Kobe, Karsten's Chocolate Lab; 15 months

Yesterday, after a few weeks of looking for another dog to keep Adonis company once he arrives here in Vegas, I bought a Chocolate Labrador Retriever from a couple in the military who are being sent to Africa for 18 months. He's a strong little fella, only 15 months old. Our twice daily walks around the neighborhood are more like a wrestling match. I struggle to keep him on the sidewalk, as he'd rather chase every car he sees, and I have to use all of my few pounds to keep him from running 1000 mph to who-knows-where. He seems to be able to run for 40 minutes solid.... I can't.

He went a whole day without a name, though. My friends suggested such things as Godiva, Hershey, Coco, Mocha, Brownie, Snickers, Kit Kat, Jaeger, and other such things relating to browness and chocolate. I considered Mars, as well. I passed on other names such as Pixel, Emoticon, Marshall (suggested by Marshall) and other food products like Adobo and Asado. Silly friends.

The name I finally settled on is Kobe. He's not named after the porn star or the basketball player, but rather the city in Japan-- the one that was damaged in the big earthquake a few years ago.

I decided on that one because his previous name was Toby, but since that's one of my names I decided to change his. I've changed mine already but some folks-- my family--- refuse to change. His actual AKC registered name-- he is purebred-- is Springwood's Toby Boy. Springwood is the breeder in Pahrump from which he came.

And boy had I forgotten how messy and energetic a young dog can be!