*Photo courtesy of Amy Parish Photography
It has been almost 2 months since we lost our sweet baby dog Kramer suddenly and completely unexpectedly. It is amazing how quickly the heart heals, and yet is left with a hole that will never quite heal. I know this first hand more than I would like, and yet it still is amazing to me what a Healer God is, even in the midst of losing a pet.
I wanted to write some things about Kramer, mostly for my kids to read someday, but I thought I'd share the thoughts on here in case anyone else was interested! Sorry if this is long, do not feel obligated to stick around, but if you do, enjoy the ride!
Miles and I were married in June of 2006. On May 3rd, 2007, Autumn Morning's Cosmo Kramer was born in Brown Deer, WI. Miles and I had put down our deposit on Kramer in early Feburary, and we had second pick of the litter. We picked him out from some pictures, and a trip down when he was 4 weeks old. We fell in love with him instantly and could not WAIT to bring him home. We had to wait until he was 8 weeks old, so we picked him up on June 25th. I tell you, so much of getting and raising Kramer was a parrellel to having our kids! (More on that later). We made a million trips to Petsmart, bought only the best things for him, read a ton of books on dogs, and we felt we were as prepared as we could possibly be. We checked the breeder's website countless times during the days leading up to getting Kramer to see new puppy pictures. I remember the call we got when he was whelped... we were camping in our tent, and we layed down that night and talked about him for hours. When it was finally time to go get him, we literally ran out of the car. He was waiting with the breeder on the stairs of their front door. He trotted his little akward puppy trot down the steps to us, saw us, and proceeded to hop back up into the breeder's lap. We laugh about that now but he was so well taken care of those first 8 weeks that we weren't surprised he was a little hesistant.
Kramer @ 7 weeks
I remember making the drive back to our apartment in Wheeling, IL and holding a sleeping Kramer. We took him for a walk to pee and poop in the park right by our house. He had NO idea how to walk on the leash, so it was more of a 'drag him along' walk. :) Looking back on our first few weeks as ‘parents’ to Kramer really parallels to our time as first-time parents to Miles. So many things reminded us of our time with Kramer: from not getting him out of his crate when he was whining, to not letting him chew on our fingers and our shoes, to potty training him with numerous 'cleanups' in the process, to spraying him with a squirt bottle of water at night when he wouldn't stop crying, to putting him in his crate for a few hours when when just needed a little quiet time... ok most of that is a joke but there definitely were some things that helped prep us for real baby time! It was definitely a learning and growing time for Miles and I, as well as Kramer. That summer, we were blessed with 6 weeks of time between jobs to be off of work. We spent time in IL and WI with family and friends before heading off to our new start in Albuquerque. I will never forget taking sweet cuddly little Kramer with us everywhere: from the drive-in in Kenosha that first week we had him, to running along lake Michigan in Sheboygan so much that his paws bled and he had to wear Miles's socks on his feet, to taking him with us to the only pet-friendly hotel in DeKalb for Brad and Kari's wedding. Kramer was comfortable there, but let me tell you, I still have nightmares about the nastiness of that hotel!
Bringing Kramer home!
During our time off from work, Miles's parents had also adopted a new German Shorthaired Pointer, Lainee. She was from IL, so we picked her up two weeks after Kramer, and had both of them with us the rest of the summer. Because we were off from work, Miles and I (ok, mostly Miles!) spent a TON of time training them. Kramer and Lainee were best buds from the time they met. They were together for the first 5 months of their life 24/7. So when our house in Albuquerque was finally finished in Nov of 2007 (we stayed with Miles's parents when we moved out in August), Kramer and Lainee both had separation anxiety living as the only dogs of the house when we moved out. This eventually led us to get another GSP, Sawyer (but more on this a little later).
Kramer, Lainee & Plumper
By the time we moved into our house, we knew a few things: 1) Kramer was a FIREBALL of energy. That dog would run and run and run for HOURS and never ever ever stop. 2) He LOVED to swim, and he was good at it. Like running, he could swim forever, and the only time he stopped was to 'pee a fountain' as we said from drinking so much water. He drank so much b/c he was so excited and he would just yelp and yelp in the lake and fill himself up with water. 3) This dog was OBSESSED with the ball. If there was a ball nearby, you'd better play with him or else suffer the constant whines and stares. He would point at the ball like he would have pointed at a bird if we had hunted with him. He would stand there and point for an hour if you had a ball in your hand. We finally had to put all balls out of sight unless he was going out to play, for our own sanity! (And Kramer's too). 4). He was affectionate, and only wanted to please us. When I was pregnant with Miles, that dog NEVER left my side. If he or Sawyer heard a noise outside, Sawyer would run outside to check the noise out, and Kramer would jump onto my lap (not so easy for a 75lb dog to do!) and wait until Sawyer came in to give him the 'all clear'. It was the sweetest, most endearing thing I've ever seen an animal do.
Speaking of Sawyer, he and his sister Kola arrived in Abq in January of 2008. They were bred from the same mom, and different dad, and the kennel we got Kramer from shipped them out in a dog crate to us! They were great puppies, they hadn't pooped or peed in the crate for 9 hours! We got to work on training Sawyer, but it was a little harder since we were both working. We often joked that Sawyer had 'second child' syndrome, but after actually having our second child, that isn't quite accurate :). In any case, Sawyer and Kramer became best buds. They were, after all, half brothers, and it showed. I know that they both really loved having each other to play with and snuggle with, especially after we started having babies!
Kramer & Sawyer
Miles and I recently watched the video we shot of bringing Miles V home from the hospital. We sat him down in his car seat on our coffee table, and Kramer was all over that. He ran and got HIS 'baby' blanket and brought it over and dropped it on Miles's lap. I think he was thinking 'Ohhh another person to thrown the ball for me!'
Kramer was only 4 1/2 years old when he died. He wasn't sick, he hadn't shown any symptom's whatsoever of heart or brain issues, and looking at him that Sunday, you would never in a million years have guessed that he would be gone that night. I guess that is just how life and death are. Personally, I have been learning to be thankful for what I have. In the few months leading up to Kramer’s passing, I had been asking Miles if we could seriously consider asking a friend or family member to take Sawyer to live with them. I was starting to freak out a bit about having three kiddos, and thought life would be much simpler with three kiddos and only one hyper-active male dog, instead of two. Well, I was right; life is simpler, and calmer since we lost Kramer. I NEVER would have wished this to happen, but through it God has shown me that He has a plan, and sometimes it is not even close to what I would have wanted, but He heals us anyway.
Here are just a few random memories that I have of Kramer that I wanted to share:
-I remember Miles coming home from playing ball with him across the street and his paw being bloody and cut open. I remember spending the day with him at the animal hospital and having to leave him overnight while he recovered. I don't think either Miles or I slept a wink that night with our baby gone from our house! I also remember him coming home with 7 stitches in his paw and whining because he wanted to go play so badly!
--I remember the 2009 NFC Championship game.. Packers vs. NY Giants. It was a very intense game that I still haven’t quite recovered from… (Thank you very much Brett!). We had a houseful of people, including Kramer and Lainee. The Packers were down by 3 and I ran upstairs and put 'rally shirts' on the dogs. Kramer and Lainee both came down wearing the green and gold :0).
-I remember when we first moved into our house, Miles was building the dog pen in the backyard. I was working from home upstairs, and all of a sudden Kramer came up with half of his face painted blue. He had bit into Miles' chalk line and it had exploded. I died laughing.. see below for picture.
I remember us making Kramer run 'errands' for us. Like I said he only wanted to please, and so sometimes I'd be downstairs cleaning the bathroom and need to restock the TP--- Miles would be upstairs and give Kramer a roll of TP to bring down in his mouth...and he would do it, and go back to get more. :)
I will add more memories as they come to me. Right now, enjoy some pictures of our precious dog, who will forever be in our hearts. We love you Kramer, and we miss you everyday.
Loved my puppy kisses!
Snuggling with Daddy!! He ADORED these puppies!
One of my all-time favorite pictures. Too much running for Kramer!
