Bridget sends us this update from Indiana on the puppy formerly known as Sage:
Well we are honing in on our forever name. As much as Bridget like’s Kodiak, three syllables for a dog name and associating with a type of bear some people find scary, doesn’t feel right even though I wanted the name having lived on the island of Kodiak as a kid. We played with Windsor for a couple of days, but it seemed too formal for such a fun-loving young guy, so Kitsap, after Kitsap county in Washington state and Chief Kitsap of the Squamish tribe, seems a better fit. It could still change but seems to be winning out, so likely we will be working on name recognition in the coming week.
Kitsap likes surveying his kingdom from the front porch and has decided Indiana has good grass. You know it’s a dog’s life when you have your own official fire hydrant in your front yard.
Kitsap has the whole car ride thing down to a science, long ride, no problem, quick ride, no problem. He had 27 hours between Stevensville, MT and Greencastle, IN. We did about 3.5 hours the first day going for Stevensville to Bozeman, MT. On that first day from Stevensville to Missoula, he was practicing his Montana puppy choir solo, since then he’s been quiet in the car. Our next day took us to Rapid City, SD where we were completely chill as we went to see the lights on Mt. Rushmore at sunset. Next overnight was with Bridget’s college swim buddy Nancy and her sweet basset hound, Kiva. It is a fun game to show little to no interest and then as Kiva (the basset hound) wanders off come bounding up from behind. From Nebraska City, NE one more 8.5-hour day and we made it to Greencastle. The short trip of 5-10 minutes to meet Dr. Scamahorn, our vet was nothing. We weighed in 9 weeks at 14.6 lbs and got our DAP vaccine, two weeks later we will check the titer.
With all our traveling and getting to know our neighbors we’ve met at least 2 people per day since we left Montana and our tally is 27 new individuals in 11 days, some who will be regulars in our life, others that were a one-time acquaintance. The dog centric folks all think Kitsap is just adorable. We are getting some play dates set up with other dogs Mom knows that she trusts to tolerate the antics of a bouncy puppy.
Kitsap has become a great officemate since Bridget is working from home. Most of the time he’s happy to sleep under the table or chair and make an appearance on her lap so whoever is on the other side of the Zoom or Google Meet can see how cute we are. Sometimes teamwork is required and Bridget holds my bully stick while Kitsap chews. This morning Bridget used her feet so she could type. The Chewy box makes a great play toy, Kitsap likes jumping in and out. Like Kadi we think why put the toys away when you will use them again soon.
We have done nail Dremel trimming three or four times and that’s now no big deal. We sit and stack quickly and eventually figure out the down. We will be working on our PuppyU exercises as the week progresses.
We were eating a little light on the road but are now eating with gusto, we scarf our Orijen puppy chow for first breakfast, a homemade meal with BalanceIt for second breakfast and mid-afternoon lunch, followed up with Instinct Frozen Raw Signature Bites Chicken as our last meal of the day. Instinct was our hold over until our Darwin’s order arrives on Wednesday. We also show up for string cheese rewards when we do little training exercise or just because. Bananas in our Kong are a big hit too.
House training is going well as long as Bridget follows the rules and takes Kitsap out the minute he wake we don’t need the piddle pads, but if she’s not paying close enough attention, Kitsap finds the piddle pad quickly. At this point he will sleep for a good 6-6.5 hours through the night without asking to get out of his bedroom crate and be taken outside.
Bridget writes, even though this is my fourth Berner, owned one at a time, new puppy never gets old.
Thank you, Bridget, for this wonderful update!