K9 Kamp Awards

We want to thank Koly and Kelly and their moms for putting on such an awesome Kamp this year!! It was Tina of fun and we learned a lot about how to play with Kita since her eyesight went away. It might sound cheesy but Kamp came at a perfect time for us. It was right after Kita lost her eyesight and we were in the middle of a stumped hunt for games to play with her and things to do with her. But it helped us realize more than ever that she can do anything a 'normal' dog can do, she just has to do it a little differently.

We are very proud to have won an award at Kamp as well! We won't the award for most handicapable kamper ad couldn't be prouder to wear that title!!

Thanks again kolchack, kelly, and their moms!!

K9 Kamp: It's Really Over?

I seriously can't believe its been four weeks already!! Time flew by for K9 Kamp and we couldn't be more surprised.

For this week's challenge, Kamper's Choice, we choose to walk because we had a big event on Saturday. It was the Sacramento SPCA's 19th Annual Doggy Dash! Let me start off by saying we LOVE the Doggy Dash. It is by far our favorite doggy event we go to every summer. And the weather was perfect this year (especially since it was pouring rain last year)! The park they rent out is HUGE and there are thousands of dogs and their owners everywhere. But they are all so well behaved, we didn't see one dog fight the whole time.

We walked around the giant vendor area for a while and visited K9 Bodie, a local hero who was recently shot in action and is recovering nicely. Then it was time for our walk to start. We choose the 2K this year since it is our first year walking with Kita since she lost her vision. Also, she is getting older and don't want to strain her too much by doing the 5K. She did very well during this walk since it was much more crowded than the last walk we did. We tried to let her walk at first, but the initial starting area was very crowded so we carried her for a few minutes until everyone found their own pace and spaced out a bit. After that, she did really well. She is getting very good at listening to our voices to know where to walk and is learning her walking commands nicely (forward, stop, step, ect). Towards the end of the 2K, someone decided she had enough and plopped down in the middle of the walk so her daddy carried her the rest of the way. Then she wanted to walk around the park a bit more, we got her some yummy treats then we knew it was time to leave when she laid down in the grass and had to be carried back to the car!

The thing I loved most about K9 Kamp is that it helped me find new and fun ways to bond and play with Kita even when her vision is gone. Most people think a blind dog is no good, but we know better. She can do anything a 'normal' dog with vision can do, she just has to do it a little differently.

K9 Kamp: Just One Dog Minute To Win It

Kita's got her game face on and is ready to finish K9 Kamp strong!! This week was a good week for us. We went to the park again on Sunday and let her run around and burn some energy off and she loved it! We came back warm, relaxed, and refreshed.

But what activities could we do all throughout the week to keep us moving and active? As I surveyed the house, I noticed our staircase. Kita loves being nosey and seeing what everyone is up to, especially if they go upstairs. Even if I just want to go to the bathroom she is patiently waiting upstairs for me. So play on the stairs we will.

We decided to lightly jog up and down the stairs about ten times a day for five days (Kita was out of commission the last two days due to anesthesia from her dental cleaning). She hustled up the stairs, but naturally going down was a bit slower since she can't see. But she definitely knows how high the stairs are and makes it up them like a pro. We decided the first day ten was a good amount of times because after the tenth time, I couldn't coax her back up the stairs one more time. She just plopped down on the little landing in between the stairs. Still, moving for a while is better than not moving at all.

Wordless Wednesday: Snug as a Bug

To The Park

This weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous! The sun was shining, birds were singing. It was a little warm by the afternoon but the mornings were awesome. So we decided to go to the park and let baby girl stretch her legs.

We packed a picnic lunch for the three of us and set off. The park we like to go to is a little further than other parks in our area, but worth the 15 minute drive. (Sacramento has a lot of parks, we probably pass five other parks to get to this one.) It is HUGE and has a big man made lake in the middle (for boating, not for swimming) and several big huge grassy fields to romp in.

We found a nice shady spot on the soccer field and settled in. Kita knew where she was right away and took to running around. She bonked her head on a tree but otherwise was okay. We played for a long time with her, doing what families do, just having fun.

It is going to become our new Sunday tradition this summer.

K9 Kamp: Play With Your Balls

When I first saw this challenge, I admit, I was a bit stumped. How on Earth was I going to get a blind dog to play with balls. She can't see them to chase them, and with how bad her allergies are lately she hasn't really wanted to do much (her allergy pills side effect is drowsiness). But since we had a long weekend, I figured we had time to figure out something.

And figure out something we did......kinda.

So, I thought, what balls make noise? Squeeky balls would do us no good because they could get her attention but she wouldn't be able to see them once they started rollin'. Then, it hit us. Cat balls. She has always been very gentle with her toys and never too rough with them so we figured cat balls were a good idea. Plus, she isn't a very big dog and cat balls fit perfectly in her little mouth. The biggest plus is she could hear them roll and follow the little bell inside to fetch them. Off we went to buy a pack of cat balls. 

We settled on a nice Martha Stewart Pets package because they looked well-made (I didn't want to ignore the fact that we need a sturdy cat ball since a dog's mouth is much stronger than a cat's no matter how gentle), they were nice and brightly colored and were pretty loud without being overly obnoxious. 

We got home and decided to start with the one that had a giant feather on it.It was a hit, she loved it. She was running all over the living room with it and I was chasing her around and crawling all over the floor with her playing with it. Then she noticed the giant feather. And the chasing was done as she plopped down to yank out the feather and then fall asleep after her work was done. 

We tried the purple ball next two days later, but with even more disastrous results. Like I said, allergies have been super awful lately so she was pretty much in a lazy mood, but I tried anyways to get her moving with the ball. She sniffed it, kicked it with her foot, then went to lay down. This is how the rest of the time with purple ball went:

Not a great week with the challenge for us, but we tried. Hopefully next week can get us moving a bit more! Then on June 9th we will be participating in our local SPCA's Doggy Dash! 

Wordless Wednesday: Walk the Runway