A dog named mini-Cooper

My significant other, Gil, dug up an old photograph of a dog, Winslow, who was the son of Gil’s favorite dog, Schulz.  Winslow, who was owned by Gil’s previous significant other for his whole life, ended up becoming a tripawd due to an injury when he was a young pup.

We had gotten Charlie Brown (Cooper’s brother) because of his strong resemblance to Schulz and our previous dog, Hector.  He was sort of a combination of the two — looks-wise.

And then, 7 months later, Cooper’s original adopters returned him to the rescue organization due to their inability to treat and care for his seriously injured leg that needed to be amputated.  And that’s how we adopted Charlie’s brother, Cooper.  We had to wait for the amputation to take place, then recovery, and we adopted him when he was 8 months old.

When I look at photos of Winslow and Cooper side-by-side, I can’t help but notice the uncanny resemblance.

     Cooper, 2013

  Winslow, 1978

Both photos taken on Cape Cod!!

Since starting to feed our dogs Grain Free Dog Food, I’ve noticed a definite change in their health and vitality. We’ve always been blessed to have all of our dogs and cats live well into their teens, because we’ve always taken very good care of our pets.  That includes spending a little bit more money on high-quality food, “only the best” veterinary care, and making sure they have plenty of exercise and lovin’ besides.  

The choice of grain-free dog food was a relatively new concept to me about three or four years ago when our veterinarian recommended the change due to some minor health issues Hobie was experiencing.  As posted previously, the vet’s famous words were “Dogs don’t eat rice!” [or corn, or wheat, or rye… in the wild.]  I hadn’t really known anything about grain-free dog food, and to be honest I just grabbed the first brand he named off from the list of brands he suggested.  

Diamond Naturals Grain-Free is a new brand to me, and I look forward to trying it out.  They offer three protein-rich dry dog food formulas, enriched with power-packed fruits and vegetables, and natural antioxidants.  It’s designed to be fed to dogs of all ages.  Each of the three formulas (Beef & Sweet Potato; Chicken & Sweet Potato; and Whitefish & Sweet Potato) has a quality meat as the primary ingredient.  This provides dogs with important amino acids necessary for an ideal body condition, keeping them lean and healthy.  

Grain-free diets are known to provide more concentrated energy because higher levels of protein and fat enable the dog’s owner to feed less amounts of food.  This not only saves money, but also gives dogs like Charlie Brown enough fuel for an energy-packed day. According to Diamond Naturals, grains such as corn and wheat are a frequent cause of canine allergies and can also be difficult to digest.  Choosing a grain-free diet can lessen food allergies and optimize digestion.  Bonus: a protein-based, instead of grain-based diet is closer to a dog’s natural ancestral beginnings (think “caveman diet” for humans).  Animal fats are easier for hounds to digest.  Sweet potatoes are provided as a complex carb perfect for all-day energy.  Fruits and vegies provide powerful natural antioxidants for a big health boost.

Vitamins in the Diamond Naturals Grain-Free recipe are plentiful, and include vitamins A, C, D and E, as well as the B vitamins of biotin, pantothenic acid, choline chloride, folic acid, thiamine, B12, and riboflavin!  The food also contains mineral supplementation including iron, selenium, copper and more.  Natural “food” ingredients include flaxseed, tomatoes, fish meal, garbanzo beans, lamb meal, peas, potatoes, raspberries, and of course sweet potatoes!  Talk about tasty!  Charlie and Cooper say “YUM!”  (Hobie, 13, has been sick lately, so he’s on a low-ingredient diet at the moment.)


This post is sponsored by Diamond Naturals on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network (link to http://network.blogpaws.com/). I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Diamond Naturals Grain Free dog food, but k2k9 only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Diamond Naturals is not responsible for the content of this article.

Hobie is keeping down his food & water, and is more energetic.  Small portions, more frequently, is the name of the game for him from now on.  Based on the findings from when he was in the hospital in August, the vet suspected he had chronic canine pancreatitis.  I tend to think that’s what’s going on.  Pancreatitis is recurring.  Feeding small portions throughout the day and no table scraps is the recommended course of treatment.  We are really good about not feeding table scraps, the occasionally small piece of bread when we eat toast is about the extent of “table scraps” in our household, but we will not be doing that anymore.  We already eliminated manufactured dog biscuits (for all three dogs).  Admittedly, I’ll sneak a well-made expensive one from the dog bakery to the two younger pups on occasion.  I keep a stash in a special cupboard in the kitchen!

The landscapers are here, replacing the “trailer trash” rolled fencing that we installed as “temporary” six years ago!  The new material is real, chain-link fence, as tall as me.  Charlie will be unhappy that he won’t be able to escape anymore, but really it has been stressful dealing with one constantly-escaping dog while the other is off puking on the new carpeting! Charlie is a good dog, and thankfully never runs farther than the next door neighbor’s yard… but a good fence will prevent him from escaping the yard, thus reducing the stress level of the two humans in this household. Thankfully, we have the best (dog-loving) neighbors on the planet!

Here’s a picture of the fence that’s being replaced!  I mean, really!  What were we thinking?! LOL!

Happy-go-lucky Cooper gets overlooked in all this drama.  He continues to try to bring balance to the otherwise crazy pack (and that includes us bipeds).  He’s a good dog, and provides great therapy.  He absolutely adores Hobie, and that’s a big plus.

I’m very sad today, trying to buck up and be strong for my dog who is sick again for the second time in the last 60 days.  In August, he spent three days hospitalized.  This time he isn’t as sick as he was then, but we’re still very worried.  He can’t keep any water down, we haven’t even bothered trying food.  He has been going outside throughout the day, and has barfed about 6 times.

A week ago today, I took Hobie on a car ride and stopped at my office for a few minutes.  I heard a horn beep and thought it was just one of my co-workers driving away.  When I came back outside, Hobie had somehow managed to get himself jammed up under the steering wheel on the floor in front of the driver’s seat, and couldn’t get out.  I was horrified I had left him in the car for two minutes, how could this happen?  He didn’t seem hurt or anything, so I walked him around the parking lot and then brought him home.

Yesterday, or was it the day before (?) he fell down the stairs on his tummy while climbing up from the bottom.  It wasn’t a whole flight this time (yeah, it happened before), just a few steps.  He actually caught himself.  I was quite amazed.  That same night, or was it a different night (?) Charlie attacked him, big time, like wicked bad.  I pulled Charlie off him within 4 seconds, and as usual no blood drawn.  But Hobie made noises like a human talking.  I never heard a dog do that before.  I hated Charlie for that.  I hate myself even more.  I have made our beautiful dog’s last few years on this earth a living hell by bringing Charlie into our lives.  I feel so guilty.  I’ve never loved a pet more than I love Hobie.  I regret getting the other two dogs — even though Cooper and Hobie are hopelessly in love with each other. When Hector died, I declared that I wanted to experience life with just one dog again, and wouldn’t be adopting another dog any time soon.  That lasted 5 months. I had to be the big freakin’ hero dog rescuer, instead of enjoying what little time I had left with Hobie, whom I love so much it hurts.  The only other time Hobie and I were alone was the 5 months between when Timba died and we adopted Hector.  Seems to be a 5-month limit on my ability to be with just one dog.  I think it’s because Hobie is so EASY that I wanted to double the fun.  I know we went through “the terrible twos” with Hector (and also with Hobie — remember the cat killing incident!). They both eventually turned out to be the best dogs in the world. I know this will pass with Charlie and he will one day be a great dog.  Cooper is a gem, and I wish every dog could be as easy as him.

Here’s a picture of Hobie and Charlie when they actually enjoyed each other’s company.  I know it’s my own fault, for spoiling Charlie and letting him get away with things.

While writing this, I’ve been listening to Bon Jovi, gearing up for the concert that’s coming in a couple weeks.  The songs lift my spirits.  Hobie’s livin’ on a prayer right now, and as I walked him around the yard tonight at an excruciatingly slow pace, I kept marveling at what a perfect dog he has turned out to be.  The years and months of his puppy problems are a distant memory, in fact, they would be completely forgotten if it weren’t for the fact that we’re going through altogether uncharted problems with his successor, Charlie Brown.  And for that reason, I know that one day, it will come up way too fast, I’ll be writing about Charlie Brown and what a wonderful dog he turned out to be.

Please say a prayer for our Hobester, and let’s hope we don’t have to bring him to the hospital again tomorrow.

The badge posted above is to help spread the word (and sorry I’m so late in doing so) to help the pets (and people!) in Colorado as they deal with the horrendous flooding situation out there.  I have never been to Colorado but have family and friends who’ve spent time there, and my heart goes out to them.  I hear it is a beautiful state.  One of these days I’ll have to check it out (have seen it from the air!).  Go to Twitter and search #COFlood to find out what you can do to help.  There are plenty of options.  Check out this article on BlogPaws for starters.

Also, I’ve struggled with how to write about another pet-related item in the news. I have a general rule against focusing on extremely negative and graphic animal-related items.   I do NOT like to post, write about, draw attention to, or spend energy on unpleasant animal cruelty cases.  In fact, I have been known to block people on social networking who insist on posting photos of abused animals, writing only negative articles about animal abuse, or worse.  We all know this is going on in the world, we are not stupid.  We do not need to see it in our face in “all its gory”.   I have a very visual mind and even though I’m not a visual artist like my mother was, I carry those images with me for hours and days on end if I see them.  I can’t watch violent TV shows or movies, I can’t play violent video games, I can’t read violent books.  G-rated only, please!

With that said as a somewhat apologetic lead-in for breaking my own rule, I have been incredibly affected by the story of “Puppy Doe” who was found right here in Massachusetts, just south of Boston in the city of Quincy where she was abandoned on the expressway or something.  Apparently whoever was abusing her got sick of her being such a survivor and decided to dump her in Quincy.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they live nowhere around here, and I certainly hope they do not.  We in Massachusetts are mostly liberal, mostly Democrat (not that that matters, I have very little interest in politics), and we pride ourselves on being one of the few states in the U.S. to not have a pet over-population problem.  Massachusetts residents love their pets, we really do.  So, to find out that Puppy Doe, described as the worst case of abuse ever seen by the unfortunate veterinarian who was chosen to try to treat the poor, defenseless creature, may have been treated so despicably inhumanely right here in Massachusetts really bugs me. When I read the story about Puppy Doe yesterday morning (I will not post a link or pictures here, you can find it on Google if you want to), I sat on my bed with my two dogs afterwards and sobbed for almost an hour.  I cannot imagine what evil consumes a person’s soul and brain to be able to do such unspeakable acts to one of God’s creatures.  Puppy Doe had to be euthanized and literally “put out of her misery” by the wonderful veterinarian whose life has probably been shaken forever having to deal with what she encountered.  But I always believe things happen for a reason, she was chosen for a reason, I read that article for a reason (I normally would not because of afore-mentioned hyper-sensitivity issues).  The reason is, we need to catch this poor excuse for a human.

The person or people who did that to this dog (and who knows if there are other creatures undergoing the same fate) must be found, caught, arrested, tried and sent away for a long time.  We need to get the word out.  Someone, somewhere knows something.  They need to feel guilty and disgusted enough to come forward and put this person behind bars.  I wish animal cruelty laws were tougher still, but they aren’t.  I’ve been following a Facebook page someone created for Puppy Doe (again, I won’t post it here, you can find it if you want to just search “Puppy Doe” in the Facebook search bar and it’ll come up… I warn you, graphic photos and words, if you’re sensitive like me, be forewarned and approach accordingly).

Anyone with any information regarding this case, should immediately contact the authorities:

SEND TIPS TO
Animal Rescue League of Boston’s Law Enforcement Department at 617-226-5610 OR 
email them at cruelty@arlboston.org
CALL Quincy Police Det. Thomas Pepdjonovich at 617-745-5774

This is a serious, ongoing, investigation.

Thank you for listening.

Our friends at The Uncommon Dog have done it again.  Cute infographic on how dogs (probably) became our best friends
http://www.theuncommondog.com/Images/infographics/how-dogs-became-our-best-friends.jpg

This is the best I could do, on short notice!!