Revival and lots about Cinna

Going to try to revive this blog. Changed the title to "Adventures of my Alaskan Klee Kai" instead of "Alaskan Klee Kai Photo-a-Day." I still take photos of the pups every day, but writing a blog all the time is too much to handle. So I'll try to make it a monthly or maybe weekly thing.

Many of the photos I take can be seen on their Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/KokoroAndCinna/

Let's see...what's happened since my last post. We brought Cinna home! :D

We were a little worried about how Kokoro would handle having a little sister. He loves meeting dogs at dog parks, but he had only had two dogs visit in his house before. We needn't had worried. My fiance and I met inside the mini-dog park at our apartment complex with both dogs on leashes. At first, Kokoro was so excited to see a new dog that he didn't notice the leash. When he did, he followed the leash up to Adam's hand, then back down to Cinna, then he sat down and pondered this. It was so cute seeing him trying to piece this together. I have some photos but it was late at night so they're dark. (It was a long day getting Cinna too us. A story for another time maybe).

Anyway! After the dog park, we brought them inside the house and Kokoro insisted on trying to play with Cinna. Cinna was a bit drowsy and confused after her flight and her new surroundings, so she wasn't in the mood to play. They eventually laid down together. When Cinna went in her cage to rest, Kokoro followed her. It was love at first site.

In the four months since then, they've grown close. They've never had any real fights and they don't seem to have any set positions of dominance...which is interesting to me. I think Cinna is content with Kokoro being alpha and he doesn't feel the need to boss her around.

Cinna slept in her crate a grand total of one night. lol. The second night she started crying and chewing are the bars. I don't think she understood why Kokoro was able to sleep on the bed and she wasn't. Adam wanted to let her sleep in the bed so I told him that she could, but he was responsible for any cleanup if it was needed. Cinna immediately made herself comfy and went to sleep. I shouldn't have worried. She's never had an accident in the bed. And she loves to cuddle! lol.

She is so small that she can't jump on our bed so we set up a box at the foot of the bed so she could use that as a step. For the first couple months, it was a cardboard box covered with a towel to make it look better. Eventually, she figured out it was covered with a towel (she LOVES towels), so she pulled it off. lol. We now have a small ottoman in it's place. She caught on to jumping into bed using the step very quickly, but it took her a couple months for her to learn how to jump down. I'm glad she was smart enough not to take a flying leap like her brother. I was afraid she would hurt herself. For the longest time, Cinna would need help getting down. Kokoro would use this to his advantage by running into the bedroom while they were playing, jumping on the bed, then leaping down and leaving Cinna stranded. She would let out the most pathetic bark asking for help. But that's a thing of the past, after some coaching, she learned to use the box/ottoman to step down. Now Kokoro's trick doesn't work.

We take the pups with us everywhere we can. They both love dog parks. Cinna gets excited any time she meets any dog smaller than her. Cinna is about 14-15 inches tall and 8 pounds. She's polite to all dogs and greets them. She gets a little scared trying to play with big dogs. She knows she's small and worries about getting trampled...at least I think so. I've seen her cringe when a pack of stampeding dogs ran by. lol. We usually take them to a park with a small dog side so we don't have to worry about them getting hurt. Plus, Kokoro has...issues...with some dogs, so a small dog side is best. We're hoping the training class in the Fall will help.

Speaking of training, both of the pups are really smart. They both know sit, down, leave it, roll over, spin, shake hands, high five, dance (putting their paws up in the air and balancing on their back legs), stay, and come. Though, with stay and come, we're working on distractions (ie- training at dog parks). Kokoro also knows play dead, shake with the opposite paw, spin in the other direction, how to go through a tunnel, and leap over hurdles. Cinna recently learned the hurdle trick too. We're hoping to agility train them in the future. We're going to be signing them up for an obedience class in the Fall to work on come and stay with distractions, then I'm thinking agility for Kokoro and either Agility, Fly Ball, or Scent Work for Cinna.

Well, I guess this entry it long and ramble-y enough. lol. I'll try to post again soon and maybe include some photos next time.

~ Risha