Oh, yes! This puppy is now 4 months old. He is almost 8kg, lost 4 teeth, leant a few tricks and has grown so much that the basket he arrived in is just about big enough for sitting up right.

People say that pups grow too fast, but frankly, I cannot wait for mine to get to 6 months, be stronger, braver and, lets not forget the important bit, sleep until 6 or even 7 in the morning.

I know we are moving in the right direction, though. For example, right now we just returned from a wonderful walk on a golf course where Cooper (and me, of course!) run wild until Cooper decided that he had enough and promptly walked back to the car (not sure how he remembered where it was or which one was his, but hey, he did walk back and he did pick the right vehicle!)

We drove home. He had a shower, blow dry, quick run to the garden and around the house, and is now napping next to me, so I can type this like the good old times when Oscar, who never left my side, shared our bed and my life of blogging.

Over the past two weeks we have been going on walks both in our neighbourhood, as well as parks, woods, golf course and quiet town streets, meeting people and dogs. Interestingly, unlike Oscar who loved dogs and women, Cooper was incredibly friendly with all people (he already met and was stroked by little kids, men, women and older folks), but a bit shy when it came to dogs. It took Coop a couple of days to start approaching the animals, but once he did, there was nothing stopping him.

He is also indifferent to cars, bicycles and runners now – again it took him a couple of walks and a few cuddles to understand that all those huge noisy things are alright and not worth his time.

And, of course, the toilet habits… He is finally doing it during his walks as well as in the garden. Once in a while we get a little accident at home, but no more than 3 a day, which is pretty much nothing.

The plans for this month…

… continue with training (He knows “sit”, “down”, “stay”, “come”, does it all wonderfully at home, so now needs to be able to focus when out and about. Since I am not a huge fan of training treats made of all kinds of “stuff” I have been using some of his daily food allowance or pieces of plain cooked chicken breast, and from now will also include Thrive chicken training treats for the sheer fact that it’s dried and can be stored and used for a while without the need to cook fresh every day, it’s plain chicken, low in fat (again, cockers are prone to weight gain and I don’t want to go down this road), free from anything remotely bad for my baby, plus gentle and suitable for pups.

… get him walk without the lead when we are in a countryside because, honestly, it feels so good to have a happy pup running free (we did it today – he had a lead attached to him, but I let it go and everything was fine, but I know it’s still early days and we need to practice more)

… introduce Cooper to passata, just 1tsp every other day, as it’s good for his teeth.

… continue with Royal Canin Junior, plus carrots, cress, beetroot, parsley, chicken and occasional eggs.

… take him to towns, so he is used to busy’ish streets and learns to walk on a lead calmly.

… take him to the seaside because it’s glorious, fun and he gets to experience all the new smells and textures.

… go for longer trips in a car (right now he is happy to travel for about 45 minutes without complaining (he just falls asleep) and we would like to see if he would be happy to travel for over an hour one way).

… try to convince him that staying in a room without mummy is ok (so far we both fail – he doesn’t like being alone and I hate leaving him even for a second)

… continue with cuddles and kisses because he is the best and sweetest little thing imaginable.