Kodia Silver Labrador Retriever Female 5 Years Old ID #3033

May 3, 2022

Kodia has been busy the last couple of weeks. She went to the beach again for a long weekend and put her toes in the sand for the first time.

She’s doing better with going to the bathroom on leash but still can be stubborn.  She pulls like a champ if she sees another dog but seems to just want to sniff and greet them.

Kodia is not a fan of being left alone. She’s fine most of the time but other times she whines barks and howls. On two occasions she pulled paperback books off the shelf and pulled apart and shredded the pages when we went out.  My resident dog was with her at the time so she had company.  We do have video evidence of who the culprit was though.

Kodia has been in heat the whole time we’ve had her and due to some higher-than-expected bleeding, the vet suggested that she be spayed sooner rather than later.  She was spayed last week and all went well.  She’s still recovering and surprisingly has not been licking her incision. We just noticed that there’s a hard spot along the one side of the incision and we’re checking with the vet about that.   A few days post-surgery she decided to start trying to hump my resident dog who did not particularly like that. Roxy put up with it for a while but then let Kodia know to knock it off.  Kodia then left her alone. If we go to pet Roxy, Kodia comes right over to get in the way.  The dogs get along pretty well but we noticed that Kodia got possessive in the house with a tennis ball a week ago so no more toys in the house any time soon.  We think Kodia was a little cranky due to a few grumbles we heard after the spay and think her hormones need to settle.

Kodia is a love bug who wants attention and affection. She doesn’t seem to know her size.  She gets in our king size bed every night and sprawls out.  She weighed in at 107 lbs. the day of her surgery so has a way to go with weight loss.

April 18, 2022

Kodia has been in foster care for a little over three weeks and she’s come a long way.  She must’ve read the last blog entry because a couple of days later she was going up and down the stairs with relative ease.  She really wants to be with people so she was highly motivated to learn the steps so she can follow us around. She also discovered on her own how comfortable it is to sleep in bed with us at night.  A far cry from her sleeping arrangements at the farm. She saw our resident dog jump on and she followed.  She’s a snuggler and takes up quite a bit of space.

Kodia and my resident girl, Roxy are getting along much better.  Roxy was under the weather for over a week and it may have helped them bond a bit. We took Kodia to our beach house to see how she would do in a different, busier environment.  We learned that she doesn’t like to do her business on leash. It took considerable time and coaching on each walk to get her to go. I just think she’s used to going off leash in a fenced yard. She must wear a harness because she’s so strong and she likes to pull a bit toward other dogs (or critters). She’s easily distracted though.

We took her to the vet for a checkup last week and she’s now down to 109 lbs. Those 16 lbs. came off easier than expected. The vet thinks she needs to lose another 20-25lbs.  Kodia is likely in heat right now and we’re awaiting blood test results to see if she has an infection and to determine when she can be spayed.  She has been started on antibiotics as a precaution. Given her weight and thin fur, she’s also having her thyroid levels tested.  She’s finishing up treatment for ear infections.

Kodia is a sweetie who pushes your hand with her nose frequently to be petted.  She barks if she hears something outside or if there’s a delivery but is otherwise pretty quiet. She will whine and pace for a while if we leave the house but eventually settles. Having another dog helps her quite a lot.

March 30, 2022

Sweet Kodia has been with us about six days now.

She’s starting to get used to living in a home but many sounds (vacuum cleaner, hair dryer etc.) scare her a bit since they are new to her. We’re trying to teach her the stairs but so far, she’s still very hesitant.  She’ll get half way up and then run down again.  We’ll keep working on it.

She’s not a big fan of her crate so she’s been sleeping on her favorite dog bed in the kitchen at night.  It’s so cute to watch her on our web cam all snuggled in her bed being a good girl. One night we exhausted ourselves trying to get her 125lb body up the stairs so she could sleep in our bedroom but in the morning, she was afraid to leave the room and then go down the stairs. She’s a smart girl though and we’re sure that with practice and a little more confidence, she’ll master it to come upstairs.

Kodia has had a few accidents in the house but we think it’s just a matter of time before she’s housebroken.  She watches what our resident dog is doing.  They’re getting along for the most part.  It’s pretty clear Kodia thinks of herself as top dog.  She’s also a Velcro dog and follows us around. She’s trustworthy alone in the house. She may pace the room for a little while but then she’s fine.

March 25, 2022

It has been quite a first day with sweet farm/breeder girl Kodia.  She rode well in the car and we took her straight to the vet for an exam.  She has ear mites and infections in both ears plus some sores on her ear flaps and belly.

Kodia has very thin fur on her sides and missing fur in spots so I’ll be working some magic on her skin and immune system.  She had her last litter in December and weighed in at 125lbs!  Kodia really needed a bath.  It wasn’t easy getting her in the tub and once we turned on the water, this big strong girl wanted out.  We managed to wash her and afterward her fur was several shades lighter – definitely more silver.

Kodia is very sweet and loves affection. She has the cutest white spots on her face. The introduction with our resident female went relatively well.  A couple grumbles and raised lips here and there but we’re monitoring closely and they’re already napping near each other.  Kodia is eating and drinking and went potty outside which is great since she’s never lived in a home before. She is also startled by loud, unfamiliar sounds but seems to like watching TV.  We’ll see how she does overnight. She’s already enjoying her doggie beds.