The Adorable Pillow Story and Kodi Update

A very sweet boy is laying beside me on the bed, his head resting on my shoulder. He wanted me to tell you he’s doing much better!

We took Kodi to the vet Monday, and Petco afterward for a treat. He did terrific both places and everyone loved him & he loved getting lots of petting.

While at Petco we bought something called “Fooey Ultra Bitter Spray” – I always heard the bitter spray for pups called bitter apple, but this gets it’s bitter from grapefruit rinds. I really got it to stop the excavations happening in my room & unwanted chewing, though, all things considered, he’s done pretty well with that. He has a nose that should be in service to the DEA – he has found every dog toy & leftover half-eaten rawhide bone that’s been long buried under shelves or piles of crap, and has seemed to “get” that if something smells like dog, it probably is for a dog. If it doesn’t, it probably isn’t!  (although leather in any form smells very tempting!)

I have to give the Fooey spray a lot of credit – since we got it, and I applied it quite liberally to my arms and feet (and a little tooooo liberally to Rhiannon…) almost all the too-hard biting has stopped. When he gets that wound up look in his eye, all I have to do now is pick up the bottle, and he’s off the bed, laying down, head on crossed paws. I wish I’d gotten it sooner – had I known how effective it would be, I would have! (And Michelle – you might try some of this stuff with your “bad boy” and his biting during nail trimming.)

The Adorable Pillow Story:

Those of you who are my FB friends know I posted a status about Kodi running down the hall with my pillow in his mouth. Here’s the rest of the story – which is quite cute:

First, Kodi wanted my “knee pillow” – the pillow I keep between my knees at night. I’m quite sure it’s laden with amazing aromas for a dog like this. He first grabbed it off my bed when it was on top of the covers, and then as he he gleefully ran down the hall with it in his mouth, ran smack into me.  He dropped the pillow, then as I struggled to be stern, he picked it back up, returned it to the bed, and laid down looking as if nothing had happened.

The next day, he tried again – this time digging the pillow out from between my sheets with his paws while I was brushing my teeth. He made it to the futon-couch that time, but handed over the pillow nicely.

The next night, as I brushed my teeth, he tried again, except this time it was the pillow I sleep on. Again we retrieved it, put on a clean case, and back on the bed it went.

Two days passed and I thought we’d won the “pillow battle.” And in a way, we had.

Kodi thinks a lot – you can see it in his eyes as he tries to sort things out, like new commands. So after thinking about it, he decided there was a pillow that maybe, just maybe, he could have, and he was right! Kasha had a great huge raised dog bed in my room, and I’d put an old pillow, in a pillow case, over the hard rail she rested her head against. She’d slept on it for years, and it was saturated with dog-scent.

As I got into bed that night, Kodi first came and laid by me, his head by mine on my pillow. Then he got up, picked up Kasha’s pillow, shook it really hard (he was just fluffing it up) and brought it to the side of my bed, dropped it, and plopped down on it. He slept there all night.

I thought it was a fluke, until the next day…

I was trying to take a nap. Kodi was restless, on and off the bed. Then he picked up “his pillow,” shook it once, and jumped up on the bed with it in his mouth. He plopped it down next to my pillow, and laid down beside me. For about five minutes.

Then he got up, picked up his pillow, put it on the floor, and flopped down on it there. For about five minutes.

He got up again, gave his pillow a good fluffing, then carried it off to the bathroom, his favorite sleeping spot – he likes to sleep in doorways, for no reason I can fathom, and the bathroom doorway is the best of all. The slate floor is cool underneath (Kasha usually sleeps on the bathroom floor – right in front of the a/c vent), and he can watch the door to my room and see just about anything happening upstairs.

But he just wasn’t satisfied there this time. Back he – and his pillow – came to my room, and he leaped up onto the bed with pillow in mouth, to again plop it down next to me & flop down on top of it.

He ended up back on the floor (which is cooler) beside my bed, with his pillow, and finally took a nap with me.

Is that not the most adorable pillow story you’ve ever heard?

Today…

Every day is just a little bit better than the previous. Today we’ll leave him alone for the first time, and I must admit, I’m a bit worried. But it’s monthly doctor visit day, and we have to go. Rhiannon has been down since yesterday early in the morning with severe vomiting (3 straight hours) and an upset stomach. That makes this visit even more important.

Hope the house is in one piece when we get back. Kodi will have Kasha with him, so hopefully he’ll get over his separation anxiety pretty quick. We’re also leaving them with a fresh pair of real cow bones, and maybe a rawhide bone, too, as Kasha can be a bit on the selfish side and hog things like that.

Say a little prayer…