..for sometimes being a complete spaz!

We’re so thankful that you made us laugh every day!

We miss you so much.

What doesn’t change is how much we miss you, all the time..

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!

Kylie has better table manners than most kids!

She knew we would reward her & make it worth her wait.

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! 😉 ]