Cocoa, begging in the kitchen

it is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes that i share that Katie and I have made the very difficult decision to put Cocoa down. Last January, she had been given a month – we have been blessed to have 11 since we were given that news. It has been a very up and down roller coaster of a ride with mostly highs throughout, but she has been pretty bad this last week. The kidney issues that she’s always had and been able to handle without showing any signs of problem, has really taken its hold on our four-legged family member. We can’t get her to eat even her favorite foods of waffles, doughnuts or even pizza (or if she will touch it she is unable to keep it down). She’s lost a lot of weight, can barely get up the stairs and can’t get in the bed (I’ve been picking her up so she is able to sleep next to me). We feel that this is the slump she won’t come out of and we want Joseph to remember the good times he has had with her and not have a lasting memory of her end. It has been very difficult watching Cocoa suffer as opposed to being her energetic, happy self.

I am very fortunate and thankful to have been able to take her out pheasant hunting for the Wisconsin opener this year – for the one final hunt. I will never forget the wonderful times we spent together in the field, her dirty looks when I missed (it has been known to happen) and the absolute joy you could see on her face as she bounded in the tall grass after upland game. She kept me company during those long road trips and would nudge my arm to get me to pet her as she sat in the navigation chair (passenger seat) of Sunshine and of course, I would comply.

Thank you to all who have kept our precious Cocoa and the family in your prayers – the myriad of notes from we still get today from KTIS’s prayer request even though Katie put that out there last January.

And to Cocoa, this has been a very difficult decision for us to make. We love you tons and I promise we’ll get some birds when we meet again.

Edit: Cocoa, being the awesome dog that she was, died silently in the back seat on the way to the vet. She was holding on for as long as possible, yet she still went on her own while Katie and I held her with tears in our eyes. So thank you Cocoa, for not making us make that decision. We love and miss you!

vet says she might have a month left.

this has hit the wife and i very hard. Cocoa was/is a wedding present from a friend of mine. he was going back to school and couldn’t take his pup with him, we had been contemplating getting a pup – so we met at a one exit town off of I94 about half way between the both of us… i still remember watching Katie walking Cocoa on the leash in the ditch while he and i talked about what she knew as far as commands and everything else. we got her home and that night, she went into heat. we were told shortly afterwards that she had kidney disease and that she, most likely wouldn’t live past five years. well, we did what we could – took her to a couple different vets before we found a hippie sort of vet (Magnusson Veterinary Service in Hudson, WI) who found us some herbal supplements and drops and pills and powders that were going to help Cocoa’s kidneys. all of the visits, i never really understood the machine that they had but Katie believed in them and that was good enough for me. Cocoa was always relaxed when we went there – of course, when she saw the kitty she got excited – but she never did not want to be there.

Cocoa has been a great addition to our family. she’s been great with Joseph and the other kids at the in-home day care. when they got to be too much for her, she didn’t bite – just tried to get away into her kennel or asked to go upstairs and take a snooze. very patient and very loving, i have always joked that we should’ve named her Shadow, as she was never far away – especially when we were cooking or packing for a trip. her favorite times were playing fetch and the day after or the day of a fresh snowfall… specially, the big snow storms where the drifts were as tall as she was. she would pounce, prance and run all around, chasing us as we played and pushed Joseph around in the sled.

i’m nowhere near being considered a dog-trainer, but Cocoa was able to overcome my shortcomings as a master. she had a great nose in the field and listened better than i could’ve ever hoped. didn’t take me long to figure out to trust her nose over my thoughts on where the birds were. when it came to ducks, she could care less, but pheasants, grouse, quail… upland birds, that was her game. my biggest regret is that i didn’t get her out in the field more often – she loved being in the fields, jumping around. roosters or not, we had fun and i wish there was more left of the season to take her out a couple more times…

we’ve got a month left with her, maybe more, maybe less… and we’re going to cherish every day. it’s very difficult right now, i can’t imagine what it’ll be like when she gets to jump through the snow drifts in the sky. it’s been over 10 years since my first (and last) dog passed away. i still wear his chain to this day. man’s best friend… they truly are.

Update:
Today, March 4th, 2011 – Cocoa is still with us and really shows no signs of slowing down. she still gets disappointed when we put the ball away. God has blessed us with an amazing creature.

the holiday break for me was nice and relaxing. i went up to the cabin to get some fishing in – pretty low key weekend. j and the wife stayed back and so did cocoa. i got a bunch of fishing in (caught a lot of largemouth bass and small pikes, but not the crappies and walleyes we were looking for). and even slept in a couple days

it’s good to be back though; i missed being away from the family – even though it was just a couple days.

inspirational quote of the day:
“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.”
– Henry David Thoreau

with that being said, i will not be able to get the insanity workouts in – i will be plenty active, so i’m fine with that portion of the agenda. the big question is: “what do i do when i come back?” where do i start back up with the insanity workouts? i’ll be back Tuesday night, so Wednesday AM, do i go back and re-suck at the last Wednesday workout? i think that’s what i’ll do. like i told Julie a couple days back, i don’t know what Shaun T would suggest, but this is what i’m doing. i’ll be gone various 3-4 day stints in June, so i’m not sure how this will affect my insanity workouts other than that it will. gotta stay flexible like a Romanian gymnast.

so until then, enjoy the beautiful weather (if you’re in the midwest), get outside, wet a line and most importantly, thank a serviceman/woman for giving us a reason to celebrate this weekend!