How we got a Saint. And why "Doozer"?

Before we met, I had Dobermans and Great Danes (and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever). Big Dogs! Obedience training for the Big Dogs was in the unit next to where Wilhelm did auto restoration. He loved the Big Dogs too! He would sometimes wander over to see the trainer's Great Danes. But in his heart, he had always wanted a Saint Bernard. Big, hairy, drooly and absolute loves! And this was before the Beethoven movies existed :-)

So, when we got together, we talked about getting a Saint Bernard. I was already showing dogs by this time and so had seen some of the Saint Bernard people around. Doozer's breeder had a boy named Larry. A smooth Saint who was in the Top Twenty. I thought he was a stunning dog and fell in love with him. Wilhelm would have been just fine with a Saint rescue, but I figured if we were going to get one we might as well get one that we could show <we... HA! Doozer was supposed to be Wilhelm's show dog!! But more on that later>. After talking with Doozer's breeder, I hung around the Saint ring a little more often and it turns out the breeder had a long hair girl by the name of Bailey. OMG! If Larry was stunning, the Bailey was the epitome of what I thought I wanted in a Saint! A lot of Saint Bernard girls are very heavy and doggy-looking. I'm used to Danes and Dobermans where girls should be very feminine looking. Bailey was all that and more! The next time I caught up to the breeder, I told her if she ever bred those two together we wanted a puppy! Well, she did breed those two and a litter of 5 was born (2 boys, 3 girls). Of course, when Saints are born you do not know if they will be long or short hair. We kind of wanted a long hair, because we thought it would be easiest for a novice handler as smooth Saints are harder to finish. The breeder invited us over when the pups were just 3 days old and picked up one of the boys and said "This is going to be the pup you want". I looked at the other boy but had to agree with the breeder. Even at just 3 days old you could see the head was going to be awesome on this pup.

After that, we went over to the breeder's house every couple of weeks to watch the puppies and get to know them. And wouldn't you know it... at 8 weeks old it turns out the ONLY smooth puppy in the litter was the boy we wanted <sigh>. We talked it over, and talked with the breeder, and we decided to take him home. It certainly was not a bad decision in the long run!!

So, after 8 weeks of watching the puppies grow... how did our boy become named Doozer? Because years and years ago there was a cartoon named Fraggle Rock. On it, were these characters named Doozers. And Wilhelm said that was the puppy's name. He thought it would be a cool name for a Big Dog. The only problem was, he pronounced it Dozer (like bulldozer). Wilhelm knew it was spelled with 2 "O", but thought it was pronounced like 1. I didn't remember the cartoon so we rented an episode and after we did, the error was discovered. Wilhelm realized the Dozers were actually Doozers but it was too late to change the pronunciation as Doozer by that time answered to Dozer. The good news is, it doesn't confuse people if you are just pronouncing it :-)

So, our baby Doozer came home and a 8-1/2-year love affair began.

Welcome to Doozer Stories!

Doozer is our Saint Bernard (UKC Best in Show Veteran-AKC/UKC/IABCA CH Sleepyhollows Doozer v Voyager RN CGC. A Top Twenty Saint Bernard in 2008). He was born June 27 2002. On January 10 2011, Doozer was diagnosed with bone cancer. This blog is our way of not only saying "Goodbye" to Doozer, but a way of remembering Doozer too. It will, hopefully, ease our pain a little when Doozer passes on to the Rainbow Bridge.

Currently, Doozer is doing very well. On Sunday Jan 9, Doozer woke up just fine and it was a regular day. By mid-day, however, he had developed a limp and by end-of-day he was not placing any weight on his right hind leg at all. We took him to the vet on Monday and they x-ray'd. The vet first thought it was a cruciate ligament problem and only took x-rays to rule out anything else. Unfortunately, it turned out that the x-rays showed the bone cancer. Because Doozer also suffers seizures we are limited in what medications we can give him. Our vet suggested piroxicam. And although Doozer still cannot use that back leg, he is getting around on 3 pretty well. We have opted to not do amputation, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. Although Doozer is currently getting around pretty well he is also severely dysplastic in his hips and elbows and so unless we can give him back the use of all four legs his time on this earth is going to be limited. We did not feel that extraordinary measures to extend his life by a month or two would be worth the pain of what we would all go through.

And so that in a nutshell is Doozer's introduction! If you care to join us through our journey you are welcome to. We don't guarantee it will make you laugh or even smile. It may though; and it may make you cry and give your own fur-babies a REALLY BIG HUG!!