Today I’d like to introduce you to the dog. This is Kopek, the dog we are taking care of indefinitely. He came with the house we’re renting. “Kopek” means “dog” in Turkish, so named because his real owners spent some time in Turkey, and that was one of the first words they learned.
This is a rare quiet moment.
In the mornings, he won’t leave me alone unless I take him for a walk. He whines, bumps my elbow, whines some more, and runs back and forth from me to the door. I can’t have any peace until I take him around a few blocks!
He constantly loses his toys, especially his ball, which results in lots of whining. Most of the time it’s under a particularly large chair in the office. One day after I pulled it out from underneath it, he lost it under there again in five minutes, and wouldn’t stop whining until I got it back out. Of course, it rolled under there again in another five minutes, so being the good dog parent I am, I got it out for him again. When he lost it again, I was tired of being a good dog parent. When he resumed whining, I used a technique many parents recognize; ignoring.
See? The quiet moment ended already.
Kopek is a VERY curious dog. He seems to think there’s something in my pocket, and won’t rest until he gets his whole snout in there.
Case in point, about a week ago, we were all gathered in the living room, a picturesque setting with Brian and me on the couch, and the dog at our feet.
Suddenly, he began making a strange noise.
“He’s throwing up Brian!” I exclaimed. We had him sit on his blanket, figuring that would be easier to clean up than the rug. Of course he refused to throw up on the blanket, and threw up on the floor.
“What IS that?!” His throw up was very odd…like one large mass, something off-white and long. Brian thought at first it was his rawhide bone. He sent the dog to his crate, and I followed him to give him some water and comfort the poor thing. Throwing up in never fun.
Besides, I wasn’t touching whatever it was he threw up.
Brian manfully cleaned it up. A little later, I heard him calling me from the master bedroom. “Did you make a mess in here?” He asked, and pointed to bits of trash all over the master bathroom floor.
“No…” And then it hit me.
You see, I’d been on my period a few days earlier.
….
Yes, yes he did.
He dug my pads and liner out of the trash, and ate them.
My first reaction was to start giggling and gagging alternately. After that passed, I did some research online. Apparently, it’s a pretty common occurrence, and as long as they throw it up or poop it out, they’re fine. Sometimes it can swell up and get stuck in there, and then they have to have surgery or an endoscopy to get it out, but Kopek didn’t show any symptoms at all, and was back to his perky self the next day.
Today he’s with friends of ours since we’re flying to Iowa for a wedding for a few days. And, even though it’s only been a few hours, I already miss him!
Do you have a pet with personality? Tell us about them in the comments!
