Morning Walk

Dear Diary,

Dad asked us if we wanted to go for a walk this morning. After all these years you would think he would know the answer by now but he always asks anyway! So, we went out to the garage as usual and got leashed up and off we went.

We were trotting down the street and as we turned the corner, we spotted a squirrel in our path! "Yikes, dogs!", said the squirrel, and he ran across the street. But the squirrel got another surprise when a cat hiding in a bush jumped out and started to chase him. "Yikes, a cat!", said the squirrel, and he started heading back across the street towards us, with the cat in hot pursuit, and then climbed up a tree. Next thing you know, the cat noticed us and said, "Yikes, dogs!" and ran back across the street. If we weren't on leashes you can be sure we would have played an active part in that scenario!

The rest of our walk was less eventful though fun, and when we got home we got a nice big Dingo bone!

Time for an afternoon nap now, and hopefully when I wake up it'll be time for another walk!

Chest butts,

Cosmo

Pesty Little Brother!

Dear Diary,

My bratty brother Quincy thinks he's hot because he turned One this January! All he does is pull on my ears and fur when I'm trying to sleep! He's always in trouble and the annoying part is that he's perfectly happy about it! I was so disappointed when dad put away his crate because I've been stuck with him in the house when they're not home! The cats and I would do just fine without him! When I don't want to wrestle with him, he drags the pillows off the couch and swings them around my face! Pest!! That's when I clobber him! I keep wondering if he's returnable too!

I really don't understand why Quincy has to go on walks with me. I am perfectly capable of being taken on walks without him! He's weird too! During our walks, he picks up the same type of dried flower pod from certain trees in the neighborhood and brings them home. Mom loves it because as soon as he brings one in the house, he chews it to pieces and then spits it out all over the floor!

Last year was tough with my knee surgery and all, but I was quite a trooper if I must say so myself! I'm running around happily now, all back to normal, and strong enough to put that pesty brother in his place when it's necessary, though he's hard-headed.

Mom and dad are going to make it up to me this year and take me to beaches and road trips! I know I deserve it, though I'm not sure my pesty brother does, but I doubt he'll be left behind! I can hardly wait to write about my adventures in my diary!

I'm calling it a night. Until next time....

Cosmo

Another Ear Hematoma

Dear Diary,

I thought I was done having health problems this year but guess not! I just had my third ear hematoma removed yesterday! Cost just over $700 but it didn't come out of *my* pocket!

I was so excited riding in the car with mom. As soon as we got to the corner of the street where the clinic is, I started whining. I couldn't wait to jump out of the car to see the doctor and everyone else. I missed them sooo much---it's been about two months since I've seen my friends! I just love them touching me, calling my name and letting me lick them! I couldn't have any treats though because I was having surgery.

Okay, so I put on some weight and now they want to put me on a different diet again and they also want to see if I have food allergies that are causing the ear hematomas. Boring!!

I hated to leave my friends at the clinic, but they promised I would see them for a follow-up appointment in a few weeks! Arrroooo!

So here I am with my right ear shaved and stitched up like a quilt. Quincy seems to know to stay away from my boo-boo ear so he just pulls my other ear until mom or dad catches him!

I'll let them get away with calling me Cosmostein this time because I am a good sport.

--Cosmo

Saturday

Hi Diary,

My secretary was tired all week from the job she has outside of the house so I gave her a break from writing a diary entry for me until today. It's about 12:05am but she's trying to write entries for all of us before she goes to bed. It's also the one-year anniversary of the day Butch had to leave. He was my bud, my hero, and I miss him.

I am feeling good these days and mom and dad are very happy about that. They told me we can go to the beach with Quincy soon and maybe some other places we haven't been to all year. Quincy is still a puppy but he'll go wherever I go and he knows I will be at his side in case he gets scared.

The neighbors across the street are having the outside of their house painted and during the day I can hear the painters from inside of our house and I don't like the strange sounds at all! BARK! BARK! BARK! But, if they come over to see me before they leave I may forgive them.

Talk to you later...Mo

What a Year!

I've had quite a year as you've read, but I'm still here. The reason it took so long for my incision to heal was because I kept bothering it in spite of e-collars, Bite Not collars, bodysuit, bandaging, sedatives..you name it! But, the reason I was bothering it was because it was really bothering me! By the way, I'm a very good sport with the e-collar; whenever I would run into a roadblock I'd just keep pushing my way through and keep going and going. Although it was better for me to not be bandaged for a long period, it was the only way to protect the incision until it could heal, but the bandages had to be changed regularly. Mom and dad were not good at putting bandages on me that would stay up, so I got to go see my vet (and sometimes her colleagues) twice a week!!!! They kept giving me treats while my bandages were being changed--I just love them and they love me! I'm also very easy to give pills to...I either munch on them like doggie cookies or I just open my mouth and down they go! Anyway, FINALLY, my orthopedic surgeon (my new buddy), decided it was time to remove the metal plate they put in my knee and see what was going on, so I had another surgery!! It was okay because my bones had healed by then. For one, they found out I had a resistance to the antibiotics I was taking, so they put me on a different kind. Shortly after, I started to HEAL! WHEW! I'm just growing my fur back now but more importantly, I am a happy boy and I can run!!

I hate to tell you this..back tracking a little...there's more. When I was sedated for x-rays to prepare me for my knee surgery, my vet discovered a little growth on the jawline on the front of my mouth and she sent a sample to the lab. So, they put a temporary halt to my knee surgery until the results of the growth came back. It was determined to be a localized oral sarcoma which has less than 20% chance of spreading to other areas. So then my vet had to check my lungs, lymph nodes, and do a full blood panel, and all of it looked normal. Then I had to go see the oncologist (oh, another new friend!) and he wanted to remove part of my jaw to "hopefully" stop the "possibility" of future spreading. After all this chaos, mom and dad were mentally and emotionally exhausted, but they looked at me many times with my tongue hanging out and thought carefully about what was important...ME and my SPIRIT! They decided at that point since I was not acting sick and my vital signs were normal, that by golly, I was gonna walk and run painlessly! If they went ahead with the jaw removal first, that would have been a minimum of eight weeks of recovery, all while I had a hurting leg that I wasn't putting weight on. They have never ignored that I had the sarcoma...with all the times I saw my vet, she always checked my mouth and lymph nodes...we love her because she is so understanding and supportive. Periodically I'll have lab tests done again.

I guess Quincy was good for my rehabilitation because he kept my mind and body active! He can be such a pest though. Sometimes I run into "his" crate just to hide from him but then he has the nerve to join me and wrestle with me inside the crate. After I've had enough I pin him good! Anyway, I still have stitches in my ear from my second hematoma but they will be taken out in a couple of weeks....I was afraid they'd start calling me Cosmostein or something!

I wish you were here so that I could give you lots of licks and bug you until you make me the center of your attention!

Love,

Cosmo