbed my bows and nicely deconstructed them. Every time I find myself occupied, she finds something to tear up. Now I do not mind her tearing up my bills, but only after I have paid them. Nothing escapes the Christmas tooth monster, bills, bow, fake flowers, wrapping paper, and the usual things she likes to tear up. Now she is after my camera. I know she is bored and usually we take a walk but it is freezing outside. What is going to happen when I put up the tree, utter chaos is my guess. I think I will wait until Christmas Eve, or just put unbreakable ornaments, because while visions of sugar plums should dance in my head, I have visions of a falling tree. Can anyone say TIMBER?

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my dog Kai. Though she loves to get into trouble and messes up every once and awhile, she is still a lovely dog. She has enriched my life as much as I have enriched hers. Today she has been all about the smells, but she has let us cook unhampered. My other dog use to get right under my feet when I cooked and I felt that I was going to trip every time I turned around. But Kai just moves over to her bed and lies down until I am finished. Luckily, today was a nice day and I was able to take her on a walk. She is a fair weather dog, only wanting to be outside when it is not cold or raining. Yesterday we spent all day with me rolling her ball inside the house and her chasing it because it was snowing and cold. Today, however, though it is chilly it is not below 40 degrees so she was quite happy to be outside. I think she got as board as we do stuck in the house. I have yet to sit down to dinner, but she has been given treats, worthy of a queen. I am pretty sure I will have to block her in the kitchen so I can eat my dinner. TO EVERYONE: Happy Thanksgiving.

Friends for the Weekend

This week not only were we entertaining friends, but Kai had a visitor as well. I was a little hesitant at first because Kai has only had one dog in the fenced yard and she was so busy being entertained by the kids of that dog that she could have cared less that there was a dog in the yard. But this weekend she had a buddy, almost. Lobo was a darling mixed breed 6 year old dog. He tolerated Kai's puppyish behavior, but I was so worried that Kai was going to get too rough. Kai likes ears and this dogs ears were buttery soft, so Kai kept trying to grab them. This was especially true when Lobo would come to greet me. Kai would run over and stick her head and then her body between us. Then she would start for the ears. They both were trying the one up game. One would try to stand over the other, both would refuse to lay down. But Kai wanted to play, so she would lay on her back, either Lobo did not understand the action or he just didn't care or he thought he won, either way he just walked away when Kai exposed her belly. Kai of course would not be ignored so she would grab one of Lobo's legs as he walked by. I think the thing that really ticked off Kai though she did not react to it was when the other dog would lay in Kai's crate. Kai would then go explore Lobo's crate and she would grab what ever tidbits she found in the crate, which got her in trouble. Kai used to hide stuff in her crate when we first got her, now she digs up my backyard or hides it under a couch cushion. Lobo's owner says that is how Lobo exerts her dominance, well he is an older dog. The other thing I found funny was the fight over the rawhide chew. This was not a tear your ear off, biting , growling fight. This was a very dignified ownership fight. I gave each dog a chew because I thought it would be better and there would be no problems. Well, every time one of the dogs dropped there chew the other dog would swoop in and grab it. This happened over and over again, finally they got down to one chew. One would drop, the other would pick it up, then immediately drop it, then the other would pick it up, and do the same thing. they must have done this at least ten times over one square of chew. Finally, they both abandoned it and left it in the middle of my floor. Kai is pooped, she has been sleeping all day except for when I took her for a walk after our company left. I think she was just getting use to the idea of this other dog who invaded her space and now poof the dog is gone. But I think she is also happy because now she can bring her toys out of hiding.

Sleepy dog

Kai, is 1 year old and she has regressed somewhat this week. On walks she seems oblivious to any commands. I took her to the dog park yesterday and she rough housed with other dogs for about an hour, then we went for a walk around 4 to get any last energies out. Usually, we run or walk fast on the last walk of the day but yesterday she just kept stopping, pulling backwards and not listening to any commands. I thought it was because she was sleepy, because when she came home she curled up on her bed and slept. She was so tired from our day that she did not even get up when I was cooking beef stew. Usually she begs for anything I put into my mouth, but she did not wake up. She only got up when I moved into the TV room. I am thinking this is a good deal, sleepy puppy equals, two walks and a dog park. This morning she slept in until 8, which unusual as when she has had a tiring day the day before she is usually ready to go again in the morning. The only thing she did do this morning was be a pest on our morning walk. She was always either pulling ahead or stopping and pulling backwards. When we came to a street she just tried to jut out, I had to keep pulling her back to the curb as, come, was not being listened to. Now she is growling at me and not in a pleasant I am going to play with you way. Maybe she is still tired, I did something I do not usually do I gave her a tap on the butt, not too hard but enough to let her know that was unacceptable behavior. She immediately backed off, after realizing I was mad. I also took the thing she stole from the kitchen, which is why she growled, but it was not a play toy and she was being very destructive. So sleepy puppy or monster pup, who knows.

My dog is going to kill me.

I had been planning to take my Kai for a walk after the men finished raking and moving the leaves to the street. She was having chasing the leaves as they raked them, so I did not think anything about it. I should have brought her in the house, because as I was cutting peppers for stuffed peppers, I heard "KAI get your butt back here." Then general commotion from the men. I looked out the window and the back gate was wide open and the men were in the street, no sign of Kai. They pointed the way they went and I started sprinting, Kai is a very fast dog. I thought that maybe she would come down the alley so I backtracked and sure enough that is where she went. But on seeing me she decided a game of chase was at hand so she u-turned and flew back up the alley. I am glad she did not get hit as she crossed two streets, with me in hot pursuit. She had never been that far up on that street, mainly because it is uphill. Then she went up to another street, where a family told me she was in the next yard as I came running, huffing and puffing to find her. When I got to the house she was gone. So I walked up and down that block shouting her name. No Kai, which is worrisome since there are wooded lots nearby. Just as I was about to give up and go get the car, Kai comes flying up the street. This time she came right to me, I guess she felt unsure of herself. I had no leash so I had to carry my 30 pound dog all the way home. She just crossed her legs like she was the Queen of Sheba. When she got home she immediately got in her crate. I think that she will not get that extra walk tonight, as I am now exhausted from my run.

Trying to teach: Shut the door

Everyday, Kai lets herself in the backdoor but has not figured out how to shut the back door. So today I have started the process, and I hope it works but she is a little noise shy when she actually shuts the door. I hold a piece of treat up at the door and she has to jump on the door and have it close to get the treat. It is going to be a long process. But she did do it several times, I am not sure she would do it without the treat. I say "Shut the door" and waggle the treat anyone know a way to narrow that down so she does not have to listen to a whole sentence. If I just say shut, she sits. I just got back from Atlanta where it was around 60 to 70 degrees and now it is about 30 to 40 degrees and I think the door shutting trick is a must. She only comes in because it is cold or when she wants me to play with her. She is such a sweet dog and I just found out she got to play with one of my best friends dogs while I was away and she was boarding, what fun. I am so happy that we rescued her and the neighbor kids love her. I usually have 10 kids hanging out by the fence after school so they can say hello. The only time it becomes a problem is when a dog comes by, she would rather bark at the dog then play with the kids and the kids get very disappointed. Now with us pretty much staying at home, I think that she will get back into her training and remembering how to walk the streets and maybe, just maybe, shutting the door on command.

Halloween

Well it almost Halloween and my dog goes bonkers when the doorbell is rung. So I am assuming on that fateful day I will be getting a headache. My husband suggests we leave her in the backyard, which is probably doable except she barks and goes frantic when she is in the backyard and hears the doorbell ring. I think she feels she must protect me. Then my son sends a facebook notice that is to warn people not to leave their pets in the backyard because misfits might want to hurt them. UGGH. But on a happier note my church has a pumpkin patch that they have had for the last ten years or more. I worked it today and decided to bring Kai a pumpkin that is called a mini. It fits perfectly in her mouth so now I have video of her carrying and throwing a pumpkin all over the yard. I love it when she pushes it with her nose in order to get it to roll. It is especially funny to watch her expression when she pushes it and it rolls down the incline further then she anticipated. So now she has two fun tricks with the fall, pumpkin flinging and leaf catching. She is so proud of herself when she catches a leaf and brings it in for me to see. I am not sure how I got such a great dog but I am sure glad I rescued her. Simple pleasures and Happy Halloween.

Fall

No, Kai did not fall but she is into the leaves and chasing them as they fall. I am waiting to capture her on video so that I can post it on this blog. I have a video of her running around with a plastic flower pot that she found. She loves to throw her own toys into the air and catch them. It fun to watch her lose herself in play. She is happiest playing when she has an audience but usually when I go out she challenges me to chase her. I think I finally figured out how to get the ball from her without getting my fingers too much into her mouth. I tried tugging but I realized she may not know how to open her mouth wide enough to let the ball just drop into my hand. So I put one hand on the ball and lift the upper part of the mouth. I know she is okay with this because she lets me do it and she brings it back for me to toss it again. When she doesn't want to play she hides the ball under a tree. So when I figure out how to add video or remember picks I will get a picture of her playing in the leaves and chasing them as they fall, maybe I can talk someone into recording fetch.

Sick Puppy

Once again Kai has an upset stomach, poor puppy, so I am trying Chicken and rice again. I thnk she is eating something that is not good for her outside, I just have not figured out what it is. For some reason she is chewing the Japanese maple, but I did not think that maples were on the bad things for dogs list, but that is the only difference, unless she has found something else to eat. Her food at home is the same, though we did give her a steak bone the other day, but that was last week. I hope she passes whatever has her tummy upset, because I do not like cleaning up that kind of mess. She still has energy, who knows, I am going back to a chicken and rice diet for a few days with no snacks. I hope this work, or the doggy day care is not going to be happy with me and I will have to take her to the vet, which will make Kai not happy.

woof hound

Okay, Kai has been quiet since I picked her up Monday from the doggie retreat, but today she is back to being a woof hound. She started off this morning and I had to take her for a long walk to tire her out. I think I will need to do that again but not quite as long. Maybe a couple of blocks as she is starting to pull again and I can hear my joints pop. It may be better than massage therapy, but it is not. By the end of the day my shoulder aches and my toes hurt, so a little walk hopefully will satisfy her. I really need to get things done and playing with the dog is fun but not productive in the long run. But with the days getting shorter I might have to take my woofy dog on shorter walks throughout the day. A dilemma to be sure, to walk or not to walk, before my pork chops are ready.

Back from trip

So I went away for a week and left my pup at his usual sitting service, The Bigger Brain. She loves it there maybe a little too much. Apparently, she was with the bigger dogs this time because they did not have any small dogs. She made a friend with a dog named Coco. When I went to pick her up the attendant had just settled them all down for a nap. As soon as I walked in the dogs started barking including my Kai. I mean she was barking like I was an intruder not her adopted mom. Maybe because it was dark but man it broke my heart. When she was released from her crate and came closer she finally picked up my scent. Then she would not get into the car, I had to physically pick her up and place her in the seat. She would not sit down and fell of the seat at one point. I think I may have to crate her again for travel or get one of those slings so she can look out the window but not stand up. When I got home she was very depressed and sat in her crate for the longest time, then she explored outside, picking up her scent around the yard. I have two more trips planned, what am I supposed to do if she absolutely dislikes coming home. In addition, her favorite people in the house are no longer here, my son and my daughter. It breaks my heart to see her all mopey. I have played with her and we have gone on walks, but I do not get on the ground and wrestle with her. She has gotten better, I think I will take her to the dog park tomorrow and hopefully her friends, Beau, Belle and Jackson will be there.

Quiet Sunday

Having a quiet Sunday after staying home yesterday and doing paperwork, walking Kai twice and playing most of the day with her. Today she is wiped out and is quietly resting in her crate. She put herself in her crate last night, I think she was as tired as I was after the day. My favorite thing to do is watch her play. She gets so excited with her plush toys, throwing them over her head and turning around fast enough to catch them before they hit the ground. It is like she is playing her own game of fetch. One day I will take a video and post it. I keep thinking I need to take her to agility training, she is so fast and when she really gets running she gets low to the ground really speeds up. She kept up with a weimaraner (not sure of spelling) last time we were at the dog park. My daughter felt she was trying to herd the dog, I think she was just running around the dog. They both were having fun though the Weimaraner is double Kai's height. Hopefully will get her out to park this week, but not today.

My new gardener

Okay, so she is actually a dog who likes to dig. I have explained her love of pruning my bushes as she runs past them and she loves to put holes into the ground, so I decided to let her "help." I am trying to plant fall flowers, but one of the places I dig is too hard, so when Kai offered to dig the hole I let her. She is a very good hole digger if anyone needs help tilling. You need to direct her a little, or she will dig up the plants you put in the holes. The best way to prevent her digging up the plants is to make sure you start watering as soon as you have put the flower in the hole, Kai hates the hose. Anyway, I am not sure how long my pansies are going to last in the holes, as she starting digging up the mums last night after I locked her out for eating my baseboard. She just needs a doggy gardening vest and we are set.

Holiday Weekend

This weekend was very busy and that included, Golf, church, movies and Labor day flea markets. So what has this to do with Kai, well we left her alone all for at least 6 hours each day. We did not leave her in her crate because that would be crazy, since she only stays that long in her crate at night. Plus we wanted her to be able to use the bathroom without having to wait all day. She did however get mad at us, how do I know she was mad at us? Well, we had planted some mums a couple of weeks ago which she has left alone until Saturday when we were playing in a golf tournament. We came home to a dog with a muddy nose and dirt surrounding the plants all dug up. When ever she gets mad at us something suffers mutilation, such as my headbands in the past. Sunday we were in and out but did go to dinner and a movie so she was alone for at least 4 hours, no destruction occurred while we were away but when we got home she decided she needed to eat our baseboards in the house. Took her for a walk to wear her out. Monday we left around 8 and got home around 3,leaving food, water and plenty of toys for her to destroy. NOt that we did not do this the other days but for some reason she must have got used to being left, for again no destruction of the yard. But she is still chewing the baseboards. I need to find her a log or something to chew on, the problem is she takes all her toys outside so that when she comes in there is nothing to chew. When I give her bones she just takes them outside to bury. I love that she is an outside dog, but hope she does not bark too much while we are away. She usually only barks when another dog goes by, never at people unless they are coming in the gate. But she does that when we come home and it sounds like a greeting to me. The other day I could have sworn she asked where we had been. It is always feels like she is scolding me for being away too long, when she uses a certain tone to her bark. Love this dog.

Scary scenario

Your walking on a cool summer's eve and out of nowhere comes a dog. Now your dog is on a leash and this dog is free, and you can tell she wants to play but your dog has nowhere to run. I tried going backwards but the dog still was bouncing around. Kai kept trying to get around the dog but the other dog just stayed in front of her. I felt like a maypole. A young man was driving by and looked once, twice and then turned around and came back. By this time the owner was there and trying to get his dog to come and Kai was starting to want to snap at the dog. I moved toward the street but the dog followed. The owner got his dogs attention just enough so I could scoop down and pick up Kai. Then he was able to grab the dog. HE kept apologizing and I knew the dog wanted to play but Kai was terrified. After the guy got his dog, I quickly crossed the street and waited to put Kai down until I was sure we were out of range. The young man left and we continued a briefer version of our walk. By the time we got home Kai was so worn out from trying to evade the dog she went to bed at least two hours earlier than her normal bedtime. Every once and awhile she would let out a whimper. I took her to the dog park today, but she did not want to be around other dogs, this scenario put us a step backwards in her socialization. Any thoughts on what I could have done different?

Dog question

Why is that dogs like some dogs over others. What is the reason for them sniffing for a few minutes and then when you think they are cool with each other the snarling starts? This happened on our walk this morning, Kai saw a dog they both looked they wanted to play then all of a sudden Kai snaps at the dogs nose. Kai has been to the dog park, boarding with other dogs and when the dogs get too nosy with her butt she raises her hackles but I have never seen her snap. Luckily, I am quick with the leash, but I am not sure what happened to cause the decision to snap.

Table Surfing

Miss Kai has a new thing, table surfing. My dog Lady used to do this, jump from a kitchen chair to the table, but I thought that was because I had obtained her from a woman with Alzheimer's who did not feed her at regular times. Kai, however surf's not because she is hungry, but because she is mad at us. My son would not let her go downstairs with him, so she was on the table to grab his hat. I think this may be how she ends up with my headbands. This time I caught her in the act, well almost. I turned around after talking on the phone to find her squarely in the center of the table. I guess I will have to do to her what I did to Lady and that is move all chairs away from the table so that she cannot play mountain goat. Of course, I will also have to make sure the chairs are not near anything else she can climb or destroy. The lovely thing about dogs is to expect the unexpected, it has to make you laugh and get a healthy supply of headbands.

We are still alive

It seems that I have fallen off in my writing about the Kai but I do not want to bore you with the same stories. Plus I have been in the wonderful city of Chicago and therefore had to put my dog, once again, into a boarding facility. Luckily, this boarding facility is like a dog spa. She gets to run and play with other dogs which is teaching her socialization. When she comes back from her retreat she is nice and shampooed and smelling good. I was not going to send her to boarding but my son who was going to watch her while we were in Chicago had to have knee surgery so he could not babysit. The cutest thing happened when my son came back from his surgery, Kai did not like him having a Band-Aid on where he had had the IV, so she kept trying to tear it off his arm. I had just finished a book called "THE LONE WOLF" by Judi Piccoult about a man who raised wolves and communed with wolves by going into their enclosure. He said that he could not go into the enclosure when he was hurt because the wolves would try to get the bandage off so that they could lick it and make the wound better. I wonder if Kai would have done that or she just does not like things she doesn't think belong there. She always gets startled by little things a new plant, a stake in the ground, etc. Anyway instead of getting upset after being told no, she just curled up on my son and went to sleep. I think she sensed that he was hurt and did not want to hurt him further. I was afraid that she was going to jump on his knee or try to pull the bandage off his knee, but she was real gentle with him. I really love this dog and did not think I would let myself do it again after Lady, but I am glad we got her, even if I have to clean up a few messes.

Dog Parks and Dog boarding

Have taken Kai at least four times to the Highland dog park. Each time she has a different adventure. We went on Monday at 9 because it was just too pretty not to go. We met some of the dogs we met on Thursday, but more dogs were introduced throughout our stay. The weirdest thing is that this time Kai barked at all the dogs that were in the park while I was trying to get her inside. She then slunk away once we were in the gates. We went up the hill where there were two dogs, Belle and Beau, who she had previously met. Belle and Kai have similar personalities in that they are skittish. So while Beau went to greet all the dogs who entered the park, Kai and Belle were content to just sit and watch the action. Though Kai acts as though she wants to play she does not like the smell me aspect of the play procedure. She does like the other dogs to chase her when she gives the okay. I do not know how she will handle the emergency boarding we have to do with her. My son was supposed to watch her, but he is having surgery so she has to be boarded. I am told that she does well with boarding, but that was before she became vocal. Though she does love to play with dogs her own size, she is not above letting bigger dogs chase her. The one thing that freaks her out are smaller dogs though she does get along with a little Chihuahua at the dog park. For the most part she is not enamored with small dogs. I guess we will see how it all turns out. I love taking her out and about, plus she is getting use to my car I think. I just realized the other day that I have had her for about 5 months. We got her in March and she was 5 months old, she is now 10 months and I have been saying 8. Even if she was between 5-6 months, though the vet says 4-5, that makes her 9-11 months old, So in two months she will be a year old.

Dog Park

After much deliberation and not finding the time, I finally took Kai to the local dog park. I figured if she can handle boarding with dogs, she might be able to handle the park. So off we went in my car, having to brake and sent her onto the floor, almost marred the day. I hate trees that cover stop signs. Anyway she was a little shaken but not too stirred. When we got to the dog park we were the only ones there, I figured it was probably because is was a Monday. However, we were not there 15 minutes when another person arrived with their dog. Since Kai is over 20 lbs she had to play with the big dogs. Luckily, they were not too much bigger then she was. Kai was a little hesitant at first when the dogs came in, it seemed every 10 minutes, she really does not like them looking at her butt. Eventually, she moved away from my chair, I think she was protecting me and I went to talk to the other people. Soon, though not too closely, she was running around with the other dogs, she preferred it when a dog went off by itself away from the herd. Then she would engage it in play until surrounded. She met a dog named Goose, after the Tom Cruise movie, and they played for a bit. Goose is a cutie pie, English Lab, who his owner says is a bit slow. He will be a massive dog, and a definite gentle giant. All in all she met and did well with 6 dogs all running around the dog park. I had a hard time convincing her it was time to leave. And I was a little miffed that it seemed that some long time guests of the park broke the rules that they probably helped set, which was do not bring toys into the play area. We almost had a fight with one of the older dogs and poor Goose, who had no idea what was happening. IT was a ball that the owner brought in and was playing fetch with her dog, but Goose retrieved the ball after it landed at his feet and the other dog started snarling. Goose dropped the ball but it ticked me off that these people who were talking about the park like they owned it, did not have the common courtesy to put the toy away. I decided to leave because I did not want to have to state my mind on my first day there. Kai is now tired and I do not know if it will last throughout the day or if she will be her usual manic self at 7PM.

Wonderful AC and no chance of parole.

Kai has found the best spot in the house to cool down, the AC vent in the kitchen. If I could download the picture to this file I would but just imagine the best possible way to lay on a vent. Stretched out, toy in paws, eyes closed. I wish I had the option to rest like that or that they made a vent big enough for me to sprawl across. On another note Kai has had some privileges revoked. Not to get into the gory details but it involved three oriental carpets and some bad bathroom etiquette. We had let her have some run of the house, only when we were in it. I had just settled down to my morning coffee and crossword, when things got very quiet. I thought I would find Kai curled up on a couch but no, just catching her in the act that caused three carpets to be soiled. So much for my morning coffee. So out she went into the back door which I locked because she can get in by using the handle. Then I raced to the pet store to buy gates to lessen the desire to run all over my house and treat it like she was in the great outdoors. I heard that if you have oriental carpets down that is the first place a dog will go and she did. I knew it was a problem but this stupid human did not pull the rugs back up after a party. Well the carpets are up now, and though Kai's freedom has been limited she still has plenty of room especially when she is outside. Lesson learned.

Headbands beware

My Kai is sitting quietly in a chair right now, looking at me with her big brown eyes, but that is now and the rest of the day she has been a little monster. First the headband, then the fake flowers that I had put feathers into, no more feathers after Kai wanted to get my attention. Then mail and a slew of other things. I guess this is what I get for leaving her a week to go on vacation with my family. She is playing catch-up on destruction. On the other hand she is full of kisses and wanting to not leave our sides, except when we are not paying attention to her. I am thinking of taking a few steps backwards and getting gates for the house again to keep her from getting to things to destroy them. She is now playing with my son, who she follows around the house with a ball in her mouth waiting for a game of fetch. She still prefers to run at you with the ball, but she is better at letting it go when she gets someone to play with her. I am told she did well at boarding and made some doggie friends. I think I will take her to the dog park tomorrow to see how she does. I have found that she tends to get a little car sick. Not sure what to do about that, but maybe if I drive her around a bit she will get the feel of a car. In the meantime, I need to look for some more headbands without chewed ends.

Enter Kai

Kia has a new trick. At first it she was an accident, she jumped on the door handle at just the right angle to open the door. It happened once about a month ago. But this past week with all the rain she decided that she did not want to be outside, so she started jumping at the door, once again triggering the door to open. Now, whenever she wants to come in she just has to do it once as she now knows the correct angle by heart. Of course when I am trying to clean or cook I have to lock the door. Or if I am not available to see her come in she opens the door and I find her roaming the house with the door wide open. I yelled at my children the other day for leaving the door open, nope just Kai. I need to teach her how to shut the door behind herself, so I can diminish the fly and mosquito population within my house. Lovely dog, that I definitely need to teach a new trick.

Excluded

My poor Kai felt like she was excluded yesterday. We had a yard sale and I kept her in the backyard, while we were up front. She did not realize the roll she played as I forgot to lock the back door. For once her barking acted as a deterrent and I did not mind. She did get hot so we had to crate her for awhile in the house so that she could cool down. We made sure the door was locked. She was actually very happy to be in her crate and fell asleep. When we finally finished our yard sale and went to take stuff to the Rescue Mission, she was still very tired. She went into the room where we watch television and fell asleep with my husband. The cutest part is when my husband started to snore Kai looked up perked her ears and nodded her head different ways. Of course, I just had to talk for her and say" Hmm I wonder what daddy is growling at". It was very cute and my husband was so tired he did not even know he was snoring or that he fell asleep. I do not think we will have another yard sale and I wish I could trust Kai in front with all the people but a lawsuit because she jumped on someone is not what I want. I am hoping tomorrow that my son and I can take her to a dog bark so she can run around and get used to dogs again. We have not been with other dogs because obedience class ended. She will be boarding this weekend, I hope she survives. Once again she will be excluded from her pack and I am sure when she comes back home we will be rewarded with chewed shoes.

Not a morning dog

I think my dog fits into my family exceedingly well. It seems like the rest of us she is not a morning dog. Right now it is 8:29 am and Kai is fast asleep. She did get up temporarily at 6 am., but has since crawled up into the chair I vacated only minutes ago and went back to sleep. This is not because she is sick, this is a typical morning. Unless, she is sick, she sleeps until at least 7 every morning and like today sometimes beyond that. The only problem with her sleeping late is that she may stay up late tonight causing mayhem and havoc. Though I think she maybe mellowing out. She is 7 months old, still a toddler, still chewing things, but not as much as she used to. She has added the digging to the other side of the Earth problem. I think that she buries her chew toys outside, that includes composite bones and hard chews. I am pretty sure that while she is in the house sleeping, some critter is digging them up and carrying them away. Which is why she is crazily digging trying to find them. When it is raining, she buries the bones down the sides and in between my couch cushions. Then she pushes a pillow overtop of them. Now if I happen to look her way while she is doing this, she grabs the bone or chew and hides it somewhere else. SHe must think that I go outside when she is sleeping to eat all her bones. I wish I could sleep like that oblivious to the world. Actually, she is not oblivious, she keeps one ear up while she sleeps. So calm right now, I hate to get up and start cleaning because she looks very peaceful sleeping and I get lots done when I am not chasing her like a madman, trying to get her favorite chew toy, my shoes.

Weather permitting

It has been so hot that I have almost given up on Kai and my long walks. Yesterday we did not get out at all, because she was panting before we even started. Today after we played with her unstuffed monkey for about 20 minutes, she was still wanting to get into everything, so we went for a walk at 8:30 am. Got back around 9 and she has disappeared into the back yard, no doubt sleeping on her chaise. I want to take her for a walk this evening but the rains may come which will hold us up for our walk. As discussed earlier the dog won't walk in the rain. It is so funny she looks at me with her big brown eyes and goes your kidding right. Then she turns her back on me and moves to a point further away from me without getting into the rain. The other day I grabbed an umbrella and her leash and stood out in the rain so she would just go to the bathroom. The last time I did not do that, she came into the house and peed on the floor. For a lab mix she does not like the water, unless it is in the form of snow. I am thinking of getting a kiddie pool and filling it with water to see what she does. I am afraid she will drink from it, but maybe if she sees me put my feet in it she will give it a try. Puppies you got to love them Weather permitting.

Messages from Kai

I used to say Kai did not bark, but she has found her voice. I am pretty annoyed, but I think that half of her barks are the look at me, come see me at my gate, why are you ignoring me. I want to be petted, admired, loved on. I can almost her saying "Mom why are the other dogs passing by without saying hello." There are other dogs that she does not bother with, like a couple of old dogs. There are some she clearly would like to see leave the side of her house. But when Luke, Bosco and Parker go by she absolutely adds a whimper and a whine. She has always barked a greeting when seeing us if we have been gone awhile, shopping, golfing or doing chores. She also barks at us when she sees us in the front of the house and she is not with us. So I am beginning to understand the barks. I am hoping that she is not doing the bark because you think you are scaring the intruder away, though I would not be adverse to that happening if there were indeed an intruder. She does not seem to bark at people. In fact, she loves people, unless they do not pay attention to her then she whimpers and barks. My favorite thing she does is talk to us. I let her stay outside sometimes when I am going to be gone longer than two hours. She loves the outdoors and does not get into too much trouble. She has a large gathering of toys, water, food and shelter. When I come home she welcomes me sometimes with this lovely woo woo. It is almost like she is talking and then she lets me know that she wants to go inside and that I am also to go inside. If I do not go inside she has a whole different set of vocals. It really is amazing. SOmetimes I call her my wookie, because she sounds just like one. Well I have to go KAi is on a barking jag,not sure why.

She Passed the Class

Yeah, jump for joy, Kai has passed her puppy obedience class. I made her go last so that she would not be distracted. She did everything she was supposed to do with a little coaxing on the come part. But she did it. We did not do stay or leave it, but sit, down and walking beside me. She did not care if I left her or that I played with her toes or her ears while she was laying down. So she is officially a puppy, and I am officially happy. We will still work on the behaviors appropriate for her, like not jumping on company or eating their shoes. SHe is much better about jumping on me because I do not allow it, but my family loves for her to jump on them. I have also stopped her jumping on people while we walk by standing on her leash and telling her to sit, but she is not on a leash in the house because I am afraid she will knock something over. I found my first tick on her while we were in class, this was after she stuck her nose under a bush. Luckily, it had not embedded itself in her skin. I pulled it off with my fingers and put it outside the fence, mainly because I was not sure how to dispose of it while outside away from anything. Of course, then I felt buggy and asked my husband to check my hair. He said I would feel it, but I have a lot of hair on my head so would I really feel it. I will have to check Kai and give her a bath. I hate ticks. So I guess I will have to give some more classes later but at least I have the basics.

Rainy Thursday

So, it is raining once again, which is both a joyful and troublesome thing. First my plants get a much needed soaking, but my dog refuses to get soaked. This morning I had to put her on a leash, grab an umbrella and walk around the yard until she decided to pee. It took about 15 minutes for her to realize I was not coming in out of the rain until she went to the bathroom. When she got in she went on a toy rampage and has now settled down in my husbands chair for a nap. I have housework to do but am afraid to move as this is her signal to get up and create chaos. Oh well, I guess I need to get organized as I have company coming tomorrow and need to clean up. Plus, I am in clean mode for the month of June. The Princess Kai is just going to have to learn to love the rain and inside adventures as long as they do not involve eating me out of house and home. And I mean literally eating up my house. She is in super chew mood these last couple of days. I guess this means she is feeling better.

Continuing the Saga

So went to vet and they are pretty sure it is not the Amdro or the ich medicine for fish. No Giardia from the fish pond, so we are at an standstill as the clostridium and I think campylobacter also ruled out. It is just a wait and see game. If she gets worse or better or if I can bring in a stool sample. They are treating her with anti-diarrheal meds. and meds for worms just in case. Also on a diet of rice and boiled chicken. So we will see, I know she is pretty miserable. However, in the vet office she kept barking at all the dogs in the waiting area after suffering the indignity of fecal samples. Maybe she was warning them, but she was acting like a maniac. She did not act that way when we first got there as can be attested to by my friend Steve. She did calm down when a giant rotwieller walked into the room. We will see, how she is tonight, I may have another headache from sleeping on the couch making sure she is all right.

I am not sure what I am doing but I cannot seem to get computer to write properly. I am worried about Kai, she has had an up set stomach for a several days, waking me up last night at 1 am with a whine so pitiful I thought she was dying. Let her outside where she went to the bathroom numerous times. Then she was up at 4 am and again at 6 with my husband. I am taking her to the vet today because I am afraid she has either eaten, drunk or contracted something that is causing digestive discomfort. I could not get her to eat this morning but gave her some chicken this afternoon for her to eat. I do not think I can take too many evenings like last night.

Boarding

Last Friday I decided to board Kai so that we could help my son move into his new apartment for ODU. I thought it would be a good idea, since in the future we will be taking vacations and two days should be okay. I certainly was not thinking about the dog after I took her to be boarded. After all she has been to this place several times for obedience training so she knows the woman who runs the place. Also I thought that since it was the weekend before Memorial day that the place would not be packed. I was wrong. We came home Sunday to a dog that I am pretty sure did not eat the entire time she was there. Also, the place was fuller than the owner thought it would be as it seems everyone took vacation before Memorial Day. Kai is finally today almost back to her old self. There have been several times that I have had to get up in the middle of the night to let her out due to diarrhea. I am not sure if she caught something while she was there or her nerves got the better of her and she had an upset stomach from the stress. I am hoping that eventually with time that she will be capable of staying without stressing herself out. She had what looked like free access to everything, but she is not a dog social animal, more of a people dog. She is a rescue that stayed in a remote shelter with other dogs that picked on her, so I am pretty sure she was extremely wary of her circumstances. I know that I am probably reading into the situation but I really think she may have had abandonment issues. I am still going to try when we go on vacation to board her. But if this continues with the upset stomach, I may have to look into alternative ideas. I would hate to crate her all day, but it may have to be someone who comes in the morning, feeds, plays and then leaves her in the yard, then comes and plays with her in the evening and puts her in her crate. Not sure of options but hope that she survives the week away I have planned with my family.

Bird dog

So I have complained about my dog and her interest in my bird Binx, well it has been raining for three days and except for a walk between raindrops, Kai has been inside terrorizing the house, bird, and me. Well, actually I have figured that she is not really terrorizing the bird but trying to get to the food that Binx drops into the bottom of her cage. When the door is open Kai sticks her head inside to investigate. I was sitting with my computer when I heard a flapping of wings and a woof. Kai was sitting looking and barking at the bird. So I sat down with Kai and the bird came closer and then tried to bite Kai's nose. I pulled them apart and told them both no and put Binx in her cage to stop further annoyances. Once again I returned to my computer to hear a whomp on her cage and Kai had her nose up next to the cage and Binx was making her way down to Kai. I have had this bird long enough, 14 years to know that she is about to attack a very tender part of Kai, her nose, so I pulled Kai away and put her outside. Yesterday, as I was cleaning the kitchen I saw Kai's nose in Binx's cage and Binx once again coming down the cage in stealth mode. At the last minute Kai looked up and beat a hasty retreat. Then barked at the bird. The problem is that she always barks at the bird, even when she is in the wrong. She also barks at the bird while it is on my shoulder. Now Kai is a pretty good jumper and I realized this when Kai reached my shoulder jumping. Luckily, the bird was on the other side. I am hoping that this behavior changes but who knows. Here is the funny thing, when Kai is outside she watches the birds at the bird feeder. She does not chase them, except when I come out the door. I guess she thinks she is protecting me from them. I thought she would chase them all the time, but I think she sits on the lounge chair like the Queen of Sheba and just watches everything, except squirrels, she does love to chase squirrels. Maybe instead of Kai she should be Queen of Avian.

Rain Rain go AWAY

What do you do with a 24 pound dog who does not like to go out in the rain? I did make her take a walk when the rain had slowed down some, but was still significant enough for me to use an umbrella. After the walk she fell asleep. But now, every time I turn around she is into something. I sent her outside and she buried a bone. That was after she tried to pick a fight with my bird. The two of them are going to get in a battle. I finally got Binx to go into her cage but while I shut my eyes for a second, I heard a whomp as Kai tried to jump on the cage. I turned the corner to see Binx inches away from Kai's foot. Maybe I should let Binx bite her and she might stay away from the cage. But how do I explain to the vet why I am bringing Kai in with her toe missing or a chunk out of her nose. Kai really like to be outdoors, but not in the rain. Plus I gave her a bath today and I am pretty sure she hates all forms of water right now. It is supposed to rain until Wednesday. By then I will not have curtains or a house. I did do training exercises with her but that was before her first nap and I am trying to wait until her crazy period around 7 PM for more training. Well I am hoping that we will not float away, because it would be like having a tiger in your boat. NO FUN.

Petsmart

Took Kai with me to PetSmart which I have never done before, to see how she would react and to see if I could handle doing it by myself. My husband and I took her to Lowes the other day because our obedience trainer says it is a good way to see and react to different types of men. She did okay, a little scared, she needs to get used to new experiences. She actually has gotten to see different men at our home, because we still have them coming over to adjust the renovation. Yesterday she had to deal with a pressure washer for windows and a plumber. So she has been around young, old, black, white, skinny, tall, and heavy men. She does okay, a little vark to let them know whose house they are in. So back to my adventure today. First it is always a chore getting her to get in her leash and then into the car. She is not like any other dog I have known. I tried something different by putting her into the front secured in her seat. She did okay, usually I crate her in the back. But she would not sit down, so everytime I stopped she would fall forward. So on the way home I hooked her to the back of the driver seat so she could roam the back. She did better. In the store she started off in the basket but, I could not get things and keep her there so I hooked her to my basket and she followed behind me. She actually did pretty good. But another dog was in the place so she was a little crazy about that. I took her up to meet this other dog and because I touched the other dog she snarled at it. That was the first time she has ever done that, I wonder if she felt confined though I had released her from the cart and I was holding the leash. I am sure one day she will like the car, leash and going places, meeting other dogs, etc. She still is a little skittish.

Chair trauma

Have teeth will tear up. That is what the ad should have read for this puppy. I have never seen a dog crawl underneath a chair and tear a chair up. I have seen dogs tear up cushions on a chair or pillows on a chair, but never under the chair. Spraying bitter spray on the underside did not seem to affect her. She first started with the tearing of the lining. Then she chew through the plastic like barrier that was between the first layer and the springs. LAst night she hit cushion that was somewhere on the chair, because when I flipped it upside down this morning there were no tears in the fabric. I think they put padding on the side. So what do I do? I have yelled, pulled, substituted, timed out and crated her. Last night she got an earlier bed time. SHe was not happy, but this morning she was right back to the chair. I was told 3 minutes/ time out so they remember. But I was too tired last night to let her back out. She did get a bathroom break and it was only 1/2 hour before she naturaly falls asleep, so I was not a demon. But seriously, How do you stop this crazy thing?

After obedience

Went to obedience class today, from two to three. Kai was very well behaved,did not get kicked out of obedience class. Now because of the rain this was mostly a get to know hte other class members day. No training with walking on a leash, but we did go around and meet the other dogs while we left our dog alone to be petted by other people. Also, except for one dog who as a puppy stood taller than the other dogs, they were let off their leash to go play in the rain in the fenced in area. They were having so much fun, hanging around and just playing. I am really happy with the outcome. I thought my dog had energy you should have seen the other three dogs. The smallest dogs were the wildest. Not enough play time, I think they could have used about an hour more. When we came home, I made a stupid mistake. I thought Kai would have peed outside, I did not see her all the time. But no not my Kai. I brought her in the house instead of letting her stay outside and she peed in my side room right on the oriental carpet. The funny thing is that the trainer had just said that you needed to be careful if they pee in the house because if they pee on a rug they will go looking for rugs to pee on. That they especially seem to love oriental carpets. From her mouth to my dogs ear, so I had to move furniture and chase KAi outside so I could lift couches and desks to clean the floor under the carpet. Actually, took up the carpet and hope to bring it to dry cleaner tomorrow. How can I yell at her when it was my fault that she went inside? I have to figure out how to get her to go other places besides our backyard and my oriental carpet.

Obedience Round three

TOday I take Kai to obedience training with other dogs. THis should be interesting because when she sees a dog when we are walking two things usually happen: either she stops dead in her tracks and lays down, or she wants to follow them and pulls on the leash until I am almost choking her which is tough since the leash is on a front lead harness. She has met several dogs through the fence and out on our walks that tolerate her puppy play. When she gets too playful, Joey gives her a deep throated woof, Parker backs away, and others owners just keep on walking. One dog was out in his front yard when Kai came up the street, he was not on a leash, but Kai had met this dog before so they just sniffed, he is an older dog so Kai actually did not jump on him and she left with a backwards glance as his owner took him inside. So I will have to let you know, dear reader, what happens today in a few hours. I will either be kicked out of doggy obedience, have my arms pulled out of their sockets, have a dog who lies on the ground the whole time or actually have an obedient dog. What is your best guess? I guess it will depend on her mood and what types of dogs are at obedience training. I do not think the last one, obedient dog will be the order of the day. She may surprise me, who knows.

Puppy vs Bird

What do you do when you have a puppy who wants to play or eat your bird? She sits at the bottom of the cage (on the floor) while I am talking and petting the bird. THen she starts to whimper, so is she whimpering because she wants my attentio, she wants to play with the bird, or because the bird looks like chicken? She has already jumped up to the cage pushing it with her paws which reaked Binx out. Binx immediately got on my hand and let me put her on my chest to chill out. Kai now is very soft when she hops up on the cage. Kai also is right there if the bird decides to fly, I have to push her away, so I can rescue the bird. THen Binx took off again. I know she can fly to the curtains up high but for some reason she likes to fly to the floor now, I think that Binx is tempting fate. The other day KAi started barking, which is very rare. Usually, she only barks when she hears the doorbell, a door open or shut, or at the fence when a dog goes by that she wants to play with. I know that barking could mean that she thinks she is chasing away an intruder, but I know she wants to play because her tail is wagging. Anyway, she was barking and none of the above had happened, so I went to check it out. Kai was staring at Binx's cage and barking. Of course, I rushed right in to find Binx hanging off the bottom of the cage. Binx climbed up fast to the top, but I cannot help but think that Binx was luring Kai to come closer. I am not sure what the outcome would be but knowing BInx, I am pretty sure Kai would have a sore nose. I guess Kai was letting me know that Binx was not where she should be, up on the top of the cage. I am hoping that this works out, that Kai respects the bird. I know Binx knows how to whistle for the dog. I know that Binx is jealous of the dog, I am just worried that BInx will try to distribute her feeling of justice and become lunch for the dog.

Obedience round 2

I went to the Bigger Brain for one more obedience lesson, before I try a class lesson with other dogs. Kai my usually energetic dog has decided that she is going to be very mellow at this place. No jumping, no fetching, no pulling her leash. Meets another dog and chills by the fence she knows I went out of earlier. We work on her walking and I end up buying a different leash. It seems to work and she loves the hot dog treats that I buy her and chop up for treats as we walk. Fast forward, she is being complimented by people for not pulling on her leash, so I try just a few minutes ago with her old leash. We walked this morning no problem, but that was on her new leash. Now the squirrels are being lunged for, and she is choking herself trying to get to them. Chicken hot dogs I guess do not smell as nice or are as fun to chase as a squirrel. So I cut our walk short. She seemed surprised but waht am I to do when she is choking herself. Does that affect her, NO. She is now running around my house playing soccer with herself. At least she finds things to do. But today I had to put her into time out. She was chewing the undersides of my chairs in the living room. The stuff that covers the springs. If you look at it from across the room it looks like I have a thousand years of cobwebs under the chair. So I put her in a three minute time out. She has not gone back to trying to pull it down again, but did try to eat my Native American throw on the back of the couch. That is now in the bedroom with all the other things that I have to hide from her. My room is a storage closet for all things Kai chewable that can be removed from her jaws of chaos. Puppies so much fun, ha ha ha. Hope the family can handle it tonight, I am off to book club, yeah me I get a break.

Not so obedient

My trainer told me that when Kai either pulls from behind or runs forward, I am suppose to jerk and release until she is compliant. I do not have a choke chain, but use a leash with bungee cord action and regular collar. We do fine until she sees another dog, in which case she pulls to try to get there, but I have to stand firm and give her these jerk reactions, until she submits. By this time the dog is usually far ahead and we continute this jerk action all the way down the sidewalk, until the dog is no longer close. My favorite pulls are trying to get to a squirrel. Those tree rats must know she is being trained and they are not at risk because they stand in front of her as we jerk down the sidewalk. Also the robins are having fun with this training as well.

But on the positive note she is doing better and the majority of the time she is on my left side and walking with a slack leash. I do let her sniff occasionally so that she knows her way home and what other dogs are in the neighborhood. She seems to like the bigger dogs over the smaller dogs.

I am training my daughter and husband on how not to let the the dog jump on them. They maybe harder to train then the dog. I have to admit, I forget and let her jump on me, then I remember. So hopefully we will get better. Kai is doing well with this but seems sad. We give her praise when she approaches us without jumping. She really is a good dog.

As for the nibbling, we stop petting her when she starts to get rambunctious and nibbling. I have not found gates yet but I stop what I am doing is moving away from her. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be always effective. I really must be consistent.

So I think that us humans maybe the disobedient trainees.

Obedience Training

Kai and I went to obedience training today. Kai had no idea what we were doing and for the most part was very good. I on the other hand have much to learn. Like how to stop her from "nibble" or should I say nipping at me when she wants to have me toss the ball. How to ignore her when she is jumping on me so that she understands that I will only give her attention when she is being good. And the part I hate the most how to pull her so that she knows I mean business about the walk but not hurt her, so she chokes to death.

So next week I go back and hopefully I will have learned something.

Shoes and socks

Well, I thought that I may have bypassed the shoe thing, only to find Kai gnawing on shoes. SO I asked everyone to put there shoes away. Kai is a ninja, able to sneak into a closed door and steal shoes. That is what happened this morning. Maybe the door was open at some point that allowed my dog to sneak in, grab a shoe and hide it away, but the door was closed when I found her with the shoe. So how did she do it. I think my husband may have gone into get something and Kai always seizes and oppurtunity to go into the secret chamber.

Two days prior, my husband let the dog follow her into the room and crawl under the bed. This is where I had placed a pair of shoes that I just bought. My husband brought the shoes to me telling me I should put them away and the dog won't chew on them. The straps were completely chewed in two. How do you fix a sandal where the straps are chewed in two? Of course, my response, "If you had not let her into the room, the shoes would have technically been put away." I have rescued his shoes, slippers, socks, etc, every day.

So I have had advice and this week I will get more. The biggest thing is to say NO instantly upon seeing Kai with something she is not supposed to have and then replacing it with the correct toy. This should work, except Kai, barks at me and before I can get the item is running around the house. I am pretty sure she is telling me "No, I will not give up my shoe." This unfortunately makes it a game. Maybe she is bored, but I cannot play 4-5 hours a day with her. Walks threee times a day and me training her or playing fetch I thought would be enough, but I think I need to find her some other outlets, besides chewing up my things.

Sneaky

As previously mentioned I live with a picket style fence. One part is new and one part is old, as we did not see any reason to renew the one side. Well, I think I need to renew or fix the old fence because I have an escape artist.

Unfortunately, Kai spent her day cooped up from 9:30 to about 2, because I had a funeral to attend. I took her out at around 8 for a walk and when I came home we went for another walk. It was such a beautiful day that I gave Kai a bath taking off her collar and tags. Then I let her outside and followed after her as we both had to dry off. I brought books, magazines and the paper thinking after our walk that Kai would be tired. I did not realize that she still was energized, nor did I realize that a food truck was sitting at the school yard. Delicious smells wafting into the yard.

I looked up from my book to see my dog on the otherside of the fence heading down the street without her tags, leash or me. I called to her, she turned, realized that I was not with her and came back. I asked her, not expecting an answer, how did you get out. She promptly showed me by going over to the only loose board on the old fence, nudging it aside and escaping through the branches. Then she ran back and forth and finally down the alleyway with me in hot pursuit. She headed for the front yard but, thank heavens, ran into my neighbor who picked her up and gave her back to me. I put her in the house and went scrounging for a hammer and nails. Unfortunately, none of my nails did the trick so I had to place tons of stuff in front of the fence and see if there were any other potential escape routes.

My neighbor told Kai she should not tell me all her secrets, I just think it is funny that she did. Tomorrow I head to Lowes, crawl under a hedge and start nailing the fence pickets back in place. Anybody have any bandages for scrapes that I am sure I will have?

Thank you for reading my adventures with Kai, I think I am up for many more excursions into the wild side of a puppy.

Game played through a fence

Sooo, I was throwing the ball with Kai today and it went through the bottom of our picket fence. I thought well Kai you have another ball, you will have to wait for me to get that ball. I went to get her other ball.  I threw it and she got it and took it to the fence and pushed it through the fence with her nose. I went to get both balls and brought them back to the yard thinking that it was a fluke that she pushed the second ball through the fence. NO, no, no, Kai took the two balls that I just retrieved for her and ran over to the same spot and pushed them through the fence again. When I told her that I was not going to get the balls she tried to get under the fence. and got caught. I retrieved the balls but put them away because I was not going to climb down the hill again.

She has found the balls but I am not going to throw them and I will see how long before she comes to get me because she pushed them threw the fence again. I think I tired her out as much as she tired me out because she came in to rest.

Success

I am happy to say that my dog loves to go on walks. She is still a little frightened of things, but when I pull out the leash and say let's go for a walk, she lets me put it on her. Then she drags me to the fence. I am trying to make sure that this is the only way she gets out of the fence.

The other day we had a near catastrophy on our walk. My dog loves my neighbors dog Parker, the other day we were on a walk and Kai decided she wanted to turn back to the house. I did not know that PArker was across the street with his owner, until Parker broke free and ran to Kai. We were in the middle of the street with cars coming, luckily there is a stop sign, but hopefully they would not have run us down. Kai laid down in the road and then proceeded to jump up and down on Parker. Parker is about two dogs higher then Kai, but they love to play. Parker's owner was not to thrilled as he is trying to teach obedience. We finally wrestled them to the corner. I am sure the cars that had piled up behind us were either scared to death or having a lovely laugh at these two dogs playing. I am sure as they watched Parker break free that they thought Kai was going to be a Scooby snack. Thank heaven for them being acclaimated to one another.

It is because of Parker that I think she lets me put the leash on her. She watches Parker through the fence and then she wants to follow but I tell her she must have the leash. So out we go and she would follow the path that Parker took. So now we walk and she is not afraid of the leash, but she likes people who smile at her versus people who do not when we are walking.

Another success is that I actually got her to walk by the river, not near our house. We had a nice stroll and she only got scared a couple of times. She did not like the sound of the water fountain so I could not get her to drink from the dog water fountain that the park has, but she did go to the river to drink. For a lab/boston mix, she does not like to get her paws wet with water. But she loves snow.

Who knows what lurks in the minds of dogs.

SNOW

So Kai has been in snow before this wonderful Spring surprise, but it was so much fun to watch her bounding about in the snow like a rabbit. Her favorite is to flip snow in the air and try to catch it but of course it melts. Yesterday while it was snowing I went to see my husband in the garage, not realizing that the main door to the garage was open, I let KAi follow me. She immediately was out the gate and down the alley way. I thought I had her corned in the neighbors yard but she managed to sneak through the fence on the other side and run. In the meantime my husband went inside to get his coat and a leash. I was coatless as I ran to the front walk and down the street thinking that she would run through a yard and into the street. I spied her as she spied me, and as luck would have it she actually came when I called her. Hopping like a rabbit and allowed me to pick her up and carry her wet self back home. Unfortunately, when my husband had come out with the leash he had failed to shut one of the gates. I did not realize this until I had put kai down on the ground and looked up. She made a mad dash and I was left running after a dog again. Jim cornered her, I shut all gates and we managed to successfully capture the ninja Kai.

Everytime she got a chance she went out to jump around in the snow. By 8 pm she was an exhausted puppy, falling asleep on her favorite chair, not even moving when her favorite person my daughter came to sit next to her. In her crate by 9:30, and she did not even get upset when I went out to check who was throwing snowballs at my house. So one tired pup. My favorite kind of pup at the end of the day.

Being sick

What do you do with a puppy when you are suffering from bronchitis and can barely get a no out of your mouth? What you do not do is let her have run of the house. I thought we were doing well with the outside being the bathroom, only to find that Kai has found the upstairs, my mistake of letting her go upstairs. I thought that if she saw it as a living space she would be less likely to use it as a bathroom. WRONG. She has decided that my daughter's room is a potty. First she pooped there last week, when I thought that she would not climb the stairs. Today I had to do two things at once, when I heard the pattering of feet upstairs. She decided to pee on my daughters rug. So she was instantly scolded sent outside and I spent the next few minutes bringing the rug downstairs to clean. When Kai came back in she knew I was still upset with her and she crated herself.

So I took the oppurtunity to shut the gate, take a much needed nap and I think that we are back to being friends.

New bad trick

SO I love my dog Kai and wanted to play with her on the floor, but I think this might not be such a good scenario. When I sit on the floor with her I have now become one of her chewies. SHe doesn't bite but nibbles, which I guess is better than biting, however, she now grabs my hair and starts pulling on it. I do not know where this behavior comes from, so if anyone would like to share I would appreciate it. Maybe this is how puppies play with their mothers but I am sure if this is the case that the mother would push the dog away and leave, so that is what I am doing.

She has also figured out that she can push the gate back far enough so she can squeeze through the opening. THis is usually to get to us while we are in the TV room. Sometimes we eat in the TV room so we are trying to make sure she is not in there when we are eating. We may have to crate her or put her outside while we eat. It does not matter that we give her food, as she will ignore it. She has finally gotten use to the smell of people food and would rather have that. She is getting bigger and stretching further, so I will need to figure out where to put her when I am cooking. THe other day she put her paws on the counter and I realized she is going to get burned if I do not do something about this now. THe same goes with the oven. Curious sometimes equals dangerous.

I am not feeling 100% today so I guess I will see if we can get our walk in and playtime maybe me sitting in a chair and throwing a ball. But I will keep her away from my hair.

Warmth

Yesterday was such a pleasant day, so pleasant in fact that my daughter and one of her best friends layed out in the backyard with blankets and books. This was great for Kai, who spent the entire time with them chillin on a blanket or getting tons of love from the girls. When I came home she came to see me briefly but went right back to loving the girls. Even when I sat outside, she came to see where I was and then back to the girls. We did play a little but she was content to just be the center of attention.

When she met my daughter's other best friend Kai had more loving happening. The girls love my little noodlebug. She worms her way right into their laps and hearts.

So I left her with my son and went out for the evening and she was happy to see me but was so tired from her eventful day that she slept on the couch in the tv room without running around and when I finally put her to bed in her crate, she turned herself around and went straight to sleep. No whimper or whining for 15 minutes. Tired puppy.

She is still tired today, it is almost 8 am and she got up, went to the bathroom and is content to lie at my feet while I type this. Key to a satisfied pup, playing and sunshine.

Kongs

I would like to thank the makers of Kong the chew toy, www.Kongcompany.com. Kai loves to lick the peanut butter out and then get the treats out. It is a great way to get her to get back into her crate. I rue the day when she decides that it is not something she wants. I need to look for other options in the Kong family. The rubber cones seem to be indestructable, so maybe their other toys might also do the trick for treats and chewing.  

Last night we went to a movie and left her in her crate a little too long. She did not pee or poo in the crate but would not sit still at all. Usually, by the time we finish playing for the day she loves to relax with us in the tv room, but all she wanted to do was wander around the house, which I have not allowed her to do yet, unless accompanied by me. The poor girls routine was totally disrupted which meant, no realxing in the evening.

 My Lady used to escape out the front door and that is where Kai gravitates to  when I let her go through the house with me. Lady pretty much felt she had dominion over the front yard. She was not afraid of anything, but my Kai is not like that, she gets spooked pretty fast. We live on a corner so there is no good scenario if she escapes and gets scared. I have been trying to make her see that the only way out of the gates or the front door is with a leash. She still has not loved the wonders of the leash. I should have done the leash training with the back door.

I think her Lab DNA comes out when she is on the leash. She does not mind following me but balks and sits down when on the leash. Though she has gotten better and we can make it around the block on less treats. I was told that Labs do not like to be on the leash, I ws hoping for her Boston DNA to kick in Lady loved the leash, but I think Lady was leashed trained before I ever got into the picture. I have seen a leash advertised that is supposed to be a no pull leash, wonder if it works on Labs.

Puppy love nips

Okay, so puppy love equals nips? I am trying very much to teach Kai that she does not need to playfully nip to have fun. She loves to climb on our laps and the minute we start rubbing her tummy or get her a little riled up she starts her love nibbles, unfortunately some of them land on skin so we get a little pinch. TO combat that we push her away, say no and stand up. When she settles down we start again with the cuddling. Sometimes she gets it, other times she loses lap rites.

We now have met several dogs in the neighborhood and she is on board with us passing their houses without pulling my arm out of my socket. I made the mistake of running past a house before I realized that Kai was hearing Joey bark on the inside of the house. Kai associated my running with being scared, so everytime we went past the house she would start running and no matter what I did she did not stop. Now that she has met Joey she is more interested in his smells around his house then running past it, so at least my arm is not pulled out of socket anymore, at least not at that house. She still is not interested in walking past tall men. I had to pick her up today to get her to continue our walk.

The best thing about having a dog is the exercise. I get to lift 18 pounds in a regular basis, run around a yard playing catch me if you can or playing fetch. This is not your usual game of fetch as Kai has trained me to throw the ball, which she does not return but zooms past me hoping for the chase. When I turn to chase her she drops on the ground and pretends to not see me coming up on her, then she jumps up grabs the ball and is on the run again. Every once and awhile she pushes the ball with her nose or paws when she wants me to throw it again, but not once has she dropped it into my open hands.

Here we have a tuckered Kai after playing with her "siblings".

Rainy day

Today is going to be interesting, I have a puppy who is very different from my Lady who would not go out in the rain if you promised her all the treats in the world. Kai went out this morning maybe because she is used to being out in the rain. I was under an umbrella or the eaves, thankfully I have wide eaves. Being out in the rain is much better than being out in 27 and below weather.

Kai loves the outdoors but also loves playing with her tennis ball in the kitchen. But just like a toddler, we think she is in her terrible twos, when she wants attention she does something she knows will get it; like putting her paws on the counter or trying to chew the undersides of my chair. That usually gets a no, but when she wants me to play you can almost see the spitefulness in her eyes as she does it again so I will get up and go to her.

When outside to get my attention she runs through my plants nipping the leaves off so I will chase her. She is a little brat when she gets outside. I have balls and chew toys, but she prefers to find sticks. I do have to say that I like the exercise and love the evenings when she finally calms down and sits with us in the tv room. Nothing like a little puppy love to make you happy.

Puppy Play

As I write this my pupy Kai is amusing herself with a tennis ball. She met my son today back from college and though he carried her on our walk, she is still not happy when he just suddenly appears. She tends to bark, but she also does that with his sister but later she feels remorse.  We left her alone for a bit and she seems okay. I hope she amused herself she was confined, so she would not get into anything.

She met our neighbors dog Parker and seemed quite pleased with the meeting, now she does not run with her tail tucked between her legs when he appears in his yard. That is progress. She does not start to bark when someone approaches the yard and she is always on alert. Took pictures of her relaxing in the yard with my son but then when he came in the house she barked at him. SO who knows how tomorrow with Parker will go.

I get up with her every morning at around 6 am and  take her out, feed her and try to get a walk in by 7 or 8. TOmorrow I think is daylight savings time so that means I will be losing an hour of sleep, yeah me. The dog will care less.  Made the mistake of opening the refrigerator and distracted pup from her tennis ball, now I have a shadow.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better things in the walking department, still cannot walk down the street without her stopping or running away from dog noises or stopping and listening to kids. Or waiting for a car to pass or waiting for a person to pass, or waiting for the birds to stop singing, or waiting to smell a liriope, or finding a stick to stop and chew on, but never ever walking, no matter how many kibbles, or cheese(which I will not do again) or processed meat I have in my pocket. C'est la vie.

All I know is that she is excited to see me, that she is fun to play with and that I am glad we rescued her. Big Plus she is housetrained, bad she has started nipping. Maybe she is in her terrible twos at 5 months.

Maybe/maybe not

Apparently, I forgot about family members coming home after I put Kai to bed. My daughter came home and Kai went crazy, bouncing around and whining. Then she went downstairs were whe turned on tv and Kai continued. SO around 12 oclock I went out to settle her down, eventually thinking that I should drape my robe over her cage so she could smell me while I went back to bed. This semi worked, she still continued for quite some time before quieting down.

In the morning, I found that she had pulled my robe through the bars of her crate, and tore great big holes in it. I do not think I will be doing that anymore, should have used an old towel and rubbed on my head or something. I do not know who is teaching the lessons in this household, me or Kai.

I am working on new pet tricks, got her to sit, lay and semi roll over. Work in progress, this has to be done after my husband is at work and my daughter is not up or she gets distracted. She is doing pretty good, for a night time terrorist.

Another new adventure, I took her to the river and attempted to work with her near people. SO after my daughter went on her run, Kai and I started to walk in that direction, Kai got distracted by another dog, much older, coming toward us, I made her sit and she started to growl, I said no and then the lady came over to talk to her and Kai decided to give the other dog a try. But Kai is a puppy and this dog was an old dog so while Kai got excited and jumped up and down the other dog looked at her with disdain, I could almost her the old dog say "whippersnapper".

Anyway after that Kai had some new enthusiasm, which died as soon as she saw the fisherman. I mean she really got scared and when one of them approached her she backed way the way away. Now this is in juxtoposition to the two men who came to our house, who she let talk to her. But she was afraid of the UPS guy maybe because he stopped by her and left his truck running. So it was an adventure and maybe next time when she sees a small dog she will not run away, like last night when I thought she was going to pull my arm out of my shoulder socket, to get away from two barking dogs.

I am frustrated but my husband says at least she goes outside to the bathroom, but I told him to be quiet because I said she was not chewing stuff until I said at least she is not chewing things.
It is a work in progress.

Waiting to go to the vet.

Today Kai has her first vet appointment, well since she was spayed in West Virginia and had her first shots. I do not know how that went but we will see how today goes. I am pretty sure I will be carrying her into the vets office.

I have once again tuckered her out. She had a great time rolling around in the snow and trying to catch snow she tossed with her nose. Did not want to go for a walk at 7am but waited until 1130 to do a whole circle around the block. Got a little spooked by an ambulance full wail, but calmed down after it passed. We have been around the block several times and I may take her further down the street to see how she does. She has better hearing then I do and when she is scared sits right down and refuses to move. I was told to let her sit at this stage, reassure her and see if she will continue walking, if not to turn around and head in the other direction.

Yesterday, she met two new people and except when the one person scared her accidently, Kai did not bark, but greeted them. I am trying to work on her manners by not having her jump on people but Katy, my daughter loves when she jumps on top of her, so we are having some teaching problems. THe great thing is that she sits when I tell her to without having to press down on her but, she likes being called a good girl but more importantly she likes snacks. We are working on stay.

Bad though is that she has decided that everything is a chew toy. I had to remove the table cloth because everytime she went by it she jump and grab it, for the fun of it. I keep trying to get her interesting chew toys, but I think she likes it when I say no. We have also been playing fetch, but she still does not think I will give it back so she comes close but stops just short of me. Ah, well. It will get better. I am amazed at how much she has learned so far, with only being with us 4 days.

new dog no tricks

On Saturday, maybe against my better judgement, I went to look at a puppy. She was advertized as a Boston Terrier/ LAb mix but no one knows if that is true. It is just what the kill shelter in Princeton WV told our rescuer at PetHaven in Falls Mills. So I went to check it out, thinking that my Boston Lady was so special that I wanted another Boston, but thought A mix would be better. We drove hours two hours to the rescue place. It started to snow once we got there and our thoughts were we are going to get snowed into a place that has no hotels.

We found the kennel/ rescue place and found about 8 kennels with 2 dogs/kennel except for some really little puppies who were not spayed or neutered. We really wanted to take all the dogd home because though it was "heated" there was still only heavy plastic curtains keeping the chill out. Our rescuer was doing all that she could to save the dogs providing them with indoor/outdoor access on a limited budget. We were greeted by a cacphony of dogs barking. Which calmed down when they knew we were okay. I went to the kennel with Bella and Cricket, this was the two boston/lab mixes. They were mostly lab in looks, with some of the white markings of a boston. When they let them out all chaos broke loose. I wanted to rescue both of them but seeing by the way they were running around I knew that would be an impossibility. I hated to seperate them, they were both lovable dogs.

I was hestitant, I remember many stories about labs and wanting to please but hating being on a leash. This puppy was 5-6 months old and only knew about life in a kennel, no rules, just eat sleep and wrestle with her sister. My daughter was told that Bella was always being picked on since she was the runt of the litter. Needless to say we took Bella who would be renamed home with us.

Why not keep her name as Bella, though she was beautiful we did not think the name fit. And as she was not used to being called a name we went through many possibilities before we settled on a name. We had planty of time as I gave the wrong directions and we were headed  away from home about an hour before I realized this. So we finally settled on the name Kai. When my daughter looked it up we found that it had many meanings including Dog in Cornish. Plus it meant Ocean, Harbor and probability all things that seemed to fit, deep black for ocean, we were harboring her, and we are probably sure she is at least lab, not too sure about the boston.

I do have to say we made a quick trip to the store, Walmart was nearby and picked up a crate, food and treats. Katy sat with her in the backseat and Kai was really good, she just snuggled up to Katy and relaxed. When we got the crate she went into it without a problem and settled down for the long ride home. I think because she was really warm for the first time she slept most of the way.

She is getting settled but it was crazy the first night. I think she cried out every hour on the hour all night. I let her out at 2:30 so she could pee, very cold at 2:30 in the morning.

I am trying to teach her things like sit, to walk on a leash, I am trying to crate train her but she thinks I am punishing her. We did by a gate to put in the kitchen so that she has some room to roam when not in her crate but I think that  I am doing this wrong. I think she needs to be in the crate when I am not playing with her, because today she is becoming very independent. I actually found her starting to chew the furniture, so I had to reintroduce her to her chew toys. I thought we maybe out of that scenario since she was close to 6 months but not yet.

I will crate her everytime I leave the room. But she maybe a little more work then I originally thought, especially since I am sure that I do not have a clue on how to train a puppy. Tried to go for a walk in neighborhood, still too many new sounds for a country dog. She definitely does not know how to be a dog at least a domesticated dog. i have never had a dog that did not think going for a walk was fun, even if they were stubborn whenit came to smells.