I’m pet-sitting for a month and a half with one of my favorite doggies of all time. She stayed with me for a shorter time last year and we had a blast.
Her name in Kali and she is a chorkie (a chihuahua/yorkie mix).
In the above image, she’s listening for the cats!
Kali’s human parents are embarking on a long cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida which will sail up the eastern seaboard of the U.S. to Canada and then across the Atlantic to Iceland, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and finally the UK, where they will stay with friends for a week before flying back to Seattle-Tacoma from Heathrow Airport. They say they will bring me back from Iceland a calendar or t-shirt or something like that with aurora borealis (Northern Lights) images on it. WOO HOO! (They asked what I wanted as a souvenir, and that’s the first and best thing that popped into my mind.)
Kali’s parents left me her history, vet contact info, tags, and lots of food, treats, goodies, baskets, pads and blankets so she feels right at home here.
Kali was born on September 5, 2013, so she’ll be nine in September. She is spayed, immunized, and very healthy and happy.
I asked her parents to buy her a doggie backpack to ride in that was in her size, and they got an adorable one. They said they haven’t put her in it much, and it looks brand new. I want to be able to take her bike riding or walking with me when I go out, and since I usually walk five miles or ride 28, I wanted a carrier for her that straps onto me so she can ride when she gets tired of walking. (I won’t let her run or walk beside my bike; that would be too dangerous.)
Kali sleeps on the bed with me at night. (She sleeps with her human parents at night, too, and I wanted to continue the routine so she feels at home.) She has her own blanket and knitted throw, but sometimes she wants to slip under my covers, so I let her do that. (When she does that, the cats come out and wander around more.)
Kali’s mom wrote to say that Kali growls sometimes, but she has never bitten anyone. I have yet to hear her growl at me. She growls and yips at the cats and pet rats occasionally, but that’s just about it. She barked when Lisa came by a while ago, too, but immediately settled right into her arms. I’m sure she remembers Lisa from last time, too.
When I play ball with Kali, she gets excited, but she won’t retrieve it. She’ll just run over and claim it; if I want it back, I have to go get it. (She has trained her parents well!)
If she leaves the room I’m in to roam to other areas of my home, all I have to do is squeeze one of her squeaky toys and she comes right back.
My cats’ noses are a bit out of joint. They’ve sequestered themselves in my Critter Corral (living room) for now but over the next few days I think they’ll figure out Kali is no threat and come out to reclaim their spaces again. Kali barks or growls at them right now when they try, but I tell her to hush and to go lay down when she does it, and she does. So she knows the cats live here, too, and that she isn’t permitted to harass or herd them around… (They’re as big as she is!)
She’s a cutie pie and a lot of fun to have around.
