Emily Ingram & Boomer Sooner and Dottie Mae

Who is in the photo at right?

Hi, my name is Emily Ingram and I’m currently what I like to call a stay at home dog mom that writes a blog called Adventures of a Dog Mom. And, it’s the best job in the world! The reason I decided to stay home wasn’t just to take care of Boomer Sooner, our 10 year old chocolate Labrador Retriever, and Dottie Mae, our 8 year old black Labrador Retriever mix. My husband and I have been planning a move out of state and I thought it would be easier to fix up the house and get all the packing done if I wasn’t working. So I left behind the veterinary clinic I was working for in Wichita, KS but hope to get back into a similar position in our new home Longmont, CO once we're settled in.

What's the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?

As I mentioned before we are in the process of moving out of state. We’re all packed and ready to go; we’ll be closing on our house here in Kansas and will be headed to Colorado very soon. But, before that happens we’re getting a new roof today and it’s very, very loud. It’s not only giving me a headache but the dogs are uneasy with all the noise and people so I decided we were going for a car ride and a trip to the park for some fresh air.

What's brewing?

I actually stopped for an ice cold frozen Coke Icee. It’s a hot day and after a long walk something cold and refreshing was needed!

Any treats for you or your dogs on this occasion?

Boomer and Dottie had their trusty water bottle, Gulpy, along for our walk in addition to a couple of peanut butter dog biscuits.

How did your dogs get their names? Any nicknames?

Boomer got his name Boomer Sooner because he was adopted in Oklahoma. And, he has many many nicknames: Boom, Boomie, Boo, Bubby, Bubba, there really are too many to list.

Dottie’s name was a little harder to come by, we tried out several but none of them sounded right until Dottie Mae. The funny thing is that I have a great aunt named Dorothy Mae and didn’t know it, so my dog is kind of named after her. Dottie has a lot of nicknames too: Dot, Stinky, Monkey, Stinky Chicken, Hoover… like I said, there are a lot!

How were you and your dogs united?

In 2003 my husband, boyfriend at the time, knew that since we’d be living together we had to get a dog. He knew that I’d always grown up with a dog in my house and that it would be hard for me not to have one. So he decided that we would take a road trip from Wichita to a country farm house in Oklahoma to look at a litter of puppies. Out of all the puppies of these two very large chocolate Labrador Retrievers, I chose Boomer. When I held him in my arms he just melted and I knew he would be my dog.

Dottie came to us through the Kansas Humane Society in 2005. I decided that I needed a little one to take care of and that Boomer should have a sibling and when I saw Dottie’s picture on their website I had to visit. She was with her littermates in a kennel and all the others were more outgoing than she was. When I picked her up she seemed to be more at ease and I knew she was the one.

Where do your dogs most like to visit on an outing?

Any trip in the car is exciting to Boomer and Dottie but they really like it when they see they are on their way to Sedgwick County Park or Riverside Park. They both start crying and running back and forth in the backseat.

Who are your dogs' best non-canine pet pals?

Boomer really likes my sister Katie and my mom. He gets really excited when they come over. Just tell him that his Auntie Katie and his grandma are coming and he starts looking for them.

Dottie really likes a couple of the staff members from the clinic I worked at, in particular a couple of the technicians and her veterinarian. We called them Auntie Sarah, Auntie Hannah, Auntie Jill and Auntie Lori. She gets so excited and starts crying when she knows she gets to see them.

Squirrel, cat, postman...?

Bunnies are a big draw for Boomer, in fact we can’t even say the word, he’s learned it. So we have to be extra careful on walks or he just might take off!

And, don’t even get me started on squirrels; they are Dottie’s favorite thing to chase. She will sit and stalk them for hours and will pull you around a park going from tree to tree to search them out.

Squeaky toy, ball, stick...?

Boomer is the king of play time, if you don’t play with him every night he’ll starting bringing you shoes from your closet. But, once you get on the floor to play he likes to fetch for a while before trying to wrestle.

Dottie loves to play fetch but has a problem with eating her toys, she will eat sticks, she chews (and swallows) Kongs so we can’t leave toys out. She has to be supervised during her play time.

What is each dog's best quality?

Boomer is pretty laid back most of the time and super friendly which is helpful when meeting new people considering how big he is!

Dottie on the other hand is really smart and can pick things up really quickly, if we ever get the chance I want to try some advanced obedience and other dog classes with her. I think she’d really like it.

If your dogs could change one thing about Kansans, what would it be?

What you do for a living doesn’t define you, it’s your interests and your hobbies that make the person, so put down your work and have fun! Try to live in the moment like a dog for once!

If Hollywood made a movie about your life in which your dogs could speak, which actors should do their voices?

My hubby and I have talked about this several times! We aren’t sure who should act their parts but we think that Boomer would best be portrayed as a laid back California dude type and Dottie as an intense British chick.

If your dogs could answer only one question in English, what would you ask them?

“Do you know how much we love you and that we would never let anything bad happen to you?”

Visit the Adventures of a Dog Mom blog.

--Marshal Zeringue