Kona

When we first decided we wanted to buy a house one of the things we knew we wanted was to get a dog. I have always had dogs growing up. They are great companions. I am in the belief that your animals choose you, as much as you choose them.

After moving into our house, literally within a week, we went out to find our family a dog. The first place we went to was our local humane society to see if anyone there would suit our family. We knew we needed a dog that was good with kids. I knew I wanted a good-sized dog. I preferred a Saint Bernard, but my husband says those are too big. I also have always preferred male dogs, I am not sure why. I didn’t have a gender set in stone, though. I was pretty open to any kind as long as it was medium-sized.

At the humane society, they have sheets for each animal that talks about them. They also have an adoption program where you mark down what you are looking for and they give you the list of animals that match. Unfortunately, all the dogs that we liked that day were not kid friendly. So, we went off to the next place.

We went to the place where my family had always gotten their dogs from, okay a whole two dogs. This place had gotten a pretty bad reputation within the last 5 or so years. People claim they are a puppy mill and that their dogs wind up sick; or worse, dead. The dogs my dad had got from there never had issues, though. So, we went there anyway. We looked at so many dogs there! The mostly only had really small dogs at that time. Their prices were even a lot higher than anywhere else we had seen. We decided to move on. Although, I always feel bad leaving all those animals behind. I wish I could take them all home.

We had nearly given up for the day, when my husband decided to go to just one more place. We get there, walk passed all the little critters and birds, and make our way all the way to the back where the puppies are. They had, I would guess, around 15 or so breeds that day. A lot of them were small-sized. We did see some dogs we liked. There was one that looked like a teddy bear that we played with. They also had German Shepherds, but they were more than we had to spend. Then we saw this white Husky looking dog that had one blue and one brown eye. Immediately we felt we needed to see that dog.

This dog was a husky beagle mix. How that happens, well, your guess is as good as mine! During this time Pickle was almost 9 months old and this dog was very rowdy. He was such a hyper dog! I immediately began thinking, “okay this dog is too wild, we need a calmer one, but still one that is playful enough.” So, we decided to wake up the husky we were playing with’s brother. He was black and brown, more like the beagle colors than husky. I instantly fell in love. HE WAS SO CUTE!! He was cuddly and calm. It did not take us long to decide, yes, this is our dog. We let the worker know and we went to pick out a collar for him. We were walking around, carrying the puppy, and trying to decide on a name. Chris all of a sudden blurted out, your name is Kona. My mom and I laughed, but then we were like, “yes, that is a good name!” We got what we needed, paid for everything, and got in the car. We were so excited to bring this puppy home with us, but we were curious what our cats would think.

Here is Kona the day we brought him home.

 

Here is Kona with Pickle. He has always been his protector.

It did not take long for Kona to make himself at home. I would say the first month seemed easy, but then things changed. As you know, I am a stay at home mom. That means, most of the responsibility of raising this puppy of ours was on me for most of the day. Kona developed a strong dislike towards my authority. I firmly believe that it was due to me being a female and he a male. I would be just sitting there doing nothing and he would come attack me. Attacking me, not in a playful manner, like he really wanted to hurt me. This lasted several months, but I persisted. People kept telling me we might need to get rid of him because I cannot let him attack me, or worse, Pickle. That was never an option for me. When I get a pet, they are mine forever. They are our children and we committed to taking them on. Just because he was going through a rough patch did not mean I was going to give up on him. Just as I would not give up on my biological children. I persisted.

I read articles on training your dog, establishing authority with your dog, and got advice from the best dog person I know. I persisted. It was about a year before Kona started to truly accept me. The attacking would get lesser and lesser, until finally it stopped all together. He is still a protector of both of our kids. He has a very hyper nature about him.

If we are outside and there is a hose turned on, you can be certain he will be playing in it. He also LOVES bubbles and thinks he has to try to eat every single one. Imagine what that looks like for a minute, it is hilarious. He likes chasing squirrels, birds, rabbits, cats, and coons. He is very territorial, which I can appreciate. Knowing there won’t be an intruder coming into our house unnoticed. He still barks at the mail people and anyone he can see through the window, even if they are not in our yard. He still gets excited meeting new people. He tends to pee out of excitement. He is not much of a cuddler anymore, but he is a BED HOG! I cannot have plants in the backyard because he will dig them up and eat them. He is a lover of food. He loves pizza crust from time to time. Though, we try to limit his people food intake. He is a daddy’s boy for certain! Whenever I tell Pickle, “daddy is on the way home” Kona checks out the window. When I say, “daddy is here” Kona immediately starts whining like a fan girl and greets him at the door. He never had an issue respecting Chris’ authority.

He can be a handful at times, but he is still young. He is 3 human years old now. I am thankful for having him in our family and not giving up on him. I like to think he is thankful all the same.

Simply put, he is Kona and we love him for it.

-Jenn