Day 14- My Running Partner

This week marks 4 years since we have had our dog Kaya in our lives. We adopted Kaya from the Baldwin Park shelter, which is one of the worst shelters that I have ever seen. When we got Kaya, she would flinch every time we raised our arms, she would freeze at the door when we would try to take her outside, and she preferred to sleep in her crate than on a dog bed or our bed. Taking her for runs was also interesting; she had two modes- sprinting or laying down and not budging off the sidewalk.

Well, it didn't take very long before Kaya realized that she was part of our family; she soon forgot some of her timidness and became comfortable around us. Now today she doesn't leave my side, she sleeps curled up in my stomach, sits on my lap whenever I'm on the couch, and has become the best running partner that I have ever had. She can run up to 10 miles with me; usually leading the pace for us, and still once in awhile sprinting for no reason other than to exhaust me. She also motivates me to run more than I would be able to do without her; who can resist puppy eyes when they are staring at your running shoes?

I've never had a pet that has been such a big part of my family. She still has some issues that she holds onto - she doesn't care for men in uniform, and gets scared when Devin shouts during a sports game. But she has also developed several hilarious personality traits- like moving our shoes around the house while we are gone (she doesn't chew them). We end up finding our shoes in the window sills, on the balcony, in the bed, etc. Or every time I take her to dog beach she immediately runs to the water so that she can just lay in the waves. Or the noise that she makes when she yawns on weekend mornings to let us know that we need to wake up because she is bored.



I not sure what Kaya went through in her first 4 months of life, but she was definitely traumatized. It makes me happy to know that she was able to be rescued.

If you are interested in adopting a dog check out the website: www.animalshelter.org
Adopting an animal from the shelter is really easy to do now, the websites allow you to view the pets that they have up for adoption so that you can search for your perfect new family member from the comfort of your own home.

I'm so happy that we have Kaya in our lives, she has been the perfect addition to our small family!

Pura Vida!
Alica Ryan, NTP