Our Dogs

Denise told you all that I would post about our dogs. Our first dog was a German Shorthaired Pointer. We got him from our friends Shawn and Tracy, who had bred their GSPs. We got him in the summer of '94. He was this little liver and white colored pup. We named him Caesar, keeping with a biblical theme. His mom and dad were Samson and Delilah. Caesar was very busy pup as most GSPs are. He ate our couch once, luckly it was a forty year old couch from my mother in laws basement. Having no money at the time, we fixed the couch as best we could and used it for many more years.

If you have ever read the book Marley and Me, there are many simularities that it was scary.

As he got older, Caesar turned into a very realiable watch dog, hunting partner and friend. Where ever I was he had to be. In the field I did not have to give him verbal commands. He would stop and look at me and I would simply point the direction I wanted him to go and he would go that direction. The last bird he kicked up was a ring necked pheasant which my friend shot.


Our beloved hunting dog, Caesar. May you Rest in Peace big dog!

We had been wanting to get a female GSP. Denise had been looking on Petfinder.com when she found this white with liver ticking female GSP. She called the Hillsdale County dog pound and inquired about Stella. This was the name they gave her. They told Denise that she had kennel cough but was being treated. Denise kept tract of Stella over the next few weeks. The weekend of Denise's birthday I called the pound and asked about Stella and was told that she was ready to be adopted. I told them I was on my way.

When I arrived at the pound they took me back to the kennel they let me take her out to the play yard. She was not interested in playing, than she started coughing. I advised the worker that I was told she was not sick anymore and wanted to know why she was still coughing. She told me that a volunteer had taken her for a walk and she was not supposed to. Well I could not leave this dog there. She was sick and emaciated, she only weighed maybe 40lbs. I signed the paperwork, loaded her up in the truck and brought her home. She coughed all the way home. We decided to change her name to Cleopatera, after all you cannot have Caesar without Cleopatera.

We did our best to keep Caesar away so he did not get sick. On the following Monday Denise took Cleo to our Vet. Who got upset with us for bringing a sick dog home. He put her on stronger antibiotics and she did very well. I knew she was feeling better when one morning when I had taken her out to go potty at 5:30 a.m. she spotted a rabbit and the chase was on. Cleo chasing the rabbit and me chasing Cleo down the street, around the corner and back through the alley ending back in our yard. I got her inside and as I honestly thought my lungs where coming out of my chest as I informed Denise that she was all better. Cleo since then has been healthy. She is definitely a pack animal and always has to be near you. When we are at the cabin it is squirrels and chipmunks all day and all night. She never wanders off the property and she loves going in the field with me. She is the princess of the cabin.

Cleopatra lounging around at the cabin.

And last but not least, Brittany the PITA (pain in the A**) poodle. Denise got Brit before we started dating. As our realationship grew and I spent more time with Denise, Brit would not leave me alone. I would sit down and she would pester me endlessly. She would not come when you called her and when you tried to corral her it became a game of tag and we always seemed to be it. One time when we were dog sitting Brit the neighbor kids were playing with her and Caesar in the backyard. Than there was knock on the door. It was one of the kids telling me that there was "something coming out of your dogs butt". I went out to investigate and ended up pulling a intact wash cloth out of her backside. I felt like a magician who was doing a very bad trick (look theres nothing up my sleeve). Brit did like eating everything and anything. it was always interesting cleaning up the doggie landmines because you never knew what you were going to find. She loved eating aluminum foil.

When Denise and I bought our house in Wyandotte. I told Denise that Brit should stay with her Mom so her Mom would not be lonely. This strategy worked for several years. When Mom moved to Florida to take care of her parents we got Brit back. She had calmed down but was still crazy. I know it sounds like I didn't like Brit but I did she was good and loving dog just crazy. Mom and me agreed that the breeder saw Denise coming and gave her the brain damaged pup.

Brittany the CRAZY Standard Poodle. She's waiting at the Rainbow Bridge. Rest in Peace, Brittany Blaze!

We now have Cleo and having been keeping my brothers dog Louie. He is a Weimaraner, also know as the gray ghost. My brother had a house fire in March and they are still in an apartment so we have been watching Louie since. He loves going up north and loves to swim out in the lake and chase the geese. He comes when you call him and he, like Cleom stays on the property, most of the time.

This last July 4th weekend we were at the cabin and we decided to take the dogs for a walk. We had them on leases. There is a ravine about half way around the lake. We let the dogs off the leases and Louie took off down the ravine. I heard a splash and he was gone. We called and called and could not find him. We started searching with no luck. We asked neighbors if they had seen him, they had not. As it was getting dark we called off the search. I tossed and turned that night worrying about Louie and how I was going to tell my brother and his family that his dog was missing. The next morning I went and asked our neighbor across the lake if I could walk his property. He and another neighbor own a lot of land on the north side of the lake he said yes and gave me a ride around the property. I than took cleo and we went Louie hunting to no avail. I went back to the cabin and we made up fliers. We posted them at the corner store, the gas station and the Elbow Lake bar. After we left the bar I decided we should drive north on Athey Road to look. We asked a couple of people if they had seen him and they had. They said they tried to get him but he would not come to them. We drove up the road a little more and I looked to left and saw these eyes staring at me from the front porch of a house. It was Louie. He was scared of me at first but then realized who I was. The lady of the house came around and said that he laid down and he seemed freindly enough and she figured someone would coming looking for him. We loaded him up and took him back to the cabin. Thankfully he has not done that since.