Cosmo @ 6 Months Old – Lock Up Your Daughters!

THE LITTLE BUGGER is growing up fast, and filling out into his dog shape at a fierce rate. It wasn’t that long ago that we had a small pup on our hands, cowering in the corner of the room wondering where the hell he was and how he was going to handle a 10 year old female cocker spaniel who ruled the roost, but that was then and things have changed rather dramatically since he arrived.

It’s now six months on and Cosmo is already the same size as Amber and looks like he is going to tower above her when full grown. Amber no longer rules the roost as well as she used to; he’s big enough now to challenge her and usually drives her nuts on a daily basis.

The last time you saw him he was still a pup and trying to dismantle my bookshelf, but now he’s full of beans, and progressed to much more ambitious projects (constantly eating the house, and I mean literally eating furniture, CDs, telephone cables, remote controls, internet connections, money, papers… the list is endless). Now he’s showing the classic cocker spaniel show-dog profile as he grows into his frame.

Hell – you should see how tall this chap is when he stands up (check out this photo of him in the kitchen last weekend with SusiQ) and given the size of his legs I reckon he is going to be even taller still.

He has of course aquired some new names along the way, most of which don’t leave much up to the imagination (little big man, crapweasel, monster, scumking, mad bastard, big shitter, the destroyer) but I reckon we’ll stick with Cosmo for a name going forward.

The good news is he is a healthy, happy and mad-as-a-bag-of-frogs cocker spaniel with a lovely disposition (gentle, great with kids, not afraid of anything, great with other dogs etc.) and has made this home of ours his new playground, which is exactly what we needed after losing Bonnie.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been six months, but I figured I’d post this here for posterity and to let those of you following his progress see how he’s getting on.

If you want to see the progression from pup to dog you can check out the Cosmo gallery and see the various shots of him; we decided after losing Bonnie that we didn’t want to make the same mistake this time (i.e. never took enough photos of her until it was too late) so we’re doing a few shots every few months and sticking them online for storage.

Anyhoo, he’s a handome devil isn’t he?

Our Cocker Spaniel Story Continues…

IT HAS TAKEN a few weeks, and there were times I thought it would never happen, but eventually Cosmo and Amber started playing together and now they get on like a house on fire. There was a collective sigh of relief when that happened because we were worried Amber just wouldn’t accept him after the death of her sister, Bonnie. A 10 year old Cocker and a new pup is not always the best combination, but in this case we either did everything right, or just got lucky. Either way, we couldn’t be happier.

The house will never be the same of course without Bonnie, and we had forgotten just how much work a pup is and, worse still, the bloody damage they can do in chewing everything that’s not nailed down… but it’s worth it.

Lots of people have been asking us for updates on Cosmo and his progress so for anyone that has been following the Cosmo story thus far I’ve uploaded a bunch of new photos into his gallery. He is now 3 months old and growing like a mad thing. I think he has the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a young cocker spaniel, so it’s highly likely he will be a very big dog when he grows into his frame.

He really is a typical mischievous, shifty and sneaky cocker spaniel pup though, so much so that he has earned the title of ‘silent bu deadly’ around here. It’s hard to catch him in the act, but so far he has managed to eat my telephone cable, kill my PC speaker system, eat some money (notes not coins!), destroy some guide books (he has a fondness for guidebooks about Paris for some reason!), dismantle his bed into molecular form, shred what was left of the carpet at the top of the stairs and much more… nothing is safe, but it’s fun to watch him grow up and I do believe Amber is happier now with the company. Read more

C Is For… Cosmo!

PLEASE WELCOME our latest addition to the insanity that vaguely resembles a life here at Howl @ The Moon! His name is… Cosmo.

Thanks for all the suggestions by the way, we did take them into consideration. By the time we got to the breeder yesterday the black and tan chap was already gone, so it was down to a choice between two little black bundles of fun, and this little guy won out because of his personality more than anything else. I was all for calling him “Chewbaca” or “Chewie” if he had been the black and tan puppy, but that wasn’t to be.

The bottom line on this pup is that basically he’s mad!

Fearless too. Very inquisitive, very friendly and has no issues being handled so all in all a good package for a pup. He’s also got the most amazing blue eyes. Last night was weird because we brought him back to the house and introduced him to Amber, our 10 year old cocker spaniel, who promptly ignored him. And continued to ignore him for the rest of the night; she is still mourning the loss of her sister, Bonnie.

We’re hoping the two of them will bond fast, but it’s probably going to take some time. If anyone has some suggestions or recommendations based on experience then please do let me know. We can do with all the advice we can get at this stage to make sure the two of them bond as quickly as possible.

For now though I’ve thrown up a few photos of Cosmo’s first night if anyone is interested over at the Gallery, so go on, treat yourself to a few harmless puppy photos! I slapped them up so that our friends and family could browse in and see how he’s doing. He’s been checked over by the Vet this morning and given the all clear, so the adventure begins anew from here…