Kiko the fluppy dog
Sep. 30th, 2007 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jillithianIt's official. I am in love with this dog.
Perhaps it was the long fur between the hind toes, or the sleepy brown eyes blinking at me, or the way she twitched while she was dreaming next to me on the couch. Whichever way, how anyone could not fall in love with this dog is beyond me.
We have decided to name her Kiko. According to this website, it means "spot" in Hawaiian and she has a spotted tongue. Yes, a stretch, but it was that or "Shadow" and Shadow is just too unoriginal for a household with a cat named History.
We're all learning. The wet spots (and poo piles) in the house have significantly decreased. She only pooed in the house that first night, and she is not peeing on the carpet anymore. She's only gone in the laundry room on the rubber mat flooring the past two days, and that is much better than the carpet. I think that is a huge improvement in just four nights with us.
Kiko has taken to chewing on (and, unfortunately destroying) the cat toys, while History has taken to eating the dog food. The rawhide bones and chew toys have been almost all but ignored so far, but the fuzzy squeaky ball we picked up for her yesterday has gotten the best reaction - mild interest and slight confusion. She's not quite sure how to play other than wrestling. Tim figured out a new way to play with her yesterday: if she is upstairs and he is on the landing, he'll hide behind stuff and kinda pop up every once in a while and she'll get all excited and run around and jump. Heh.
She already has many more names than Kiko. Like History, who is also known as goofy, silly cat, green-eyed demon cat, kitty cat, kitty, and pud-pud, Kiko has gotten some terms of endearment as well: fluppy dog, fluppers, and fluffer butter. (Yes, I am a big dork)
She fits in well with the family: she even pulls her own tail! There's been more than one occasion in the past four days that I've laughed out loud at her antics. She's still a puppy in her own mind. She doesn't realize how big she is (almost 60 pounds!) and so tries to be a lap dog and runs into things all of the time: the table, the door, your knee... She and History have an unspoken rule that they both have to keep an eye on each other, but don't get too close. I'd be sitting in the basement with Kiko and if the cat is upstairs, Kiko would have to be upstairs to keep an eye on the cat. Or, the cat would have to be in the basement with us, hiding behind the couch, but peering out every once in a while just to keep an eye on the dog. The invisible DMZ (de-militarized zone) has shrunk to about 15" around the cat, but it is a heavily guarded DMZ.
I don't think she was loved very much in the last days at her former home. Her fur was very matted and needed to be brushed and she was very wary of boys for a while. Tim spent almost an hour the other day just brushing her and cutting off the mats. She looks like a new dog. He really did a nice job. Especially since she doesn't know how to sit still for very long. She is very good natured and any barking she does is more of an alert to someone's presence rather than an angry or fearful challenge. She is not very happy about her kennel just yet, but enjoys being out on her leash in the front yard. Tim took the plastic side table from the deck inside the kennel and we've taken to sitting in there with her for a while. The first day I went to work and put her in the kennel, she barked and whined for a long time. Today, though, I sat with her in the kennel for a bit and then gave her a treat just as I left her in there, and I haven't heard her bark or whine at all, yet.
She's a lot more work than a 10 year old cat, but hopefully we'll figure out a happy medium. She's a good dog -- just young and energetic. I'll post a picture once I can take a good one of her: she moves too fast and lighting is difficult with an all-black dog.
Perhaps it was the long fur between the hind toes, or the sleepy brown eyes blinking at me, or the way she twitched while she was dreaming next to me on the couch. Whichever way, how anyone could not fall in love with this dog is beyond me.
We have decided to name her Kiko. According to this website, it means "spot" in Hawaiian and she has a spotted tongue. Yes, a stretch, but it was that or "Shadow" and Shadow is just too unoriginal for a household with a cat named History.
We're all learning. The wet spots (and poo piles) in the house have significantly decreased. She only pooed in the house that first night, and she is not peeing on the carpet anymore. She's only gone in the laundry room on the rubber mat flooring the past two days, and that is much better than the carpet. I think that is a huge improvement in just four nights with us.
Kiko has taken to chewing on (and, unfortunately destroying) the cat toys, while History has taken to eating the dog food. The rawhide bones and chew toys have been almost all but ignored so far, but the fuzzy squeaky ball we picked up for her yesterday has gotten the best reaction - mild interest and slight confusion. She's not quite sure how to play other than wrestling. Tim figured out a new way to play with her yesterday: if she is upstairs and he is on the landing, he'll hide behind stuff and kinda pop up every once in a while and she'll get all excited and run around and jump. Heh.
She already has many more names than Kiko. Like History, who is also known as goofy, silly cat, green-eyed demon cat, kitty cat, kitty, and pud-pud, Kiko has gotten some terms of endearment as well: fluppy dog, fluppers, and fluffer butter. (Yes, I am a big dork)
She fits in well with the family: she even pulls her own tail! There's been more than one occasion in the past four days that I've laughed out loud at her antics. She's still a puppy in her own mind. She doesn't realize how big she is (almost 60 pounds!) and so tries to be a lap dog and runs into things all of the time: the table, the door, your knee... She and History have an unspoken rule that they both have to keep an eye on each other, but don't get too close. I'd be sitting in the basement with Kiko and if the cat is upstairs, Kiko would have to be upstairs to keep an eye on the cat. Or, the cat would have to be in the basement with us, hiding behind the couch, but peering out every once in a while just to keep an eye on the dog. The invisible DMZ (de-militarized zone) has shrunk to about 15" around the cat, but it is a heavily guarded DMZ.
I don't think she was loved very much in the last days at her former home. Her fur was very matted and needed to be brushed and she was very wary of boys for a while. Tim spent almost an hour the other day just brushing her and cutting off the mats. She looks like a new dog. He really did a nice job. Especially since she doesn't know how to sit still for very long. She is very good natured and any barking she does is more of an alert to someone's presence rather than an angry or fearful challenge. She is not very happy about her kennel just yet, but enjoys being out on her leash in the front yard. Tim took the plastic side table from the deck inside the kennel and we've taken to sitting in there with her for a while. The first day I went to work and put her in the kennel, she barked and whined for a long time. Today, though, I sat with her in the kennel for a bit and then gave her a treat just as I left her in there, and I haven't heard her bark or whine at all, yet.
She's a lot more work than a 10 year old cat, but hopefully we'll figure out a happy medium. She's a good dog -- just young and energetic. I'll post a picture once I can take a good one of her: she moves too fast and lighting is difficult with an all-black dog.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-01 02:13 am (UTC)Have you had her around other dogs yet?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-01 02:14 am (UTC)Re: Kiko
Date: 2007-10-01 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-01 02:35 pm (UTC)