1st Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went and surprisingly, nothing catastrophic happened. Kilo didn't manage to steal any of our food and nobody had to go to the vet. I call that a win. ;)
Notice I didn't say: 'Kilo didn't try to steal our food.' He tried. I won. It helped that I crated him during dinner. I didn't really fancy the idea of yelling 'leave it' every other bite.

Thanksgiving week I worked a lot, which meant little time to exercise Kilo so he and Chase spent lots of time running around outside. A tired dog is a happy dog, and a happy owner too.

My little sister came home for the holiday, which was good for Kilo because he got lots of hugs. He doesn't particularly love them, but they're good for him. There's not much that says 'I'm fluffy and hug-able' quite like a huge, furry dog. I figure he better get used to being grabbed and loved on. He has an entire lifetime of it ahead of him.

My Sweet Angelic Puppy

That would be a shoe. What is left of my mothers shoe to be exact; and I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: 'You fell asleep again, didn't you?' Surprisingly, my answer to your question would be: No. I didn't fall asleep while babysitting and no, Kilo didn't sneak off and redesign my mothers shoe. Chase did. Mothers new, flawless dog has a shoe fetish. As in, hide it under the dining room curtains for latter savoring, kind of fetish. Excuse me while I snicker and rejoice in the fact that for once, destruction cannot be traced back to my mule.

This week has been all about the dogs. If you'd asked me a couple weeks ago what my life was about I would have told you 'Kilo' and only half been joking. Now, with two younger dogs in the house, two younger dogs who must be supervised at all times, I am no longer half joking when I answer the question. It's a good thing I'm such a huge dog person. Though I'll admit, sometimes I wish they came with a white flag and a magical fairy. So, yes, this week has been dog week. Dog week and yard week. Fall is upon us, which means packaging up all of our yard debris in pretty paper bags for the trash men. Kilo loved it because he got to be outside for hours on end every day. I however, about went crazy trying to keep him out of the crab apple tree. He's the only dog I know stupid enough to eat poisonous berries. Every time I turned around to check on him, he'd be nibbling on the lower branches. In a fit of exasperation/rage that I usually try to resist, I hacked off all the lower tree limbs. I can just imagine what the neighbors must think. Especially considering the fact that in the wee hours of the morning and late at night I can usually be seen storming across the yard in my mismatched pjs yelling at Kilo to stop devouring indigestible plants. So Thursday finds me out in the yard, sticks in my hair, crab apples smashed against my flattering barn coat, muttering angrily to myself as I take a saw to the rather unfortunate crab apple tree. It's not it's fault that it's poisonous to my idiotic dog, but an ugly tree won't cost me hundreds of dollars at the vet office.Speaking of sticks and trees, I'd like you all to know that we went to the vet again this week, and for once it wasn't Kilos fault. It was Chases fault. He got a stick wedged in the roof of his mouth, stuck between two back teeth. Try as we might, we couldn't get it out, and so we ran over to the vet where they had to knock him out in order to remove the offending object. Excuse me while I snicker some more. Oh, and to top it all off they gave us the stick back as a souvenir. An expensive souvenir, but really, what self-respecting souvenir isn't a little overpriced?

Here's a video of Kilo and Chase playing. You'll notice that I've mostly cured Kilos over-zealousness, that and he finally learned that Chase won't play with him if he loses all the time. Go figure. Chase looks like he's eating him, but they really are playing. Kilo doesn't have to fall over or act like a wimp, but he does it because it means the fun will continue.

A Poem or Two of Cringe Worthy Rhymes

There once was a dog named Kilo, who happened to be a Leo.

He loved to romp and jump and run, especially if it'd cause trouble.

A new doggy soon joined his house and Kilo was in heaven.

A playmate! A toy! A thing to Chase! How fun for our puppy, Kilo!

But Kilos poor manners must be addressed and his owner is very assertive,So Kilo must learn to conquer himself and not trample his doggy companion.

There once was a wad of cotton, wrapped in a cardboard box.
Crunchy and chewy, yet soft and fluffy, how desired that cotton box was.
And so our dear puppy waited and paced and stared with huge eager eyes,
Finally, it came! The perfect hour! For our big little puppy to strike,
And so he crept off as his poor mommy slept, that huge box of cotton in sight.
Demolished in seconds, that large old box, the cotton shredded to bits,
And though his owner must sweep, and vacuum, and trash - she can't help but snicker at him.
Here, a perfect example of why I leave the rhyming and poetry to my father and brother ;) Kilo should be happy he can't read. The Beast reached 80lbs this week.

1st Halloween

I'm a little late updating this week mostly because I've been sick but also because we lost Luke (our sheltie) on Monday. Early that morning he began acting as if he had no feeling in his left leg. We all assumed it was seizure related, but when mom and dad took him to the emergency room they said he had a blood clot somewhere, probably related to his liver disease. There wasn't anything the doctors could do for him other than wait and see, and the poor guy was in pain so Mom and Dad made the best decision for him.
Kilo got a new puzzle toy this week. He's too smart for his own good and much too smart for my wallet. Within two seconds he knew how it worked and had all the food out within fifteen minutes - I really need the pet industry to come up with some more innovative toys because this just isn't cutting it for my crazy dog.
Halloween promised to be interesting from a doggy point of view. All the new sights and smells were fascinating for our big puppy. The picture above is of Kilo trying to nibble on my brothers pumpkin while he tries to carve it. Not very subtle of him, but he just had to know what it was and why it smelled so good!
Kilo and I dressed up to give out candy this year. Mom made me a great lion tamer's costume and Kilo was my faithful but often ornery lion. He loves new toys, and will do just about anything for one, so all I had to do was withhold this one till Halloween and presto! Incentive to behave.
Kilo, my brother and I all sat out on the front stoop and gave out candy. That Tupperware container holds Kilo's treats - he got a few Treats as well, but only when he was well behaved. He give enough Tricks out as it is. I was predicting a bit of mayhem to be honest. I mean, lots of little children running around in wavy costumes smelling like sugared bliss? Add in the giant three year old and who wouldn't expect some screaming/stampeding? Kilo delights in making me look the fool. He sat quite calmly beside me the entire night and watched all the people go by. He did see one little child, probably two years old, with feathery wings on, that he just had to say hello to, but it was manageable and he at least wasn't trying to eat him, just lick him. Though I suppose licking usually precedes eating.
Here Kilo is in his 'lion' costume. You may notice that he didn't have it on in the other pictures, that would be because he decided it was more useful as a chew toy.

I had also predicted that Kilo would scare most of the Trick or Treaters away, people usually stand back when they see him, until they realize he's just an overgrown toddler. I didn't really mind, I mean, dude, more candy for me at the end of the day. But Kilo failed to instill any fear in our neighborhood children. Two kids: that was his grand total by the end of the night. Though a bunch watched him out of the corner of their eyes. It was cute to hear the kids responses to him. A couple wanted to pet him, some stood far away while trying to reach the candy bin, one almost gave him a mouthful of their stash. A couple of the parents seemed more wary of him than the kids did. But with my brother and I assuring them all that Kilo was perfectly friendly, just big and doofy, most of them stared at him as if he had just leapt out of a Narnia movie and within minutes would start talking and walking on his hind legs.