It was never hard to make Kylie happy..

..and it was even easier for her to make US happy!

..just relaxin’ by the river, in the mountains, on a perfect summer day.

Occasionally, but rarely, Kylie would do something totally dog-like; for example eating grass. In fact one day out of the blue, she decided to snack on the only vegetation in our tiny little yard (really just a large patio area), which was some kind of flowers. Of course we only found out she had been grazing when it turned out the apparently yummy flowers did not agree with her. So we of course then pulled up all the remaining flowers to avoid a repeat of that unfortunate incident. Then the next time we were at petsmart or petco, we saw some little containers of “Pet Grass” – grass that you buy for your pet to allow them to eat when they are having those cravings.

Of course Kylie was completely uninterested in the grass we encouraged her to eat!

..until one afternoon when it seems for our entertainment, as well as her own, she decided to very enthusiastically partake in some Pet Grass!

It was so funny! Kylie was a riot! We miss that cute little clown so much!

Even though Kylie got a larger volume of presents for christmas, nothing was better than birthdays because birthdays went on for a month!

April was birthday month, and of course the best part about birthday month was birthday cake!! we tried to always get the most special, super-awesome doggie cake we could find. For a few years that meant Three Dog Bakery cakes with Kylie spelled out in carob; or perhaps an entire cake covered in carob.

Then there was one year where we had special-ordered that yummy carob cake only to find out that miss Kylie had decided that she was no longer buying into the whole carob facade, so she turned up her cute little nose at her birthday cake that year. But that’s when we found the cream cheese and chicken cakes and those never ever disappointed her! And each and every time a portion of cake was served there was singing.. so as soon as she heard that first note “Haaaaa” as in “happy birthday to you” she would get up and do the birthday dance! And never have you seen such pure, unadulterated JOY..

Then there was birthday week, which whenever we could afford it, included a little road trip somewhere, for the week  or just the weekend or maybe just for the day on Birthday Day!  Even if was only a trip to McDonald’s for Kylie’s Happy [birthday] Meal and then to the park, it was pretty much the Best Day of the Year – for all three of us!

Today is Birthday Day.. and now it’s pretty much the day we miss her most of all.

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A young and very sassy looking Kylie..

It’s great when we come across a picture we haven’t seen in years, it’s like seeing her in that state for the first time!

It’s hard to find Easter Eggs in the snow, but still… Cutest Easter Bunny ever!

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We were kind of impressed by this article we read that just came out this week, about a new study where scientists have now proven that “you really can tell what your dog is feeling by looking at its face.” This seems kind of monumental… or maybe it’s just monumentally obvious!

We ALWAYS knew how Kylie was feeling! In fact over a decade ago, one of Kylie’s website features was, The Many Moods of Kylie associating a picture of Kylie with a particular mood.

But really, you don’t have to be a scientist to identify the feelings behind these faces:

Oh how we miss that face and those moods, even the bad ones!

It’s no secret Kylie always loved the snow, but it’s not her favorite white stuff..

Kylie loved whipped cream! You know the sound it makes when you spray it out of the can? That sound would bring her running from where ever she was in the house and even wake her from a sound sleep.

And bad parents that we are, we would hold the can upside down and Kylie would dance around on her hind legs slurping up as much as we were willing to squeeze out. As if that wasn’t bad enough, sometimes we would fake her out and make that whip cream from the can noise with our mouths, just to see her come in the kitchen and get all excited! Of course then we would feel bad and would give her some other unhealthy treat.

But Kylie was smart.. you couldn’t fake her out very often. Before that trick would work again, she’d have to get the real thing a couple of times at least!

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Once when Kylie was still a pretty young pup, back in Hawaii. We had ordered a big jug of doggie bagels. She was very pleased! So when offering them to her we just opened the big jug and held it out so she could stick her little snout in and grab one. But the little dog who seemed otherwise fearless, and always looking for trouble, was scared to stick her head in the container..

So in an attempt to empower her, as always, we encouraged her to just go for it – “carpe’ bagel, Kylie!” But she  wasn’t buying it, so then we tried reverse psychology, “Ok, guess you don’t want a bagel. Well, we’ll just leave this big, open container of doggie bagels on the kitchen floor.” And we walked away.

Unfortunately -or fortunately for Kylie- we girls have always had pretty short attention span. So half an hour later when we realized Kylie was chomping away on a big bagel, we said “uh-oh!” We went to the kitchen to find a half-empty (although at the time it seemed half-full) container of bagels! Woops! No wonder Kylie was pretty pudgy as a pup! She was sneaky!!

But the importance of this incidence was setting the precedence of Kylie conquering her fears. As long as we were patient and encouraging.. Kylie could do anything!

Drive a car, sled down the big hill, maybe even wrestle alligators.. but on that one we decided we should hold her back! (we weren’t always bad parents!)

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

– e. e. cummings