Leilani at 20 Weeks

Leilani has started to lose her puppy teeth. For this we can be both happy and a bit sad.

Happy that her sharp incisors are gone and with time the small scabs on our hands, arms and legs will heal.  Sad that our wild and crazy puppy is growing up.

She is starting to mellow, just a bit.

She looks more like her father, Hana Boy, each week.  We can see the Golden Retriever snout in this profile. She also has his head and ears and eyes.  Very soulful eyes too.  Her coat changes continually and so does her coloring.  Here's to the complexity of poi dogs! She is indeed a work in progress.

Leilani at 19 Weeks

Coconuts are a big hit at our house.  Leilani has developed the technique on how to get the water and flesh from inside a coconut.

She starts at the stem end of the coconut.  She chews off part of the husk and her nose follows the smell.  In no time, she accesses the inside of the coconut and laps up the water and then starts on the flesh.  Then the coconut becomes like a Kong toy and she can spend quite a while licking the flesh inside.

Here is what the coconut looks like after a half an hour of fun.

Based on her attraction to coconuts, we have decided to start using coconut water in our recipe for Sandy Dog Biscuits.  

It could be just a couple of months before Leilani gets as good as this orangutan at opening a coconut.

Leilani at 18 Weeks

We had planned on taking an early morning walk to Lanikai Park, but on the way, a small white dog ran out from a house to greet Leilani.  The dog's owner was still talking on the phone as she picked up her dog, "Mark, the surf is wild this morning, maybe we can catch some waves at Flat Island".

So, with that tidbit from the coconut wireless, we decided to go to the beach instead of the park.  Leilani observed the surf breaking on the coral reef and also noticed some canoe paddlers passing by.

It was low tide but the surge of the waves pushed up high on the beach.  We never have a shore break at Lanikai beach which is why it is always safe for puppies and keiki.

We have heard that the Obamas will be back for the Christmas holidays.  Too bad Bo can't come!  Jorge Garcia, the actor who stars in Lost, thought Leilani was a Portuguese Water dog.  Well, she is at least a water dog.

Natural Dog Treats

Leilani enjoys natural dog treats from our garden.  Our palm trees are a special source of treats.

She collects, chases and chews the baby coconuts. We play with the fronds from our Areca, Manilla and Macarthur palm trees. It seems to remind her of her early days here at lanikai green house when she would go broom surfing.

It takes a couple of days, with periodic chewing and shredding, to finish up the inflorescence of this Areca palm.  She loves the way it feels in her mouth as she pulls it apart!

Leilani at 17 Weeks

The testing kitchen at Lanikai Tea Room has been working on a new product line: Sandy Dog Biscuits™, from Lanikai Beach .  This wholesome treat has apple bananas from lanikai green house, mint and all natural ingredients with no preservatives.  It is topped with grains of "sand" from the world famous Lanikai Beach.  Actually the "sand" topping is made from sesame seeds and just looks like grains of sand.

We plan to have seasonal flavors made with fresh fruit from Lanikai.

Yes, we do use animals in our testing.  The first round of testing was done by Leilani.  She gives it four paws!

Soon we plan to take some biscuits to McKenna Ford for taste tests by her father, Hana Boy, and her mother, Izzy, and all the other dogs who "work" there.