Brunson II
Nicki and I take Waldo to the Millie Bush Dog Park at Westheimer in Houston. This is a large park with two sections: one for small dogs and one for big dogs. We take Waldo to the small dog park although he is in between in weight. One day a young couple came with a little black and white puppy dog. They announced that they are giving away this puppy. They are moving and don’t have enough room since they have three dogs already. And that they just found this dog in front of their house and he was a stray dog. (Later we dispute that this is a stray dog. He is well taken cared of and does not appear to be malnourish or haggard.) I was watching this little puppy. He is a bit feisty. One of the dog owner’s lifted him up and was teasing the dog. The puppy started answering back- of course in a puppy bark. I saw him sauntering here and there not afraid of anybody. Nobody seems to be interested in him so I asked Nicki. She was non-committal. I then decided I like to take this dog home. So off we go with Brunson II. Yes we named him after our first beagle, brother of Waldo who died of Parvo. As we were walking away from the dog park to the parking lot, Brunson keep on looking back probably looking at the two couple. I told him, “You are with us now”. I sat him in the backseat with Waldo and we went home.
I was playing with Brunson that night putting him on my stomach as he moves around. Waldo is twice as big as he is. He learned going outside to do his thing. Later I had the backdoor replaced with one with a small door so the dogs can go out whenever they want. I then left town for a business trip for a couple of weeks.
When I came back I can not believe Brunson is the same dog. He grew twice as much! He is much bigger than Waldo. And he is only three weeks old with us. He eats very fast and always enthusiastic and anticipating for his food. He gulps water and when he is down, all the water drips in his mouth. Nicki has to go after him to dry the floor.
His head is black. His body is white with black spots all over. Even his tongue had black spots. Brunson is a mutt but he must have some Dalmatian, maybe shepherd blood in him. He likes to playfully bite at your heels. Perhaps some blue heeler too. He is a very good with children and small dogs. At Millie’s park, he is only one or two of dogs that jump into the mud holes and play in there. When he emerges, he is completely covered with mud making him look like a brown dog. He likes to play in the water. And the only dog I know that sits on the water and stays there. Sometime he would have this frantic attack and he would run as fast as he can all over the park without any dog going after him. All by himself he would jump into the water, get out, jump into the mud hole, get out, back to the water and then repeat it again. People watched him as he do this. He is full of energy. He is also protective of Waldo. Waldo is a submissive dog and most dogs take advantage and push him around. Brunson would go in between Waldo and this dog and would protect Waldo. Brunson does not hesitate to go into a fight. He never initiates a fight though. But when provoke he would snarl and attack any dog.
The only bad thing about Brunson is he likes to get the attention. He pushes Waldo so that he gets to be first in everything. Waldo seems resigned to be dog number two in the house. Brunson gets my attention all the time because of this. I try to treat them the same but with Brunson putting himself in front all the time it’s hard to give Waldo some attention. What has happen is that Waldo tends to be near Nicki and Brunson to me.
Having dogs is expensive. When Nicki and I go on vacation we have to take them to the dog hotel. That is about $60 a day. Vet cost is not cheap as they need vaccinations all the time. And there is food, treats and other needs. But the joy they give us is much more than what we spend on them.
Nicki went to Manila as her mother is very sick. I was left with the dogs. Our kitchen is also being remodeled at this time. So the house is a mess. On top of that, hurricane Ike came blasting down Sugar Land. On the night the eye of Ike went thru our town, all power went out. A lot of trees fell, twigs and branches everywhere. Without power, the food in the frige will spoil. So I decided to cook all meat using my butane cooker outside. I have a bunch of hot dogs which I fried and made adobo out of chicken and pork. Brunson and Waldo ate the hot dogs and I ate the adobo. For two weeks we were without power which also means we don’t have a phone and worse no TV for entertainment. My small radio works so I used that to get news. There were places distributing ice. Gasoline is hard to find. I just stay put with the dogs. I still have gasoline in the cars, water is fine and I have plenty of food. The day after the eye blew over, several trees behind our house in Lexington fell. So the city people were busy cleaning that up so traffic can resume. I cleaned a bunch of twigs and leaves in front of the house but other than that we do not have any damage.
Brunson was four years old when he died. He died all of a sudden. The vet said he was bleeding from behind his kidney. The cause is unknown. Nicki and I were so saddened by this. The day after he died, I wrote a short essay on Brunson. Here it is.
Nicki and I take Waldo to the Millie Bush Dog Park at Westheimer in Houston. This is a large park with two sections: one for small dogs and one for big dogs. We take Waldo to the small dog park although he is in between in weight. One day a young couple came with a little black and white puppy dog. They announced that they are giving away this puppy. They are moving and don’t have enough room since they have three dogs already. And that they just found this dog in front of their house and he was a stray dog. (Later we dispute that this is a stray dog. He is well taken cared of and does not appear to be malnourish or haggard.) I was watching this little puppy. He is a bit feisty. One of the dog owner’s lifted him up and was teasing the dog. The puppy started answering back- of course in a puppy bark. I saw him sauntering here and there not afraid of anybody. Nobody seems to be interested in him so I asked Nicki. She was non-committal. I then decided I like to take this dog home. So off we go with Brunson II. Yes we named him after our first beagle, brother of Waldo who died of Parvo. As we were walking away from the dog park to the parking lot, Brunson keep on looking back probably looking at the two couple. I told him, “You are with us now”. I sat him in the backseat with Waldo and we went home. I was playing with Brunson that night putting him on my stomach as he moves around. Waldo is twice as big as he is. He learned going outside to do his thing. Later I had the backdoor replaced with one with a small door so the dogs can go out whenever they want. I then left town for a business trip for a couple of weeks.
When I came back I can not believe Brunson is the same dog. He grew twice as much! He is much bigger than Waldo. And he is only three weeks old with us. He eats very fast and always enthusiastic and anticipating for his food. He gulps water and when he is down, all the water drips in his mouth. Nicki has to go after him to dry the floor.
His head is black. His body is white with black spots all over. Even his tongue had black spots. Brunson is a mutt but he must have some Dalmatian, maybe shepherd blood in him. He likes to playfully bite at your heels. Perhaps some blue heeler too. He is a very good with children and small dogs. At Millie’s park, he is only one or two of dogs that jump into the mud holes and play in there. When he emerges, he is completely covered with mud making him look like a brown dog. He likes to play in the water. And the only dog I know that sits on the water and stays there. Sometime he would have this frantic attack and he would run as fast as he can all over the park without any dog going after him. All by himself he would jump into the water, get out, jump into the mud hole, get out, back to the water and then repeat it again. People watched him as he do this. He is full of energy. He is also protective of Waldo. Waldo is a submissive dog and most dogs take advantage and push him around. Brunson would go in between Waldo and this dog and would protect Waldo. Brunson does not hesitate to go into a fight. He never initiates a fight though. But when provoke he would snarl and attack any dog.
The only bad thing about Brunson is he likes to get the attention. He pushes Waldo so that he gets to be first in everything. Waldo seems resigned to be dog number two in the house. Brunson gets my attention all the time because of this. I try to treat them the same but with Brunson putting himself in front all the time it’s hard to give Waldo some attention. What has happen is that Waldo tends to be near Nicki and Brunson to me.
Having dogs is expensive. When Nicki and I go on vacation we have to take them to the dog hotel. That is about $60 a day. Vet cost is not cheap as they need vaccinations all the time. And there is food, treats and other needs. But the joy they give us is much more than what we spend on them.
Nicki went to Manila as her mother is very sick. I was left with the dogs. Our kitchen is also being remodeled at this time. So the house is a mess. On top of that, hurricane Ike came blasting down Sugar Land. On the night the eye of Ike went thru our town, all power went out. A lot of trees fell, twigs and branches everywhere. Without power, the food in the frige will spoil. So I decided to cook all meat using my butane cooker outside. I have a bunch of hot dogs which I fried and made adobo out of chicken and pork. Brunson and Waldo ate the hot dogs and I ate the adobo. For two weeks we were without power which also means we don’t have a phone and worse no TV for entertainment. My small radio works so I used that to get news. There were places distributing ice. Gasoline is hard to find. I just stay put with the dogs. I still have gasoline in the cars, water is fine and I have plenty of food. The day after the eye blew over, several trees behind our house in Lexington fell. So the city people were busy cleaning that up so traffic can resume. I cleaned a bunch of twigs and leaves in front of the house but other than that we do not have any damage.
Brunson was four years old when he died. He died all of a sudden. The vet said he was bleeding from behind his kidney. The cause is unknown. Nicki and I were so saddened by this. The day after he died, I wrote a short essay on Brunson. Here it is.
Goodbye Brunson This morning of Sep. 12, 2010 we took you to the Animal Emergency Hospital. Last night you were lethargic and breathing heavily. I gave you bits of empanada with Waldo and you ate it. And some vanilla ice cream which you like very much. But your gums are getting pale and that is not a good sign.
Two weeks ago you showed some signs of getting ill when you were lethargic and don’t want to eat. You drink a lot of water which is good. The next day you were back up again and were feeling well. Then after a couple of days you were lethargic again. I took you to see Dr. Woodley, your vet. He said you either have early arthritis (you are only 4 years old) or got some injury in the hips or hind legs. He gave you some pain medicine. You then got well again but in a couple of days you threw up food. The next day I took you to Dr. Woodley and he took blood sample and found out your red blood count is low at 24%. He recommends ultrasound at the emergency hospital. I took you there about 10am. They confirmed the low blood count at 20% now. The ultrasound shows bleeding behind the right kidney. So you stayed overnight for observation. The next day Sunday your blood count was stable so I took you home. The next day Monday I took you back for a blood test. It showed normal count. So it seemed you were well again. They took aspirated sample and I gave it to Woodley’s clinic for them to send it to the lab. Lab results came back Friday and there were no cancer. They said there is a lump that was causing the bleeding. And Dr. Noble of the emergency hospital said you also have an autoimmune problem where your body is fighting the red blood cells.
So this morning Sep. 12, Nicki was awake at 2:00am saying you were breathing very heavy. Your tongue is very pale and your eyes glassy. Your stomach is bloated. You are bleeding heavily. You can not even stand up and you defecated in place. We took you to the emergency hospital. Dr. Noble was there. You can not walk and a stretcher was brought over to take you from the entrance to inside the hospital. They started IV and oxygen on you.
We were discussing with Dr. Noble our options. She said exploratory surgery can be done by a specialist or we can put you to sleep. The chance of you surviving is 10%. I asked for the best case scenario of the surgery. She said they will find the lump and take it out but your chance of surviving is still 10%. You had cardiac arrest once and Dr. Noble started your heart. Then she was called in again and when she came back, she said that you Brunson is probably going to make the decision for us. Your heart is failing and you are unconscious. We asked to go inside the lab and we did. They have monitor attached to you. You were in a coma but your eyes were open. They started removing all apparatus attached to you and I then realized you just died.
And we asked that they bring your body for us to spend some time with you. And so they brought you over with a blanket over your body. Your eyes are still open. They say dogs can not close their eyes in death. You are so still. I like to remember you when you were alive. Your beautiful mischievous eyes looking at me like you were up to something. So laying there without any breathing, you don’t have to struggle to breath. The effort is no longer needed. If you were ever in pain it’s gone. If you ever had any worry it’s now gone.
Initially I wanted to take you home and bury you in the back. Nicki wanted you to be cremated and your ashes given to us. So that is what we requested them.
Although we still have Waldo the beagle with us, you being gone created a big hole in our hearts. We will miss you a lot.
I walked you that Saturday morning. Although you were not your usual buoyant self, you pull me a little bit along the street. You even ate a dried up dodo when I was not looking. I asked Nicki to wash your mouth afterwards. I bought you a new can of vanilla ice cream which you like. We would grind up your medicine (penicillin, prednisone) with the ice cream so you can eat it. You were eating that day without any problem. And you were following me where ever I go which is what you do anyway. You follow me and lay down when I am on the computer, when I am watching TV, eating or washing dishes in the kitchen or exercising upstairs. But you were becoming more and more lethargic and breathing heavy.
Brunson, thank you very much for being with Nicki and I. Even though those four years are quite short, I will always remember you. I have had dogs in the past but you were the best of them. You are my companion and my friend. Your loyalty is unconditional. You were funny in many ways. You made us laugh and smile.
You can talk! Ever since you were a puppy you have the habit of making that sound as if you were talking. Not a bark, not a growl, but talking. Even though there are no words, still you were conveying something. When you are upset or irritated, when Waldo is sitting by me and you are jealous, you would start talking and we know what you mean.
So that walk on Saturday was our last walk. It was the best walk not only because you were not pulling and tugging me. You were very obedient but I know it’s because you were not 100% physical back.
When I left you at the hospital for the first time and they were leading you into the lab, you keep on looking back at me as if you want to say, “Daddy, don’t leave me here”. And I follow you then into the lab and into crate. You don’t want to go inside but I have to push you in and even then you stuck you head out so the crate door won’t close. But you have t stay there. You have to feel some hurt before you got better. And you did. We were given six more days with you. And you were walking, running, barking an running up and down the stairs like you always did. But we know that you were not 100% physically back. You were not playing with Waldo like you use to do. You were breathing heavily in the evening and your heart was beating fast. We know that you were in borrowed time.
Do you remember going to the park on Saturday or Sunday? You were running in full gallop and playing with all the dogs there. It was embarrassing when you hump some dog and I have to pull you back. Or when you quarrel with some. Or when you protect Waldo when other dogs were picking on him, you stand between Waldo and the dogs to shield him. And I hear comments from other dog owner how nice of the dog you are and you are very good with children and with other small dogs. In the last visit to the park we noticed that you tired earlier and will not run anymore. You just stand by me and are contented in watching other dogs run. Were you feeling something then? Or were you just getting old or putting on weight? Perhaps it’s the summer and is too hot.
We won’t know for sure what happen to you and why you are bleeding. It does not matter. It has happened and it will not bring you back.
Dogs are supposed to live for around 17 years. You only live for 4. We were happy with that. On that day that we first met you in the park at Westheimer and took you home, we brought happiness into our home. How small you were and how big you grew in a couple of weeks. You are very affectionate and competing with Waldo for our attention. You constantly follow me wherever I go in the house. Sometimes it’s irritating but I got used to it. You eat very fast at the start but lately you slow down. You were good to Waldo. There are little things that I noticed that endear me to you. When you come back after walking, you want to be first in gulping water. But you don’t stay long to drink and you let Waldo drink. Then you come back and drink some more.
We don’t even know what breed of a dog you are. One day in the park a young couple brought you over. They said they have to move and have to give you away or else you go to the SPCA. Nicki and I were hesitant to take you because we already have Waldo. But of course you were so full of energy sauntering around the park. And you were answering back at the other guy when he was teasing you. So we took you home. Walking towards the car you were looking back for the young couple but I told you you are with us now. You sat in the back floor and Waldo was by you. I have to go out of town for a couple of weeks. When I came back, you grew up so fast! Whereas before you can climb up my chest when I am sitting down, now you will not fit my chest.
I walk around the house and it seems there is something missing. I look at your favorite places and imagine that you are still there. By the sofa on the living room, your crate in the utility room, under my computer desk in the bedroom, the floor on the bedroom and living room, upstairs on the sofa when I am on the tread mill. Your favorite place is by Nicki’s side on the floor by the bed where you lay down but you hide your head under the bed. Why do you always want to stick your head somewhere when sleeping?
Goodbye Brunson. I love you. We love you.
By: Jim Wilis
So this is where we part, My Friend,
and you'll run on, around the bend,
gone from sight, but not from mind,
new pleasures there you'll surely find.
I will go on, I'll find the strength,
life measures quality, not its length.
One long embrace before you leave,
share one last look, before I grieve.
There are others, that much is true,
but they be they, and they aren't you.
And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought,
will remember well all you've taught.
Your place I'll hold, you will be missed,
the fur I stroked, the nose I kissed.
And as you journey to your final rest,
take with you this...I loved you best
So this is where we part, My Friend,
and you'll run on, around the bend,
gone from sight, but not from mind,
new pleasures there you'll surely find.
I will go on, I'll find the strength,
life measures quality, not its length.
One long embrace before you leave,
share one last look, before I grieve.
There are others, that much is true,
but they be they, and they aren't you.
And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought,
will remember well all you've taught.
Your place I'll hold, you will be missed,
the fur I stroked, the nose I kissed.
And as you journey to your final rest,
take with you this...I loved you best
