Last month, August 2026, we had a lot of excitement in our lives as Clinton and I welcomed a new puppy into our lives: Thunder Adventure Talley! He is a now a 4 month old Boxer puppy who we absolutely adore.
While Kiki’s Korner is normally about Kiraly, we are going to switch a bit in honor of Kyzer, who is our 13.5 year old dog, born in Nine Mile Falls (close to Spokabne) Washington! Just like Clinton, he is a true Washingtonian. 🙂
Kyzer was just a little puppy when we got him, and of course one of the first things that we did with him was bring him to the Spokane River and Riverside State Park. This is where he learned to swim! As a German Short-haired pointer, Kyzer is built for the forest and the outdoor life, which is why we trained him early on for our lifestyle. We made sure he went on frequent car rides – and we ourselves made sure to spot every 2 hours or so to make sure he stretched his legs and went potty. We trained him to walk with us on a trail and sit instead of chase the wildlife – very important for an adventure dog! These traits and learned behaviors eventually helped train Kiraly and is currently helping little dude Thunder.
Kyzer loves the winter and the snow. In fact, when it snows he is usually right next to the door with his tail wagging, waiting to go out and play. He will sit in a pile of snow and just let it snow on him all day, if we didn’t intervene! He does like to sit outside during the summer and ‘tan’, as we like to call it, but he seems to prefer a more colder climate.
We also made sure to train him to go camping with us, which means that we want him to be off leash but sitting right next to us the entire time. If he needs to go potty, he can go – but he needs to be a certain distance from the campsite that doesn’t include leaving the main site. Cause, who wants dog pee near their tent!? Of course, we practice pack in and pack out and make sure to pick up their poop – you should do the same!
Kiraly never made it up to Washington State, but she was basially trained by Kyzer who learned all of his basic training in the state so…we can kinda call it even! We made sure to bring Kiki camping once we left the city of Baltimore, and we think this is where she truly started to feel like a part of our pack. She would lay basically in my lap each night, almost as if tucking me in while Kyzer would cozy up to our feet. Camping was such a magical experience and I am thrilled to start teaching these techniques to Thunder!
Leave a Reply