Life with Cosmo

It has been a tough week at Casa Cosmo. Still on his doggie advil for his bad back, we are forced to take things slow… easier said than done with two bostons wanting to play. Poor little Ko is bringing toys over every couple of minutes trying to play fetch, but if we try, Cosmo runs and jumps, fighting her for the toy. This does not help the healing process! But is it really fair to keep Koko from her play? I didn’t think so either.

So Koko gets to play fetch and every third time we let Cosmo chase after it too, holding him on the couch the other two times trying to restrain him. It’s been a bit of a pain, and we’re hoping things will start to return to normal this week. He only has two more days of doggie advil and I’m seriously praying he doesn’t start crying out when we run out of it.

Dog Walker Comment of the Week:“Koko & I got to know each other a little better - I was giving her belly rubs & she started to howl. It blurred the line on being pleasure or pain but when I stopped, she jumped all over me w/licks, so I just assumed she is dramatic!”

I am starting to think that Cosmo gets hurt on purpose just to get the special attention and make Koko jealous. His latest trip to the vet (which is the one part of all of this that he just hates) came about because he started to YELP while standing by himself. After his scream, he would hunch his back and stare at me with a look of help. This is paired with not wanting to finish all of his food. Well, after three days of weird behaviour, we had to visit the doctor.

It turns out that Cosmo has back pain… which they cant really tell what it’s from without all of the test that I’m not ready to pay for. Especially since I just spent 6  months going through a similar thing for my own back. Instead, the doctor has given us doggie ibuprofen and told us he needs two weeks of coddling. This includes carrying him up and down stairs, and only short walks.

So while we carry the patient up and down the stairs, Koko looks at me with a look of disbelief. Here’s my little girl who never gets sick, never hurt, nothing. She’s as strong as an ox, loves her food and is generally a happy pup. And her brother always seems to have a new ailment. Resentment is slowly growing between them. Just yesterday, she was playing with me, the little patient came over to butt in, and she looked at him and gave the slightest little growl. I had to ask the husband to play with the patient, so I could continue playing with Koko (after correcting her for growling of course).

So we have a long two weeks ahead of us at Casa Cosmo. Hopefully when it’s over, and the patient is feeling better, there’s not too much resentment and we can go back to the normal whining that we’re used to…

The Littles are two of the luckiest dogs in Brooklyn. Why you may ask? Simple, I have found them an amazing dog walker. In general, I’ve been lucky with dog walkers. I’ve never had anyone super creepy and they have all been trust-worthy… otherwise, there’s no way they’d be walking the Littles!

But recently (back in March I think) I started with a new walker: Jason with Go Dog in Brooklyn, and he’s so great with the Littles. You may be wondering what makes him such a great walker? Well, a number of things really. I can email or call him during the day to add an extra walk in the evening without giving the 24-hour notice, the Littles love hanging out with him, but most of all, it’s the notes he leaves me every day about the walk. It’s never just the required one-liner about whether they peeped or pooped. I get home to a little tid-bit about the day, and it just makes me smile.

For example - today’s message: “Gorgeous Day! K&C both peeped & Pooped - bonus points for Cosmo for including the tip of my sneaker in the ‘jet stream’ Koko added some new inflections to her vocal repertoire - her range is expanding! -J”

See what I mean? After an annoying day at work, writing about architecture projects in the Middle East or preparing proposal materials, it’s nice to have a little humor in the note left for you.

Now if that’s not enough, he also goes the extra mile for the Littles, although that may just be because they are so much cooler than any other dog in the neighborhood! But I received a text at work the other day warning me that if I got home, the Littles weren’t there. Since it was such a nice day and the Littles were his last stop, he took them over to a friends house to play in their garden, he had happy hour with his friend and the Littles enjoyed over an hour just chilling outdoors. Thank you J for being so good to them! If you too need a great Brooklyn Dog Walker, look no further - GoDog

But, you better not interfere with the Little special attention!

Our morning and evening walks are starting to feel a little cooler lately - leaving the Littles feeling a bit more frisky and me looking forward to Fall sweaters and jeans. It’s the perfect time of year to grab the pups and just go out for half the day, exploring the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

Cosmo has learned the routine rather well and in his excitement, avoids the turn for home at all cost. Each corner we walk towards, he leans out away from me, in hope that we will continue onward. His paws are prancing higher and ears are perked for any rustling of leaves or bags that may mean another dog is nearby. Koko is keen to find the kitty-cats and squirrels in the neighborhood and has recently become bored with the birds. Too small to bother with in her opinion.

Now that the heat wave has broken, walks can go on for hours without difficulty on the weekends. They look forward to the Saturday jaunt to the Brooklyn Bridge or Fairway, knowing they have an afternoon of fun ahead of them. We’ve been thinking about a walk to Prospect Park, but that is a good 3-hour event that I’m not sure P and I are up to. I made the embarrassing suggestion of driving over to Park Slope so that we would have full energy to play in the park… P thought that was being a bit too wimpy. So off to Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights for now… We figure we have about 3 months left of fun outings before the bitter cold arrives and makes our walks short again.

I’ve recently started working with a Boston Terrier rescue group. I think of it as my way of giving back to my Littles for being so wonderful, but this way I’m not spoiling them and giving them big heads. Doesn’t really make sense, but I’m ok with that.

Paul has told me that we cant actually foster a dog in need because it would just cause too much emotional stress on Cosmo - the baby that he is - so I do home visits for prospective adopters and transport when a pup in need is found somewhere. I usually bring the Littles along for support, and Koko has become my partner for home visits.

The reason I choose Koko rather than Cosmo is a little embarrassing to admit… she looks like a shelter dog where Cosmo is obviously from a breeder. I’ve learned that Brooklyn has a number of very passionate people who are not accepting of breeder-bought dogs. We’ve had multiple people walk up to us and ask about them and when they hear that (God Forbid) we actually bought them… well, we receive one of many lectures on just how wrong and bad people we are. With all the dogs in need, sitting in shelters, being abandoned… how on earth could we support the dog breeders of this world and buy a dog??? Well, to be completely honest, there’s only so much I can take of that before I start making up stories… my latest story is how we bought Cosmo, but a year later learned from our mistakes and found Koko at a shelter to be his companion. People tend to like that story best.

Paul does not agree with this tactic at all, feeling that Koko understands that she’s being put down (in a sense) and it’s making her a bit insecure. Now don’t get me wrong, Koko is beautiful! There is no other pup out there like her. And she is a love! But she has bad knees, and a longish tail, and her snout is too long and she really just doesn’t look all that Boston. Plus, we spend so much time with Cosmo and his modeling career, that this is giving Koko special time in the spotlight. While Cosmo is becoming the dog advertising star of the neighborhood, Koko is turning into our “Do Gooder”. She’s out there making a difference for other bostons.

Congratulations goes out to Ch Classic’s To Be Or Not To Be, the first place winner for this year’s Boston Terrier class. Now it’s off to the Non-Sporting event. Hopefully this pup can stay in and go on to Best in Show!

So I just love this poem and needed to share…

I have to thank my menandcats friend for forwarding this along to me (hence the purr)…

Here it is, the most adorable gift you can find for the Boston lover in your life! And what better place to go shopping for a Boston than in Brooklyn. So if you just love this shirt, it can be found at Epaulet on Smith Street. Or if you are a bit further away, check out their website:

http://www.epauletshop.com/servlet/StoreFront

We had our first puppy playdate over the weekend, so Cosmo and Koko were filled with excitment. Having never met the soon-to-be friend, Dottie, we were all a little cautious in the beginning and decided a long walk together would be best for getting them in “pack-mode”.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get out the door fast enough. Over-joyed yet nervous over a new dog caused little Koko to have a slight “accident” in the elevator down. Then we noticed some jealousy from Koko as well. Seems she gets a little territorial around other females… this was noted and we made sure to let her know who was really the pack leader.

Back in the apartment, we had some issues with Cosmo thinking he could do his humpty-dance, showing off his moves for the ladies. This was quickly stopped with the phrase “put it away” which makes him very embarrassed and he walks away with his head down.

Dottie was a delight to have around once everyone calmed down. She was a bit on the timid side with my little monsters fighting over toys with eachother. Dottie would keep to the outskirts and watch the play-fighting. She looked like she wanted to jump in, but didn’t quite have the nerve… I don’t blame her, the Littles can be a bit much when they’re together!

Here’s Dottie in Cosmo’s new bed. As you can see, he’s not one for sharing!

When it comes to feeding Cosmo, I have become a bit over-cautious. It all started about three years ago when he started throwing up every three days… it was like clockwork. At the time, we were feeding him ProPlan, lamb flavor - which he loved.

After numerous visits to the vet and a ton of tests, we were told he was as healthy as can be, try giving him a half a pepcid (which does work well, by the way) So what finally cured this ailment? After trying a bunch of foods over a few months, we tried ProPlan Sensitive Stomach. The sickness stopped!

Now we only buy the “sensitive” brands. This week, while shopping for food, they were out of our favorite brand, so we had to settle for another. We smiled when we saw the Eukanuba brand and the happy Boston face on the packaging - and what a cute face this one has! Looks like Cosmo isn’t the only Boston with a sensitive stomach.