Cat-Sitting

BFF!

Ok…this is REALLY funny. It happened a few weeks ago, but I'm just finally posting it up now...

So I went home to let Kodo out. My routine with him is to fill a kong and give it to him before leaving him alone for the afternoon. Well, I got the kong all ready. Kodo was obviously excited, 'cuz he was following me around. Well, of course he has to earn the Kong too...So I said "Sit!" ...and as always, Kodo sat. Well, this time was different. As soon as he sat, I hear a "Meh!!!" from somewhere. Apparently Pippin (our black kitty) was right underneath him...and he got sat on! The funniest parts:

1. Kodo didn't even notice and kept staring intently at the treat and
2. Pippin was flat on the floor and pawing his way to try and pry himself loose…to no avail. (Trust me, I know...when Kodo sits on me, I can barely pry myself lose...much less a 7lb cat.)

I had to tell Kodo "Up!" to get Pippin free! I didn't have a camera, but it was just priceless. No black kitties were harmed during the sitting of this pup.

June 29th - A day at the beach

Brian and Teresa were playing in a coed 2's sand volleyball tournament today, and Teresa thought the beach didn't allow dogs at all, so I decided I would take Kodo for a good long walk this morning to tire him out so I could run up to cheer for them for a couple hours in the afternoon without feeling guilty. So I took Kodo up to Huntington Beach for the first time. He had never been to the lake before, so I thought he would have a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, I found out when I got there that they don't allow dogs on the beach there either! :( I think Kodo was disappointed- I kept telling him about the sand and the water all the way there, and once we got there he kept pulling toward the stairs as if he wanted to go down to the beach. :) And he kept sniffing the wind to enjoy all the new smells!!
Since we couldn't go down to the water, we wandered along the all-purpose trails instead. While we were exploring one of the side paths that meandered through the trees, my cel rang. It was Brian, and he was calling to tell me which net they were on, and also that dogs were allowed on the Boardwalk area next to the courts, just not on the beach itself. I decided I was going to keep walking Kodo for a bit until he tired out a bit more and see what happened from there.
As we walk, I like to watch the people we pass, because I love watching the faces of the dog-lovers light up when they see him.. :) We also got a couple of the usual questions about his breed, age, weight, etc. which I am more than happy to answer.. Along the path we passed a beautiful husky that Kodo decided he wanted to be new best friends with.. but other than that he was very well-behaved on the walk, since I was holding a tube of string cheese to keep him in line.. :) It was fairly cool for late June with a nice breeze going, but he still ended up tiring out after about an hour. So I took him back to the car and home, where he collapsed on the kitchen tile and went to sleep.
After about a half hour, I struggled to wake him up enough to get him out to the car. We went to the tournament and watched Teresa and Brian play a couple matches. We sat on a sandy slope that was lightly covered with grass. Kodo's butt kept sliding down the hill cuz it was a little too much of an incline for him- and at one point he made the mistake of lying on his side with his feet extended uphill and overbalanced enough so he rolled end over end!! He got a bunch of sand and grass eating in too, which made him really happy! And every time people came up to visit with him he gave them wet sandy kisses. Fortunately, most of them were there for the tournament and were already wet and sandy, so they didn't seem to mind.

All-in-all, a very busy day for the puppy!!!

June 23rd - Berner picnic

We took Kodo to the NCBMDCO picnic in Peninsula today. Weather looked good when we started out, but when we got to the picnic site, the heavens opened and it started pouring sheets of rain. So we try to arrange two adults, with duffel bag of doggy gear and a peach pie, as well as one 65+ pound dog under one golf umbrella to walk to the picnic shelter from the car. Needless to say, we all got pretty wet!

Once we got there, we recognized a couple faces from the last meeting we attended, and we were introduced to the group. Everyone was great-really friendly and nice to us, complimenting and petting Kodo and chatting with us. And all the PUPPIES!! :D Having a fairly uncommon breed makes it such a thrill to see so many of them all in one place. The whole picnic shelter was a sea of gently wagging tails and smiling, panting, tricolor faces.

Once the meeting was over, people started grabbing food and mingling. Brian and I got plates full and sat down to try to eat and juggle the dog at the same time. Kodo, in his usual graceful fashion, managed to plop down his rear right in the biggest, muddiest mud puddle there. He jumps up again right away- apparently his soaking wet muddy tail felt funny to him because he spent the next couple minutes jumping around trying to get away from it. Since it was still firmly attached to his rear, that didn't work so well.... In the process, though, he managed to slap several nice people who had stopped to talk with us with the aforementioned soaking wet muddy tail, and drag it a couple times through both of our plates of food.

We spent the rest of the time circulating, petting other peoples' dogs, and chatting. We met a bunch of girl Berners about a year old who were about the same height at the shoulder as Kodo, and everyone kept saying he was big for his age, so we now have something to compare him to at least. It was funny- we are so used to seeing him looking bigger than all the other dogs around him, but in this company he actually looked like the puppy he is for a change!

Toward the end of the afternoon, we all gathered with puppies near the pond for a group shot. Now trying to get 25-30ish dogs and their people all facing the same direction at the same time and in one frame is quite an undertaking! When this was over, a couple of the dogs decided to go swimming/wading in the shallow end of the pond. Kodo was very curious about this and wandered to the edge of the water. I didn't think about it too much because I have taken him hiking by a lot of ponds and streams on our park walks, and he never showed any inclination to do anything in the water. So I was as surprised as anyone when he decided to jump into the pond. All four feet. With his clothes still on!!! Even funnier though, the second he got in and realized this was COLD! and WET!! he tried to scramble back out as fast as he could. In his typical graceful fashion, tripping and stumbling all the way... :) and of course once he got out he had to hop around like a bunny for a couple seconds like he had scared himself, and shake all the pond water onto all the people and dogs standing around.

That was the end of the excitement for the day- we headed home, plopped him in the bathtub and washed him, then gave him dinner. Then he sprawled out on the floor and was fast asleep almost immediately. I think he had a ton of fun with all the people and puppies today- it has been quite a social weekend for him!

Berner-herd (Kodo is in the foreground of the picture with the bright blue leash):

June 21st - Graduation!

Today was the big day- Kodo's class was having their test for the end of the beginning-level obedience class he was enrolled in. The instructors had given us the list of tasks in advance, so we had been practicing all week. The test was sort of a lite version of the Canine Good Citizen test- mostly the same tasks, but with less distraction, less duration, and we were allowed to use treats.

We weren't too concerned about most of the tasks- he is pretty reliable on his off-lead 'Come', even with distractions. His 'Sit-Stay's and 'Down-Stay's are really good- we regularly take him up over a minute when we practice at home, and the longest time for these was 45 seconds. His walking on a loose leash is really good too (providing we aren't in the park with unexpected yummy smells, people and animals around). Plus we brought the string cheese and hot-dog pieces as extra incentive! :)

The one task we were really worried about was the 'greeting a stranger' task where the handler puts the dog into sit-stay next to them, then the examiner comes up and greets the handler, shaking their hand, etc. Now Kodo has a HUGE problem sitting quietly when anyone new comes up in his vicinity- usually that big old tail starts thumping, he starts panting and smiling, and as soon as the person comes close enough he turns to lunging, jumping, and licking. He hates missing out on ANY potential new friends who come past him (he has become the master of the 'drive-by licking'- when we walk him through a crowd he will suddenly snake his head sideways and slurp the hand (or any other available body part) of a random complete stranger walking the other way. If we are lucky, the person is a dog lover and they smile and say 'Awww- how cute!'.. But I do have to admit it would be a bit disconcerting if I were them!! :) ). Anyway, surprisingly he passed this one with flying colors!!! It helped that the examiner didn't make eye contact with him or speak to him, and that she shook Brian's hand really quickly and moved on, but still!! We are so proud! Of course, the CGC version of this involves the examiner asking to PET the dog, and the dog being polite and staying put while they do so. Needless to say Kodo isn't quite ready for THAT level just yet!!!

So he passed!! And so did his cousin Chiefers and Lily who were taking the class with us! Doggie ice creams all around!!!

June 19th - Coventry street fair

We took Kodo up to the street fair in Coventry on Thursday. We had gone to it last year, and it is always a tangle of people, dogs, vendors, food, entertainment, and live music that is great to see, and we figured it would be a great socializing opportunity for Kodo. And especially with all those dog-people there, we just love getting a chance to show him off!

We got there, and he was his usual self, schmoozing the crowd and drawing lots of attention and admiration before we even got to the main street! He was pretty well behaved- did a bit of leash-pulling till he settled down a bit, but other than that... The performers on stilts didn't make him nervous, small children petting him didn't phase him, all the noise and bustle were just fine. He just ambled along the street smiling his happy smile with his tongue hanging out.

He made friends with a beautiful black husky mix with piercing blue eyes, and an interesting airedale mix. He also met a Cavalier and a Scotty who each took exception to him sticking his !VERY LARGE! nose too close to them and warned him off with a growl and a snap. Near the end of the evening there was one mixed breed who lunged at him growling when he was walking by- scared Kodo for a second since he hadn't even seen the other dog until that moment. He cringed back against Brian's leg and was a little nervous.. for about 10 seconds, then he forgot about it again and was back to his normal self. I saw the same dog try to go after a couple other random dogs walking past- makes you wonder what his people were thinking bringing a dog-aggressive dog out into a fair environment like that? Anyway, other than that, the evening was a great success..

It surprises me over and over how much dogs can get people to open up- we have had lots of complete strangers start petting him and end up telling us all about their dog, or a dog they lost, or other personal things you generally don't talk about to someone you just met. It is incredibly touching to watch, and part of the reason I think he will make a great therapy dog once he gets a little older and more settled- he seems to draw people in even more than most dogs because he looks so much like a big teddy-bear.. and because he is so attuned to people in general that the tail starts wagging and the smile starts any time someone looks at him or starts walking toward him...

June 1st - 6-month birthday party!

Kodo turned 6 months today, so we had Teresa, Jamie, my parents, and all their dogs over for a cookout. We had salmon burgers and peach pie for the humans, and dog brownies and Haagen Paws ice cream from the Grateful Dog Bakery for the pups. They all seemed to have a ton of fun with the treats, and with chasing each other around and running like crazy pups around the back yard..