Remembering Kozmo

It was 2 years ago today that our sweet dog, Kozmo, took his last breath.  We lost him so quickly; he was gone just 10 days after the vet told us he had an inoperable tumor on his liver.  It was a tough time for us and it wasn’t until this past June that we adopted another dog.

Kozmo was a rescue dog.  Like all our pets, he came from the Idaho Humane Society.  He was 2 years old when we adopted him.  Apparently in his previous home he spent a lot of time on the couch.  When he first arrived we would reprimand him when he jumped onto our couch.  (Our previous dog, Frisbee, was not allowed on it.)  When scolded for this he looked confused and upset.  He couldn’t understand what was wrong.  After a while we gave up and allowed him on the couch.

Although he came with a name, he didn’t seem to know it so our daughters renamed him Kozmo.  He was pure white with big brown eyes and the cutest little white eyelashes.  The information we received said that he was American Eskimo and his coloring definitely indicated that.  His coat was short like a lab—and he definitely shed like one.

Kozmo love to go for walks.  He picked up on the cues quickly.  If my husband put on his shoes and grabbed his hat, Kozmo would go crazy.  He tended to walk with his head looking up, but would stop to smell interesting things.  Kozmo had an aversion to water.  He would walk out in the street to avoid a sprinkler that was hitting the sidewalk.  When we stopped at the river he would drink but not step in.  When other dogs passed by we would have to pull him in because we never knew if he’d dislike the dog and be aggressive.

Kozmo was a squirrel dog.  He would want to chase after them while on a walk.  In our yard he would chase them up trees and just sit and watch.  One time we left him in the unfenced area of the yard because we knew he would stay and watch the squirrel—he must have sat there 1-2 hours until we called him in.

Kozmo wanted to be a good dog.  If we yelled at our other dog, Piper, he would worry that we were mad at him.  You could see it in his face.  He loved to walk out with us to get the paper in the morning.  Most of the time he would stay right with us.  If he started to wander too far off, I’d call him back.  Sometimes, I’d take him in the car with me if I wasn’t getting out for long.  I would tell him we were going in the car and he understood—that’s where he would go.  He was smart.  He did have moments where he was disobedient.  If he walked down the street and got too far away, he would pretend he couldn’t hear us.  However we knew otherwise because he’d have one ear pointed back. 

I really miss the dog choruses.  Kozmo was a howler.  The howling was usually brought on by sirens.  Piper would join in by barking and they would have a sort of rhythm going, like a song.  How I wish I could hear that again.

Kozmo is buried out in our yard along with another dog, Frisbee, and our cats, Mandy, Pixi, and Bandit.  Thinking about him now may still bring tears but mostly I smile at the memories.  What a great dog he was!

Written on 8/10/2015