My cousins wore me out...

The great snow-face

Begging in stereo

Also known as "When daddy has a tuna sandwich".

Chin rest

Hugs

Guess which one is the boss here?

More snuggling

Waiting for mommy..

Hugging monkey

Brian picked up a sock monkey dog toy for Kodo from San Fran and it has been Kodo's new best friend for almost 2 weeks now...

Being a wolfie

Telling secrets

Reasons to not allow Bernese Mountain Dogs on the couch

Auntie Teresa and Uncle Jamie came over on Halloween...

Costume

It is very difficult to find costumes for BIG dogs. We had to improvise- this was part of a human monkey costume. He wasn't a big fan of the ears, but the kids who came to the door seemed to appreciate it...

Dancing for greenies

Snuggling

Very Berner weekend

We took Kodo to the dog park Friday evening. It was really hard to find a parking spot in the lot since the Avon Lake Saddle Club (we think) was having a big horse show in the field next to the dog park. Kodo of course loves watching the horses as we walk in.. Well after we had been at the park for about an hour, a couple came in with two Berners and a golden retriever! The one Berner was an adult, but the other was a puppy- I think they said 6-8 months? He was definitely in the gangly fuzzy-headed stage and too cute for words- made me want another puppy so badly! Kodo played with them a bit, and the puppy followed him around the field and tried to go with him when we left to take him home.
Then Saturday morning I took Kodo for his walk in the park. We came around a corner on the all-purpose trail, and who should be coming around the corner toward us but a young man walking another Berner! This was one I hadn't met in the park before. Turns out his name was Amos (I think), he was around Kodo's age, and he and Kodo got along great! They were hopping and bowing and bouncing around in circles in the middle of the path while the guy and I talked. Amos? was actually about Kodo's size too, which is unusual. I got some belly-rubbing in on him too before we went our separate ways.. :)

Yummy toothpaste

My kong!

Popcorn

Oooh, you have popcorn, daddy?









That smells AWFULLY good!!











I give kisses cuz I love you SOOO much!! Has nothing to do with the popcorn on your breath!

Pretty good couple of days!

SO last night I took Kodo to the dog park. Lately he hasn't been playing as much- he will do a couple mini-romps, then spend the rest of his time wandering around to people for pets or just sniffing. But last night there was a 4-month old boxer puppy there- his favorite thing! And the boxer puppy decided Kodo was an awesome playmate, and they went to town. For about 30 minutes, Kodo was getting his head boxed with little puppy paws and his jowls nipped at with little puppy teeth, and he was having the time of his life!! He slept WELL last night!

This morning was a bit cooler, so I decided to take him to the parks around 9 to get him a good walk. We did a different loop than we normally do, mostly under trees and packed dirt/gravel instead of asphalt- much better for coolness of puppy paws. We were on the last quarter mile, when I saw a GORGEOUS malamute (and her person) coming toward us along the trail. Her markings were very striking and she was very large- about the same shoulder height as Kodo! (the malamute that is, not the person..) Her person asked if the pups could say hello, so I let Kodo up from his sit and they did the usual sniffing things while the owner and I chatted. Then they started pouncing and trying to romp- which is a little tricky when you both are on leashes. After a couple minutes of that we took the dogs off in their respective directions.

I decided to take Kodo to Petsmart on the way home because he was getting a little low in food. We stopped just outside the doors to get swarmed with a crowd of people who seemed to think Kodo was the best thing since sliced bread (not that he was complaining!) One of the couples had a 4-month oldish pup from the APL- they were guessing a chow/collie mix, and SOOO cute!! Well, he decided Kodo would make an awesome playmate too, so they started in on each other. Kodo lay down to make it fair, the puppy chomped on Kodo's ears and jowls and Kodo whipped his head around a lot and thumped the puppy with a giant paw occasionally. I did recommend the Avon Lake dog park to the couple- their pup certainly seemed like he had a lot of energy to burn off!

Finally as we were about to enter the store, someone came by with what looked to be two shaved Old English Sheepdogs? They were very excited about Kodo and the poor owner was having a heck of a time holding them back. Then when one of them managed to lunge close enough, he snarled and tried to take Kodo's face off before the owner pulled him back.. :( I guess it isn't possible to be universally loved, even when you are THIS cute!

Kodo Head vs. Japanese Chin

Kodo Head

vs.

Japanese Chin

Last weekend, I had a volleyball tournament at Lakeview Beach. It's a little hidden world in Ohio, where you can almost taste a bit of California. Of course, there are always quite a few people there and it's for the most part, dog friendly...so you'll see a lot of pups walking the boardwalk.

Well, we never let an opportunity go to waste! So while I'm playing in the tournament, Becky will bring Kodo up to help cheer us on. In between our games, we were on the grass by the boardwalk watching the volleyball and enjoying the weather, when a young couple starts to walk past us with their pup, a Japanese Chin.

Now this little girl stood only about 18" tall and weighed maybe no more than 10 lbs....roughly about the same size/weight class as Kodo's gigantic head. Well, according to the couple, their pup thinks that she's a big dog...while we know that Kodo still thinks he's a small dog. A perfect match!

So instantly, the Japanese Chin took the initiative, tail wagging, and started to nudge Kodo to get up and fight like the "little" dog that she his. Well, of course, Kodo's tail starts going crazy, and you can tell that he's ready to play. Now playing between dogs is pretty normal, but what made this special is the slight size mismatch: the Chin on four paws only stood a little higher than Kodo's head. While Kodo, on four paws probably couldn't even see the Chin from that height (think AT-AT). So, to make things even, Kodo never stood up, while the Chin got up on her two hind legs, like a boxer.

The Chin was much feistier in her boxing stance. She'd be ducking and weaving and then lay on a few blows with her quick paws. While Kodo's head (since he apparently agreed to a height handicap) would simply take the blows, and then either give a single paw of his own or a nudge with his gigundus snout. The Chin would go flying, then just get up and come back for more. I really wish I had a video camera, because words really cannot describe the scene. Here's how my memory plays it out...

Chin (on two hind legs bouncing crazily and throwing punches): bouncebouncebounce....whapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhap...
bouncebounce....whapwhapwhapwhapwhap...bouncebouncebounce....

Kodo (in his down position) with one paw: THUMP!

Chin goes flying backwards, gets up, runs to Kodo, boxing stance:
bouncebouncebouncebouncebounce...whapwhapwhap....
bouncebouncebounce...whapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhap....
bouncebouncebouncebounce....whapwhap...

Kodo (again, in his down position) with snout: SHLORP!

Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

This went on for at least 30 minutes and was funny enough to warrant a blog post! Again, sorry for the lack of video...

Bedtime!

War wounds

Kodo actually got tagged by one of the kitties today- mostly by accident I think.

He and Weeble have this ?game? going where Kodo will bounce and bark at Weeble and Weebs will hiss and make a growly run at Kodo while Kodo bounces out of reach. Then after a couple repeats of this, Kodo turns his back and Weebs will charge at him from the rear growling and tap his tail or foot with a paw. They had been doing this for about 5 minutes, then Kodo sat by us and took a break, while Weebs sat on the arm of the couch. Kodo then starts backing out of the space between the couches, and turns his head just at the wrong moment as Weebs decided to do a sneak attack from the rear. It happened too fast to see well- Kodo let out a little yip.. we took a look at him but didn't see any problems.. until an hour later when he rolled his eyes at me and I saw a bloodshot spot in the corner.. :(

We ran him up to the vet right away- they were able to fit us in- and they stained and scoped his eye to make sure. Fortunately nothing major was damaged, so we got some ointment to take home- the injury should clear up in a couple days. So Kodo got some time at his very favorite place (vet) getting cooed over by a bunch of strangers (very favorite thing!!!). And we got an actual weight on him, and he is 120ish for sure. Whew!

Not a morning person..

..just like his dad. :)

Bernese Mounting Dog

Another first- not so good this time.. :/

So I took Kodo to the dog park in the evening. There were only 3-4 other dogs there, and I was sitting on a bench keeping a general eye on things. Brian called my cel, and I picked it up to start to talk to him, taking my eyes off Kodo for 10 seconds. When I turned back, Kodo was getting a little too friendly with a pretty black lab mix maybe a third of his weight. I called him off and kept an even closer eye on him the rest of the dog park visit. He looked like he was thinking about a repeat performance about 20 minutes later, but I got his attention and distracted him long enough that he forgot about what he was doing. Let's hope this was a one-time thing only... *sigh*

Sloppy, lazy, sprawly puppy-sit

Apparently we are MUCH TOO TIRED to possibly be expected to sit up like a normal adult dog.....

Me and my shadow

Bri is on vacation this week, so I have been able to get out running after work more since I didn't have to hurry home to let Kodo out. Today Bri left before I got back from my run, and when I got home Kodo would not let me out of his sight! He actually followed me upstairs when I went to shower, which he almost never does. So I pushed back the shower curtain to get out, and there is a big tricolor face poking around the curtain- he sat himself down and was leaning on the tub waiting for me to get out! It was the cutest thing- no camera unfortunately..

Toad lickin'

I took Kodo up to Lakeview Beach to watch Brian and Teresa play their volleyball tournament. He was getting restless just sitting on the hill watching, so I decided to walk him up and down the boardwalk a little while they were playing their game. I wasn't paying as close attention as I usually do since we were nowhere near any other people or pets at that point.. Suddenly a toad hops out of a sand hollow almost right under our feet...and before I can yank Kodo back, he pounces and grabs the little (guy? girl?) in his mouth..

..only to spit him back out a fraction of a second later. Toad hops away apparently unharmed, and Kodo turns to me foaming at the mouth with the most disgusted horrific expression on his face. He spent the next couple minutes twisting his tongue around, frothing spit, and shaking sprays of foam all over everything in the vicinity trying to get rid of the (I assume) horrible taste. I rinsed his mouth with some water as best I could, and within 5 minutes the frothing had subsided and he was back to normal. I kept a close eye on him and he showed no other ill effects- except we can always hope he has learned not to pick up everything that moves in his mouth!

I did some research when I got home, since I had no idea toads even LIVED on beaches, and this guy was a different color than I was used to seeing. The common opinion seems to be that the defensive secretions of this particular type of toad are noxious but not poisonous. I will still keep an eye on Kodo for a while just to be safe of course..

Fowler's Toad

Clean ears!

Every spring/summer/early fall we have been fighting a battle with Kodo's left ear. It keeps getting yeasty, and although he hasn't gotten a full-blown ear infection yet we really try to keep on top of it so it doesn't turn into one. I have been REALLY careful to scrub his ear out every morning for the last couple weeks and medicate as necessary, and it looks like his ear was completely clean the last couple days! I know we will have to stay on top of it, but this is definitely a small victory at least...

Guarding the farm

Kodo has developed a liking for spending long periods outside (providing the weather isn't too hot). He 'patrols' the edges of the property to chase off stray bunnies, birds, and honeybees that have invaded his turf. And he lies out there, just observing, in a cool shade patch of long grass near the back of the yard. The grass and clovers are a little out of control since it has been too wet to mow the last the couple weeks, so this morning when I went to call him in, he looked like he was in a farm meadow watching over a herd of something or other... I of course had to run for the camera... :)

New bandana

"Want to go for a walk in the park?"

Kisses for daddy

Biggest fan..

Kodo has his paws crossed for a Cavs win tonight!!

Dinner? Are you hungry?

Come out and play?

So I was trying to get dinner ready around 7ish, when Kodo started bumping the bell with his nose over and over. I knew he had just been 'out', but I figured maybe he wanted to romp and enjoy the weather. So I go over to open the door for him... and then movement on the steps down to the patio caught my eye. There, sitting on the top step right by the back door bold as you please, was this guy:












I guess he was hanging out waiting for Kodo to come out and play! I scooted him off the steps with a couple stems of grass, and he squiggled along the wall of the patio and down into the hole cut in the patio for access to the sump pump pipe.. Then we let Kodo out and he kept sniffing around the patio all disappointed that we had kicked his friend out.. :)

I think he is a Butler's garter snake. I don't think he could really hurt the pup even if Kodo did manage to get close- I am more worried that Kodo would think he was a toy and pick him up and try to play with him... I don't think the snake would survive that... :(

Who needs opposable thumbs?

Fun flashback pics

These were about a year ago when Kodo was 6 months old. SOOOO cute and fuzzy!!

New record!

Lately, when I take Kodo into Petsmart with me, he has been getting a little squirrelly around the automatic doors in the front. Going out only- he is fine coming in. But when it is time to leave, he starts doing his donkey imitation and getting a little wild around the eyes. Dunno if it is the carts, the doors, the rustly bags I carry, or the traffic, but he has been 'refusing' inside the store, out on the sidewalk (won't cross the aisle to get to the parked cars), etc.

I decided we needed to desensitize, and every time I take him in there I buy him a jumbo Greenie and use that to lure him all the way to the car. If you are not familiar with Greenies, they are some sort of digestible gelatin mix hardened into a shape halfway between a bone and a toothbrush. They are supposed to be chewed slowly for teeth cleaning. Kodo LOVES them. Jumbo sizes are probably 6-8 inches long and an inch plus thick.

Today I picked him up a Greenie, lured him out to the car and in, then gave it to him. I then proceeded to get myself into the car at a normal speed, then drive to the end of the (admittedly large) parking lot. I am sitting at the light to turn onto the street, and I turn around and there is less than an inch left on the Greenie. Kodo is blissfully smacking his lips and making loud squishy chewing noises. And just as I turn onto the road, the last piece disappears down his throat. So he completed one jumbo Greenie before we even got out of the parking lot. *sigh*

I need to read the packaging carefully to him next time to explain it is for CHEWING, not for swallowing in large chunks. At least these are digestible (unlike his old rawhide habit) so he should be ok regardless, but sheesh!!

Bear-in-a-box

Posing with daddy

Yoga dog, take 2

No idea how such a large, solid dog manages to be so bendy!! Front legs pointing one way, back legs the other....

Big and handsome- posing

Spring shedding..

After 20 minutes of grooming Kodo, this is what we had left.. I would say two full cats in volume (cat is there for scale).. :)

Spring is here!

And in celebration of spring, and the upcoming Easter holiday, I present to you Kodo's impression of the Easter Bunny!!!