All about the dogs

When I was 16 years old, I told my mom I was getting a dog. She said no you’re not. And I being the type A personality that I am said, yes, yes I am. So together we went to look at Chocolate Labrador puppies and I picked out the runt. A Little Romantic Kosmo was his name and he grew into the most loving, stubborn, block headed dog I have ever known. Kosmo was my best friend, my co pilot, my reason to live. He gave a 16 year old responsibility and he turned me into the woman I am today. I had nearly 15 years with my wonderful Kosmo. And I think of him everyday.

I never would have imagined all one dog could teach a person but having the responsibilities of a big dog shaped me more than college and a career ever could. So as I’m sipping my coffee on this cold sunny morning, I’m reminiscent of his memory. And I’m grateful for the two beautiful boys still in my life, Mr. Merlee Mayham and Mr. Kooper.

Merlee bird always gets the worm.


Koop de doop. He’s my troop!

This is such a cute picture of the three boys together. Kooper, my baby was 10 weeks old. Merlee was four and Kosmo almost 13.

When I think of where I started, all I overcame, there has always been one constant in my life, dogs. Well and family, but the dogs are here daily. They definitely give me purpose. They make me get out of bed. They make me come home at night. They make me smile when I am sad. They give kisses when I cry. Kooper loves to cuddle and Merlee will always play fetch.

Kooper loves Kosmo’s rope. It is so cute to watch him drag it around like a blanket.
And Merlee with his purple monster. Always, always ready to play.

So the story today is life is really short though the days seem so long. I will continue to have ups and downs. And as long as I stick to my goals and do what my mind and heart can agree is right, I will be just fine.

Kooper and Merlee’s Adventure to the Vet

Last Saturday we took our two remaining dogs to the vet for their yearly check up. Kooper had a few issues that needed to be addressed and they both needed a heart worm test and more heart worm preventative.

They are not blood brothers but they are best friends.

Merlee is six years old and though he is purebred Labrador, he is a small guy. Last year the vet said 68 pounds was a bit much so we cut him back. This year, 14 months later he weighs 58.8 pounds. Too bad I can’t say the same for myself.

Merlee has anxiety. He barks at us, in our own house if he forgot we got up and moved to a different room. So waiting in the lobby for a room open up was a bark and whine fest. My dogs are not properly socialized, I know that. They know my immediate family and their dogs but not much else. Merlee is super submissive and has been attacked by random dogs before and Kooper is dominant.

Kooper is a pretty good dog by himself. He feeds off the nervous energy of Merlee. But like Merlee, he barks. And his bark is that of a strong, 70 pound two year old Labrador. Kooper is also stubborn as a mule but smart like a fox.

So you may remember I had an old Lab, Kosmo. It has been over two months since he went to doggy heaven and I am ok. Kooper was bought as a puppy for my birthday two summers ago as a replacement for the aging Kosmo. And Kosmo’s replacement he is.

Kosmo was stubborn, so is Kooper.
Kosmo was dominant, so is Kooper.
Kosmo peed on everything and ran away, so does Kooper.
Kosmo had awful ear infections his whole life, so was I surprised that Kooper had one? Nope.

The one way that they are different is bladder control. Some day I will tell you the full story of the blizzard I thought I was going to die in, but for now I will tell you that we (husband and I worked at some place and carpooled) couldn’t make it home and Merlee and Kosmo were locked in the house from 6:30 am Tuesday until 1:30 pm Wednesday without soiling in the house. Kooper cannot hold it longer than an hour.

I finally brought this up to the vet, I waited because I thought he would grow out of it. Our veterinarian’s name is Sandy and she is wonderful. My mom started going to this clinic probably 20+ years ago and Sandy is a person I trust my animals with. She was there when I had brought Kosmo in as a wee little pup and she was there when Kosmo had enough. She is just great.

Anyways back to Kooper. Because of his needing to pee all the time, he had to pee in a cup and have extra blood drawn. He also got some medicine for his ear. The bloodwork showed nothing out of the ordinary, while the urine sample was extremely dilute. Kooper inhales water so I wasn’t surprised, but I have been worried that it could be diabetes. And Sandy was also concerned.

There are two different types of diabetes in dogs: the sugar diabetes, diabetes mellitus and watery diabetes, diabetes insipidus. We are fearing Kooper has the latter. But maybe not. Dogs who have watery diabetes drink water constantly and soil in the house frequently. Kooper had been pretty good but he has had his share of accidents.

So to test for this type of diabetes we had to collect samples of his urine. Tuesday I bought a stack of plastic party cups and duct taped one cup to the end of a extension pole. Then placed a clean cup in the duct taped cup for every collection.

The vet wants to determine if he can get his urine to concentrate. The hardest part is having him hold it long enough. We took the water away about nine at night but Kooper would still needed to go out at 10pm, 1:30am and again at 5:30am. The other good time to get a sample was right when we got home from work. Kooper would have been inside for over eight hours, but he sprints outside so fast that we’d end up running after him, pee stick in hand, like a mad man chasing a leprechaun for gold.

All and all, we had ten samples. And this morning I took them to the vets. Patiently awaiting something, anything. I know my vet is not at the office today so I may not hear anything until next week.

I would prefer a neurotic dog who is obsessed with drinking water than a dog with an incurable disease. Either result, he is still my favorite.

He is just so damn cute!

Merlee’s hot! Kooper’s not??

It hasn’t been too warm this summer. In Central Wisconsin we are lucky to get over 80, with some days over and some days under. The only killer here is the damn humidity. Like 50% and higher.

The house smells moldy, the toilet is sweating, the dogs are panting, the chickens are panting. The fat cat is spread eagle on the ground.

The hubs and I are a pool of melty, wherever we fall.

The only relief is the kiddie pool… For the dogs that is.

Merlee does not need any encouragement to get in the pool.

If he ran twice for a ball; in the kiddie pool.

If he walked from house to barn and back; in the kiddie pool.

If he wants to get away from Kooper; in the kiddie pool.

Or back out to have the ball thrown again.

Last week, we were house watching for my folks while they visited my sister. My parent’s have a above ground pool. And I would have thought that Merlee would have enjoyed swimming in it, but he just wanted to get his ball and get out. Whereas Kooper, who will not lay in the kiddie pool unless tempted with hotdog, loved the adult pool, after he stopped trying to drown us.

Kooper is a bit spoiled and when he first experienced the pool, it was after a ball. He was swimming around the cover and Merlee was on top of the cover. But since then, he seems a bit scared of it. Last year he would jump in, swim to me, claw me until I held him, yes, he is a 75+ pound Lab. This year, more of the same but since both the hubs and I were I the pool, we could swim away from him or toss the ball around for him to swim to. His favorite though, was:

But Merlee had a ball and kept conveniently dropping it in the pool to get Koop off the floatie.

But he is so cute.

I just love this naughty dog.

After an afternoon at the human pool, I was sunburned, scratched up and the dogs learned to successfully use the ladder without scratching the liner. Love, love, love summer!!!