Once we were on one of our notorious road trips with Kylie, and we were pulling up to our hotel for the evening – which would have been a Motel 6 or Super 8 since not many hotels allowed dogs back then. As we were parking a man who had just stepped out of one of the rooms was staring at us, and looking at us very strangely, which is not a good feeling in that scenario. But as we came to a stop he stepped back in his room and came back out a few seconds later holding his dog.. which looked exactly like Kylie! Well, except that his dog was a greyhound! (This explained the staring and the strange look.. he had seen Kylie in the car and noticed she looked like his dog.) We all laughed about how amazingly similar their coats and markings were even though they were totally different in shape & size.

Another time we were at a fund-raising event for a local animal shelter and saw a couple carrying Kylie’s ‘mini me’. So of course it was totally adorable! We stopped and talked to them as well, it was like the greyhound situation but this time Kylie was the big dog!

Too bad we didn’t take pictures of these other dogs, but it doesn’t matter… because there may be other dogs that look like Kylie either a little of a lot (including the one who lives with us now) but there was only ever ONE Kylie!

There never will be anyone, canine or human or otherwise, as amazing and fabulous and fun and beautiful as our Kylie! She was like a unicorn or an alien, but cuter than either or both, and the world is less without her, as are we.

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xo

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During Kylie’s puppyhood in Hawaii, one of our favorite saturday activities was going to garage sales, aka, “garage sale-ing”. Yes, they have garage sales in paradise – and with the cost of living in Hawaii, garage sale-ing was not only fun, it was a necessity!

And no, going to garage sales is not always fun.. but going with Kylie it was always and adventure! Like the time we decided to leave her in the car and just take a quick look at a garage sale that didn’t look particularly promising, then the next thing we knew while we were looking at the goods in said garage, Kylie was at our feet!? How, you ask?? Well in Hawaii you shouldn’t really ever leave a dog in the car because it is always too hot for that, but since it was only going to be a few minutes (and since we’ve mentioned before we were bad parents) we thought it would be ok if we left the windows about 1/3 of the way down (not just a couple inches). But we definitely did not consider it would even be conceivable that she could climb out, or would for that matter since that left a somewhat significant drop, but We Were Wrong!

“How did you get here?!” we asked her. She answered with a simple, self-satisfied wag. Then there was the time we were walking away from a garage sale and Kylie had rolled over on her back and was squirming around, kicking her feet in the air, which was quite cute and funny until we realized, she was rolling around on a dead frog!! [We later learned that this was a ‘thing’ with Kylie, rolling on smelly things. But as this was early on, we were fairly appalled at the time.]

But there was one thing that was a regular ocurence on our garage sailing adventures.. You may have already read about Kylie’s rescue fund, that turned into Kylie’s allowance once she stopped destroying things. Well thought it was important that Kylie learn the value of a dollar, so when we went to garage sales, she would bring along some of her own money and she could pick out whatever she wanted. Kids’ stuffed animals were ideal toys for her, and getting them for a buck or less was also ideal since she would shred them in short order.

The problem was the people hosting the garage sales would without fail say, “Oh, she’s so cute! She can just have that,” referring to whatever stuffed thing had appealed to Kylie. So we would explain, no, she can’t just have it because we are trying to teach her the value of a dollar! We didn’t want her to think she could always get by, just by being cute!

Of course some people were amused, others thought we were nuts no doubt. But it must have kind of worked, because Kylie truly liked to tear up paper, yet she never ever tore up money.

Today on the news and on the internets was the story of Eclipse, the “urbanized” lab who lives in Seattle and gets on the bus all by herself and gets off at the stop for the dog park!

It definitely seemed like something Kylie would have done. In her first home with us in the high-rise in Honolulu, Kylie would lay on the floor for hours looking out the windows that went all the way to the floor, watching the bus stop across the street. We always thought it was probably like watching tv for her, and she would keep track of who got on and off every day and at what time. Now however it seems plausible that she was plotting.. “I’ll bet that bus would take me to the park (or beach or where ever Kylie wanted to go on a particular day), if I could just get down to that bus stop!”

Then when reading some of the comments on the article about Eclipse, many of which were criticizing her parent for being so irresponsible, which we can definitely relate to (obviously since there is an entire category on this blog dedicated to our “bad parenting”), this one was especially relatable:

My dog would do this if she could. She’s a Shiba and thus incredibly independent. Every time I leave her in the car to run into a store, I come back to find her in the driver’s seat. One day she’ll just speed off as soon as she sees me coming out of the supermarket, because she can be a jerk like that.

We not only would often find Kylie in the driver’s seat when she was left alone in the car, we sometimes had to return to the car quickly because she was impatiently honking the horn! Seriously! There were witnesses, and they would ask.. How did you teach her to do that? To which we would answer, “Why would we teach her to do that?” We didn’t.. She did!

Kylie was very urbanized!

We’re in the middle of the hottest time of year here in Colorado, several days in a row approaching triple digits – this was NOT Kylie’s favorite! Since leaving her tropical home in Hawaii behind, and since the first time she experienced winter, Kylie became a snow dog! And the heat meant several days in a row where she couldn’t go anywhere. (at least not until we went to the drive inn on friday night!)

In the winter, we would put layers of clothes on her and we even put a heating pad in her booster seat in the car so she could go everywhere with us. She had very fashionable parkas and even a snow suit for our sledding trips. But in the summer, we could strip her down to naked and spray her with water, which she did not appreciate by the way, but since she was always wearing that pretty fur coat there was only so much you could do to keep Kylie cool.

But on a few occasions we made an exception and ventured out in the heat with Kylie, water bottles in tow. One such occasion was a dog event in July, specifically a mass “Dog Wedding”. That just seemed like too much ridiculousness to pass up, and hey, if all the other dogs could handle the heat so could Kylie.  Of course there were concerns when taking Kylie to ‘dog events’ not matter what the season; remember Kylie was not a fan of other dogs! So we went to the wedding prepared to take the usual precautions. But what we learned there is that the heat was sort of like Kylie’s Kryptonite. She was far too busy seeking shady spots or a place to lie down, to bother with confrontations. The further her tongue fell out of her face, the less concerned she became with having her butt sniffed or any other doggie body buffer zone violations!

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While this realization did not mean the three of us started spending lots of time out of doors in the Summer (us girls kind of hate the heat too), it did make us more likely to consider it. So at least Kylie could get out and have some fun until temperatures came back down, and it was time for snowfall and sledding again!

If we told her there was fun to be had, Kylie was always willing to take a leap of faith..

She knew we would always be there to catch her!

Many of the things we find spectacular about Kylie may in reality not be entirely unique. We’re willing to admit that its possible that lots of dogs demonstrate some of the same peculiarities and predilections of our little maniac.

But there was something Kylie did that we do feel is pretty unusual.. she made up games!

Once on a particularly boring stretch of a road trip on a two lane road in New Mexico, Kylie perched herself between the two front seats watching the road ahead intently. Then when she would see a semi on the horizon coming towards us, she would stand and take a stance like she was clearly getting ready for something to happen. As the distance between us and the truck got smaller she got all riled up, then when they passed she pounced! Barking and snarling, and jumping towards the driver’s side of the hatchback and running toward the back of the car.. Once the big truck was in our rear view mirror, a few more barks from Kylie fully facing backwards in the back of the car, then she would wag her tail wildly, hop back up to sit between the front seats again and wait for the next one!

This went on for quite some time, we tried to join in, but Kylie made it clear we had no idea what we were doing. There were obviously rules, you couldn’t just bark at any old car; we tried that (yes, we were both barking at the top of our lungs) and she looked at us like we were nuts! It had to be just the big trucks! Although on subsequent road trips she opened up the playing field, depending on how bored she was, and she would go after anything bigger than a bike.  We were always so impressed with her ability to entertain herself! Of course at some point during a long drive across town when she started up and there was a truck every few seconds instead of every few miles, we had to convince her that “the highway game” was not meant to be played in the city!

Another game Kylie invented was “the shadow game,” but this one she needed our help for. Kylie loved playing in her backyard day and night, but what’s a dog to do when it gets dark outside? Kylie had an answer for that… she would make a ruckus and act like Tommy fell down the well or something until we would go out in the backyard with her, sometimes at 11:00 or even midnight. Then when at least one of us would get outside she would have these nice tall shadows on the fence to chase back and forth. Of course at that hour we had to keep the barking to a minimum, but Kylie was actually ok with that, she just wanted the thrill of the chase!

She was so awesome! Way more fun than the olympics! We miss her so much!

The only time we ever took a trip without Kylie was to go home and visit Hawaii (stupid quarantine kept her from being able to go). But of course she never saw the inside of a kennel.. she always stayed with friends, or they stayed with her.

On one such occasion, we went to the Aloha state and Kylie stayed with her godmom, Merrianne, and her best frien-emy Min. Merrianne was kind enough to send us a few emails with pictures of their adventures while we were away. Of course we were always thrilled to get these, but almost every time we would be shocked at what we saw..

Ok, well this one is shocking for obvious reasons, but as long as she’s having fun and she doesn’t look like that when we get home, then fine.

Clearly in this one she was having fun, however historically Kylie was borderline terrified of balloons, or at least highly suspicious. And ps, she wasn’t a big fan of bandanas either so at this point we were starting to get pretty suspicious ourselves.

Then came this one..

To which we said, “Alright.. who’s that dog, and what have you done with Kylie?!”

It was common knowledge that Kylie did not like other dogs in general, and Golden Retrievers in particular were to be avoided at all cost (see also, The Boston Incident).

We briefly considered booking an early flight home, clearly they were brain-washing our Kylie!! But again, it was clear she was having a good time. [Truth be told we were considering coming home early because Kylie was having too much fun with out us!]

We still talk about these pictures when we see them and contemplate why she would be such a different dog when she was not around us… hmmm. Still don’t know.

But we still miss her like crazy, and hope like crazy that she is having a good time without us now.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl!

We’ve mentioned how much Kylie loved a road trip, it was absolutely our favorite family thing. But you may not be aware that she was quite the prolific little traveler.

The Travel Logs on Kyliedog.com is one of the most exciting parts of her website, where she shares all about her coast to coast excursions. From autumn in New England to sunny California, she visited natural wonders, historical landmarks, and roadside oddities, she loved nothing more than sniffing out new territory (and new hotel rooms).

There’s a pin on the map for every little point of interest along the way.. after all, life’s about the journey, and getting there is half the fun, and all that good stuff!

What was interesting is how often the people gathered at these popular tourist attractions acted like Kylie was the attraction. On Fremont Street in Las Vegas people just couldn’t get over the little dog in the backpack, “look at the dog!” “hey look, there’s a dog!” “omg, look how cute that dog is!” At a truck stop once she was cruising around in her sunglasses and somebody asked if they could take her picture!

We realized at some point that starting Kylie’s website and blog was one of the best things we ever did. It gave us incentive to go on trips and take lots of pictures, and to take absolutely every opportunity to make our life together a series of little adventures!

And it truly was.. we miss those adventures and Kylie’s spirit of adventure every day!

Traditionally as you may know, we were a hockey family. Kylie was a Devils fan, even more specifically she was a Martin Brodeur fan! 

But we are also an american family, so of course when it was super bowl sunday we would watch along with the rest of the country. Of course even the super spectacle couldn’t keep Kylie’s attention for the whole game.

But, one super bowl sunday we just happened to be in Boston with Kylie on one of our road trips, and the Patriots just happened to be playing.  And we just happened to tune in from our New England hotel room in time to hear the other team, not sure who it was, maybe the Rams, all be introduced individually as usual. Then the announcer said something like, and now, “choosing to be introduced As A TEAM.. the New England Patriots.” We thought that was pretty cool! So while we previously had no dog in that fight (ha, ha), we decided to root for the home team! (Of course now, nobody gets introduced as individuals because it would make them look like jerks I suppose. But we still know who started it..)

It was a pretty exciting game as we recall. At some point we girls were high-fiving an especially thrilling play and Kylie decided to get in on the action and started jumping up between us. So, while we rarely attempted to officially “teach” her anything because we wanted her to be a free spirit, we put up our palms and when she put her little paw up too we said, “High Five!” and “Yay, Kylie!” And that was all it took.. Kylie became a high-fiver! (yes we know, lots of dogs know how to high-five. but not lots of them teach themselves in a situation that is so apropos.)

So while Tom Brady was becoming the youngest quarterback to ever win a super bowl that day, Kylie was becoming a high-fiving fool. And while he was MVP in the big game, she was always and will always be our MVP!

So since then, whenever the Patriots make it to the super bowl, they’ve got our support, including today! Go Patriots! Go Kylie! (high-five implied)

[Note: As retired sports fans we have experienced the heartbreak, and the agony of defeat, that can come along with that. So if the Patriots don’t win today, well we all just have to be good sports about it. Although admittedly, good sportsmanship was not Kylie’s strong suit! 😉 ]

Back in the mid 90’s Kylie was possibly one of the first, or certainly among the first dogs to have a website. Looking back it was nothing to brag about, but she went a long way from there. Kyliedog.com became fairly ginormous, featuring her travel logs, her blog, interactive games and things, and even her very own News Network, KNN, reporting on important issues like Canine Discrimination and Squirrel Conspiracies! But the most famous / infamous part of Kylie’s website is the Psychic Puppy Network.

We were trying to think of something to make Kylie’s site unique, because by then lots of dogs were copy-catting Kylie and getting websites of their own. The Psychic Puppy Network was launched.. with The Great Kylini’s Magic Dog Biscuits, Past Life Regression, and online Tarot Card Readings, it became Kylie’s claim to fame.

I don’t remember what came first or in what order things took place but the Psychic Puppy Network started getting international acclaim. It was featured in a few newspapers across the country. It was a featured site on USA Today’s website, and on Seventeen magazine’s website. It received 4 out of 5 stars when reviewed by Access Magazine. Penn & Teller even linked to the Psychic Puppy Network from their website for quite awhile.

It was also a topic of conversation on several different radio stations in the US. In fact for weeks one radio station was calling “The Great Kylini” once a week (very early in the morning) for lucky numbers!

Then Kylie hit the big time.. TV, in both the US and Great Britain!In 1999 she was on the tele on London’s “So Graham Norton” show as part of a regular segment about wacky things on the internet. Then in 2000 Kylie did a LIVE interview via webcam for the TechTv (now the G4 network) program, “The Internet Tonight”!

Eventually, the excitement wore off and the internet moved on to dancing hamsters, and bulldogs who ride skateboards, and the like. And Kylie, well she was just Kylie.. unaffected by the love and adoration of the masses. She just loved her life and loved us, celebrity was inconsequential.

But for those of you who just thought Kylie was your typical, little white dog (though somewhat extra smart and sassy and cute), you should know she really was a super star – and not just to us!