Spring 2015

Kai, my poor pup has allergies. I thought maybe she had a cold after I picked her up from boarding, but nope as soon as she spent more time indoors the runny eyes and sneezing have stopped. When she has been outside all day, she wakes up the next morning congested. Kai is paralleling me in her allergies. Things have calmed down a bit since the trees are in full flower and my honey bees are grabbing the pollen. I am hoping that when I leave her outside while I am substituting that she will be able to handle being outside with the pollen.

Food Allergies

My pup may have possible food allergies, so I have to wean her off the chicken and beef, and give her lamb and fish food. Yes, my dog is now a guppy. She has had this rash that goes away briefly and then comes back. The vet said lets try modifying her diet. She also has to eat veggie treats, or nylon bones, anything but pigs ears, cow hide, and well anything that dogs tend to eat. Now I just have to convince my husband that he cannot feed her off the table. Maybe this will help. She was so sweet at the vet, I do not know what he did but, he relaxed her so much that she actually laid down on the table. She never does that. He was an older vet, so maybe he is well trained in calming dogs. I will keep you posted.

Spring happiness

Well it is Spring and with that is sunshine, flowers, warmth and baby animals. I am hoping that today that is actually the case, because yesterday the first day of Spring, was met with rain and 37 degrees. By the evening we were up to a whopping 48. Today it is supposed to be in  the 70's, time to get out the shorts and take Kai for longer walks.

Kai is heaven over the weather, it means that she can stay out in the sunshine, instead of being cooped up in the house. Kai does not like anything below 40 degrees. She is like my bees, who only come out when it is 50 degrees. Kai will stick her nose out the door, then turn around and go to her favorite blanket or chair to lie down. It is my new way to judge the temperature and what jacket to wear outside.

Today she did not hesitate to go out, so above 40. She also doesn't want to come in when called. This means I can get some spring cleaning done, when I am not stopping Kai from barking at everything that moves past the house. And it means more potential for escapes as we do yard work. She is fast and I am so tired of running after her. Her freedom outside of the gate produces a crazy pup, who never listens to the word stay.

But for the sunshine warmth, I will be happy, as well as Kai.

Escape number 452......

This week has been utter chaos, so that when my husband said "Do you want to go out to dinner?" I nearly jumped off the ground. We had gone outside, my husband wanted me to see his bees, so we went through the back gate, which I shut behind me and locked. I went to the garage and opened the door, got into the car and apparently while I was doing that, my lovely Kai who never went into the garage when the car was running decided if we were leaving she was leaving. She opened the front door to the garage, which is a lever, and ran out the door. All of this happens without me knowing it. I see the door ajar, jump out of the car, shut the door. My husband gets to the street, where I notice my dog Kai watching the chickens in my neighbors yard. I jump out of the car call Kai, my neighbor tries to grab her and Kai flies up the street and turns right. I am in hot pursuit as is my husband, me on foot, he in the car. I fly up some three sets of stairs as I see Kai go to someones porch. Aha I think, I have her only to find her vanished. She has somehow passed me and is now at the next house. She starts to come  am delighted and then she is off again, flying across hilled yards and jumping to the corner at the end. I cannot jump off three feet off the top of the brick wall, so I have to climb down the steps. By that time Kai has disappeared, I look everywhere, walk across the block up three houses, no sign of Kai. Turn around and she is on the side of the street I just left, apparently having visited someones back yard. WHile I had been screaming her name. I recross the street, where Kai takes off up the ally way. All I can see is every once and awhile is a tail. So I start running to the last place I see her. When I arrive, I notice two things, construction site and the open carport that leads from the backyard to the front yard. I pray she has not gone through because that is the busiest road and the last time Kai was on that road she almost got hit three times. So I do not scream her name but quietly maneuver around the cars parked in the back, and see her inside a fenced off area, with thankfully, only one way out. She is sniffing, and I manage to sneak up on her, grab her, lift her in my arms and walk down a hill that makes me think that I am sliding down my back on the hill, I am sure it must be at a 75 degree angle. My husband is nowhere to be found, as I carefully put one foot in front of the other. Till I get home and as if by magic, my husband turns the corner. I put the dog away in her crate, change my red mud covered boots and jump in the car to go to dinner. Cursing the day I put a cute puppy in the back of my car to love.

Sleeping with my dog

I am not a huge fan of letting my dog sleep with us at night, but sometimes if I am not feeling good or want to take a nap, I let her onto the bed. In the mornings, whom ever gets up first, wakes the other by letting the dog into the bedroom. Now it is usually me letting Kai wake my husband. She grabs his hand or sticks her nose under the blankets where he hides. Today I did not have to go to work, so I decided to sleep in a bit. My husband, decided to let the dog in the room, tit for tat. Kai found me gave me morning kisses and then settled herself in the crook of my knees and went to sleep. I guess it backfired for Jim, he came to say goodbye an hour later. So much for a wake up call.

snow fetch

This is a lively game and gives Kai much exercise. After trying to take her on a walk and realizing that I was going to have a potential fall, I decided to cut our walk short. When I came home I tossed Kai a snowball, she would run to find the snowball slide in the snow and completely cover the snow ball. Then she would stick her nose in the snow trying to locate the ball. Impossible, so when she came up for air, I had another snowball prepared. Repeat, repeat repeat. She was always so excited to see that I had the ball. She would come running back to me and try to anticipate where I was going to throw it. Then off again, slide, no snowball. So once I just threw it at her feet, where she tried to pick it up and ended up eating it. She loves the snow and is currently outside playing in it. She will come in when her feet need warming. She always does.

Warm Winter Weather

What is better than 60+ degrees in the middle on February-nothing. Kai is outside just having a wonderful time. She has not been in all day. Friday is going to get colder so she will be stuck inside once again. The only problem with her being outside is barking every time she sees a dog walk by. We have many dogs in our neighborhood and on a day such as this, lots of walkers. Why am I inside? I am trying to catch up on housework. Kai is not happy because I have not gone out and thrown a ball with her all day, but she has only come in once to look at me with her big brown eyes. I love that she loves being outside.
She had a special treat this weekend, my kids came home to celebrate their dad's birthday. We decided to watch a movie at home and Kai sat right between my kids. She usually does not do that, but she was extremely happy to see them. At first she barked and barked, when they came in the door. She is really good with intruder alerts. Then the barking got less and less as she caught their scent and realized who it was. Then she was all puppy jumping, cuddling and giving kisses. It made me happy too, knowing that she is such a loving dog. I also loves that she barks when someone unannounced comes in the  back door. She did this once while I was in my bedroom and when I came out my backdoor was open. I am glad she was home and barking that time.