Yes there was. And I was playing on your associations. Like Marley and Me. Except that Kacey is a puppy, and I don't even want to think about how that ends...and 'My dog, Kacey' has a better ring to it. Besides, Skip is a stupid name for a dog. Let's be honest.
So...in May, we got a dog. Dan picked her out from a local rescue, because she was sitting quietly in her kennel looking up at us with her big brown eyes, while all the other dogs barked and yapped incessantly. We thought we were getting a sweet, quiet natured dog. There were just two problems. 1. Her name was Kiki. KIKI! Really? And I thought Skip was a bad name for a dog...sheesh. We were definitely going to have to do something about that. And 2. This would be her 3rd home in her first year of life.
So we tackled the first problem right away. We had to come up with a name that started with a hard K sound so she would adjust to it more easily, that didn't make me think of a cartoon girl flying on a broomstick! Hours of creative brain wracks and debates later, this is Kacey:
Now we were surprised to find that Kacey wasn't as calm as she originally had us believing. She is playful ALL THE TIME. She really would prefer for you to chase her all day long, which has led to many unintended (by me) circles around our dinner table. She LOVES people, so much so that she jumps on strangers to lick their faces, or bite their clothes...because apparently that communicates love in dog language? She is incredibly vocal and expressive. Though she rarely barks, she has her own system of chirping, whining, and pawing at you to get her point across. Not to mention her facial expressions. Seriously. And she really is NOT a fan of cuddling. No matter what you do, or how tired or sick she is, she does not want cuddles.
With all of the package that is our girl....she is perfect for us. She makes us laugh all of the time. She is the perfect way for my husband to utilize the infinite vat of energy that he hides somewhere in that perfectly framed handsome body of his. And she is just the right addition to our little family in this stage of life.
Kacey, the mountain dog.
Then we started to see signs of the second problem. We hadn't thought much of it before...but she definitely has some "foster kid" issues, which we figured out a couple pairs of shoes, underwear, and a big hole in our carpet later. Yep, and when we left for our brother's wedding this summer she stopped eating. Altogether. Upon our return she still wouldn't eat. And what she did she immediately threw up. So we figured out she has some pretty severe separation anxiety. Okay. We can handle that.
But there's more. You see, when you adopt a puppy whose had a home before it came to live with you, you don't necessarily know how they'll respond to everyday situations. Like when their owner takes a bath for instance...
She just kept looking from me to the water in the tub, clearly ignorant of the fact that I was seeking solitude. So she blatantly disregarded my desire to be alone, and do you know what she did? She jumped right in! But then, of course, landing in water, which for some reason she wasn't expecting, sent her into a panic. She tried to climb out the other side of the tub and was met with a wall to the face. Then she just stared at me for 3 solid minutes, with her front paws on the wall and her back paws in the water, as if asking me, "Mom, what do I do? Why is this happening to me?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Eventually I coaxed her back off the wall, into the water, at which point she became immediately fascinated with trying to touch my foot. Slowly, cautiously she would extend her paw to where my foot was, but she could never touch it. And then she would glare at her paw, probably cursing it in her puppy mind for not being able to reach my foot. The depth perception in the water was confusing her. She would try and fail time and again. The next thing I knew she had given up trying to reach my foot and was drawn instead to the razor at the bottom of the tub. She would dive her head in the water, only until halfway up her snout, and try to bite the razor. She could see it, but she couldn't reach that either. And she wouldn't put more of her face underwater, because she doesn't like water on her head. Then she would look up at me laughing at her, a mix of shame and curiosity in her big brown eyes, before trying again. And so the cycle continued. 10 minutes later, she'd had enough. In one grand overdramatic gesture she hurdled out of the tub and proceeded to run laps around our apartment, and down and up our stairs, like a chicken with her head chopped off! All that...over a little bit of water.
Or when my husband has to work late several days in a row and she can't decide if she is being abandoned or not. She lays at home with me, emotions spiraling like this. 1. Dejected--"He's never coming home. He hates me. What did I do? Why doesn't he love me anymore?" 2. Morose--"There's no point. Nothing matters. Is that a ball?!...Oh wait...I don't care. My life is dark." 3. Comforted by my presence--"Mom's here. Mom won't leave me. Maybe if I cuddle really close to her she will never leave me." That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Kacey has started cuddling with me in Dan's absence. 4. Meltdown--"Maybe he would like me if I wasn't so big. He would come back if I was a little dog." At which point she makes herself puke. Kacey, the amazing, bulimic dog. 5. (When Dan comes home) Ecstatic--"Dad's home! Dad's home! Oh boy, a ball! Dad's home!" We cycle through stages 1-4, repeating them over and over again until Dan comes home, then we stay at 5 until he leaves.
This is Kacey somewhere between emotions 3 and 4. About five minutes later, without any warning she puked all over our quilt.
And after cycling through the spiral again, she had landed safely at emotion 3 long enough for a nap.
She recently figured out how to close my computer while I'm working on it; in order to have my full attention. You won't be surprised to read she has attempted to close it 4 times since I started this entry.
My dog, Kacey, is an overly playful, emotionally disturbed mess, and she fits right in with us. She helps us get out to enjoy beautiful Alaska. And while Dan and I have always been connected, she has brought us even closer. We're so happy she has found her forever home with us and that you get to come along for the ride.
Kacey's best friend, Watson, a small but feisty daschound, will be staying with us for the next week. There are sure to be plenty of puppy shenanigans.
Ahahah! I didn't realize she threw up out of protest! She is my favorite niece ever!
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