Heart of Gold

Okay, okay. So Kosmo has been after me to give him some press. I'll admit I've been lagging in getting the word out about the joys of having a free dog.

Randy and I should have seen the light by the time we'd had Kosmo for two months. One balmy October afternoon, Randy was outside chatting with the neighbor who owned the land parcel in front of ours. Kosmo, always the center of any gathering, jumped up to introduce himself.

"Oh, he's so cute," she said, leaning over to pet the pup. Moments later, she noticed her custom-made, gold nugget heart pendant was missing.

At first, no one suspected Kosmo. Randy helped the woman search the grassy area. No sign of the gold heart. 

"I think your puppy might have swallowed it," she suggested, noting the nugget could have come loose from its chain.    

Randy promised he would keep a look out for any sign of the gold heart. Surely Kosmo couldn't be the culprit...or could he?

Kosmo seemed his normal, playful self until a couple days later when he began to show signs of stomach distress. We took him to see our friend, Doc Cook, the vet who had given us Kosmo in the first place. With the troublesome terrier under sedation, Doc snapped some X-rays. "This isn't rocket science," he said, holding the film up to the light. There it was--a perfect heart in Kosmo's stomach!

Doc said the pendant wasn't coming out either way. We'd have to take the pup to the city to see a specialist for an endoscopic procedure. Of course our first thoughts were for little Kosmo's well-being, but then we managed to choke out, "and how much will this cost?"

The good news was that on further examination by the specialist, he discovered the foreign body seemed to making its way out of the dog, naturally. It was very close to the tail end. Rather than wait for the inevitable to occur, the vet elected to assist nature with forceps.

The heart came out, was sterilized and shipped off to its rightful owner, who was delighted to have her gold nugget locket returned. We never told her the whole story!


So much for notions about a free dog. The visit to the city vet was a mere fraction of what the procedure could have been...but still, Kosmo was well on his way to costing us plenty.

The next time you're tempted by someone offering a free puppy, you just might think twice.