Kiko's First Birthday

Yes, you did read that correctly. We had a party for our dog Kiko. Our dog turned one on Monday and the kids really wanted to celebrate her birthday. At first I was resistant, it just seemed a little weird and creepy, but decided that it would be a fun evening anyway.

I'm not sure the dog knew what was happening. Normally she only gets dog food and is discouraged from being near the dining room table (especially after the meatloaf incident.... she once hopped on our table and ate 1/2 of a meatloaf, rendering the remaining meatloaf inedible), but tonight she was royalty. She loved it too... queen for a day (Would she technically be queen bitch for a day? Not trying to offend, just a thought.).

So Kiko "sat" (see restrained- kept trying to eat her burger) at the table while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. In the middle of the song she blew out her candle because she was breathing so heavily from excitement... the kids were delighted....

Here she is enjoying her burger. We actually had to put it outside because she kept running away with it and eating it in the corner (she thought we would try to take it away). She was so thrilled after eating her burger she went back to the dinner table and stole Bob's burger and ran away with it. So she actually ate two... naughty dog...

The kids wanted to buy gifts, but we opted for a homespun birthday. We gave Kiko a HSBC freebie blanket for her crate (she had previously chewed up and peed in her original dog bed... here's hoping she has outgrown that!).....

The kids also gave Kiko a new ball to chew on. I was unaware of this but apparently the gifting of toy balls requires a gansta pose...

Kiko loves to chew on balls (she'll chew on anything really, she's destroyed at least six pairs of unattended shoes). It kept her busy all night....

By the end of the night she was completely wiped out (and her ball was already mangled)...

The best part was seeing how gentle and sweet the kids were to the dog. She really is a part of our family (albeit a destructive, sometimes annoying part of the family). They really love her. I sometimes wonder if she feels loved....

Maybe....