Dog Name
Around Thanksgiving in 2013, Kenai had arrived at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, where we lived at that time. He was shipped from a breeder who specialized in only English White (Cream) Golden Retrievers in a fishing town, Kenai, Alaska. Since he was born in Kenai, we named him after this location where he came from. We also used to go fishing there as a family during summer time, so there’s a cool Alaska vibe in his name. We also had another option in his name. This puppy was cute and innocent but somewhat clumsy; one example is that he eats so fast, but chokes up right after and so forth, so we almost named him Gomer after Gomer Pile. He was also a clumsy soldier in a comedy show back in the 60’s, but we did not name him after him. Kenai has pure white hair. At the very beginning of the marriage before we had kids, we had a regular golden retriever named Kiska, but as we’ve multiplied our kids and he was a bit too hard to take care of, we did send him for adoption when we moved from lower 48, to Alaska. I was pregnant with my 3rd child having severe morning sickness, and overwhelmed with two little kids already. My ex was too busy working to feed our family. So he ended up being adopted by a nice family, which was better for him- and we were happy for him. We packed up and moved up north for my ex’s job. Once the kids got older, they wanted a puppy. We started to look for a white golden retriever this time, and found one. That is Kenai, our favorite dog.
Beautiful Dog
In Japan, we do not call any of our own family members with complimenting words such as beautiful, handsome, smart etc. It is basically because we are accustomed to showing our humility up front in public. We believe that being humble is one of the most important characteristics to present ourselves in Japanese society. We are not supposed to brag about any family members at any level. The reason behind why we need to act humble is that being cocky / conceited people are bashed and not respected in Japan, because we are built and use one type of politeness forms called, “謙遜：Kenson ＝ humility”. It is a silent social code to respect and put others in a higher position than ourselves. That’s how we keep the harmony in our Japanese society (by not bragging or complimenting our own family’s looks, especially our appearance) and keep staying to ourselves while staying very low key. For example, we do not say, “I have a beautiful wife or children” as we hear frequently in the United States. But I cannot deny saying that this puppy Kenai was such a beautiful puppy when he came to our house! We immediately fell in love with him. He had clean, soft white hair/fur with such a cute innocent puppy face, “aww’, he just melted our hearts. He was definitely playful as a puppy, but he still was learning to cope with us. Our kids were almost 10 years younger than now when he became an addition to our family, and their ages were, 14, 12, 10, and 7. Around that time my 12 year old son had a school project called “portfolio” at a charter school. He needed to participate in an organization to volunteer to learn about work skills. So he chose an internship at this dog training place. This is where we took Kenai as a 12 week old puppy for his dog training course, to learn to be obedient. It was the best thing we have done for Kenai and also it was so good for us to learn about how to be better owners for this cute face. We both have learned so much from this training course. For example, around the time when Kenai was teething, the puppy started to chew on our hands each time we tried to pet him. So the trainer had taught us to stop petting immediately, by raising our hands in the air and letting it go. He quickly learned to stop chewing our hands because he loved to be pet and he learned that we kept on petting him if he didn’t nibble on our hands. We also did not want him to chew any shoes or furniture along with house training.
House Training
As far as the house training goes, yes, he had a few accidents in the house but we’ve been diligent to take him outside in the cold snow covered winter in Alaska frequently enough that he did learn pretty quickly. I would say that the dog training session was worth every penny. The trainer has shown us to raise our hands in the air each time the puppy starts to nibble our hands. Kenai quickly learned that he wants to be petted so quickly learned not to bite our hands. He also does not lick our face. We raise our hands up each time we expect him to behave and keep a little distance from him. Another blessing that we have though him is that he does NOT chew shoes or any furniture. But the only thing we let him grab in his mouth was a sock! He loves socks, especially the stinky ones. We allowed him to play with it. Can you imagine when we come home and he always welcomes us with a sock in his month? He does not chew up or anything else but that’s his way of showing his love to us! Only issue that he has had for quite some time was, he trickles with a high pitch voice or we try to approach with big affection. After the trainer told us that some dogs are sensitive for us to approach with so much enthusiasm. So she has taught us to have him come and try not to overreact to him and not to touch his head but start touching from the side of his body gently if we want to pet him gently. It did work when we paid attention to it and he did stop tricking eventually. But sometimes still now, if we don’t take him out first and have some exciting encounter and show our over excitement to him, he can trickle again so we have been very mindful about it so that he gets a more gentle approach and have him come first and let him warm up with us! That’s the key.
Snow Angel Dog
Kenai is definitely an Alaska born dog. He loves snow so much that he dives his head and rolls himself into the fresh snow. He will be almost 10 year old this fall but he still does this, doggy snow angel moves, that he lays down rubs his back against the snow and wiggles! When we lived in Alaska, we had a 2 acre lot and we could not see the neighbors houses. We let him wander off the back yard, and he disappears for a while. There was no fence around our house but all the trees and nature surrounded us so he could chase the scrolls and birds freely. When we let him out, he freely disappears and comes home in like 30 min or so, and he’ll be barking at the front door when he wants to come in. He was a happy dog who had such freedom and a home where he was loved by every single family member. When Kenai was a puppy, he had a sensitive tummy so we were very careful what to feed him. So our veterinarian suggested this brand called, Natural Balance Limited ingredient
and we have it delivered to our door. We change the flavors and rotate them. He’s been such a healthy dog and loves his food so we have been sticking with this brand even till now. He is also a very patient dog. He can wait for more than a minute to eat his treats until we say “okay”. When he patiently waits and for such a long time, we reward him with the second treat instantly right after his obedient trial. When we travel, Kenai has been fortunate to not be sent to a kennel. Instead, we hire our trusting friends to come to our house to take care of Kenai, so he can have the same environment at his home where he feels familiar with. Thanks to our friends who love Kenai. He is a very chill dog and we love him so much. He is not super hyper nor inactive just right for us. He has been such a patient and considerate dog who lets us fulfill our needs first and wait for his demands. When I went through divorce, he was my therapeutic dog. I have cried a lot, like gallons of tears and went through boxes of Puffs lotion tissues and Kenai was such a kind companion to me and always came close to me to be the best companion who showed me unconditional love when I lost one from my ex spouse. Dog is a spirited animal that senses so much of our emotions and sorrows. He was always loving, trusting and loyal to us. I can not ask for a better dog than Kenai. Yes, he sheds a lot, that is definitely the down side about gold and I can see why there are high demands on doodle so it won’t shed. We just use roller brush a lot to remove from our clothes and socks. For the last Christmas, I have received the best Christmas gift from my daughter. It’s a grooming brush connected to a gentle small vacuums that it sucks his hair while combing his hair.
Kenai loves to be brushed daily and we could trap his hairs before it scatters everywhere. Really wish we had this product sooner but it seems to help less hair around amore we use this vacuum brush. It comes with the grooming kit that I have not tried yet but maybe this summer I might try in the yard. Kenai loves to be brushed and he normally does not like vacuum sound by this is quiet and gentle enough that he stays still while using this.
Kenai also loves to be in the water and we go hiking trails near our house. Some of the trails have a small waterfall and stream in it he loves to be soaked in it. He is my best hiking buddy for sure.
Hope Kenai lives long since we love him so much and we know he loves us so much as well. Yes, he was a cute puppy but our love grew even more older he got. He is our family member and I would love him again in my next life as well if we could! He definitely is my legit living angel dog ever!