The above picture is of Kilo half lying on me. He started out with his back to mine and then rolled over and proceeded to kick me. The dog can't even share the floor. ;)
Part of the reason Kilo is so much fun and correspondingly so much trouble is due to his brain. He learns easily and is stubborn enough to know what he wants versus what I want. So, whilst I try to overcome that large brain of his, I thought I'd share a few stories of Kilo being, well, Kilo.
When Kilo was around six months old my mom took him to the pet store with her. We needed dog food and she was puppy-sitting for me. So my mom retrieved the food and then went down the toy aisle. A large stuffed bear caught her eye. She picked it up to look at it, causing it to emit a 'grumbly' noise. Kilo immediately turned to investigate, eyes like saucers, and then promptly touched his butt to the floor, expectantly waiting. Since Kilo tends to be headstrong and stubborn, we try to ask him for a behavior before giving him anything. 'Sit' is the most requested. Kilo saw what he wanted - an interesting, noisy toy - and performed a commonly rewarded behavior. Then he waited, and waited, staring and drooling, imagining how much better his life would be with a grumbly stuffed bear. His huge eyes, fluffy ears and rapt attention wore my mother down - she caved. Kilo got his grumbly bear.
Lately Kilo's been using his brain in a new way. A conniving sneaky way. Kilo has several chew toys, some of which he'll get pieces off of. He'll chew and chew until at last a small chunk comes off, then he'll chew and chew on that until . . . his owner shoves her hand down his throat and takes it away. And repeat. Even if the rubber castoffs won't clog him up, I still worry about how much non edible food goes down to his stomach so I take as much of it away as I can. Kilo doesn't really appreciate me stealing his hard earned treats. So recently he's started faking me off. Now he'll get a chuck off, chew it over a bit and when he realizes I've noticed and am about to get up to take it away, he suddenly stops chewing. He hides it! I get up, Kilo stops chewing and then waits. If I look away, deciding he's already eaten it, the mule waits a moment and then goes back to chewing! It's a bit absurd really.
To Grandma's house we go! This past weekend Mom, Kilo and I went to see Grandma's new house and to help her add a little color to her cappuccino world. Kilo loves his Grandma, really really loves his Grandma. In fact, he loves her so much that the instant he saw her sitting across the room he gaily took off, heedlessly galumphing across the carpet as the end of his leash wrapped around the wobbly leg of a half dead card table. Kilo's eyes grew larger as he drew near to his cuddly grandma while my mothers and my eyes were expanded to capacity as we watched the card table sprout wings and go flying end over end across the room . . . . Hi Grandma!
Friday and Saturday Mom and I spent painting. When Kilo wasn't getting in the way, attempting to play with the uncuddly Cuddles, or splashing his water bowl across the kitchen floor, he was either itching or licking paint off the wall. Usually I grab the camera to catch Kilo's latest misadventure before bothering to clean it up, but when he decided to lick wet paint off the wall I was too concerned with wiping it out of his mouth. Just one more toxic substance down the hatch!
Kilo normally is very itchy. Sometimes his itchy fits have even taken us to the vets office in search of relief medicine. Initially I thought he must be allergic to the hemlock and crabapple trees he has so much fun eating/brushing up against on a daily basis. But we went to grandmas, no trees in sight and his itching got worse. So much worse that mother and I got very little sleep, what with Kilo pacing, scratching and nose bumping us every hour. So today I switched his food, in hopes that perhaps it's a food allergy. If this doesn't work I guess we'll keep searching until we find out what the problem is.
