Happy Birthday To Kaos

Happy Birthday to me, to me! Happy Birthday to me, to me!!! I am 4 today!! I'm going to let Mom post about how wonderful I am today! Take it away Mom!

4 years ago today Kaos was born in an animal shelter on a military base in Arizona. She was adopted by a family there and then they moved to different military bases 3 more times in a year! Kaos had lived in 4 states by the time she was 16 months and almost lived in a 5th state but the family decided to give her up instead. I don't have a very high opinion of her former family, but I am glad they brought her to Colorado for me. The beginning of June 2005, my husband and I got married and we had beed talking about adopting a lab for him to train as a bird dog. A few weeks later we were making a trip to Pueblo, Colorado (only 45 minutes from us and is also where the good shopping is) so we decided to stop at the no kill shelter . It took us about 20 minutes and a phone call to find them, but we found it. We walked in and immediately saw a black lab. He only had one eye which wouldn't have been good for a hunting dog, butyou never know. After he jumped up at the fence at me and sounded like he was going to eat me, we decided that was a BIG no on him. Next we saw a Chesapeake. He was gorgeous but big and he was almost jumping over the 8 foot fence so we knew our 4 foot fence would need some work. Next we saw a small shy female black lab. She was in a large pin with a Min Pin. We already had a miniature dachsund and a oversized cat at home so we wanted to make sure our new dog would be okay with smaller animals and so seeing her with the Min Pin was a good sign. She was pacing around the pin because she wanted to come up to me, but she was afraid of all the men that were around me. We decided we wanted to take her to the pin where we could get to know her. We went out to the pin to wait and wait and wait and wait. The worker finally walked in with her. They had to get a lady to go into the pin with her to put the leash on because she was afraid of the men. Immediately the playful side came out in this little girl and she picked up a stick and started running around with it. We played with her for awhile and told the guy we wanted to take her home. We put her back in the pin which made her very sad and then we went to the office to pay the fee and go through the paper work. The worker told us she had only been there almost a week. He handed me a folder that was her vet records. That's how we knew when she was born and where she has lived. She had seen a vet at each base she lived at. It was ear problems each time which she still has but we've figured out how to take care of them. We left which I didn't want to do, but we had stopped there first and we still had to go run our errands. If we were only going to Petsmart we would have taken her, but we also had to go to the mall and a couple other places so we left her there and then made sure we made it back before they closed. She was a very hyper girl all the way home. When we walked in the front door of our house with her, both Sasha and Gunnar froze and then hid. We took her to the back yard to let her run off some energy and she kept picking up sticks. We soon found out that she LOVES to play fetch and will play fetch 24/7 if she can find someone that will last that long. She never answered to her name Naenae so we worked on a new one. Her dad came up with the name Kaos because that's what she was. She was chaotic for the first 4 months. We didn't know what to do with her. We had both had experiences with labs before, but this one was extremely high strung. After about 3 months she finally calmed down a little and started getting into a new routine and started changing her personality. At first she wouldn't come if my husband called her and was pretty much afraid of him. She soon got over that and became his shadow. She also didn't really like to be loved on at first. Now she is the most snuggly dog I have ever known. She loves to lay on the couch with her head on a lap and she loves to give hugs and kisses - not licking kisses, she gives human kisses! That first fall we took her to try out pheasant hunting. It was a little chaotic but she did pretty good. The next time we took her about a month later she was totally awesome! We don't know if her previous family trained her or if she just has a natural instinct. She is great at flushing birds and rabbits and then going to find them. She refuses to put a dead bird in her mouth though. She will sit with the bird until her dad comes to get it, but she will not bring it to him. Personally, I don't blame her.
When my husband goes deer and elk hunting, he's usually gone for a few days and Kaos is on duty. If her dad is gone for a couple nights for work she's on duty, too. It's kind of annoying because she barks at every little noise, but it also makes me feel safer. Kaos is very protective of her yard and her sister while they're outside. A neighbor's lab kept jumping fences not long after we brought her home and Kaos made sure that lab stayed away from her sister and her dad. Luckily those neighbors moved away. Anytime that lab jumped in our yard we would call the cops because he was mean once he jumped into the yard. Anytime a cop came Kaos flipped out. She hated anybody in a uniform or dark clothes. She would growl a growl that scares me and her fur sticks up on her neck, back and tail and she's a totally different dog. Our neighbor's are prison guards and Kaos has now figured out not all uniforms are bad. She loves playing with the neighbors (they give her tennis balls and play fetch with her for hours), but she still doesn't like dark uniforms. She also doesn't like African American men, especially if they have really dark skin. When the neighbor's brother visits Kaos growls through the window until he leaves. One day the neighbors were goofing around and the brother chased his sister across the street with a glass of water and Kaos flipped. She was jumping against the door and I think if she could have gotten through the door she would have gone after him. Seeing her like that and seeing her afraid of men when we first adopted her makes me dislike her previous family a lot.
When we first brought Kaos home I was getting sick a lot and any time I didn't feel good Kaos was my shadow. It didn't matter if her dad was doing something fun or not, she wouldn't leave my side unless she really needed to go potty. Everyonce in awhile there was a cold wet nose pressed on my forehead to check on me. Kaos is a totally different dog than she was 3 years ago and I'm so happy we had patience with her those first few months. When we take her camping we don't have to worry about her running off (we still make sure she doesn't wonder too far from us though) and she loves to ride in the Jeeps and is the best road trip dog I have ever had. Her face and tail are so full of personality, I always know when she's happy (which is most of the time), sad or doesn't feel good. I always know she did something bad before I even know what she did because her ears go flat, her tail tucks under and her chin drags onthe floor as soon as I walk in the door. Usually it's something little like she moves a glove from the end table to the couch and took a nap on it or she may have had an accident, but sometimes it's a large amount of trash on the floor. She even takes the blame for when the other 2 get into something they're not supposed to, but she's figuring out she shouldn't do that anymore. I always feel safe with her at home and camping. When we're camping she won't let me go to the bathroom without her. I used to think it was because she thought I was going for a walk and she wanted to go, but after the first few times of her coming with me, I figured out she was coming to protect me. Last year she figured out how to open the tent so she could go have morning coffee with one of the guys in our group and so she could go to bed when she got tired after a full day of wheeling and running around. During the camping trips we also figured out how much she loves playing in water, but she didn't know how to swim. She learned to swim during her first camping trip that July after we brought her home and we also figured out she can't go fishing because she wants to chase your bobber or bait and bring it back (have I mentioned she loves fetch?). If we're fishing she has to stay in the Jeep or with someone that isn't fishing.
So, that's my Kaos girl. I'm very happy we have made so many new friends through her blog. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't know any of you. Sasha and Gunnar aren't the blogging type.
We're having Pupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes (for Mom and Dad) tonight and I promised I'd play fetch with Kaos with her new toy for awhile (not for as long as she wants because I have to go to work tomorrow). Hoepfully she'll pose for pictures tonight (she's gotten pretty bad about not letting me take pictures of her anymore, she's my favorite subject though!) and she'll share them with you tomorrow.
Happy Birthday Kaos!!! I love you!!!