Dakoda came to live with my parents a few years ago as a puppy after our family dog Max died at a very old age. As you can see he’s grown very large compared to his puppy photos.
Bailey is kind of a delinquent kid of my brother’s family. He was acting up at home and they tried everything and he wouldn’t behave so they sent him to live with grandpa and grandma. He’s actually doing well at my parent’s house, as far as I can tell. Shorty used to be his bud at my brother’s house. (Shorty used to be my cat – and don’t forget the ShellB saga!.) At my parent’s house Callie was his friend, but she passed on. Now Bailey is the last cat living there, although I’m sure he sees plenty around the woods and neighborhood. Our family’s cat history is kind of like a Springer episode, I guess!
A few days before I went to visit my parents they adopted another dog. A little Lhasa Apso. My niece, Stephanie, had been asked to name Dakoda so this time around they let my other niece, Jessica, name the new dog. Somehow they settled on Benji. I heard she was trying to name it Matt, after one of my cousins, and also that Fluffy Wuffy was in the running as a name. I was a little surprised that my parents were interested in a small dog because we have always had medium to large-sized dogs (springer spaniel, retriever, great dane.. although there was that one random beagle for a while… ), but Benji is a nice dog and a lot easier to handle than Dakoda, that’s for sure. I think Benji is going to be my mom’s dog, where Dakoda will hang with my dad more.
Dakoda outweighs Benji by about 88 pounds. I’m not sure if he thinks that my parents got him a new play toy when they got Benji or if he knows Benji is a dog, but he tried to play with him constantly. And sometimes it’s ok and sometimes it’s way too rough and you have to break them up. Before you go feeling sorry for Benji know these things:
1. Benji teases Dakoda and comes back for more every time.
2. Look at his face when Dakoda looks like he’s going to bite him. He seems to be saying, “Yeh? So?”
3. Dakoda is kind of big and dopey and runs around and wrestles where Benji’s nips are a lot more precise.
4. What Dakoda does to Benji, Benji tries on the cat. Well, more like he’s just interested in the cat. Dakoda learned as a puppy not to mess with Bailey or Callie and Benji has yet to learn that lesson. But I think he will soon. It just takes one good swipe.
To care for the kittens we had to buy formula and tiny bottles. My brother and I set our alarm clocks for every few hours and took turns feeding each of them for weeks. Until they were old enough to eat watered down food and then real food. When the kittens were big enough we gave them away, but kept one calico kitten for ourselves. Appropriately, we named her Callie. 
