First of all, cocker puppies are mad, absolutely bonkers as if they come with an infinite supply of Energizer butteries. Secondly, I am falling in love with mine like there’s no tomorrow. Cooper is simply the sweetest.

True, it’s hard work at the moment (which makes me appreciate and remember how amazing-amazing-amazing and so effortless Oscar was!), with all the training and cleaning, no sleep and utter impossibility to complete a single task in 10 minutes because he needs me and I don’t want to leave him. Whenever it becomes a touch too overwhelming, I simply tell myself that Oscar was amazing not just for his genes and mind, but the efforts and time I put into making him that way. And then I hug Cooper and he kisses me back, and it feels good again. We run, go nuts, play, clean, and then collapse – me – on a sofa, Coops – next to me.

On a great scale of things everything is going well and I think we are stating to establish a routine. Our day begins at 4:00 when Cooper wakes up and asks me to take him outside for a wee. Then we spend an hour playing. At 5:00 he calms down and goes for a nap, this time we have a cuddle on a sofa together. I know, some may not approve, but he will end up sharing a bed with us once in a while when he is older, so a little cuddle now and then won’t hurt. Besides, he actually loves his Curver.

I put him against the back of the sofa, so he ends up being in a sort of “nest” and can’t jump off. First time we did it, I couldn’t sleep and spent an hour staring at his sweet little face. Right now, the constant need to close my eyes is so strong, I give in and use the next hour to catch on my zzzz’s, too.

Coops sleeps like a baby, on his back, stretched alongside me waking up once in a while to give me a little kiss.

At around 6:00 we wake up, get to the garden for the toilet and a little run, then “visit daddy” upstairs where the pup stays for a little while, so I can quickly jump in a shower and change.

At 7:00 he has breakfast, then a quiet’ish play time, toilet and more play time until he eventually falls asleep.

His lunch is served at 13:00 and dinner – at 19:00. Every time he wakes up, it’s toilet first, then play time for 15-20 minutes, then second wee and an hour later –  one more toilet break. He loves to run and explore the garden and feels a lot more confident around the ground floor sort of making it his playground-slash-domain.

Around 20:00 we have one more hour of running around and playing, then he slows down with a blankie and a chew and eventually goes to his bed. I started using a cue for it from the very first he slept in it, so by now he almost always reacts to the word (unless he is very busy with something, which is normal).

At midnight he wakes me up asking for a toilet, so we go to the garden again, then sleep until 4:00, get up and start everything all over again.

I tried putting a collar on him yesterday, but neither of us was happy with it. I thought it was a bit fiddly to undo (it has a clip, not a buckle, and I am most definitely a buckle kind of person) and a touch too small for him. So I ordered the simplest one from Pets at Home today, plus a leather “follow-up” option for when he is 3-4 months old. Todays choice was exactly the same I trained Ozzy with, it’s not something for a pup to wear when going for walks, but is very light and easy to put on when getting them used to a collar. Hope Coops likes this one.

Finally, Cooper is here and although my brain is off track due to a massive lack of sleep, I cannot simply skip these first 48 hours of our life together.

Last Saturday we drove 4 hours up North to meet and collect out little boy. In my imaginary world everything would go smoothly, from a stay in a lovely hotel and Italian dinner that I booked weeks in advance to cuddling with Cooper the same day before heading back home on Sunday morning. In reality it turned out to be such an emotional roller coaster that my body couldn’t cope with the excitement too well. I was ill, my body was shacking from an adrenaline rush, I had a migraine and only wished I could get through Saturday and get home.

But meeting Cooper and his family was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. His mum and dad were gorgeous and came to me for a cuddle and kisses. And Cooper simply fell asleep in my arms as if it was utterly natural.

And on Sunday we picked him up, put in a wicker basket lined with a linen bag, vetbed for extra softness and a couple of puppy blankets, and drove back. We were really worried about Cooper feeling uncomfortable or experiencing a call of nature, but the little guy slept through the journey waking up once in a  while just to give me a quick kiss or chew his toy before nodding off again.

Upon arrival, feeling very tired and unsure of the new surroundings, the pup sweetly settled in his new bed, surrounded himself with a few toys and fell asleep for a couple of hours.

The rest of the day and first night were spent playing, cleaning, eating and sleeping and, luckily, Cooper liked everything. I moved to the sofa to keep him company 24/7 and take him to the garden whenever nature calls. And yes, having a little pup is tiring and the sleep is pretty much non-existent for me now, but he is absolutely worth is and such a sweet little bundle of joy.

Diet-wise, he was raised on Royal Canine Puppy Junior given to him three times a day at 9:00, 15:00 and 21:00, but since I wanted him to be on Royal Canine Cocker Spaniel Junior and eat a little earlier, I began making little swaps at every meal to allow his digestive system get used to the new food without problems and moving feeding time by 30 minutes.

On Sunday he had RCPJ all day, on Monday I replaced roughly 1/5 of RCPJ with RCCSJ at breakfast, then 1/4 of RCPJ with RCCSJ at lunch and dinner. Today I gave him 2/3 of RCPJ mixed with 1/3 RCCSJ and will keep doing so until he is fully on RCCSJ. Weight-wise, Sunday menu was 50g RCPJ x3 (but he seemed very hungry afterwards), Monday  – 45g RCPJ + 15g RCCSJ at breakfast and lunch, 40g RCPJ + 20g RCCSJ at dinner (and although he still woofed it down at a speed of light, he seemed satisfied and slept better), Tuesday onwards for at least two weeks (until he is 3 months old) – same as Monday dinner.

As of today the food is “served” at 7:30, 13:30 and 19:30, which gives him enough time to empty his bowels at night before going to bed and also less time between waking at 5:00 for a little play, nodding off until 7:00, going to the toilet and then having a meal. Seems to work well so far.

We are still establishing a proper routine, but he already remembers to ask for a garden toilet most of the time, which is blissful. To teach him, I simply watched Cooper for a day to see how his behaviour changes when he’s about to do something, plus took the pup outside after every nap, meal and at night and waited for him to relieve himself – normally happened within first 5 minutes or so. Of course it’s not perfect yet, but it’s only day 2.

His taste in toys changes every day and I am glad we stocked up well this time. He loves to chew ropey toys, Becco bone and blankets and has a special relationship with his puppy playpal – sort of catepillar-like toy with projections of sorts and a noisy buckwheat-filled insert.

He knows his name and since he follows us everywhere I use “Come” cue to play-teach him recall. Today we also tried a puppy collar – Coops was ok to put it on, but wasn’t 100% about wearing a new accessory, so we will try again tomorrow.

Love him to bits.

Somehow over the last two days I heard people talk about domination and obedience a lot. They said that the dog must know who the leader is, even more – you, as a human being, must be the dominant one. Once they learn this rule, they will obey and follow you.

You see, this is where it ends with me. Obviously, I am not particularly obedient myself. And I love my dogs too much to punish them. In fact, I think that pushing your dog down to the floor and standing over him or constantly ensuring that you are the first one to enter the house isn’t going to do the dog, let alone, puppy, any good. Yes, it may not hurt physically, but imagine the amount of stress your pup will experience!

Admittedly, I am not a dog trainer. But I do believe that the dogs are a part of our family, so should be treated with respect. As a result, care and understanding will lead to friendship and the dog, with his idea of unconditional love, will do his best to make you happy.

Where am I coming from?

First of all, psychologically, a young pup taken away from his real mum will naturally seek and accept the next living object he spends most time with as his parent. This means he will see you as his mummy as long as you are prepared to dedicate your time and attention to the little one. Once it happens, and it happens very quickly, he will watch you and learn from you even without you knowing.

For example, Oscar  carefully observed me over the years developing sweet little habits like drinking a little water just before he went to bed (I always keep a glass of water and take a few sips before turning off the light) or ensuring that his head always rests on a pillow.

On the other hand, being a mummy gives you the right to channel your pup’s behaviour in a right direction. Say, you aren’t happy about him biting you? Walk away without saying a word and stop playing with him for a few minutes.

If he sits on your spot – give him “the look” and gently push away (or say ‘move”) and he will.

Watch adult dogs dealing with pups – it will give you an idea of their communication, too.

And what about the problems you may ask?

Well, I believe that the problem never starts with a dog, but the person responsible for this dog. Say, a breeder doesn’t care of choosing the nice-natured dogs, crossing the wrong lines or bringing up pups in total isolation – of course, there’s a huge change that a puppy will have behavioural issues! How to avoid it? Choose the right breeder.

Your pup or even an adult dog leaves puddles and poops all over the place? Ask yourself if you took enough time to train him in the first place by taking him out after each meal and before his naps. Ask yourself if you gave enough outside time to your adult dog, so he could relieve himself. Ask yourself if your dog has a regular and easy access to your garden or is taken out 3 times a day (if you leave in a flat) to empty his bladder. Perhaps, your pup is sad, lonely, jealous or unwell? The truth is that teaching a dog to do his business outside takes a few days and a few occasional mishaps here and there, but they all learn to do it very quickly because your home becomes his home and dogs do not like messing their home (or nest) up. It is not natural for them.

Your pup bites? As a baby and while teething, he will definitely leave you looking like a victim of self-harming. But you can teach him to stop by using toys, you can distract him by playing or, when all fails, walking away (just like his mummy would). Any puppy-biting will eventually disappear. It is the aggression you need to be aware of, but any kind of aggression is a result of poor breeding or stressful atmosphere at home. Avoid the first, control the second.

Your pup doesn’t like grooming? It can be explained, too. My first dog hated it, but it happened because his very first session was with a person who wasn’t kind or patient enough. As soon as we discovered it, I began going it myself. He never quite warmed up to the process, but tolerated it.

It was very different with Oscar. I learnt about grooming a cocker spaniel months before he arrived. And as soon as he was here, he thought that brushing was a play, and so was the washing. He loved his blow-dries (again, he watched me do it to my hair and figured that it was a habit worth adopting) and knew where his tooth-cleaning supplies where. So if you start early and if you put your love, care and knowledge to it, you will never have any problems.

Your pup doesn’t come to you when you call him? Again, it’s not him being interested in other things… Spend enough time play-teaching him, use the right rewards (some pups love a toy or a cuddle, others may ask for a treat) and he will always return when called. Remember I said that he sees that very first and dedicated person as his mum? Well, Oscar did it with me, thus he could not imagine being away from me or not coming to me – the rest of the world, no matter how exciting it was, simply didn’t matter to him if I wasn’t around. I didn’t do anything special – I loved him, spend all my time with him as a pup and, alright, could not imagine my world without him either. We suited each other, basically.

Your dog pulls the lead all the time? It’s normal for pups and young dogs – they are excited and cannot wait to check things out, sniff and explore. They are learning about the world and have limited time to do that, so they use every opportunity and you are standing on their way, so to speak. The trick is to teach them patiently while they are still young, 2-4 months is perfect. Doing it as a part of a game is ideal, but once in a while a treat do a job, too. Things I would never recommend is using any kind of shocking/chocking devices, harness (I’ve seen many dogs who could not walk with a collar and lead after being taught on a harness) or punishment. Also, since cockers love to carry their favourite things, giving him a toy, tennis ball or stick during his walks may help to keep him focused on his own stuff.

Puppy chews your furniture? Give him toys, tons of toys instead (and never – your old clothes and shoes). He loves to explore, so let him explore the right stuff and he will leave the furniture alone. If he is teething, give him chews. You will need to teach him a “No” word sooner rather than later, but trust me, when he is teething, alone or lonely, he will go for the easiest target, words or no words.

Your dog sleeps in your bed? Well, you can teach him to go to his own and, you know, most of them well because they are going to feel safe there. Oscar certainly did. But he also slept next to me for some part of each night, cuddling and pressing against my back. And you know what? I would not want it any other way. Try it – and decide what works for you. After all, we are talking about cockers here, not exactly Great Danes.

So if you want to dominate the world – do it, but do it together with your cocker spaniel. It’s so much fun!