Kosros tale

Good stories

As a way to cheer up our son (and me) my partner and I told stories about Kosro. It was a celebration of a good life. So here are a few Kosro tales.

The beginning

One rainy afternoon, February ’91, in a light industrial section of my town my darling was having lunch. She noticed a skinny young dog trying desperately to eat the bark of a tree. The dog was friendly but obviously starving. As is her nature she took pity on the poor thing and that evening brought it home. She fed and took care of the young dog and informed the local authorities we had picked up a stray. I think She might have also put in a ‘found’ add, but I can’t truly recall.

After a week or so it became obvious that no one was going to come forward. Dumping of unwanted pets happens. So we had this energetic young dog on our hands. First things first we had to do was take her to the vet for the usual checks and vaccines. Now to book a dog into a vet you need a name – ‘Dog’ would not do. We went through dozens of names but none seemed appropriate for a dog that we had been calling ‘dog’ for a couple of weeks.

Then my partner had an idea. The government of Micronesia had given the company she was working for at the time a few copies of a book relating some traditional Micronesian stories. One of the stories was about why dogs hate cats, I can’t remember exactly why – something about cats being sleazy, any how it gives the Micronesian word for dog; Kosro. So Dog was renamed Kosro.



Seagulls

At the time We lived quite close to a beach and in our part of the world there are beaches where dogs are allowed to frolic and play and those where they are not. Luckily the beach closest to us was a dog beach. Seagulls also frequented this particular beach in reasonable numbers. Kosro would pelt down the beach, flat out, barking and yelping sending waves of gulls into the air. Then come proudly trotting back to us. The gulls would re-settle further along the beach and the process would be repeated. This was amongst her favourite games.

As time went on she learned the ways of the gull. She would approach them from high in the dunes then run toward the water, double back as they took of with the prevailing wind. As they flew Kosro would leap into the air barking madly at them. This too was great sport.

She would always go for a dip regardless of the weather (we frequented the beach all year round). We would play fetch with a stick or, on occasion, ball. The only problem was that she got bored quickly with that game and would start chasing gulls or sniffing other dogs. This was no problem if you threw the ball along the beach but a real bummer when your ball is floating out to sea. We learned quickly not to throw the ball into the ocean unless the wind was on shore….

When either my sweetheart or me went for a swim the dog would follow. This was fairly normal. The abnormal thing was the sound she made as she followed us. It is hard to explain but we called it motor boating. Sort of a bubbled whine. Phonetically hmglbgl hmphglbl hmphglbl woof. We though it was hilarious until she would catch up and try to climb out of the water on one of us. Eventually she did learn to swim with us and would be relaxed enough for one of us to catch her in our arms where she would just float along.

One afternoon after her usual mad run at the gulls and her obedient return she started her stealth run up the dunes. Running to the upwind side of the gulls till they noticed her and then cutting down wind. She gave a mighty leap and caught one by the wing. My partner screamed and the dog let go. I don’t know who was in more shock; the bird, the dog or my partner. This was the first time I have ever seen a dog pull a bird on the wing. She did manage it one more time about a year later but by that time our son had come along and we didn’t frequent the beach as often.


Cat

Dogs hate cats. I know this from Micronesian folk law. Kosro upheld this rule. Late one night our neighbour called to tell us that Kosro was barking (and keeping her awake). Our house was well insulated and on a fairly busy road so ignoring outside noise was not hard. It was about 3:00 in the morning. I went outside, chastised the dog and went back to bed. After a few minutes the dog started again – I was tuned in. This process went on for the remainder of the night.

The next evening when I came home from work the dog was still going off. I noticed she had worn a track around the base of the almond tree. Looking up in the tree revealed a cat clinging to one of the more spindly branches. I got Kosro inside (despite her attempts to stop this happening) and went to the tree. The cat didn’t seem to want to move (and I didn’t want to climb a spindly tree to save it).

I did the next best thing. I got the hose and sprayed some water near the cat. It just clung onto the branch tighter. I admit I was just a little peeved with this animal for causing a disturbed nights sleep. Being a tad grumpy, due to lack of sleep, I adjusted the hose to jet and let the cat have it. About this time Kosro escaped – I think my darling was coming outside to tell me off for hosing the cat. The cat made its move. Down the main trunk with Kos closing rapidly. The cat managed about two bounds on the worn grass and hit the fence. I swear Kosro nearly cleared the fence after the cat. I also recon she was within millimetres having a piece of cat tail.

We never had any problems more problems with cats in our back yard – perhaps word had spread.

Jump Kosro

Kosro never had any problem jumping. When she was young she could leap to about my chest hight from a standing start. This gave me a (stupid) idea. You see at the time there was a dog food advert where a collie dog jumped into its owners arms. I though that would be pretty cool.

It happened that this wonderful idea came to me while my partner and I were shooting hoops at a local outdoor court. “Come on kosro jump” I cooed while I madly patted my chest. Well Kosro liked to jump and she did.

Now what I didn’t realise was that the dog in the advert lands against the owners chest. I also didn’t realise that a back injury that I had received several years previously was not fully healed. I grabbed for the dog, leaning forward a substantial amount to make the catch. As her weight fell into my outstretched arms I felt muscle part.

We collapsed in an ungraceful way to the bitumen. I couldn’t breath. I barely managed to roll onto my back. Kosro was very pleased, wagging her tail and licking my face happily. I couldn’t raise my arms to protect myself from the savage tonguing, I couldn’t even tell her to stop. And off course my dearest is practically wetting herself laughing.

Eventually I managed to breath. But laughter is contagious and laughing hurt. So there I am flailing away ineffectively at a happy dog, my partner is next to useless with glee while I am in convulsions of laughter/agony.


Nosey dog

Kosro was nosey. It was just her nature. When we would go for walks she would always be jumping up on fences to have a look on the other side. She would find cracks in fences to peer through. In our lounge room she would spend hours at the window watching the world go by. If the curtains were closed she would part them with her nose to look through.

One time her nosiness was rewarded by a cat. As we walked down a local street she jumped, front paws on a short brick fence, to have a nosey. As she looked over the fence this black and tan cat leapt up and clawed her on the nose. Offcourse it was on. Kosro straining at the lead to get at the cat, front paws of the ground. We pulled her along.

A few weeks later I was jogging with the dog and noticed the same cat perched on a brick column beside a front gate. The cat was at about my eye hight, Kosro had not seen it. As we loped along I reached out and pushed the cat of the column. Well I had to avenge the insult didn’t I…..


Rats

In our old house, near the beach, there were rats. Big ones. After cats, rats, were her favourite. The back fence was corrugated tin on a steel tube frame. It was overgrown with ivy. At least once a night you would here the thump of the dogs body hitting the fence followed by a series of barks. She did catch a few but never ate them. Her preference was a vigorous shake to break the spine and then settle down to a good licking.




Talk

One thing about Kosro was how easily she picked up new tricks. When we first got her she was very badly behaved. She would snap, nip and was generally out of control. As time passed she accepted our limitations and modified her behaviour. She learnt to cross the road, fetch, shake on command (a very handy trick before letting a wet dog get in the car after the beach) and to tell.

She was a vocal dog, not whiney or howling but barking. My darling spent some time teaching her to bark on command. This was handy. When I was away and someone came to the door she would be given the ‘tell’ command. It was also a neat party trick


Tolerance

Wen my son came into the house we were a bit nervous about Kos. As it turned out she was fairly indifferent to the newcomer. She did sniff and lick a few times but while the boy was a baby she basically ignored him. Over the first year or so we did cover a lot of miles together, the boy in his pram and Kos trotting along beside. The boy loved Kos. And she put up with all the poking and pulling a toddler will do to a dog.


Poo

Hmmm, I won’t tell that story.


Holidays

By the time we moved to our current address Kos was getting on. She would have been about 9 or 10. We were becoming more affluent and taking holidays was a priority. One of my partners work colleagues bred Dobermans and offered to kennel Kosro. Well he didn’t quite know what he was getting into. Apparently Kosro spent three happy weeks barking at the other dogs. When we got her home she was horse. Her former proud WOOF had been reduced to a hmff. She did get her voice back and did enjoy a few more holidays barking at the Dobermans.


Schools in

I guess when my boy started school life must have been a bit lonely for the old girl. One day she managed to work her way through our side gate went straight to my sons school. Apparently she had a marvellous time with all the kiddies until one of the teachers caught her and placed her in schools sports storage shed. As my darling was at work I got the call to collect the dog. Sure enough there she was all happy and waggy when I collected her.

I think she did that trick twice before I worked out how she was escaping.


Rock star

My son was forever making up stories about Kosro ‘The Wonder Dog’. He drew pictures of her with a super hero cape and scripted a move or two. He even went through a period of talking like a dog. Kosro took this in good grace and always would wear the cape.

One time I was fooling around with Fruity Loops, a kind of simple music generation program, when my boy decided to write a song for her. So he put together some beats, a simple cord and he and one of his friends recorded the vocals. It was sweet, in a electronic techno sort of way.


New dog

Last year a new dog came into our life. Kosro was quite old but accepted new dog with out a problem. The new dog still had many puppy characteristics but Kos never snapped at her. They played well together (even though the new dog was bigger and much younger). It was good to see her playing with another dog. Even in her senior years she was still quite spritely (if not a little stiff).



A friend

When ever we returned home she would be waiting at the door with her doggy grin and a wagging tail (even if you had only been out for a few minutes. If you wanted a bit of fun no problem. She would tug of war, barge around or catch a ball with the best of them. If you were just sitting around she would join in. When you worked in the yard she never seemed to get in the way but she would be there when you called.

Her favourite was to push her head between you knees so you could scratch her back. If you were sitting down on a step she would often stick her head under your arm for a pat. If she was feeling playful she would push her shoulder into your leg and dance around with her mouth open and tail wagging.

And it wasn’t just me. My partner (maybe more so), my son and our friends all got the same treatment. She was just that sort of dog.



The end

We laid her to rest in the back yard and planted a tree on the grave. It will be a good tree.

Kosro we love you.