Six months old. New teeth. Very-very fluffy coat, sexy-flick-on-a-side fringe locks included. Plenty of teenage attitude mixed with the slowly fading puppy sweetness. It’s good to see my boy grow and become a perfect cocker spaniel.

I must admit, emotionally it feels odd at times. My brain still plays tricks. I see Coop, think of Oscar, feel happy simply because I have a dog, almost as if my boys are formed into one. It is impossible to explain. And I still miss Oscar. Whenever I see a dog called Oscar I envy those people for having a dog with the most beautiful name. Whenever I see a dog who is older than Oscar, I feel a punch of unfairness for losing my boy so soon. The pain that comes with it really-really sucks.

But on a positive side, Cooper makes life amazing. With his kisses and desire to run and play and keep me busy at all times. Boy, this pup is a runner! Even though he is still a baby, he runs wild whenever he can without any fear. It’s good to see him do that, be happy, do what a dog is supposed to do.

We take him for long walks in the country whenever we can, so he can release his energy and emotions, come home and collapse on a sofa for hours and hours of satisfied sleep.

He loves these walks so much that we stopped thinking of taking him anywhere else at the moment. I think we will, eventually, but for now we just enjoy every day as it comes and I use the time to train him loose lead walking and, in my dreams, catch up on my sleep, which is a mission impossible right now.

Yes, sleeping is still complicated. We were hoping that the sleeping situation will get back to normal in about a month, just like it was with Oscar. But Cooper turned out to be an early riser, so I am still up at 5AM for his toilet break, then try to sleep until 6 if I am lucky. At 6 me and the boy get up and go for our morning walk, or should I say, jog… Then we are back for his wash, blow-dry and breakfast and once it’s all done, he goes for a nap and I start living my day. Maybe in a few months (or when the clock changes) things will get easier. For now – I am hooked on coffee as if it was my lifeline.

TRAINING: mainly focusing on loose-lead walking. The rest is something Cooper already remembers well, so I just play-train him during our walks.

FOOD: On Royal Canin, now twice per day with a little snack around mid-day. He is also eating chicken (either as part of his meals or training treats), organic eggs, carrots, cucumbers and lettuce. I would also like to add a little cooked broccoli and, now on a regular basis – a little organic passata (twice a week).

CHARACTER: Cooper is definitely a lot more confident these days. He can run to certain dogs, but does choose which ones. Yet he loves pretty much every human being, though not as much as us. I also think he feels very grown up because he hates it when I have to carry him like a pup, though I still have to do it because he cannot jump on/off the furniture himself and refuses to go down the stairs (and I am not planning to force him do that).

SIDE NOTE: I am loving taking photos of him and spending time with him. Yes, it’s pretty much all I do these days (with a bit of work on a side whenever I get a moment), but I don’t feel like I am missing out on life or events. It feels good to be with him, learn more and more about dogs (I’ve got a mile-long list of veterinary and dog-related titles to get through) and teach him a thing or two about the world. Oh, and he still smells so sweet!

 

So, naively, I thought that Cooper lost all but two of his puppy teeth. I guess I simply wanted the process to be over as soon as possible. Then a tooth popped out. And another one. And one more. Basically, even before he got rid of his puppy canines, he had a series of random teeth to deal with. And so did I, obviously.

By now the old toys lost their appeal and I needed something for the boy to bite into. I thought of replacing his leather favourites, but at the very last moment changed my mind and went for a Green & Wilds suede bone.

And hit the jackpot!

Cooper loved it so much that I put three more on order, just to have a supply of them around because I didn’t want to chew the same one forever purely for bacteria-related issues. So far he used it to loosen the teeth, whenever his gums felt sore and whenever he felt like chewing.

Brilliant little toy, absolutely brilliant.