Kiya Jean Aguirre is a working grrrl; a beautiful Siberian Husky goin’ on 6 who lives up in Sebastian an helps her Mom an Dad train puppers.
We met in that pretty park by the river: She was, sitting on her speshul blanket in the shade, thick black an white fur, amazin’ eyes, long white snout, wearing a blue scarf with gold stars anna teal halter an leash.
I took a breath, and reminded myself I was On The Clock. “Good afternoon, Miss Kiya. I’m Bonzo an this is my assistant. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hello, Mr. Bonzo. This is SO Cool Kibbles! This is my Dad, Emanuel. Gerry-Anna’s my Mom. She’s at work. I get time off speshully for this. So how does it go?”
With a nod from her Dad (who held her leash during the entire innerview), she arose for the Wag-an-Sniff.
“It’s pretty fun, ackshully. You just talk about your life, how you found your furever famly, your job, pooch pals, favrite things, et settera.”
“I can DO that. Cuzza my training, I consider this like a Meeting, so I’m s’pose to sit calmly and not get distracted by other pooches goin’ by an stuff like that. I’m pretty good at it, too.
An, see, Dad is givin’ me liddle treats time-to-time as positive reinforcement for me bein’ focused.”
She turned to her Dad, then turned back around wearing a pair of Super Crispy Biscuits Sunnies. “Whaddya think, Mr.Bonzo? Way Cool, Right? So, should I just start now?”
“Woof! Super Cool for sure, Miss Kiya! Yep, I’m ready to write,” I told her, opening my notebook.
“I work with Mom and Dad to teach puppies How To Be A Dog. To them, I’m Auntie Kiya.
I’ve never had my own puppies so it’s especially fulfilling.
“Mom-an-Dad had another pooch who worked with them – Zeppelin, he was uh-MAZE-ing – a Malamute Shepherd – but he was Gettin’ UP there, an was finally confined to a wheelchair cuzza havin’ something called hip diss-PLAY-sha.
“So Mom-an-Dad were lookin’ for another pooch to help train, an found me On The Line at Husky Haven. They fostered me at first to be sure I had the right temperament, which I DO, so they offi-shully adopted me a year anna haff ago.
“I learned a lot from Zep, he was a wonderful big brother, but he hadda go to Dog Heaven just 3 weeks ago an we’re all still Very Sad.
“When Mom-an-Dad first got me, my name was Susie, which none of us liked, so they checked out all the current ‘in-fashion’ human and pooch names. Then they found out their fren’s daughter’s name was Kiya an they said, ‘That’s IT!’ It just clicked, ya know?
“I was pretty easy to train. Learned where to Do My Duty right away. I have this sorta potty thing I do, just came natch-rull. See, I can do a full front-paw handstand when I P!”
“Um, you do WHAT?”
“It’s TROO! An I don’t make a mess or topple over! It’s a gift!”
While I regrouped, Miss Kiya happily continued her tail.
“I get along with pretty much all cree-churs: I have a cat sister, Maddie, a 7-year-old gray Tabby. She has sir-REE-brull hi-per-PLAY-sha, which means she walks funny. I think she’s silly an charming. I call her handi-cat.
“WE also have a parrot brother, Coy. He likes to feed Maddie. An share her food, mostly zucchini an crackers. An apples.
“I’m lucky, Mr. Bonzo, cuz many special trained pooches don’t get lotsa famly time, but I do. An, when I need a break from my work (training puppies can be, well, stressful) I can retreat to my Crate. I LOVE my crate. I sleep in it, too.
“I’m Totally a Daddy’s Grrrl! We go for leash walks, in a little preserve. So peaceful. I also have a puzzle mat, where I haff to search for my kibbles. My Wobbles Kong’s also pretty fun.”
“This bein’ Florida an all, do you like swimmin’?” I inquired.
“NO!” she immediately replied, with great emphasis. “I do NOT. I’m NOT a water dog. NO SWIMMIN’! In Siberia there is SNOW. There is ICE, NO water. Mom an Dad have tried but – NO!”
I swiftly changed the subject. “Any speshull pooch pals?”
“Oh, yes. Daisy, she’s a Golden Doodle. Then there’s Frankie, a Golden Shepherd. An Otis, an English Bulldog. If you wanna see some cool kibbles phodos of us hangin’ out you can go to Gold Star Puppy Academy On The Line or TikTok.
“I’m sure you noticed my Pawsome shades, right? I mean, I am All Business at work, I am Very Well Buh-haved. But, off the clock, I can Get Down. I got Dog-a-Tude! An I got all the cool dog stuff. Like, check out my pawsome water bottle!”
Her Dad got it out of a satchel, un-did the bowl-like top, poured some nice cool water. It WAS Totally Crispy Biscuits: The curved bottle was stainless steel with a curvy blue lid/bowl attached, so Kiya could slurp right out of it with her Dad holdin’ it, without spillin’. Totally ergo. The name on the bottom said H2O4K9.
“Woof! Miss Kiya, that is Seriously Pawsome!”
“I KNOW! Right? I am one lucky poocheroo, for sure. I do have this liddle issue with my hips, tho.”
“Oh, for Lassie’s Sake,” I exclaimed.
“It’s OK. I go to see Miss Amber for rehab an I do exercises, like walkin’ backwards an side steppin’. That helps a lot.”
She demonstrated.
The time had passed quickly. I closed my notebook and rose to leave.
“It has been a pleasure, Miss Kiya,” I told her with sincerity.
“Maybe, Mr. Bonzo, you could come up sometime an we could just hang out an play. I don’t haff to work ALL the time.”
Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ about Miss Kiya, an promising myself to carve out some time to head back up to the park. Sigh. I was also mullin’ how to let Gramma and Grampa know about that amazin’ water bottle.
