Saturday, August 16, 2008

Updates on Miss Izzy - Kona's sister up north

June 20, 2008

Just an update on Miss Izzy....she is doing marvelously and is a joy!  She weighs 40 pounds now and has gotten quite tall.  We walk briskly every morning for about 30 minutes, which wears her out for a few hours!  She has a playmate, Murphy, a 100 pound golden retriever on the block, who is her best friend.  They play together several times a week, and believe me, Izzy is no shrinking violet!  She's very aggressive and dominant, rarely submissive, and keeps him on the run!  We call them "peas and carrots" as we liken their relationship to Forrest and Jenny in Forrest Gump (Murphy isn'tthe brightest light, but very sweet!). Izzy hasn't had an accident in the house since the second week we had her!  She's very bright and has learned alot of commands and behaves well, with the exception of picking up just about anything on the floor (but isn't that a puppy and a lab!). I'm sure that she'll outgrow that shortly!  She prefers my lounge chair on the patio to any other spot for nap-taking.  It takes her about an hour to finish any meal, down from about 2 hours a few weeks ago!  She's definitely not food-driven, but certainly loves attention Her manners with other dogs are great, and we did a walk for Parkinson's Disease downtown this past weekend and she was wonderful with all the other dogs there.

How different they all are...Kona, (at the time this was written)...is over 50 pounds, though I'm not sure exactly how much now. She and Zuma are inseparable and fight like sisters for our attention.  Izzy sounds more like Zuma in the eating department. Kona, onthe other hand, downs any food in seconds!  Kona is definitely dominant, butZuma always puts her in her place.  It's funny to see how they interact with one another and who is dominant over who in what matters (i.e. what Zuma allows Kona to take over).  Kona has completely taken over Zuma's position on our bed (so much so that Zuma now sleeps on the floor).  And Kona certainly is dominant over the food and treats issue.  Zuma is more dominant in attention from us and in about everything else.  It's been fun to watch them.  They are two very different dogs.  Zuma is more hyper and rough, but more behaved overall (and I think smarter).  Kona is very sweet and easy-going.  Kona will chew things up and climb counters to get food if left alone, whereas Zuma would rather die than to do any mischief at all.  But Kona usually wins over people because of her sweet and easy nature.  

Best of Friends




This is the norm most of the time at our house...well, that is if they aren't fighting over our attention or begging for food.