Welcome aboard! By now you know my First Officer (FO), Kona Kai Waikoloa, yes? Cool name too, huh? Yeah, she's a cutie: smart, lovable, talented, and a joy to be with whether we're playing, hiking, swimming, or just lounging around. Oh, and she's one hell of a shortstop too; NEVER lets one by!
But she didn't start out that way, though. Oh, she was quite the character when she was young. In fact, it was one of these video shorts that first got the attention of the Animal Planet Producer who wanted her for a TV show.
So, here's some background on my cute, loveable FO
Ah, Shilo and Kona Kai at Donner Lake...what a fun time. When I first me Dawn, she had a great Chesapeake Bay Retriever, named Shilo. Shilo and I quickly became buddies, as she was with me during the day while Dawn was at work. I was still going through post-surgical rehab, so was home a lot and able to spend a good deal of time with Shilo in her later years. She was 11 years old and was pivotal in passing on so very much to our new puppy, Kona Kai, when we got her in February 2007.
We miss Shilo a lot and often see her traits in some of Kona's mannerisms and actions. Shilo broke her leg in September 2007 and, upon examination, it was discovered that she had bone cancer throughout much of her hind quarters and it was spreading rapidly. Shilo loved the cabin at Donner Lake and we continue to take Kona there as often as we can and watch her do so many of the same things Shilo did with her, like jumping into the lake, diving for rocks, and chasing squirrels.
Kona grew quickly and became quite the character. For instance, Dawn and I would go out at night and leave Kona in the garage with access to the backyard. We hadn't trusted her to be in the home alone yet, because of her rambunctiousness. It was also around that time that Dawn noticed her cat becoming more and more skinny, yet her food dish was empty on a daily basis. Hmmm....something's going on. So I set up a time lapse camera in our old garage on a night that we went out and this was what I downloaded from the camera upon our return.
Yup, we busted her red-pawed, so to speak. No wonder Kona was getting fat and the kitty was getting skinny. We had the cat food dish up high to keep it out of Kona's reach, but I guess not high enough.
And why the Heineken reference? Well, one night I was sitting on the floor drinking a Heineken when Kona came up to me and basically put her face in mine as I sipped from the bottle. She wanted some! With just a bit left, I tilted the bottle up and, yup, she drank it down. She likes beer! We were wondering what was going on since we would also notice empty Heinekin bottles on the garage floor when we'd return from being out. Yes, our Kona Kai was removing the bottles from the shelf, capping them, and then drinking the precious golden nectar, emptying the bottle and never, ever breaking one. One talented puppy, huh?
Well, we still left her alone as we weren't sure about the house yet. It wasn't until we discovered the next footage that we felt sorry for leaving her all alone.
Ah, man.....She was lonely and missed us. We felt so bad. Maybe it was time to let her in and be comfortable during the day on her favorite couch.
So Kona continued to grow and mature and it was time to begin leaving her with full run of the house while we were gone. Fair enough, right? Well, not so fast. One day Dawn and a friend came home after work to be greeted by one happy puppy. The house was perfect; nothing moved, broken, nor destroyed like you hear from rambunctious puppies that are left alone. And Kona was left home alone all day!
So, Dawn and Donna stepped out for a bit to go get a manicure. No problem, right? Gee, Kona was home alone all day and this would be just for an hour, or so. So, off they went, leaving Kona alone in the house and then....they came home. Oh, my....
Well, that was the video that caught the eye of the Animal Planet Producer. He wanted to put her on the show 'Bad Dog' and showcase he mischievous side. We watched the show and it was about terrible dogs that are untrained, bad, neglected, etc. We decided no, our Kona Kai was not going to be portrayed as a "Bad Dog" to the world, when, in fact, she is a great dog.
We don't advertise it much, but during her second year we bought Kona snow shoes at Christmas for the cabin. We were worried about her paws and pads on the snow and ice and someone, not me, thought Kona could use a good pair of non-skid snow shoes to walk in while we were at the cabin.
What an absolute waste of money that was, but I won't say anything. :)
Then came Malu. Yes, one day in mid-2009 Dawn brought home a cat. A Seal Point Mitted Ragdoll. A What?! Yeah, a cat. Kona and Malu became instant buddies!
In late 2009, we noticed that Kona was favoring her back leg. She was still active but limping and then finally walking on just 3 legs. We hadn't really noticed any specific injury that could have caused this, so we took her to the Vet. The Vet immediately referred us to a Sacramento surgeon, who, upon x-ray review and examination, said Kona had a Cruciate Ligament tear in her knee and required immediate surgery. I didn't even know dogs had knees! After research, we realized that this injury is not uncommon in Labs, and is often not covered in Pet Insurance Policies. Well, Kona's policy covered it in full! Yes, $5,000 for knee surgery all covered. Whew!
The surgeon said he could do it the very next day so I looked at Dawn and we decided yes, and that we'd go to London, since Kona would be in the hospital for 5 days. "Wait a minute," the Surgeon said. "You're just going to go jet off to London, like that?" "Yup, I replied." He just looked at me and said, "Wow, the life of a pilot. You're just going to GO TO LONDON...like that...tommorrow?"
So, in went Kona Kai for surgery (And everyone loved her there) and off to London we went on Virgin Atlantic from San Francisco. We saw four shows (Phantom, Lion King, Les Misérables, and We Will Rock You), took a tour, ate at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, and then flew back home. Dawn and I had both lived in England before, so we knew our way around well. We were able to monitor Kona's recovery, but not disrupt it by getting her agitated and excited seeing us and having us leave her there every day.
Arriving home, we picked up Kona at the sitter...er,...surgeon's office and began her road to recovery. She did it well and is actually better than ever at running, jumping, and swimming. She's even lost 20 pounds sine then, which was a request from the surgeon. All that Kitty food, I guess. And the Heineken! :)
Kona was quite good with her recovery, although she wanted nothing to do with the 'Cone of Shame' and tore it off each time. Malu, our cat, was even a big help with her recovery.
Okay, Kona Kai was back in action. Yeah, baby!
When the economic downfall came upon the US, everyone was affected. Yes, even Kona had her rough periods for awhile. We caught her lying on the couch one evening in the dark in a deep 'funk' we could barely get her out of.
While she may have lost employment due to lack of opposable thumbs, she has found peace and solice in not sweating the small stuff and continuing to live life to its fullest, one day at a time. She is livin' life and luvin' it. She wears her multitude of beautiful scarves and declares Life is Good!
Yup, back in action. One heck of a shortstop too, like I said. Notice the tennis ball in the above photo and she is all over it...eyes on the ball, baby!
Well, there you have it. My YouTube video short collection of Kona Kai, The Early Years. I hope you enjoyed it. She sure is one cute, amazing puppy and we love her!
Mahalo for flying with Captain Bobby Mitchel
