Kona's 4 year Anniversary

Last week Kona had a big day, he had his 4 year anniversary of living with us on Thursday...... Here is his story. When we lived in Gardner we decided that we wanted a dog. At the time Jacob's boss volunteered with Pit Bull and Rotweiller rescue. We told her we were looking for a dog that could go running with me, maybe biking with us, and be a great family pet. She came across Kona, who was named Gus at a shelter in Westfield, NY which was like 7-8 hours away. The rescue network is amazing. Kona was suppose to be transported to CT for us so we didnt have to drive the long distance. The transport got cancelled because there was suppose to be a snow storm. We had the option either drive to NY ourselves or let Kona be adopted by someone else. By the time we found out we had already fell in love with him, and decided to drive there to get him plus he was a pure bred Yellow Labrador Retriever.


So Friday February 6th we went to bed super early so that we could get up the next day to get him. A wrench was thrown at us when we got the dreaded call that night that my grandfather passed away. Then we didnt know what to do. We discussed it and Jacob was going to go anyways but then he couldnt find someone to make the drive with him. So I went along. Luckily my sister-in-law's sister, Tami, lived an hour from the shelter. We drove there on Saturday so first thing Sunday we could head to the shelter. We hung out with Kona for about an hour at the shelter before we hoped in the car to make the long drive back to Gardner. He was his, what we found out to be his typical self, lying in the back with occasionally hitting our arms to pet him.


Kona was found stray but the shelter thought they knew where he came from. They called the people pet collectors, people who get a puppy but then let them go once they are grown. We were fortunate to have adopted such a great pet. Kona Joseph Burns is his official name and he was 2 when we got him. I think Grandpa was watching over us to make sure things worked out great.

Since we had the funeral and such the beginning of the week, there were many people around. He did great. I had the week off for the funeral which gave me plenty of time to hang out with him. He was already house trained and didnt have any issues. We still to this day cant figure out why someone would have let him go. We were on the look out for negative behaviors but never saw any. The only thing we cant do is leave plastic containers in the sink or food out as he will get them when we are not home.


The picture attached was taken the end of January. Kona is very protective of Emmi. If someone comes over that he doesnt know and they get too close to Emmi, he will stand in between them and even jump at them when too close for comfort. The jumping up is not normal for him to do. We often find him sleeping in her room. I was in Emmi's closet the other day with her and he didnt see me. He came into the room, looked in her crib and then proceeded to look for us.


We couldnt have asked for a better dog. Happy Anniversary Kona.