Bathtime

Kona, as a general rule, despises water. So getting a bath is about the worst thing that can happen to him (closely followed by having to go outside when it's raining, which leads to many housebreaking accidents when the weather's nasty as it's been for the past several days and according to Mr. Weatherman will continue to be for the next two days at least. Joy). Just look at the absolute joy on his face following his bath:

Don't worry Kona. It's nothing a few minutes with the blowdryer can't fix.

Happy First Month-iversary, Kona!

Today we've had Kona for exactly one month! Here's an update of how he's changed in the past 31 days:

• He's doubled in size going from about 10 pounds when we got him to over 20 pounds today. His face and fur have also changed a little and he's looking more "dog" than "puppy".
  
• He now goes very happily into his crate and even takes naps there during the day on occasion, and he waits patiently for me to get up in the morning without whining or barking.
  
• He's (almost!) completely housebroken and is using his bell to ask out.
  
• He sits on command and is getting the hang of "Come" and "Lay down".
  
• He chases a tennis ball, but only when he feels like and when not distracted by other things; it's hilarious to throw it onto the wood floor and watch him slide around trying to get his footing on that floor.
  
• He goes on walks and is very well-behaved on his leash. I don't even use the harness with him anymore.
  

Over all, Kona is really growing into a sweet, well-behaved dog. The biggest change over the past month I think is he's really bonded with us. Before he seem to see us as the meanies who took him from his family. Now he gets excited to see us, loves to be petted and played with and likes to stay close by when we're in the house. He gets super excited when Jamie gets home from work even though I've explained to him in no uncertain terms that I'm the one who cleans up his poop and by default shall be his favorite human, no questions asked, amen.

Here are some pictures of what a big pooch his turning into!

Kona on Day One:

And Kona today:

Kona and his sock on Day One:

Kona and his sock today:

Can you see a difference? He definitely looks bigger, but I think the most noticeable change in the pictures is his face and ears. He just looks so much older!

It's creepy and kind of ohh ohh spooky!

*A thank you to those of you who read this yesterday: thank you for reading through my horrendous grammar and getting the meaning behind the elementary level writing. Assuming you understood what I was trying to say.

We had a big ol' storm last night that was really freaky looking. It didn't amount to much - we didn't even get any rain here in the evening - but it was causing severe thunderstorms, funnel clouds and hail in nearby cities. I went outside with Kona and noticed there was two big storms on either side of the house moving really fast and crashing together behind the house. Here's some shots of the clouds over our backyard:

Here are the two storms coming together right above the trees behind the basketball net.

The creepy yellow-ishness off the the left side of our house.

The greenish cloud where the two storms were coming together.

Dark and spooky

Over our neighbors house

At least this time I would've had a puppy to hide in the tub with me.

The Best Laid Plans

The past few weeks I've been thinking about what a sedentary lifestyle I've been living lately. So I decided to do something about it. Yesterday evening I sat down and made myself a schedule for the week, planning out my morning routine, my evening routine and an attack plan for the household chores. This morning I woke up all ready to go (helped along by the fact that Kona has stopped whining in the morning; he waits quietly until I come get him - yay!). I got dressed in layers and went to start my morning routine which looks like this: get up, let Kona out and feed him, eat breakfast, take Kona for a walk. So I'm all dressed in my warm clothes ready to go for our walk as soon as Kona and I have eaten and this is what I see when I walk into my kitchen:

That is not a little sprinkle. It's a drenching rain with lightning and everything. Not to worry though, the weather man says it's going to continue throughout the day with occasional hail possible. Perfect.

In other news, Kona is doing fairly well with housebreaking, so I've started to work on some other commands with him. I wanted to wait until he was mostly housebroken and going into his crate happily. I figured he'd learn quicker if going potty and going into his crate were the only ways to get treats. Earlier I thought I'd take a quick video of Kona showing off what he's learned so far. The result was an especially long video that started with me standing there saying, "Come here Kona, come here" followed by my walking out of the shot to go find Kona and then yelling, "No! Kona! No no!!" when I found him in the next room pooping on the floor. Grrrr Apparently he hates going out in the rain. Anyway, I did finally get a video of him doing a pretty decent job of obeying me. For a delicious reward of Fritos.

Look how big he's getting! Can you believe it?

I Keep My Blog Private...

...So the SPCA can't find me:

Hi my name is Tara, and I let my puppy play on piles of rusty nail-filled wood because it makes him happy. And tired. And he sleeps the rest of the day while I get stuff done.

Please don't have him taken away from me. And please don't let anyone know we have piles of rubbish and 4-foot-high weeds in our backyard. We like to pretend it's our own private jungle.

Some updates

First of all, I'd just like to say I made that title bar above from a picture I took on our trip to Buckhead for my birthday. Impressed? I am.

Secondly, I had a request for more pictures of Kona from Kristy and was having a hard time deciding which pictures and stories to include, so I uploaded everything to Picasa and you can look at them through the link on the sidebar.

Kona has been so much fun. He's a sleeper and will snooze away most of the morning. He's doing well enough in housebreaking now that I can take him out in the morning and then leave him in the living room while I shower and get dressed. He plays or naps happily and doesn't get into anything.

We're bell training him, which means I have a bell hanging by the back door for him to ring when he needs out. He's getting the hang of it and definitely understands that he gets to go out if he rings it. Now if he just could understand that he's supposed to go out to go to the bathroom, we'd be good. He's still learning, but he hasn't had more than one accident a day for the past couple days. Which is SOO much better than when we first got him!

This weekend we took him to a friend's house who has two dachsunds, one of whom is only about 6 weeks old. Kona was a little bit baffled by this teeny tiny thing. It was really cute the way he was looking at her and poking her with his paw. Their older dachsund is not so outgoing, so he tried to run away from Kona. Kona thought that was a great game and chased him all around the house. Later on that same day some friends of ours with a 5-month-old puppy came by with their dog. She's a mutt, but they think she's a lab/German shepherd mix and looks like she might have some rottweiler, too. They had a great time playing together and both dogs were exhausted that evening. Which of course was great for us!

Jamie and I are really enjoying him and all his antics and really think we got a great dog! He's friendly with other dogs and people, doesn't bark much at all, hasn't chewed on anything he's not supposed to (yet!), and is just the right amount of loving, loyal and aloof. He loves us and gets very excited to play with us, but he's independent, too which makes it easier to get things done. He's not always under foot.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Who needs a broom?