I took Kona down to the park and off the bike path into the woods so he could run around a little.
Just some silliness with iMovie.
The moment he realized he was off-leash was quite funny. He juked a step to the right, then left, then took off like a shot. Overall, he was pretty good about coming back when I called, though I did have to catch up to him once or twice so he would pay attention.
It's nice to be able to let him run in cold weather when the bugs are gone, and there are fewer people about.
Kona's sweet (if goofy) nature continues to assert itself. Moose, our geriatric cat (nearly 20!) sleeps a lot (wouldn't you?), and seeks out warm, padded places to nap. Kona went to his bed to lie down and found the cat curled up. After a moment's confusion, Kona just curled up next to him, taking care not to overly disturb his elder while he lay down. The two of them slept peacefully for a good 15-20 minutes before the kids came in and made enough noise to wake them up.
Well, the new neighbors got to meet this weekend and I think it was a case of BFFs at first sight. The two of them hit it off like gangbusters and played themselves silly. Nala is a doll and there was no aggressiveness or touchiness on either side. Here's hoping to more playdates and more pooped pups.
Our next door neighbors just adopted a 2-yo spayed lab mix named Nala. Once she has had a chance to settle in (and get her spay stitches out), We're going to try introducing the two as potential playmates. She seems very calm and friendly. I hope she likes Kona OK.
Kona has been sniffing like mad through our fence as he hears her in the other yard. Once they meet, I'll try to take some pics of them together.
We took the kids to Orlando this past week and Kona stayed at my mother's house, or –as dogs around the world know it– "THE BEST PLACE EVER!"
I swear, when I die, I want to reincarnate as a dog and belong to my mother and stepfather. These animals have it goooooood.
Kona spent the week playing with Beau, romping in the woods, and getting all sorts of treats. He was one tired animal when he got home Saturday, but according to inside sources, he had a blast.
We just got Kona an anti-pulling harness. It constricts around the chest when they pull the lead tight, discouraging the dog from yanking without choking them. We shall see how it works. Who knows? If it works well enough, come winter maybe he can pull a sled for the kids!
Last Fall, I posted a video of Kona playing tug of war with a rope hung from our old swing set. At the time I wondered what would give first: The rope, the swing set, or his teeth. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner (or loser, as the case may be).
That wasn't like that before.
So now I have to dismantle the thing and take it to the dump, because it's really not safe for the kids any more. I suppose a new swing set of some sort may be in order (they still play on it pretty regularly). If not, I'll have to find a new place to hang that rope for Kona, though.
It was one year ago today that Zeke passed and I still miss him terribly. Kona is a great comfort (even when he is bananas). I think that one of the reasons I started writing this blog and posting pictures of Kona was that, when Zeke died, I realized I didn't really have all that many photos of him.
So, back in winter I posted about how Kona's nose was turning pink. Now that the weather has warmed up, I thought I'd snap a pic of his shnozz and compare.
Here he is in January:
and here he is in May:
Still pretty pink, but it looks like some black is creeping in along the edges and a spot in the middle. We'll see how black it gets before the cold comes back.
(Those spots on his tongue have always been there, by the way.)
Not much to report about the first part. Kona had a vet visit and got a rabies shot (along with distemper and parvo), he's in ridiculously good health. I am more and more convinced he is made out of teflon or some other space age material. I swear he made a vertical leap the other day where his head got 7' off the ground.
Anyway, here he is lolling about on a lovely spring afternoon, absurdly pleased with himself.
We are starting to ease up on the crating a bit. Kona is much calmer than when we first got him. Toward that end, we bought him a second bed for the upstairs.
Unfortunately, my inept assembling of said bed led (nice rhyming!) to much dropping of pipes with loud CLANG BANG noises. Kona was less than pleased. Once the bed was assembled, he didn't want to get too close unless it spontaneously started CLANGing again.
Eventually we coaxed him onto it (many kibble treats were involved). He hasn't slept on it yet, but here he is reclining majestically.
So we had about an inch of snow stick last night. It's wicked cold, so it didn't melt when it reached the ground or streets. While Kona has seen snow before, this was a bit more of a "real" snowfall (stayed around a while, more powder than slush, etc.). He had a grand time when I let him out this morning.
Later, a neighbor brought their dog, Tucker over. Tucker is a large black lab mix (probably close to 80 lbs.) and plays pretty rough. Kona's first experience with Tucker was when he visited our neighbor's yard to play, and Tucker spent most of the time knocking down and pinning Kona.
= < Fun for our favorite cur.
So this time, Kona's over a year and the play date was on his turf. There were the normal raised hackles and barking when they first saw each other (both on leash), but eventually they calmed down enough to play. The pattern was similar, with a lot of aggressive play by Tucker, but Kona figured something out pretty quick: He can outrun and outmaneuver Tucker!
What followed was several minutes of Tucker chasing Kona, but losing several steps on him when Kona would turn on a dime and sprint the other way. At one point, Kona leapt OVER Tucker. It was pretty hilarious, and I extremely annoyed I didn't have at least the phone out to get some of this footage. He had his jacket on, though, which I think helped him last longer in the cold.
Basically a lot of this.
By the end, Kona was chasing Tucker a bit too, so I guess once the initial crazed energy was burnt through, they could play a bit less aggressively. In the end, Kona was one tired pup. Which is, IMHO, a very good thing.
So Kona had an interesting weekend. He got to take a car ride to my mother's house (≈20 miles), which he handled like A BOSS! He was more freaked out before the car ride because things weren't following the normal routine for us leaving the house (e.g. I got a treat ready, like I do for his crate, but then I got out his leash). Once we were on the road, he was fine. I'm going to need to come up with a more secure option for future rides though (he was just on a blanket in the back of the van).
Once we arrived at my mother's I took him out and around to the fenced back yard. When he saw my mom's springer spaniel 8mo puppy, Beau, Kona got very nervous (hackles up, growling and lunging). So we backed things up a bit. Beau went inside and we let Kona off leash in the yard. He ran off some tension, then Winnie (my mother's 14 yo female springer) came out. Winnie is older and grumpy, so when Kona got in her face a bit with the whole "alert nose touch" thing, Winnie growled and snapped once. Kona learned it was her yard pretty fast and the hackles started going down.
Then Beau was brought out again. There was a moment or two of hesitant sniffing, then they ignored each other for a minute or two, THEN they started tearing around the yard in circles chasing each other. Kona got to fall in the goldfish pond, which apparently was a treat.
Socialization/Play Date = success.
Kona and Beau, or "Bona" as they are now referred to. Would NOT stop playing with each other. Winnie was enjoying herself, but tired of it quickly and left the lunacy to younger pups. We actually had to separate them because they were exhausting themselves (I think it was a demented game of chicken where neither would admit to the other he was wiped out).
At the end of the day, I think the two of them had removed every ya-ya they had and burned through them. Kona slept the whole car ride home.
New best day ever for Kona? Hard to say, but it's definitely in the –ahaha– running.
Kona is a year now, as near as we can figure. Based on DAWG's records from the shelter, etc., he was born in late December or early January. So, for simplicity, we're using New Years Day as his birthday. We do the same thing for Moose (our cat). The difference being he's nineteen now.
Kona's working on a new trick, "Over." He basically jumping hurdles. You can see him bounding like a gazelle over the simple log setup in the back yard.
On a different note, Kona's nose is turning pink. I remember Zeke's doing the same as he got older, but this is happening sooner and faster than that. From what I've read, it's not uncommon in some dogs for their noses to pinken in cold weather, then return to black in spring. Who knew?? (I tried to get a decent close up of his shnozz, but he isn't great about staying still.)
