The Payne Family: Our Sweet Kramer

KRAMER

3/16/08 - 7/28/12

This past July, we had to put our lovable lab to sleep.

It had been a few days since I had been able to take Kramer for a good long walk or play hard with him outside. He loves the outdoors and needed his exercise. So one morning Justin woke up super early and took Kramer with him to Herb Parsons, a beautiful lake and trail area close by. Justin knew Kramer would love to run behind him while he biked the trails. It was cooler so early in the morning, so Justin didn't think much of the July heat just yet. Kramer ran behind Justin to his heart's content. Being outside, playing hard, and being with Justin, are probably Kramer's favorite things in the world to do. Well, after a while, Justin noticed Kramer wasn't right behind him. When he saw him, Kramer was still trying to follow Justin, but he was pulling his back legs behind him. Kramer laid down at the bottom of a hill, and Justin knew something was wrong. Kramer would not get back up. Justin immediately took him to the vet, and soon we realized that Kramer had a severe case of heat exhaustion.

We got to take him home later that evening to monitor him. At the vet, Kramer had been rehydrated, and hopefully we would see a turn around overnight.

Well, that did not happen. He continually got worse and we stayed up with him all night long. We took him back to the vet first thing in the morning. They ran some tests and realized that the heat exhaustion was more of a heat stroke and he had some internal damage. Kramer's health continued to decline despite everything our kind veterinarians did, and we had to make the decision to let him go.

It was the hardest thing Justin and I have been through since we have been married.

These were our last few minutes with Kramer.

It's so hard to say good bye to someone you love.

I thought it would be nice to take a look back and see our beautiful memories of our "first born".

Here are some moments from the past four years of Kramer's life :)

Justin and I drove to Fulton, MS to pick out a pure bred chocolate lab. There were five male puppies left to choose from.

It didn't take Justin long to find that special puppy that would become a part of our family :)

Kramer was 47 days old when we took him home with us.

First family picture :)

Any time we took Kramer in the car with us (which was often), he would have to climb up on our shoulders for the ride.

We knew Kramer would be an inside, family dog so, Justin started training Kramer immediately. We used the book Family Dog by Richard Wolters.

It is a fantastic book and right away we learned to effectively teach Kramer to sit, stay, lie down, drop it, shake, and high five.

We loved how he slept in unusual places around the house.

Sometimes Justin would take Kramer to school with him :)

You just know the kids LOVED coming to math class at the end of the school year!

Yep, getting bigger, but still making the shoulder thing work.

Kramer went everywhere with us. Even to the lake :)

Yes, we became smitten with him :)

Kramer definitely got bigger fast.

This puppy could have lived at the trails near the water.

Loving any opportunity to go for a walk.

We spelled that word a lot at home- "Hey, Justin, are you up for taking you-know-who for a

W-A-L-K?" haha

Trying to be a lap dog

Can't get enough kisses

Even on the boat!

And you can guarantee that if Justin got in the water, Kramer followed.

Justin with Kramer, his own dog, and Belle, his family dog he grew up with :)

This dog would do ANYTHING for Justin.

I love this picture.

It just shows how much Kramer looked to Justin for "command". Justin was the "alpha", and whatever Justin told Kramer to do, Kramer did. There was a bond there, that I did not even have with Kramer.

Hanging out at home. Boy, Kramer LOVED a warm fire.

Buddies

Kramer was the greatest running partner you could imagine.

This always cracked me up.

We caved and let Kramer sleep in the bed with us, but he is supposed to be sleeping on a blanket at the end of the bed. I never could understand how Justin could sleep with a paw in his face!