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...